Learn Team Work ... The Dahi Handi Way! Go Go Go Govinda

Janmashtami, is the birthday of Lord Krishna which is praised with unbelievable eagerness all over all through the country. Krishna is accepted to be the eighth incarnation of Vishnu and holds a position of significance in the Hindu Religion. Except for mouth-watering food, dahi handi is something that captivates everyone. Dahi Handi (pot of curd) is commended on the second day of Janmashtami. For somebody who has never seen it – the experience is as stunning as it is paramount. The highlight of the celebration includes gatherings of Govindas, framing human pyramids with the sole point of breaking an earth container loaded with curd, suspended high noticeable all around, for prize cash adding up to a huge amount in INR.

Following can be some fantastic TEAM WORK learnings from the DAHI HANDI:

• Have Clarity on the Common Goal:All the Govindas come together for one clear goal - which is to break the hanging handi. The interesting fact here is that, all the Govindas are not very well intimately familiar with each other. Because the number of Govindas required to break at handi is dependent on the height of that hanging handi, for every other handi there are always a different number of people who form a human pyramid. Most team members hence do not have fixed roles – they adapt in line with the challenge ahead of them. And while there are cheer leaders, they do not really require a single leader to direct and drive the team towards the goal. The whole team is a self driven, self motivated unit focused around one clear goal – which is to break the handi. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have such self driven, self motivated teams which need no monitoring – within our corporate environments?
• Openness & Understanding of Strengths & Weaknesses: All the Govindas intuitively understand the requirement of the situation. For making a human pyramid, it is very important to have an understanding of everyones' strength and weaknesses. In an environment where everyone does not know each other extremely well, an environment of openness and trust become paramount as people get allocated to do different roles within the pyramid. For example, the strongest members are moved towards the base of the pyramid – the lightest, most nimble member is allocated the role of the person at the top and so on.Delegation of work within teams, in Corporates – does not always happen according to the need of the situation. Various other extraneous factors like status, proximity to leaders, time spent in the company, etc creep in. Is that really the best way to achieve a task? Also a good team member is not the one who gives a great individual performance; He is one who might play a lesser role, in service of the success of the team. An open team environment that encourages people to voice opinions and concerns, often helps in facilitating this.

• Never Give Up: If you have seen the dahi handi, you must have seen that when these Goivndas are actually trying to break it, people from high buildings often throw different colored water on them . This is done to make it more slippery, hence more challenging for all the Govindas. But do they give up? Absolutely not!The Govindas may get hurt many times, going for the handi. Infact, sometimes things get so bad, that giving up becomes the easier option to go for. But the Govindas rarely ever give up – egging each other on to achieve their target.
• Appreciate & Enjoy: Govindas always appreciate the hard work of team to build a pyramid to break that handi. Govindas even appreciate the mistake of their team members and motivate them to build up again and so do they enjoy the process. Similarly Very often amidst our busy lives, we simply land up chasing one goal after another and forget to appreciate and enjoy.
• Sharing the Success :In Dahi-Handi, everything is huge; consequently the festival that trails each effective endeavor to build the pyramid and break the Handi. Once you break the handi the credit goes each and every member of the team, To each Govinda. The prize amount is distributed in all govindas. Similarly when you achieve something in your life , Never forget to share your success with your team members.

Every manager would perhaps give his right arm – to have a team like this one! A team that in the face of stiff challenges tries out various approaches & never gives up.