MANAGING IRRELEVANCE

Shailesh was indeed feeling low. There were symptoms to show that he was suffering from low self-esteem. He has completed nearly seven years in his office and was in a supervisory cadre. Yet, he couldn’t find out what was going wrong with him.

“Don’t think too much of yourself. You are talking as if I don’t know anything. I have been in this organization since inception. You are just a fresher.” Mr. Bhatt was shouting at the top of his voice. Possibly, he was offended with something what Shyam said or did. There is evidence of his increasing inability to cope with the new recruits.

Sishu was a senior official in the Central Government. He commanded a lot of respect in his office and had enormous official powers to exercise. He had retired from the service only two months before and was looking for some other assignment the Government might give. Yet, these two months had been horrible for him. He was feeling humiliated and humbled before his kith and kin. “Grandpa, how come you don’t know this?” when the grandson asked, he had no answers and just smiled it away.

All these people are victims of irrelevance they have with their own eco-system. Though, it is just not possible for everyone to cope with everything that is happening around, currently we are in a world which had high demands from us in terms of knowledge, skills, competencies to be a part of the contemporary styles and ways of organized and unorganized work practices. Many people are inherently feeling irrelevance and hence carry on their shoulders some psychological burden which they and they alone, can unload.

Past Perfect and Future Tense

A glorious past is no guarantee to a bright future. In a world of work with knowledge and skills changing day in and day out, anyone, whichever part of the positional ladder he is, should become a part of the organizational learning curve. Certifications, Awards, Commendations and Star-studded annual profile reviews do not either assure or insure the professional status or growth. Learning is no more option for growth, though the content and methods of learning of the individual may significantly vary. Nevertheless, learning to stay current and competent is a conscious choice one must make to survive beyond the vegetative state. It applies both to the individuals as well as to institutions and organizations.

Take and own Responsibility

“Blame games” just don’t work any further. One cannot hold others – teachers, mentors, counsellors, guides or even the institutions – responsible for the inadequacy of knowledge and skills. Knowledge is becoming increasingly a self-discovery process, with others only facilitating, supporting, and scaffolding the process. To hold anyone else responsible for one’s inability to grow due to inadequacy of knowledge, skills, performance, and roadblocks will be just counterproductive. Taking responsibility, fighting the odds, raising the personal levels of benchmark, continuous learning and setting personal goals for success and excellence are increasingly becoming milestones for a conscious growth articulated through a design thinking. We are what we do. If we are hesitant to take ownership and responsibility for our learning and skills assets, it will be thrust upon us.

Take your time but never give up

Magics don’t happen overnight, neither the learning. It is indeed a conscious assimilation of collective intellectual faculties synthesized to meet some personal, social, and emerging needs. Hence take your time. Though time is a good measuring tool to enhance dopamine levels to scale the performances, they have more personal limitations. There are scores of factors that differentiate any two individuals to position their learning objectives, styles and needs; they shouldn’t be compared. All that to be compared is one’s own previous performance with the current one. Using ‘time targets’ is good to create scalable meaning, but one shouldn’t succumb to time as a limitation to growth. Growth is intrinsic and time is extrinsic. Grow at your own speed and time, however enjoying and celebrating growth with every unit of time. But be conscious of your engagement with growth.

Expand your universe of learning; a page a day or a book a day.. it matters

In a meeting a few days before, a team of trainers were debating on how they would position current technology to their delivery needs just a decade later. While everyone had something to add value based on their perception, they forgot next two generations of technology would have evolved in the next ten years. So, being futuristic is a good idea, it should be remembered that skill sets one may require at that time cannot be comprehended with present understanding. However, a vigilant attitude might help in staying current with further learning. With convergence and divergence of knowledge, market forces will work on parallel processing of knowledge and skill sets in both directions. It is important to expand our universe of knowledge and its operations on a sustained basis. Learning curve stops only with the last breath.

Never celebrate the Turtle attitude: keep your face brave

In several cases people tend to withdraw into a shell the moment they realize that something beyond their comprehension or cognition is getting closer to them. “Stay Safe” attitudes do not help in understanding, facing, and meeting the challenges ahead. Calculated risks, entrepreneurial attitudes and engagement with future are the ways forward in the management of irrelevance. It needs a conscious move to negotiate with learning prospects with sincerity, commitment, and celebration. It should be considered as a joyful pursuit to unravel the mysteries of the unknown, Adventure, it may be, yet it is worth braving the weather. Turtle attitudes and withdrawing into ‘shells’ removes the individual from dynamics of life.

Be positive: Let the energy flow

Becoming a victim of ‘learned helpless’ finding a hundred reasons for non-engagement or inertia is easy but getting accelerated with a single reason that defines our future purpose of life is important. Positive attitude is essential for mental health and social health.

Becoming irrelevant is a natural process in the pace of life. But then, life is all about flying beyond the known vistas of knowledge and skills. We need to keep trying.

“A ship in the harbour is safe, but that is not what ships are meant for.” – John Shedd