Purpose:
Normally, people who have a strong purpose in life have great insights into what they wish to pursue as their goals. They work tirelessly on their short term and long term goals by keeping in mind their big purpose in life.
I am reminded of an absolute meaningless section in the thousands of résumés that I have perused through - the 'objective' section!! Candidates have no clue as to what they may have mentioned therein or may not be able to substantiate and relate that objective to their job and career.
One of the challenges that managers face today is that Gen Y and Gen Z always look forward to meaningful jobs that support their purpose. When that is absent or not explained by the manager, then they are unhappy and that provokes them to leave the organisation. On the other hand, there could be many employees who work just to see their paycheck ! They really don't care about how their job fits in their broader goals or that of the organisation. SNAP!!! That's the blinkered effect!
Patience:
In today’s ‘IG’ world (instant gratification), we are pushed to the edge due to lack of time. However, I must be quick to add that life has become fast-paced not so much for busy schedules and physical movements from one place to another, but more because of disruptions and distractions that we face. Many of us multi-task almost all through the day - work, e-shop, play, social media, fitness and more ! All of these activities being done simultaneously because of time constraints or impatience. One of the biggest challenges that people of today face is that they expect even relationships (at work or their personal life) to be built overnight as well. The same challenge extends to performances as well. People expect to become stars overnight, forgetting that it takes multiple sessions, years of training, practice and more ! We find many people around us who are happy with just doing something fast and in an impatient way. They are satisfied with sheer quantity rather than quality. They may not even have basic eye-for-detail in their performances. SNAP!!! That's the blinkered effect!
Perseverance:
Falling down does not mean that you have failed, but not getting up is!! Life is a learning curve and all of us, irrespective of where we are in our careers are still considered as learners. Learning from our mistakes is as important as learning from our successes. Having the tenacity to persist until we succeed is the need of the hour. Many fail because they do not want to wake up to the harsh reality that, failure is a part of success. It's a well-known fact that the best of sports personalities or entrepreneurs have reached their dreams only because of persevering their goals relentlessly. Many of us set high and audacious goals thinking that, by doing so we are superior. The truth is that no matter how challenging our goals are, it’s the persistence, execution and fulfilment that matters. At times, we see people at work do not want to try a second time or they may not want to better their first attempt which didn't result in desired outcomes. SNAP!!! That's the blinkered effect!
Passion:
The biggest prerequisite for any position is passion. Being passionate about one’s job, the organisation, the team or the tasks at hand is so important in determining whether an employee is engaged with their job. Over the years, I’ve witnessed that irrespective of where the position is in the hierarchy of the organisation, passion is a foundational trait to possess to be successful. Be it a janitor doing a shabby job or a customer service representative for repeatedly asking the same questions of their customers. We come across hundreds of such cases of people doing their job just to check a process box.
While on his way to school, a little boy stopped by a new construction activity and asked the mason what was he building and he replied "It's none of your business little boy". The next day the curious boy stopped by and asked another mason the same question and back came the reply "It's a building". After a few days, the little boy saw yet another mason and on asking the mason what was he building, he said "I am building a monument, it will be a landmark building in our town and it will be something that all of us will be proud of". This answer got the boy all excited!! Life is indeed what we make of it.
I am sure we find people in public service, be it a counter at the super market or at the airport, housekeeping staff at a customer service center or even a retail salesman, who are disconnected with their job, the environment or maybe even the product. Sometimes you may have found yourself (as a lay person) knowing more than that of the person on the other side (who is supposed to know more). This is because the other is not passionate about their job.
More than a decade ago, I remember an incident where the air hostess had no clue of what the green or brown-coloured dot meant on my food pack, that was offered on the plane. She looked absolutely surprised when I explained to her that it indicated vegetarian and non-vegetarian. She explained that she would tell the difference only from the compartment in her trolley where the food was stored. SNAP!!! That's the blinkered effect!
I see potential being converted seamlessly to great performances with purpose, patience, perseverance and passion. However, when any of these performance ingredients are lost, we are at a terrible void and then our targeted goals get automatically sidelined.
To me the 'blinkered effect' is when people are disengaged. They are oblivious of what the organisation is doing at large, their core values, mission, vision and more. They are so disconnected that all work they churn out is just to satisfy a check in the box. They don't work with passion.
'Blinkered effect' is when one acts as though they have blinkers on and they fail to see the perspective of the other. They are very narrow in their thinking and as such are self-centered. They neither have any interest in understanding the other better nor they would want to go above and beyond their job.
Today, many at work, treat their jobs as though they work in silos and may not be bothered about extending their arms a little further or even learning beyond their job. They are oblivious of the needs of the customer. They exist more to do what they think is right irrespective of feedback or learning !!
It's now time to blink but not be blinkered!
