An ancient Chinese proverb- "One monk will shoulder two buckets of water, two monks will share the load, but add a third and no one will want to fetch water."
If you want to learn about the fruitful outcomes of mutual understanding in the team or the disastrous consequences of internecine conflicts, this post is the place you want to be. These two contrasting scenarios (of understanding or of conflict) can be well understood by a movie which was shown to us by Dr. Mandi recently.
This movie beautifully describes two very much possible outcomes of any team-exercise.
Happy Endings, they ARE real...
This is a Chinese animated movie and it was one of the first animations created as part of the "Rebirth-Period". This movie does not have any dialogues so can be understood by everyone.
Summary and Learning:
Case 1:
A young monk lives in a temple, on the top of a hill. Other than his normal routine of prayers, he has the task of bringing two buckets of water up the hill from the water-body near the hill's base. He lives happily as he has to take care of himself only.
Here, team has not been built yet, just one individual is completing his tasks without any problem.
He was a happy soul carrying the two buckets on his shoulder with a stick daily, though the method meant alot of physical labor and fatigue to him. He could have went for the pulley arrangement initially itself, but since his needs were limited, he could easily satisfy them with
Case 2:
But soon, another monk arrives. Young monk tries to burden the new monk with the task but the new monk calls his trick and asks him to share the work. But, when they actually start doing it, they find that the carry pole is not suitable for such usage. But, after some trials they come to an agreement about the way they want to perform the task.
Here, there are many lessons:
· If we have some experience of a place, that doesn't give us a right to tease the new joiners, but a responsibility to show them the way, we should try to build a healthy work environment.
· We should never think of anyone being stupid, their abilities and capacities might not be explicitly visible but that does not mean, they don't have any.
· We should never underestimate a person's understanding; he might be knowing it and at the same time, might not be showing it.
· Try building a team, as a team usually performs better than the individuals.
· While working in a team, try to accommodate others and be encouraging at the same time.
· If going gets tough such as team is not going along well, understand everyone's perspective.
· Give people time to settle and let them take the initiative.
Initially both the monks fought over how they would carry the water. After a while, both of them tried to come up with something they saw as solution, but as none of the solution was a standard solution and was biased towards the person offering it, no consensus was reached. Finally, first monk came with scale and center of the bamboo was located. No further quarrels occurred but none of them seemed satisfied working together.
Case 3:
Then a third monk arrives and both of the other monks expect him to bring the water but the new monk drinks everything he brings and the other two monks don't want to do the task anymore. Consequently, because of this conflict, no one fetches water although everybody is feeling thirsty. At night, a rat knocks down a candle holder causing fire in the temple. The three monks finally get together and make an effort as a team to put out the fire. They succeed in this task and later on, formulate a method to bring the water. Now, they have understood the axiom "unity is strength" and live a harmonious life thereafter.
This was the point when all the dynamics changed. None of them agreed on bringing water. Infact, 3rd monk once brought the water from the foothills but consumed it all by himself. This was a perfect example of a selfish employee who is least bothered about the well being of his colleagues.
At the time of fire, though all three came together to save the temple, there was lack of planning and leadership. All three ran for water together.
Finally, they were able to extinguish the fire but it displayed few very important management principles; Planning- vision, Innovation (how at the time of crisis they came with drastic innovation and after that they came up with a pulley arrangement).
The Lessons:
· Don't try to change people, give them time to change themselves at their own pace.
· Don't push your expectations too far; it might cause trouble to the whole team.
· If team is not going along, it doesn't mean that we should let things take their own course. We should strive to change the flow and bring people together.
· It is true that a mis-happening brings people together but that doesn't mean, we should wait for one to put things in order.
· A good team can perform any task, the authority and responsibilities need to be delegated properly.
This story is a satire on how we mess up our things, simply by no planning. Had there been some planning and teamwork this problem wouldn't had occurred. Planning is important in any individual's life or, organisation for that matter. Very simply put, planning identifies where the organization wants to be at some point in the future and how it is going to get there. Skills in strategic planning are critical to the long-term success of your organization.
This form of planning includes:
a) Taking a wide look around at what's going on outside my life or the organization and how it might affect my life or the organization , (identifying opportunities and threats).
b) Taking a hard look at what's going in my life or inside the organization, including its strengths and weaknesses (perhaps doing a SWOT analysis)
c) Establishing statements of mission, vision and values (some prefer to do that as the first step in planning)
d) Establishing goals
e) Identifying how those goals will be reached (strategies, objectives, responsibilities and time lines)
"Individuals win FIGHTS but we need teams to win WARS"
TEAM - 'T'ogether
'E'veryone
'A'chieves
'M'ore
Awards won by this Movie:
Won the outstanding film award at China's Ministry of Culture.
Won the Best animated film prize at the first Golden Rooster Awards in 1981.
Won four international awards including a Silver Bear for Short Film at the 32nd Berlin Film Festival in 1982.
You can watch the cartoon here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rolBiHfWokY
Hope this blog lives up to the expectations of its readers. Will be back with more shortly!
If you want to learn about the fruitful outcomes of mutual understanding in the team or the disastrous consequences of internecine conflicts, this post is the place you want to be. These two contrasting scenarios (of understanding or of conflict) can be well understood by a movie which was shown to us by Dr. Mandi recently.
This movie beautifully describes two very much possible outcomes of any team-exercise.
Happy Endings, they ARE real...
This is a Chinese animated movie and it was one of the first animations created as part of the "Rebirth-Period". This movie does not have any dialogues so can be understood by everyone.
Summary and Learning:
Case 1:
A young monk lives in a temple, on the top of a hill. Other than his normal routine of prayers, he has the task of bringing two buckets of water up the hill from the water-body near the hill's base. He lives happily as he has to take care of himself only.
Here, team has not been built yet, just one individual is completing his tasks without any problem.
He was a happy soul carrying the two buckets on his shoulder with a stick daily, though the method meant alot of physical labor and fatigue to him. He could have went for the pulley arrangement initially itself, but since his needs were limited, he could easily satisfy them with
Case 2:
But soon, another monk arrives. Young monk tries to burden the new monk with the task but the new monk calls his trick and asks him to share the work. But, when they actually start doing it, they find that the carry pole is not suitable for such usage. But, after some trials they come to an agreement about the way they want to perform the task.
Here, there are many lessons:
· If we have some experience of a place, that doesn't give us a right to tease the new joiners, but a responsibility to show them the way, we should try to build a healthy work environment.
· We should never think of anyone being stupid, their abilities and capacities might not be explicitly visible but that does not mean, they don't have any.
· We should never underestimate a person's understanding; he might be knowing it and at the same time, might not be showing it.
· Try building a team, as a team usually performs better than the individuals.
· While working in a team, try to accommodate others and be encouraging at the same time.
· If going gets tough such as team is not going along well, understand everyone's perspective.
· Give people time to settle and let them take the initiative.
Initially both the monks fought over how they would carry the water. After a while, both of them tried to come up with something they saw as solution, but as none of the solution was a standard solution and was biased towards the person offering it, no consensus was reached. Finally, first monk came with scale and center of the bamboo was located. No further quarrels occurred but none of them seemed satisfied working together.
Case 3:
Then a third monk arrives and both of the other monks expect him to bring the water but the new monk drinks everything he brings and the other two monks don't want to do the task anymore. Consequently, because of this conflict, no one fetches water although everybody is feeling thirsty. At night, a rat knocks down a candle holder causing fire in the temple. The three monks finally get together and make an effort as a team to put out the fire. They succeed in this task and later on, formulate a method to bring the water. Now, they have understood the axiom "unity is strength" and live a harmonious life thereafter.
This was the point when all the dynamics changed. None of them agreed on bringing water. Infact, 3rd monk once brought the water from the foothills but consumed it all by himself. This was a perfect example of a selfish employee who is least bothered about the well being of his colleagues.
At the time of fire, though all three came together to save the temple, there was lack of planning and leadership. All three ran for water together.
Finally, they were able to extinguish the fire but it displayed few very important management principles; Planning- vision, Innovation (how at the time of crisis they came with drastic innovation and after that they came up with a pulley arrangement).
The Lessons:
· Don't try to change people, give them time to change themselves at their own pace.
· Don't push your expectations too far; it might cause trouble to the whole team.
· If team is not going along, it doesn't mean that we should let things take their own course. We should strive to change the flow and bring people together.
· It is true that a mis-happening brings people together but that doesn't mean, we should wait for one to put things in order.
· A good team can perform any task, the authority and responsibilities need to be delegated properly.
This story is a satire on how we mess up our things, simply by no planning. Had there been some planning and teamwork this problem wouldn't had occurred. Planning is important in any individual's life or, organisation for that matter. Very simply put, planning identifies where the organization wants to be at some point in the future and how it is going to get there. Skills in strategic planning are critical to the long-term success of your organization.
This form of planning includes:
a) Taking a wide look around at what's going on outside my life or the organization and how it might affect my life or the organization , (identifying opportunities and threats).
b) Taking a hard look at what's going in my life or inside the organization, including its strengths and weaknesses (perhaps doing a SWOT analysis)
c) Establishing statements of mission, vision and values (some prefer to do that as the first step in planning)
d) Establishing goals
e) Identifying how those goals will be reached (strategies, objectives, responsibilities and time lines)
"Individuals win FIGHTS but we need teams to win WARS"
TEAM - 'T'ogether
'E'veryone
'A'chieves
'M'ore
Awards won by this Movie:
Won the outstanding film award at China's Ministry of Culture.
Won the Best animated film prize at the first Golden Rooster Awards in 1981.
Won four international awards including a Silver Bear for Short Film at the 32nd Berlin Film Festival in 1982.
You can watch the cartoon here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rolBiHfWokY
Hope this blog lives up to the expectations of its readers. Will be back with more shortly!
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