Once a friend of mine came to me with a disturbed state of mind. He was a senior bank officer working as the chairman of a regional bank. He was a good man and had tried his best to improve the performance of the bank. He was quite successful in doing so, yet it caused a lot of stress to him. So much so that towards the end of his deputation, there was unrest in his office and he feared that his career might be adversely affected in the process. He was due for promotion as General Manager in his parent bank and was apprehensive of its acceptance in case things went wrong at that stage.
It was at this point of time that he came to me to share his agony. He had the apprehension that his staff was conspiring against him despite his goodwill for them. He was hurt by their actions which had created a lot of bitterness in him towards them. The problem seemed to be compounding as time passed, though outwardly he was trying his best to appear normal to them. It was not working at all.
Having listened to his story, I asked him to frankly tell me his inner feelings towards his employees. To this he admitted that he was angry and was not entertaining goodwill for them. In fact, his own feelings were the real cause of his agony. I, therefore, suggested him to transform his feelings and instead of entertaining thoughts of repulsion, hatred or anger, he should develop compassion for them. It was all the more necessary to do so because he was doing his job with all sincerity and goodwill. Though it was not easy to act on the advice, he assured me that he would try his best and report to me after a week.
My friend acted on this advice with all the sincerity at his command and things started improving. After a week or so, he rang me up to say that his office was normal again and that the environment had become quite harmonious. I was very happy to know all this and congratulated him. According to me, it was only an outcome of inner feelings. After about two months, he informed me about his promotion to the post of General Manager in his parent bank and soon after he joined his new assignment.
Rakesh Mittal IAS
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