The A(r)T of misplaced zeal

All of us realise the importance of goals both in personal and professional life. Goals are milestones in our journey and activities are the steps that help us to achieve the milestones. But often we get so involved in the activities that we loose sight of goals. This is called Activity Trap (AT). 

Let me illustrate this with some examples.  The headmaster of the school is so obsessed with discipline that during the breaks he does surprise rounds at the corridor to check if students are walking in an orderly manner.  He takes extra pains to stand in a prominent place to ensure that students are walking back to their respective class rooms quietly. 

Military discipline

To him the activity of walking in orderly manner personifies discipline. In the process he converts the school into a military training centre, overlooking the critical customer (industry) requirement — innovation, creativity and overall development, conformance and compliance. The activity of orderly and silent walk back to class rooms overrides the goal of overall student development.

Take the case point of a night watchman. He patrols the road every night. To impress upon the residents and reassure them that he is on the beat he beats the stick on the road. Having heard the beat sound the residents are happy to give him the monthly service charges, least realising that the sound defeats the very purpose of the patrol.

It warns thieves of his arrival thus ensuring that he will never ever confront a thief.  The activity of beating the stick over rides the purpose of preventing thefts.

The other day I was sitting in the library of a premier management institute. It was five thirty in the evening. I saw a silent queue forming at the library quadrangle. As I watched curiously an office boy walked in and placed a register on the table. Every one scrambled for signing the register diligently. It then dawned on me that it was the attendance muster and the employees were logging off for the day. The dean was ensuring that the muster is released only five minutes prior to the closure time. The dean is oblivious to the practice of employees queuing up 20 minutes before the scheduled departure time to sign the muster. He is so obsessed with the physical control over the muster that he has lost sight of the end purpose — improving productivity.

During one of my visits to Mumbai, I was traveling aside a flyover. As I looked at the walls below the flyover I noticed that they were covered with steel fabricated mesh.  I was puzzled and curious to find the utility of the wall mesh. It appears that the Mumbaites used the walls to paste colorful wall posters. The municipal corporation in the guise of saving the walls from being defaced decided to fix steel wire mesh.

The steel wire mesh looked messier than the multi-colour posters. Here the activity of fixing the steel wire mesh thus preventing the walls from the posters overrides the purpose of ensuring a clean and elegant look.

Reflect & ruminate

If we take a closer look at some of our own daily activities (both in our personal and professional lives) we will find some living and glaring examples of the activity trap.

We need to be careful that in our enthusiasm to run faster we do not lose sense of our own direction, it is always a good idea to pause, reflect on the activities and ensure that they do take us closer to our goals.

The writer is Chief – HR, ING Vysya Bank –Bangalore. Email: j_ m_ prasad@hotmail .com