Equal (In) Justice!

Jane is a mother of three adorable little ones, Ben, Stacy and Keith. As is the case with many households across the world, their home is always filled with cries and laughter from the games and fights by the 'darling devils', a name Jane calls them occasionally, half serious and half fun!

Usually when one of the darling devils crosses the limits of fun, Jane reminds them about the rules of the game and generally they fall in line. Rarely when the reminder did not work, she usually bestowed them with minor disciplinary actions such grounding for a day with no access to TV, games etc. But these actions were limited to the culprit which helped in directing the action to the one who committed the mistake. It also acted as a serious reminder for the rest of the kids that their mother meant business and they better get their act straight. The strategy worked all the time.

One of those days, there was an incident when the limits of fun was trespassed by Keith, the youngest of the kids. The offence was committed with the greatest margin of naughtiness till that date. Jane was furious! She was so mad that, shortly the announcement about grounding came through with new set of rules. No tabs, No TV and No games for an entire week. Her fury did not stop there. She declared that the grounding applied to all three kids. No questions asked! Jane even went beyond and got her rules framed and hung them on the wall of kids' room.

Keith tried to revolt but soon accepted his destiny. Bob and Stacy could not initially comprehend why they were getting punished for a mischief by Keith. They raised their voice of dissent. But their concerns died a painful death when their voices hit their heads on a solid wall of resistance erected by their mom. They retreated with great pain and a deep feeling of betrayal, something they never experienced before in the family.

Life moved on. Jane found her new way of reprimanding, quite easy and effective. The intermittent voices of dissent were suppressed with authority. Little did she know that her 'darling devils' were slowly drifting away from her. Soon a day would come when they all stopped talking to her. The house was no longer filled with cries and laughter from the games and fights by the darling devils. Only muffled wails and faint sobbing rippled across the walls of once vibrant home.

The rules remained hanging on the wall.

The End.

After story: If you felt a connection to the above narration to what is happening in your office environment, it is not merely incidental. An office is a logical extension of a family. The nature of decisions and its impact on people, are quite similar, whether at home or in office.

Hence if you are in a leadership role, may you be blessed with the cerebral prowess laced with emotional intelligence to take decisions that will unify the extended members of your family at office, than driving them away. Always remember, rules are meant to follow, but if you are the one who is setting them, ask yourself if they make sense, not just logically, but emotionally as well.