Tying the Shoelace knot.
The thing I never knew to do until my 5th grade. In home I was helped by my Mom, in the school bus by my brother and in the school by my friends, in case it got untied. Every time I tried it on my own it resulted in a loss of a shoelace which had to be cut in two, because I tied it the way it could not be untied. My first successful shoelace experience was on my 6th grade, I became a high-school boy and wanted to do it on my own. When I succeeded in the attempt I went around to each and everyone I knew to show what I had learnt and got applauded!!! by a few. The point that needs to be noted here is not the shoelace "Ian Knot", but why I went showing to everybody what I had learnt. That little part that I am talking about is what many of us have long forgotten, "Appreciation".
That one moment you spend for appreciating some one means you Applaud him,he feels that you realize his efforts or that you have at least seen what he has done. The things that we taught to people elder than us when we were kids are the same ones that we as grown ups learn from kids. These are the people from whom we can learn the effect on this one little gesture - Applause. Being a management student I certainly want to flaunt what I have learnt in my classes, the 2 concepts that we have learnt in Org. Behavior 1)Applauded/Appreciated behavior shall be repeated. 2)Punished/Criticized behavior shall be reduced. This concept is showcased by the kids almost every time, they repeat the same Gimmick!! that earned them an applause in front of strangers to increase their star value!!. Not only for the kids, everybody who owns a Dog will know this, the first lesson in training a pet is giving him a command and when he performs it you appreciate it by giving him a bone. After all they are also similar to kids.
In my life there is an other incident that I could connect with the concept. I started to learn football when I joined my college, I fell in love with this sport right from the moment my brother plucked the TV remote out of my hand and changed the channel to ESPN,not allowing me to go back to Cartoon Network thereafter. But I never got a chance to play for my school as it already had a good playing XI and a beginner like me had no hope there. The first thought that came to my mind when I saw my college's big ground was "FOOTBALL" . I went to the football practice on Day-1 of my college life with my all new shining Jersey and Football Boots. But when every others' kick went over the post to the road outside, mine was struggling hard to get a few feet of elevation, I felt bad and the angry kid inside me said "enough of this crap,go home and play football in FIFA you *****!!!" But the cost of the newly bought football boot motivated me to at-least put it on and run around the ground everyday. The consistent efforts made me a player who can at-least run with the football. After a few months of practice I became a regular center defender in the losing team(So called Team-B). Then one fine day I made a tackle to take the ball away from an opponent after which I heard those words, "Good one" the first time some one appreciated my football skills!??!! After that I never missed a days' practice session and everyday my game improved and after that I made lots of "Good ones" but nothing as memorable as the first one. Eventually I went on to play as the Center Back for the college team. Here you can see three types of appreciation 1) They recognized me as a player and I made it to Team B.(Motivation) 2) I became a regular in Team B (Continuous motivation) 3) Appreciating my defensive skills verbally. Instead if they had criticized me and made me stand outside, I would have never played football - The lovely & most beautiful sport.
Now my friends in the Corporate sector bring to my knowledge a new kind of appreciation known as "flattering" , which today is compared to give a competitive edge over the fellow competitors which even technical knowledge is not believed to give. I am here in no way talking about that kind of appreciation. That kind of appreciation gives you your own benefits, but the appreciation I am talking about motivates and helps others to improve and benefit out of it.
Finally before I end this, I want to reiterate my Management brain's learning
1) Appreciated behavior shall be repeated.
2 ) Punished behavior shall be reduced.
If you are a person who criticizes the wrong deeds and appreciates the good work then you keep going on doing both. But if you are a person who never appreciates the good deeds but keeps criticizing the bad work, then it's better that you never speak about the work, because the person will eventually reduce the
criticized behavior and soon will not have any behavior to showcase.!! And my footnote to everybody : If we have never known the labor that a person goes through in doing a particular work - Art, Architecture etc., we don't have the right to criticize the work :)
P.S: Now having read this big write up, I hope you will start showcasing that one little gesture right from here..!!!
-Signing off - Your blogger !!
The thing I never knew to do until my 5th grade. In home I was helped by my Mom, in the school bus by my brother and in the school by my friends, in case it got untied. Every time I tried it on my own it resulted in a loss of a shoelace which had to be cut in two, because I tied it the way it could not be untied. My first successful shoelace experience was on my 6th grade, I became a high-school boy and wanted to do it on my own. When I succeeded in the attempt I went around to each and everyone I knew to show what I had learnt and got applauded!!! by a few. The point that needs to be noted here is not the shoelace "Ian Knot", but why I went showing to everybody what I had learnt. That little part that I am talking about is what many of us have long forgotten, "Appreciation".
That one moment you spend for appreciating some one means you Applaud him,he feels that you realize his efforts or that you have at least seen what he has done. The things that we taught to people elder than us when we were kids are the same ones that we as grown ups learn from kids. These are the people from whom we can learn the effect on this one little gesture - Applause. Being a management student I certainly want to flaunt what I have learnt in my classes, the 2 concepts that we have learnt in Org. Behavior 1)Applauded/Appreciated behavior shall be repeated. 2)Punished/Criticized behavior shall be reduced. This concept is showcased by the kids almost every time, they repeat the same Gimmick!! that earned them an applause in front of strangers to increase their star value!!. Not only for the kids, everybody who owns a Dog will know this, the first lesson in training a pet is giving him a command and when he performs it you appreciate it by giving him a bone. After all they are also similar to kids.In my life there is an other incident that I could connect with the concept. I started to learn football when I joined my college, I fell in love with this sport right from the moment my brother plucked the TV remote out of my hand and changed the channel to ESPN,not allowing me to go back to Cartoon Network thereafter. But I never got a chance to play for my school as it already had a good playing XI and a beginner like me had no hope there. The first thought that came to my mind when I saw my college's big ground was "FOOTBALL" . I went to the football practice on Day-1 of my college life with my all new shining Jersey and Football Boots. But when every others' kick went over the post to the road outside, mine was struggling hard to get a few feet of elevation, I felt bad and the angry kid inside me said "enough of this crap,go home and play football in FIFA you *****!!!" But the cost of the newly bought football boot motivated me to at-least put it on and run around the ground everyday. The consistent efforts made me a player who can at-least run with the football. After a few months of practice I became a regular center defender in the losing team(So called Team-B). Then one fine day I made a tackle to take the ball away from an opponent after which I heard those words, "Good one" the first time some one appreciated my football skills!??!! After that I never missed a days' practice session and everyday my game improved and after that I made lots of "Good ones" but nothing as memorable as the first one. Eventually I went on to play as the Center Back for the college team. Here you can see three types of appreciation 1) They recognized me as a player and I made it to Team B.(Motivation) 2) I became a regular in Team B (Continuous motivation) 3) Appreciating my defensive skills verbally. Instead if they had criticized me and made me stand outside, I would have never played football - The lovely & most beautiful sport.
Now my friends in the Corporate sector bring to my knowledge a new kind of appreciation known as "flattering" , which today is compared to give a competitive edge over the fellow competitors which even technical knowledge is not believed to give. I am here in no way talking about that kind of appreciation. That kind of appreciation gives you your own benefits, but the appreciation I am talking about motivates and helps others to improve and benefit out of it.
Finally before I end this, I want to reiterate my Management brain's learning
1) Appreciated behavior shall be repeated.
2 ) Punished behavior shall be reduced.
If you are a person who criticizes the wrong deeds and appreciates the good work then you keep going on doing both. But if you are a person who never appreciates the good deeds but keeps criticizing the bad work, then it's better that you never speak about the work, because the person will eventually reduce the
criticized behavior and soon will not have any behavior to showcase.!! And my footnote to everybody : If we have never known the labor that a person goes through in doing a particular work - Art, Architecture etc., we don't have the right to criticize the work :)
P.S: Now having read this big write up, I hope you will start showcasing that one little gesture right from here..!!!
-Signing off - Your blogger !!
