Bold for Better

Life is not a bed of roses and it should not be a one ever. Alternate shades of tough times only make happiness more realizable and satisfying. But it takes a lot of contemplation to take that decision which may have otherwise effects on your career and growth. I recently got into a situation where I had to confront my immediate boss on an issue. We were a team of eight people and everyone had a common complaint that our immediate boss was not acknowledging our efforts and work output. He always criticized us on petty issues and never verbally appreciated our efforts. The morale was obviously down. He never highlighted out achievements and on the contrary created stress and unsatisfaction in the team. 

Although everybody was spiteful of him but nobody wanted to offend him considering the repercussions of objection. Everyday we dedicated time to vent out our anger by abusing him during casual tea breaks. This somehow eased the negativity and optimized us to bear him and work efficiently. But i knew this was not the right solution and someone has to confront him right upfront. On every unpleasant situation the victim pledged to retaliate the next time but the next time always remained a next time.

But my turn came back soon. Our team was given the responsibility of making a training presentation of about 200 slides in a week time. I was to move on leave for a couple of days. My leave was already approved a month back. But on the final day my boss came to me and asked me to mail the presentation of 200 slides before leaving. I knew it was not feasible and we had good time to avoid hurry and compromise on quality of work. So without a word I cheerfully accepted it and started working upon it. After continuously working for straight eight  hours I managed to prepare 45 useful slides of the presentation. It was the time to pack up so I mailed him those slides. I knew my other team members could easily take it further the next day and complete it before the bound time. I went up to him to brief about the prepared slides. I thought he would be happy to receive 45 slides on the very first day. But it was not the same way for him. He showed disappointment and went on to complain that I invest more time on administrative tasks. I felt bad because that was majorly his area of responsibility but came to our shoulders because of his lack of interest.  Instead of being thankful he used it as a point of disappointment. I could not control my feelings and took the bold decision of objecting him. I argued that he should not criticize us if he cannot appreciate our good work. Also there was a way to project it. I told him that he intentionally tries to show our small mistakes look sinner and exaggerates it in front of other teams. Being our mentor he was on the contrary bringing down our morale. I explained him that this practice was unfavorable for all of us. He remained quiet and did not lose his temper. I too made it a point not to lead the discussion towards argument but to a conclusive exchange of thoughts.

The next day I was on leave but I got a call from one of my team members informing me that the boss conducted a meeting with team members. He addressed the meeting in a friendly manner and accepted his faults. At last he mentioned about me giving reference of the previous day incidence. He appreciated me for communicating the problem and also for taking the bold step of objecting my wrong conduct.  The remaining day after the meeting was completely different and cheerful. The bonding and morale was uplifted. Everybody felt the optimistic change that the incidence brought.

That one bold step helped me to change the environment for everybody's good and #StartANewLife

This story is dedicated to https://housing.com/in   An online solution for housing and property. Visit the page for more information. The embedded video explains  the ethics of the firm and also the various services available.