My Boss takes off his pullover and teaches by example

During winter time, the temperature drops to the five and six degree level and the woolen clothes take over. Since the factory work started at 7am and buses picked up the employees from their respective bus stops by 6am, it was but natural that they wear pullovers, mufflers and even hand gloves to fight off the wintery blasts. And, once the Sun shone, the workers would try to go out into the open to enjoy the sunshine. They would stand in groups and smoke a few cigarettes to allow the warmth to ward off the cold.
But, such attitudes of the technicians meant disruption in the work and lower output which the bosses did not want, neither did the Russians approve of such attitudes. They felt that winter was just another season and there was no need to wear bulky pullovers or mufflers at the work spot. Such pieces of attire hampered the work and could lead to accidents at the work place where people had to work with different types of machinery.
In order to curb this tendency, my Boss set an example – and, it helped.
The layout of the workplace was such that while the work area was on the ground level, the offices were on an upper floor that looked down on the work place.
My Boss would climb the stairs, go into his office, remove his coat and muffler and come out on the balcony. The technicians could see him clearly. He would pace about on the balcony for a few minutes and then climb down the stairs. And, as he climbed down, he would begin to roll up his sleeves.
By the time he set his foot in the workplace, he would be attired in the dress that would be the best possible wear for a factory.
It was a wonderful example in issuing a directive without uttering a single word or resorting to a single line of writing. (to be continued …)


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Lesson in how to manage a cosmopolitan work force

Most of the technicians in the factory had been trained in-house in the TTC (Technical Training Center) and they came from different corners of the country. However, the General Manager was a senior officer of the IAF and hailed from Kerala, it was but natural that a majority of the technicians were Malayalees.
Alongside them were people from Bangalore because that was the only place where people were available who had some sort of experience in manufacturing aircraft. Moreover, since the factory was in Maharashtra, there were many Maharashtrians. And then there was an assortment of technicians from others states like West Bengal, Bihar, UP, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh. It was a big cosmopolitan family and everyone worked as a team. Most of the supervisory staff was officers from HAL Bangalore and they joined hands to ensure that the work proceeded as per plans. The work was new to all of us and, hence, everybody cooperated.
Tea was served twice – once in the morning along with snacks. Snacks were necessary because most of the workers were unmarried and therefore had to have their breakfast in the tea time itself. Breakfast usually catered to the local tastes like batata wada, onion pakora, bread pakora, urad dal wada, sabudana wada, poha etcetera.
The second time tea was in the afternoon – only tea. No snacks.
Well – as is human nature, I became pally with the Bengali boys. They were technicians, I was a supervisory staff. But, when the tea came, we would have our tea, crack a few jokes and puff cigarettes together.
One day, my boss called me aside after tea time and gave me one of my first lessons in management. He did not make any reference to my taking tea with the technicians. He only smiled and said – ‘workers are like a source of fire. If you go too close, you will be burnt. If you stay too far away, you will miss the warmth. You must decide the distance.’
My boss had not graduated from any IIT, he did not hold any degree in Engineering but he was knowledgeable about the ways of the world and spoke from experience. (to be continued …)

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