VOLUME VI – CHAPTER XV
HANDLING PEER PRESSURE
With new opportunities coming up and new avenues cropping up and the race for survival, success has become much more intense. Your staff may be influenced positively or negatively by factors such as growth (promotion of a peer), compensation (salary variation) opportunities (challenging assignments) innate talent – all those form a sort of peer pressure on them. Someone may buckle under it and it can harm his personal and professional life and may result on low self-esteem, low confidence level, mental depression and withdrawal symptoms.
Peer pressure may rob a person of his capacity to look at himself in his own way. When a colleague becomes a touch stone, a bench mark, you look at yourself in a different way, in a distorted way.
You have to keep a watchful eye on such cases, spot them early, have a counselling session, help him look at himself not through others, help him to rediscover himself and move on.
One Principal found that a particular staff member was isolating himself and always withdrawn. On probing into it he learnt that he had developed an inferiority complex because in one staff meeting the Principal had openly praised a particular staff saying if any work is given to him, he could sleep over it, because he would finish it fully and report. So this staff thought that he could not measure up to that level and went into a shell.
The Principal understood his mistake and called him for an interface. He assured him that he had great regard for his knowledge and skill in teaching and asked him if he could help him incompletion an assignment given by the Asst. Commissioner in organising a summer course for teachers of class I and II especially emphasising the physchological aspect. This request boosted his morale and he plunged head long into the work and the summer course was a great success, when the Commissioner visited the School and appreciated this work, the Principal introduced that staff and said “the whole credit for its success goes to this Master”.
Sometimes a staff may under peer pressure join the bandwagon and follow a negative path. In one such case the author called the teacher for a coffee session and said “I know you are a bundle of talents. You can if you can decide go up the ladder and become a Principal one day. I want to help you in that direction. I don’t want KVS to lose a person like you. I put before you two pathways – the by way and the high way. The choice is yours. If you chose the highway then I am with you”
This pep talk worked magic. That teacher eventually became a Principal
You have to make such staff realise that he has something unique to offer, help him identify and hone his skills, make him leverage them best for the benefit of the institution. You should help him see the right direction.
Make a realistic comparison which will enable him to gain a proper perspective. Help him to use his energy and enthusiasm to make himself a better professional.
~~~~~
VOLUME VI – CHAPTER XVI
ARE YOU KAHODA OR JANAKA?
Once the author came across a case when an Asst. Commissioner received the order promoting an Education officer as Asst. Commissioner. He didn’t have the sportsman-ship and courtesy to call him and congratulate him on his elevation over a cup of tea, because that E.O had earned a good name in the region. When that E.O later on told the author about this he told him “Don’t feel, you are just like Ashtavakra” he asked “what do you mean by that?”
The author replied, “when Ashtavakra was in his mother’s womb he used to hear his father discuss the vedic truths with his mother. One day he (From inside the womb) corrected his father on his interpretation. Kahoda, his father got angry and cursed “may this extra intelligent child be born deformed with 8 twists in his body”
When Kahoda went to the court of Janaka and lost in a debate with Bandi, as per the conditions of the debate the loser had to die. So Kahoda killed himself. Later on Ashtavakra went to Janaka’s court, defeated Bandi and made hum bring his father back to life. Janaka congratulated Kahoda on having a son like Ashtavakra, for which Ashtavakra replied “my knowledge which you appreciate had made my father jealous”
Even now we find some teacher envious of their pupil. Some officers envious of their associates (the author had experienced this).
Kahoda was your Asst. Commissioner who could not digest (Ashtavakra’s) you being liked and appreciated by others. It takes a lot of courage gentlemanliness and large heartedness to appreciate someone working with you. Only a person who is sure of himself can do so. Usually brilliance invites enemity. Only a few teachers and officers can deal with a student or associate who is better than them.
The author knew of a Principal who liked only those who were inferior to him. So over time his team consisted of mediocre staff. In his mind he expected all to be like planets around the sun. Whenever a Ph.D was posted to his School he feel threatened gave a negative report and got out him out of the School early because of his clout. So in course of time his School got the first rank from the bottom. He is like Kahoda threatened by his own staff (Son)
In contrast, the author knew a Principal of a private School who was just a M.A, M.Ed, but always liked to recruit persons more qualified than himself because he didn’t want to be surrounded by Lilliputians. He realized he was not the acme of talent. He believed in creating an atmosphere that will nurture creativity. This Principal is like Janaka
Will you be like Janaka or like Kahoda, because the future of your School depends on the excellence of Ashtavakra among your students and staff.
~~~~~
VOLUME VI – CHAPTER XVII
LOW CAN BECOME HIGH
In 1967 March CBSE examination, a student of KV Cochin topped the Senior Secondary Examination in the whole country. His father was the Director of Naval Physical Laboratory. He came all the way to Chennai just to thank the Director of IIT for having called him for interview. He told the Director “I want to become a scientist like my father. So I have already joined the B.Sc (Hons) Physics course” But later on after some years when the author went to inspect the School, he was surprised to hear that he had changed track, Sometime thereafter the author happened to read a column by Walter Viera, a Senior management consultant wherein he had refereed to Ries and Trout’s Book “Horse Sense”. The thoughts of those people did some “ment pick” in the author (Mental picking), He was led to think why people who stood first in every class were not heard of after some time but students who were considered to be low achievers (middle order) became CEOs.
People with High IQ who had Joined Govt. or private service die not rise to the top – why it is generally found that the top services come from the middle of the IQ curve Walter Viera quotes a college president who told his staff:- “be nice to your ‘A’ students because they will come back and be your colleagues but be exceptionally nice to your ‘B’ and ‘C’ students because they will come back and give us a new auditorium and a new science building,”
This means there is no correlation with ones position in the class and later achievement. So you have to pay equal attention to the average students and develop their innate individual potential because it will benefit the nation later.
Even calamities can be turned into opportunities. Opportunities are not outside, they are inside the students. Make him conscious aware of it
Make your pupils understand that not only high IQ person can go high in life Gemini Vasan, Amalgations Anantharamakrishnan, Sundaram Iyengar of TVS, Easwaran and Sundaram of Easun Engineering co – they were not outstanding scholars but they had three things in common – self awareness, self confidence and self effort.
As Principal you have to develop those 3 qualities in your pupils.
~~~~~
As worldly thoughts diminish, thoughts of God increase. Normally, the mind is all the time desiring these worldly things. As the desires are cut out one by one, the peace becomes stronger. – Sri Sathya Sai Baba
