Story telling on Culture, Change Management, Values, Adaptation and Trust to understand GRC implementation issues
He could expect his wife to accept him as he was, or compel her to change for him, but that would mean he was incapable of growth. Reflecting on the other's viewpoint prompts Surya to discover his ability to adapt, accommodate and grow.
We turn to an Indian management by mythology: What Surya tells us about changing ourselves for both growth & trust of people
The story of Surya and Saranya reveals how the behaviour of people around us is a reaction to how they perceive us. If they fear us, they behave in a certain way.
Surya, the sun-god, was horrified when he noticed that the woman in his house was not his wife, Saranya but her shadow, Chaya. He stormed to the house of his father-in-law for an explanation, only to learn that she had run away because she could not bear his celestial radiance.
Surya realised that while in his story he was the victim, in his wife's story he was the villain. That she slipped away in secret and kept a duplicate in her place was an indicator of the extent of her fear. Had he seen the world from her point of view, he would have realised beforehand what would frighten his wife and make her take the drastic step of running away, leaving a duplicate in her place.
Surya then sought out his wife, and discovered she had taken the form of a mare. Instead of asking her to change back to human form, he turns into a horse and follows her to the pasture. Yes, he could expect his wife to accept him as he was, or compel her to change for him, but that would mean he was incapable of growth. Reflecting on the other's viewpoint prompts Surya to discover his ability to adapt, accommodate and grow.
From god, he becomes animal and leads a happy life in the pasture until Saranya is able once more to return back to the sky by his side, as his goddess.
This story reveals how the behaviour of people around us is a reaction to how they perceive us. If they fear us, they behave in a certain way. If they trust us, they behave differently. All behaviours depend on how the other perceives us.
We can demand others change their perceptions of us or we can decide to change ourselves and work on making ourselves more trustworthy. In the latter choice lies growth. For two years, Sandesh had headed the operations department of his company and put in place a whole set of systems and processes.
With great difficulty, he had managed to get his team to align. The results had been spectacular. Then he decided to spend more time on strategic long-term thinking and appointed Ketan to handle the operations role. He just had to ensure the systems and processes set up over two years were being followed. But no sooner did Sandesh hand over the reins of the company, than everything went awry.
Sandesh was angry with Ketan and his team. But then he realised that the event revealed something about him. He had instituted the new processes by force of his personality. Alignment happened because people followed him, not the process. So when Ketan replaced him, everything collapsed. Ketan did not have the same force of personality as Sandesh.
Sandesh himself was the source of the problem. Now, he had to go back to focusing on operations. But this time, like Surya, he had to change himself and coach people to do the tasks not because he told them to do it, but because it was their job. In other words, he had to take ownership of it. He also had to work with Ketan so that Ketan could take on the huge responsibility without feeling abandoned and alone.
By this one shift in thinking, Sandesh had created a growth opportunity for himself.
Source: The Times of India group.
At the Copenhagen Compliance Conference we have several speeches that will focus on the Culætural and people aspect of GRC. One of them is a speech;
Instead of Approach to Regulatory Compliance, Lets Align Culture and Compliance
- How to encourage employees to embrace ethical conduct and shun non-compliant actions at large dynamic companies.
- How to manage the regulatory compliance in various trades' and operations and to gain valuable benchmarking data. This session will offer a wide-ranging discussion on what that data tells us about the state of regulatory compliance in the various trades today.
- How to create a culture of zero tolerance to non-compliance. A case study on how to drive a culture that embraces the company's ethics and compliance values
Speaker:
Simon Collins, Managing Director Resources Compliance
