Dangerous Indifference

Yesterday's editorial touched on how everyday indifference of friends & family concerning dangerous inclinations of young minds can be blamed for such minds eventually crossing line. This was in context of Haneef & Kafeel, whose slide to extremist mindset is said to have happened over a period and no one in known circles stepped in to rescue young boys.

Indifference is well known to us. Right from poor roads, to lost playgrounds, to flooding cities, to dengue infested localities we've got a lot from it.

Why it figures here on a board that normally talks organization matters is because indifference hit organization big time. Often things about someone unhappy with boss, someone leaving organization (or taking interviews), someone bullying newcomers get known to staff members much earlier. Members normally consider it part of worklife and rarely attempt to counsel the colleague around organizational advantage. This responsibility is easily left to HR or CEO or immediate supervisor, who normally are not networked enough to have knowledge ahead.

What all fail to realize is that in the end its the part of their own ecosystem and any adverse development for ecosystem will sonner or later catch up with them. So in case of a great sales performer leaving the company, colleagues get affected by loss of performance of company (may be strengthening of competitor), lower profits, lower bonuses for all, additional pressure on existing staff etc.

So is there a way to beat indifference in real world organizations? Yes, just like there are communities, societies, groups that have beaten it in other walks of life. But ofcourse it requires effort.

A few things organizations can do is to create community groups comprising of employees across functions around focus area like " workplace improvement", "destress group", "employee retention group", nasty boss management group", "troubleshooting group" and as many as need be. Involvement with such groups would enhance ownership sense within employees and would show them the way to handle issues at their level itself.

But then what will HR do? Thats for some other day..... :)