Is it boring to be disciplined?

The Oxford Learners Dictionary offers various meanings for the word ‘discipline’. For clarity, we will focus on discipline as "the ability to control one’s behavior or work in a structured way (self-control)." Although the definition is straightforward yet putting it into practice is quite another challenge.

Not long ago, I was having adda with a friend from my neighborhood in Joka, Kolkata. In course of our conversation he remarked, “Don’t you think it’s boring to be disciplined? After all, it robs life of all the excitement it has to offer. It is so predictable, insipid and dull.” I nodded half-appreciatively as I held a different view but did not feel inclined to get into any immediate debate.

Later on, reflecting on his statement, we realized that we actually gain more from life by being disciplined. Let us try to explain it a little further.

First, in pursuit of our career, much of our time is spent on completing routine and monotonous tasks. The work assignments are on most of the occasions dull and far from exciting. Exciting work is few and far between. Nevertheless, we are mandate to complete those following daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual cycles. There is no escaping this grind if we expect steady career growth. Thus, existential circumstances compel us to be disciplined so that we can perform our jobs on time and with zero errors, ultimately saving time. If we rebel against a disciplined routine, our performance and productivity become erratic, damaging our credibility and potentially hindering our career progression. In reality, the road to success is exciting only in hindsight.

Second, adhering to a disciplined routine is impossible without sufficient will-power. A fickle mind is prone to distraction. This attitude also adversely impacts personal productivity in the workplace. For instance, if a Department Head (DH) is not disciplined, a simple practice like holding daily morning meetings may will be erratic and be cancelled frequently. The repercussions are significant as it undermines credibility of the DH and also usually not taken seriously.

Third, sticking to a disciplined approach to routine work (and otherwise) leads to higher throughput (though not in the way Eli Goldratt explained in his book The Goal). By the end of the day, we can accomplish more than expected within the same time span and that too without feeling overworked. Arguments, there will be many, against this point but needs to be experienced firsthand to appreciate.

Fourth, there appears to be a positive correlation between discipline and mental health. Generally, disciplined individuals seem more composed and relaxed, as they are confident of pulling-off even stressful assignments within a designated timeframe. Such individuals achieve a sort of integral harmony between the inner world  and external worldly activities. Living becomes more meaningful instead of meaningless drudgery.

The points outlined above illustrate that discipline is not boring at all; rather, it’s all about mindset. Mere sitting on the fence and debating on it is futile at the best. It has to be lived to be appreciated.

At the Bottom of the Pyramid

It was a hot and sultry day in June 2020, around 9:30 a.m. The Plant operations were gradually returning to normal as COVID-19 restrictions were easing. With the movement of people relaxed, Sumit, who lived about 40 kilometers away, was able to come to the factory twice a week. While walking inside the factory premises and heading towards the training center, someone behind him called out, “Sir, may you wait for a minute.” Sumit turned around to see a workman approaching him, drenched in sweat.

“I have a request,” the workman paused for a moment and then continued, “These days our children are attending classes online. I’ve heard that people like you also attend meetings and conduct training sessions online. We are curious to participate in online programs tailored for us. Can you do something about it?” 

“Let’s see what can be done,” he replied somewhat hesitantly.

Sumit wondered, “The white-collar employees have official email IDs, links are shared and they all either have a laptop or a smartphone. All they need to do is log in by clicking on the link. But who will do this for the workmen? Where do we get the email IDs? Even if we obtain the IDs, which platform will we use? Who will give us permission, and what topics will we cover? Moreover, the workmen are generally not tech-savvy and the penetration of smartphones is also relatively low.” He was not enthusiastic about the whole idea.

Surprisingly, a few days later, another workman approached Sumit with a similar request. This time, he decided to discuss it with his colleagues in the training department to gather their views. One of them, Jacob, confidently replied, “I think it is doable.” Sumit was taken aback by Jacob’s confidence and sought further elaboration.

“We need to create a group for these workmen, cutting across all departments, by collecting their mobile numbers from the Time Office (TO). It will be a bit of a time-consuming exercise, but one of us can definitely follow up with the TO and get it done. After this, we can host the group on a free, cloud-based, cross-platform instant messaging service with all the necessary security features.”

“But,” Sumit interrupted, visibly excited, “we need to get permission from the IT department before we start sharing learning modules, right?”

“Yes, of course,” Jacob responded. “After that, we can select a few simple and easy topics related to behavioral safety and tricks for improving workplace efficiency, invite subject matter experts (SMEs), shoot 20-minute videos, edit and upload those. Voilà, our goal will be achieved!”

Sumit embraced the idea and immediately distributed responsibilities among the team members, planning daily 30-minute meetings. 

Within 15 days, after securing the necessary approvals, the initiative was launched. Every week, sessions on general topics began to be conducted by the SMEs, accompanied by multiple-choice questions and feedback forms.

This platform enabled Sumit and his team to reach thousands of workmen in minutes for awareness programs and also brought recognition to the SMEs, the unsung heroes. They received visibility and appreciation from those at the bottom of the pyramid. The initiative received ‘Popular Choice Award’ at the Group-level on the basis of voting. White-collar employees in the Operations and Maintenance departments felt that this initiative, among many others, helped in bridging the mist-trust between the Unions and Management!

A year later, one of the workmen who had spoken with Sumit thanked him profusely, saying, “Apne hamari baat suni. Hum aapke shukar guzar hai.” (You listened to our request. We are grateful to you.) Five years down-the-line the initiative is still active. It has been institutionalized.

PTM and the Future of Workforce

Some eight years ago we were attending a Parent Teacher Meeting (PTM) for our younger daughter who was in Class I. As anticipated by us, after exchange of a few niceties, a long list of critical observations about her was put across to us by the class teacher. We were embarrassed, to say the least, but agreed to the points highlighted.

However, after that we requested to the class teacher “We know she is quite mischievous and as parents we try to discipline her as much as possible yet it does not seem to be sufficient. We need to explore what else can be done. However, we urge you also to co-operate with us as well. How about reprimanding her for disturbing the classmate sitting next to her when a class is on? Maybe a bit of scolding?” The class teacher was literally taken aback and shook her head in grave disagreement.

“Oh, that is not possible. Don’t you know we cannot punish students? We can only counsel them. We cannot even scold them either,” replied the class teacher. It is not that as parents we were not aware of this practice yet thought that if we do not make an issue over a teacher discipling an unruly student there should not be any problem. But that was not to be.

Somehow this incident bothered us quite a bit. Come to think of it this way. When this child grows-up to join the workforce either as a salaried individual, or starts his/ her own business, the world outside is going to be accommodative. There will be harsh words thrown at him/ her for missing a deadline, or failing to meet customer needs, or sales targets resulting in loss of revenue, or potential business opportunity. How can we then expect these children in later stage of their lives to absorb these blows against which they have always been shielded since childhood? It is improbable that a counsellor will be present to help them out under those circumstances. Thus, with no immediate help available and not being tough enough to handle such situations they will be subjected to mental trauma and agony. And the irony is, they have recourse to no coping mechanism either. They will be caught napping not knowing how to

handle the situation. However, exceptions, there will always be.

The obvious result will be growing incidents of depression and stress-related symptoms which may provoke a few to addiction of some sort or the other to get a temporary respite. While some others may contemplate quitting the job resulting in higher than expected attrition. On the top of it, social media will be flooded with lopsided stories of toxic work culture (which in some cases may also be true) damaging the reputation of the organization. The last point is likely to have an unlikely spin-off. Fearing loss of reputation and public backlash (even it is at the cost of reduced productivity), Management will be forced to adopt a cautious approach often resulting in acceptance of mediocrity and kids-glove treatment of those individuals who are prone to throwing tantrums. One has been a witness to such incidents.