The Three Monk Story – SYNERGY!!!

Building a team runs in harmony is a work of art. Team building has always fascinated me because the element of 'team dynamics' comes into play and this creates a lot of behavioral changes in people when they work in a team. These changes that arise in the team, if channelized properly can build long lasting relationships and creates a WORKPLACE that you call HOME.


The video here, a story of three monks from a Chinese fable captures the essence of team dynamics. So, watch the video first before you move on.


 

Lets split the movie into three parts. We move on to a part from the other when a monk joins in.

The Lone Runner:

The first monk comes in, sees that the monastery is in bad health. A newbie, filled with enthusiasm, the monk takes all the burden on himself, for there is no one to fall back upon. He fetches two cans of water at a time and does it with glee. Chin runs a self sufficient system. But soon, fatigue sets in. The initial enthusiasm is lost but still life goes on!

This model of overburdening a useful resource, might give very good returns in the initial stage. But as time passes by the returns will be diminishing and the motivation to work will be long gone.

So, the lone man standing model for Human resources is a disaster. Any company should make sure that none of its employees are overburdened.

 

Dream Team:

Now comes the second monk. He is extended a very warm welcome by the Chin who is more than happy that there is some one to run the show along with him now. Once the real work starts, differences set in. Chin wants to establish his superiority and Chu does not cave in.

There is an instant cold war.

Analyzing the root cause for their difference of opinion, we can understand that it is because no 'standards' are set to run the company. There is no higher authority nor is there a rule book for the Chin and Chu to follow. This is later sorted out when Chin draws a scale and makes a fair ruChi.

This is again a lesson for any company. There should be rules and not rulers.!

 

Awesome threesome:

After a while comes Chi, our third monk. He is plump and drains all of the water. When the time comes to refill the water, he relents. Now the other two monks who have been doing their work religiously start fighting too and everything comes to a standstill. Harmony is lost, once and forever.

Such teams are quite common in organizations. It is upto the managers to sense this enmity in the air and weed it at the budding stages.

 

However, in the story, the "hand of god" does it for the monks. The monastery is set of fire by a mischievous rat and the monks are left running from pillar to post. In the spurt of the moment, they throw away all their differences and put an "emergency system into place". Somehow they tune the fire down and sit back to think on devising a sustainable system and the rest is understood.

 

Major Takeaways:

• No five fingers are alike. Every team comprises of people with different attributes and quality. This difference has to be channelized for the greater good.
• Standards have to be set and rules should be laid. Otherwise things head towards a haywire.
• Teams should have sustainable models. Any team is as strong as its weakest link.

Khan Academy

 

It’s weekend and time to go for a movie, but which one? It seems that I will go for ‘Ek tha tiger’, staring Salman Khan. Wait a minute this reminds me of a series of videos by another Salman Khan, videos that are from diverse fields, videos that are enjoyable and informative at the same time. I am talking about videos from Khan Academy and the one who conceptualized it – Salman Khan.

Khan Academy started by Salman Khan, a graduate of MIT and Harvard Business School, is a non-profit educational organization reaching out to millions of students of all ages, across the globe with the sole purpose of making teaching more interactive and fun

 

The story of Khan Academy is very interesting. Salman Khan, a hedge fund analyst, took up the assignment of teaching his nephews some math lessons. Not going the conventional way, Khan decided to create a video using 'Yahoo-doodles' and played it on to the nephews. There were two major lessons out of this exercise,

• The kids found the videos to be more interactive
• Videos could be played over and over. The advantage here was that, not all students can grasp ideas at the same pace. The conventional teaching methods require some students to push themselves beyond their capacity. But with videos that could be played over and over, speed was not an issue anymore.

Realizing, the potential of his idea, Salman Khan started adding more and more videos on a variety of topics with the help of You-Tube, and there was no looking back ever since.

 

Khan academy was a viral hit and has now become a trademark name in online education services. The services are available at free of cost and it is very well funded by donations from philanthropists all over the world. Khan academy is all set to change the world for good.

Time magazine recognized Khan Academy by naming Salman Khan as one of the most influential people of 2012.

Working for a cause, towards a target:

When Salman left his thriving career as a Hedge Fund analyst, to teach 8th grade maths by doodling, I am sure he would have been laughed at, and personally it should have been a huge decision to make. But Salman should have understood the real potential in the simple videos that he created. It is his vision for the idea that he had, that has brought Khan Academy to what it is right now.

 

 

Understand your audience:

What Salman Khan did with KA, is simple. He understood the pulse of the issue. He realized that no two fingers are the same, and so are kids. He devised a technique to treat every individual and celebrate him for what he is. Salman did this for his nephews and extended to include the whole world.



Though it is a sensation, Khan academy works with very simple and free technology like You-Tube, Wacom tablet etc.
It is the core idea that sells.. And Khan academy is the proof. Any fanfare is only optional.

Power of Internet:

Could Khan Academy have happened to the world any sooner ?

The answer would be NO..!

Salman Khan utilized the power of internet and timed his innovation very well. This again has a lesson to teach us, understand technology and keep yourself abreast of all the innovation. That is the only survival skill in this information age.