Workplace lessons from Rajasthan's political crisis

Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot in happier times. Pic/Getty Images

Headline writers had a field day. "Congress ejects Pilot from power." "Pilot crash-lands." "Pilot ab co-pilot nahin," ran some of them. But the fact is that the fallout between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan, has left the Congress in a red-faced situation that the party is becoming increasingly familiar with. Even as it was picking up the pieces after Jyotiraditya Scindia's exit in Madhya Pradesh, Pilot, too, decided to march out of the door with a few loyalists. The script played out along similar lines. The so-called young guard felt short-changed at the hands of the old. The central leadership couldn't keep the house in order. And the party - for better or for worse - lost members who might have stayed back had the situation been amicably managed.

But the same scenario can unfold in a professional environment as well. Let's say that the Congress is a corporate entity instead of a political party. Its central leadership is then like the upper management. Pilot is a dynamic young employee who feels disgruntled about perceived injustice from a senior who's been with the company for years. And the MLAs who joined his breakaway camp are those team members who felt that unfairness was indeed being meted out to him. It can happen, so how does one go about resolving such an impasse in the work space? We speak to Nikhila Deshpande, life coach and founder of ITalk counseling centre, and to Dr Saurav Das, founder-CEO of Zetta Women, a city-based diversity and inclusion consulting venture. They break the issue down into separate factors.

Nikhila Deshpande

A worthy stand
"The first difference is between having healthy self-esteem and an ego. If I feel that I am capable in my space and someone gives me feedback, I can process it, understand what is good for me, and let it go. But having an ego means seeking validation from outside and I am then not able to reflect properly on what is right and what is wrong," Deshpande says, adding that it's important to not take things personally. Objectivity is key.

Think it through
The disgruntled employee also needs to reflect on his reasons for "pressing the eject button", taking a cue from the headline writers in Pilot's case. There are usually three reasons why he may want to quit. One is that he may feel like everyone's against him. "I might think that I'm not fitting in," Deshpande says, adding that a second reason is that a person is getting too much negative feedback or criticism from managers, or clients are unhappy. The third one is that there are unfair or unethical practices within the company. This is the right reason to walk away, unless you want to stay within the system and fight the malpractices. For the first two, self-reflection, or introspection, comes into the picture. "Again, it's about processing feedback correctly and not taking anything personally. You have to practise blocking out all the noise around you," Deshpande says, while Das adds that in his opinion, quitting should always be considered as the last option.

Dr Saurav Das

From top down
He also says that it's imperative for the upper management to keep their ears to the ground. They can thus delegate someone senior to analyse the trouble that's brewing, in order to diffuse the situation. "The idea is to find out what is happening and take the concerned people into confidence to possibly resolve the differences, because even one disgruntled employee [leaving in a huff] can hamper a company's image," Das says. Deshpande adds that corporate structures should include provisions for therapy. "You can't always open up completely to the upper management or to HR. You need a safe place to talk in, to help block out the noise," she says.

The fallout
What happens if no such steps towards an amicable resolution are taken? The organisation eventually ends up being divided. That's what's happening with the Congress. Far from being in order, the house is further in disarray. Das gives the example of a multinational firm that mines and exports diamonds. The top three bosses for the India division were at loggerheads with each other, to the extent where one of them refused to allow any use of his company-allotted car even when he was on leave. "He let his ego get the better of him," Das says, and the firm eventually split down the centre. So, we come back to the first point. Your ego is not your friend. Keep it in check, regardless of whether you are a Pilot, a Gehlot or a Sonia Gandhi in your own workplace.

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