September 26, 2011

For an IT professional, the time of appraisal is a very crucial period. It’s the time when there is a subtle competition in the air. There is a constant curiosity on everyone’s mind to know from every other person he runs about his appraisal and how well or bad it turned out. It’s a time when everyone in the office, and in particular the appraiser and the appraisee are trying hard to prove their mettle in their respective roles.

During these times, most often than not, it’s the appraisee who is at the receiver's end. He has to listen to incessant advice from the appraiser. He is often asked to do this and do that to increase his competency level and leap forward in his career path. I don’t have anything against the system of appraisal or the whole lot of appraisers. I totally agree that these processes are healthy ways to harness employee and company growth. These advices are good for all employees to grow too. But, sometimes I wonder, how good it is to do so just for the sake of a healthy appraisal?

We have often noticed that compulsion does not always yield the best results. Even children often detest everything that is compulsory in the school. So, if those employees follow their appraiser’s advice and start conducting some training sessions, then my question is, will the trainees take the training seriously? If not, then how much will it help them? And what does the trainer gain from all this? It will be just a waste of time for everyone.

So my thought is very simple. Whatever we do, it should be useful and mutually beneficial to all. This is especially true when we talk about training people in something. Our initiatives should be fuelled by genuine mutual interest and not by compulsion. 

This reminds me of something that my father did thirty years ago. My father being an artist took an initiative to train me in art of Visualizing, Sketching and Paintings when he saw my interest in it. As a result of that small initiative, I’m what I’m today – an artist and a graphic designer. When I was a little kid, dad held my hand and taught me to draw. Later, he guided me, thought me on colors, strokes and medium and corrected my mistakes. Even today, he is my biggest critic.

Now, I too am a father and my 18 months old son, Panshul loves to scribble. The walls of our home are his canvases. There are colorful lines and circles all over the house. Even the refrigerator, window panes and the TV has not escaped his creative pursuit! Seeing his interest, I suddenly found myself in this ‘initiative process’ all over again. But this time, it was my son who was taking the initiative with interest. It was Re-initiation for me!! Below is the proof of it.

I use to create lot of graphics/paintings. But the below graphic that I have created is a very special for me. This graphic is very simple. It involved no great efforts. Yet, it is a very special picture for me because the inspiration for this picture came from one of Panshul’s drawings. He took the initiative to draw (scribble or doodle is a better word to describe it) and then urged me to do something about it.

Check the images of his drawing/creativity below. This is his maiden drawing so I liked it a lot.

Getting inspiration from his sketch I started working on it. Why?? I’ll tell you later.

Step 1: Outlines. I drew some lines over his drawing as I associated his drawing with a landscape.

Step 2: Simple colored cartoon-like treatment for the children of his age. We usually see these kinds of colors on cartoon movies and cartoon channels.

 
Step 3: Some improvements 

 
Step 4: Added some realistic touch. 

 
Step 5: As an artist I always like to play with colours. So here is that same layout with different mood. May be kids of Panshul’s age may not like this kind of treatment!

 
Now, some explanations. The reason I worked around Panshul’s drawing is because, who knows, one fine day this effort by me may become an inspiration to him! Does this seem like a deliberate, very early effort on the part of a father to make his son follow his path? Well, let me make it clear, it’s not that.

Panshul might not become an artist at all, and I’m perfectly fine with it. When I say initiating and re-initiating, what I mean is that as parents we should always recognize our children’s capacities and potentials and mainly their interests, however small they may be and highlight them. We must make the child aware of it and celebrate their abilities and achievements. If not at least we should not discourage them. It is these little gestures from us that will help a great deal in fuelling their ambition as they grow up.

My dad did just that to me. He didn’t dismiss or ignore my doodles as mere child’s play (even when I painted one of the walls in our house with enamel paint which we usually don’t use for wall paintings). Instead, he took the initiative to show what my capacities are, what I’m made of. My son, Panshul didn’t wait for me though. He started scribbling and made me realize that it’s time for me to do what my Dad did to me. So, re-works on Panshul’s drawings are just a result of that. It is special to me because we both took ‘initiative with the an interest’.

So, you see my friends, your professional life or personal life, every initiative to train someone in something should stem out a thoroughly genuine interest and never be borne out of compulsion.