Where did my Sanity go?

A policy is a deliberate plan of action to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome(s). While law can compel or prohibit behaviors (e.g. a law requiring the payment of taxes on income) policy merely guides actions toward those that are most likely to achieve a desired outcome.

I’m running- faster & faster, along with my husband, each of us furiously clutching one child. Trying to escape from the devil – he grins beckoningly but I am just overwhelmed by the feeling that I MUST escape. I woke up – instinctively reaching out for the children. They were sleeping soundly; hubby darling had his hand protectively around both of them. (Just to let you know what an epitome of motherhood I am - I take a whole blanket for myself & he shares his with BOTH the kids). My heartbeat slowly settled down but I was unable to get back to sleep immediately. As I lay there ruminating as to what the nightmare meant, I thought of a couple of unrelated incidents that had impacted me in the last few days.

Last week Times of India carried a news article about a tribal man (Ram Singh Munda) in Orissa, who has been arrested a few days ago. Ram Singh with all innocence had befriended a sloth bear more than a year ago. He fed it & treated the bear like a child. Obviously by now, the bear had become an extension of the family. After the authorities discovered the crime (?) they promptly took the ‘right’ action- action that the law of the land demands. The man was arrested, the bear is in captivity in a zoo, the man’s motherless 6 year old daughter is with some relatives. Consequences : The bear is refusing to eat , because , as per experts, it is pining for the family. The man is probably confused as to where did he go wrong & the daughter- god knows how the staying with relatives would turn out?? Is anyone happy? Have we achieved the desired outcome ?

Let me get closer home. My domestic part timer help declared her 1st pregnancy 8 weeks ago. Promptly started bunking work too. So on a Saturday, ( that’s when I make contact with all my personal supply chain ) , after I had perfunctorily congratulated her, I asked her how long would she be able to offer her ‘whole hearted commitment’. Few weeks later, as I was preparing to replace her I heard that she had miscarried. As tears streamed out, when I offered her my condolences on last Saturday, I thought of whether I could have saved her this grief- by ensuring that in the earlier days of pregnancy her diet was sufficient. But being a rationale human being I did question myself for questioning myself- was I really wrong? I was only following a policy that is so the norm these days - ‘never extend yourself for the good of the domestic helpers, their loyalties are less than of a …..’ Was either of us happy? What was the desired outcome of the policy?

I passionately train ‘new managers’ to be ‘leaders’ & tell them that Leadership is sometimes about taking unpleasant decisions , more so if the decision is in favour of the customer/organization vis a vis the employee- company policy is the norm!. The newer managers question me outraged, the more experienced ones smile cynically- I get away with ‘ Lets not forget that we work for an organization- where policies have been drafted for a reason- Ah no- the correct terminology is rationale.

In my profession, I interact with a wide variety of people who have high IQ, are capable of earning good money for themselves & organizations, but are incapable of taking an informed decision based on facts combined with common sense. They would rather refer to some outdated policy drafted in with a different context, relevant for a different need. So what if the decision based on the policy is unpleasant for all? So what if the policy itself needs questioning? So what if team members leave the company because of indiscriminate implementation of policies?

Have we become so indoctrinated into a world of rules that we no longer feel the need to apply our own judgment at situations? Or is it that we have forgotten how to? Is it becoming such a challenge to start seeing each situation specifically & applying our own common sense to arrive at a course of action? Or must we follow the rules/ policies simply because they exist? Is anyone happy? Are we achieving the desired outcomes?
I don’t have any readymade answers but I do know that the more that I see of the world, the more I realize I also know that the devil is snapping at our heels & will catch up with us soon if we are not able to catch up with using our common sense.