73. RECLAIMING AUTHORITY AND CONTROL (1999)

STRESS, SUCCESS AND EVERYTHING IN-BETWEEN 

The Highs and Lows of A Woman’s Journey in the Corporate World

CARE: This is Chapter 73 of my book Stress, Success and Everything In-Between. These are individual anecdotes but to understand the professional journey in totality, I would recommend reading the book right from Chapter 01 onwards, on the link given below

https://ranjanabharij.blogspot.com/2023/06/stress-success-and-everything-in.html

When I joined the Okhla Industrial Estate Branch, it was plagued by a culture of defiance, low employee morale, a non-cooperative employee union and a dismal inspection rating. The strong employee union aggravated the situation, with even the lowest-level staff openly disregarding authority. It was evident that decisive action was necessary to restore order and improve performance. But any reckless action would have aggravated the situation further. I had to take careful baby steps.

Scene 01: I needed to send some papers to another desk and pressed the call bell button. Nobody came. Pressed it again and waited. Nobody turned up. I again pressed it twice in quick succession, but still no response. But this time, my PS came in and took the papers from me. My Secret Agent #001 informed me that the previous branch head was very active, and he never used to call the messenger. He did all the running around, handing over the vouchers and registers at various desks himself. I asked him to look for the Head Messenger and send him to me. The Head Messenger, accustomed to a lax work environment, walked in after fifteen minutes. When asked why he did not come in when I pressed the bell, he stated carelessly, “I did not hear the bell.”

“And what were you doing that you did not hear the call bell I pressed three times?” I demanded.

“I was on the second floor having tea with Secretary Sahab,” he responded casually.

“No more going to the canteen for your chai! Place your stool outside my door and sit there. You have to be in my room forthwith when I call you. Otherwise, watch out about saving your pension.” I warned him curtly.

Stunned at my stern response, he left the room meekly only to comply with my instructions in future.

Scene 02: A valuable customer was visiting me, and I decided to call for tea. A lot of time passed, but Thapa, the canteen boy, did not turn up despite repeated reminders. The visitor understood my helplessness and left, politely seeking a rain cheque for the tea. The fellow brought tea after half an hour and faced my wrath. When I asked why he took so long to get two cups of tea, he said nonchalantly, ”I was busy making bread pakodas and tea for Secretary Saab.”

I lost my cool and fumed, “Listen carefully, Thapa. When I order something, it has to be complied with as a top priority, ignoring the demands of all others".

He thought I did not understand and repeated emphatically, “But it was Secretary Saab whose chai-nashta I was preparing.” He sounded like Secretary Sahab was the highest authority in the branch!

This infuriated me further, and I lost my temper. “Thaapa!!! Listen carefully. I am the boss, and I allow you to work here. If you delay my order the next time, I will close your canteen and throw all your stuff out. Aur tumhe doosri manzil se utha ke neeche phenk doongi. Samajh gaye na? (I will physically throw you down from the second floor.) Now get lost!!!”  

“And Thapa, listen carefully. I have got new bone-china cups and saucers. You dare not serve tea to any staff member in these, not even the Secretary. These are only for the visitors in my room and no one else!” Forgetting all the lessons of politeness, empathy and staff handling with kid gloves learnt in HR programmes, I was as rude as possible. Thapa, the canteen boy, understood this language well, and the tea/coffee demanded by me after this was invariably served without any delay.

Scene 03: Reaching late for work was the habit of most staff members. They would not come to work before 10.30am. All this while, I had to face the complaining customers and pacify them with lame excuses. Had I marked a cross against their names, the Attendance Register would have been full of red crosses, and I could not afford to send half the staff back. To address the issue of late arrivals, I adopted an off-beat approach.

I went and sat down on the stairs at the entrance of the branch. Seeing me sitting there, some of the latecomers moved swiftly, apologized and gave some lame excuse before rushing off to their desks. Somebody said his scooter was punctured, while another blamed the unusual traffic on the road for his late arrival. Somebody said his child missed the school bus, and he had to go to drop him off. A few quietly said sorry and rushed in. The latecomers were thus forced to confront their lack of discipline without my uttering a single word.

This continued for a few days, and sure enough, the Union Secretary came in and demanded to know why I sat at the branch entrance every morning.

“I am the head of the branch and can be present in any part of the premises at any time,” I was unperturbed.

“It is not safe for you to stand there alone. A customer may come in a drunken state. Being a woman, it may not be good for your safety.” He tried to be patriarchal.

"Listen, I am the AGM of this branch and the AGM does not have a gender. If you are concerned about my safety, tell your members to be on time. I have no choice but to step out of my room because the customers in the banking hall are getting agitated as the counters are not manned. They come and shout at me. I go and sit outside to avoid them.”

“But the staff feels embarrassed with this action of yours.”

“Then ask them to come on time. They can surely come half an hour earlier.”

After a few days of this drama, most people became punctual, and I smiled at myself. This unconventional way of tackling late arrivals initially met with resistance from the union. But ultimately, it instilled a sense of responsibility in the staff.

But little did I know what was cooking behind my back.

Scene 04: One evening, when I reached home at 9pm after attending a gruelling Performance Review meeting at the Head Office, I received a call from a lady officer from the staff. She informed me that there was no water supply at the branch. The storage tank was empty, and the desert coolers were dry. In the hot summer of June, the staff was highly agitated, and the Union Secretary had given a call for a walk-out if the water supply was not restored. So she decided to forewarn me of the impending trouble. I thought for a minute, located the phone number of a water supply tanker and asked them to supply a tank of water to the underground tank of the bank early in the morning. I also instructed the Guard to get the water filled from the tanker and pump it to the overhead tank.

The next day, I reached the branch to find all the desert coolers functioning effectively. Incidentally, our Secretary Sahab decided to be on leave that day. He must have been informed that the water problem was resolved.

I walked around the branch to locate the cause of the disruption in the water supply and managed to find it. The Delhi Jal Board supply pipeline had been broken deliberately. This was an ugly attempt to escalate tensions and disrupt branch operations, which was foiled due to timely information shared by my Secret Agent # 002.

Scene 05: The President of the Staff Union had committed some irregularity many years ago. This misconduct had gone unpunished due to his influence at the Head Office level, and no action was being taken against him. I reopened the case and started sending reminders to the Head Office. I also wrote his name and case boldly on the file. I would often call him on some pretext after placing this file on the top of the other papers. While I talked to him, I could see he was eyeing the file from the corner of his eyes. Later, he would ask my PS, “Why has she got my file on her table? Has something come from Head Office?” Seeing the file on my table intermittently kept him under continuous stress, and his tone and tenor mellowed dramatically. By subtly reminding him of his vulnerabilities and keeping his file visible, I eroded his confidence, and he was forced to adopt a less offensive attitude.

Scene 06: The Union Secretary sought time to discuss staff-related issues with me. I told him to come after business hours at 3pm. He walked in with half a dozen cronies.

“Why so many people? Only the President and Secretary should sit down. Others may leave,” I directed assertively.

All were stunned to hear this. The Secretary tried to argue, “They are all my people. They can also sit through the discussion.”

“Are the two of you not competent enough to discuss the issues? So many people are not required. Two of you sit down. Others may please leave the room.” My instructions were a matter of fact. The cronies complied and went out but settled in the anteroom with the PS, where the conversation was audible. I had won the first round of the trial of strength.

The main issue was marking crosses against the latecomers on the attendance register. As the discussion took off, he started raising his voice. He wanted his cronies, waiting outside, to hear he could plead their case powerfully.

“I am not hard of hearing. You need not raise your voice.” I said gently but would he listen?

I again told him softly not to raise his voice, but he was getting increasingly agitated and started shouting. In that emotional outburst when he had lost his cool, his language turned abusive, “Hum hi saxxx chxxxxx hain jo aapse co-operate karte hain?” (Are we xxxxxx that we continue to co-operate with you?)

I grabbed the opportunity and screamed, “How dare you use such a word in front of a senior officer? Do you know you are talking to the AGM of the Bank? You are using unparliamentary language in front of a lady officer.” I was unstoppable and kept on repeating the same thing in different words like a TV reporter.

The Union Secretary and the President were taken aback. They had never experienced a Branch Manager shouting at them in this manner. They always used to cajole and flatter them, using only persuasive and gentle tones. My loud and threatening voice immediately brought their tempers down, and they quickly lowered their tone. They said sorry in an almost inaudible tone and left the room, requesting that I be more cooperative with the staff in the future.

Thereafter, I did not have to face any industrial relations issues in the branch and could focus on improving the inspection rating. By implementing these strategies, I successfully transformed the branch culture. The staff became more disciplined, punctual, and respectful. The inspection took place, and the inspection rating improved by two notches to become “Well Run". The branch had regained its reputation as a well-run institution and I was on top of the world.

(To be continued...)

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