Professionally Personal

Sab neeji hai. That’s my favorite line from Sarkar Raj. Another on exactly the same note is the scene from You’ve Got Mail where Meg Ryan asks Tom Hanks (more or less verbatim) - “why do people always say it’s not personal. All that it means is that it’s not personal to you. It’s personal to someone else. It’s always personal”

Yet, we spend about 80% of our waking hours in an attempt to be professional. Ironic is it not? My company is going through a restructuring whereby new groups are being formed; people are being given options to change teams etc. And that has really got me thinking; because, it’s got me involuntarily hearing. The term competitive corporate world meant little to me for most of my 3 years of being a part of it. Maybe I was just shielded or I chose to turn a blind eye. But this time around, the competition is in my face. I am seeing people at all levels, junior and senior, proving a point, getting their voice heard and showing the next person down (across levels again) – with little regard of the impact it may be having on the other person.

Professional seems to have a new definition. It means knowing what to say, to whom to say it and how to say it; whom to cc and whom to bcc. What to give a verbal response to (and retract later) and what to take in writing. It’s about remembering the right things and of course recognizing what can be utilized at a later stage. It’s all about impressions. I have seen people around me pass other people work off as their own under the guise of helping, of people talking behind the backs of those I thought were friends - seniors bickering and egos clashing. And all I can think is – what of all this behavior is professional.

I may come from a very naive train of though but professional to me meant doing a good honest job- the best job you can do and as per the standards set by the organization. That’s it. That’s where the professional part of work ends. Everything else is just personal.

And what is wrong with that. We are all individuals working. Each one has their own personal reasons for doing the job they are doing. The job has a different meaning for every person – for one it is about proving to be a success, for another, it is money in the bank, and for the third it is just a way to pass their day. And these different agendas must produce a cohesive harmonious work environment. When a job is of personal significance, how can one be detached about it? But then, if that is the case, then a job is more than just a job. And all should not be fair in love and war right? Maybe that’s why it is not. There are lines that should not be crossed. Funny how they have begun to be drawn in chalk.

Hum of the day
The core of what we believe in is blurring under survival tactics. Does anything that’s really fit survive after the tussle? The ability and option to make choices each day thankfully ensure that that decision is not yet made.