The Art and Practice of Followership

These days we have an increased interest in Leadership and its development. Almost every organization wants to improve and nurture this capability within its employees. Lately I have come to see a little more practical truth in the other way around as well. I call this concept – ‘Followership’. Though not an expert in commenting on the art and practice of Leadership, I like to shed the light on my own definition of what I mean by ‘Followership’.

We do demand initiative, responsibility from almost everyone. But I have come to understand that we do need people who would conform and do the tasks assigned to them, before critiquing on it. I agree that we shouldn’t be all blind followers of orders, but on the other hand we may require enough understanding of our tasks and it’s fitting into the big picture of it before we may resist it. We need to appreciate its existence in the first place and then get a firsthand experience of actually accomplishing the task and then take the liberty to reflect upon its outcome.

Here comes that follower, who will do this. He does his work for the sake of work. He doesn’t over-identify himself with it. He is detached. He is not his job description, but never does he fails to accomplish the tasks given to him. He takes initiative; he has the drive of course which helps him complete the task in its best quality. He does take responsibility for the job and could see the big picture of what it could mean. He moves on.

He doesn’t consider any job as menial; he doesn’t think that he is better for his job or that he deserves better. He takes his job at hand as a duty to be performed as citizen of the company, as a contributing member of the society. So he gets paid. He does take his pay, so as to take care of his physical needs and to run his household. But that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love his job or that he is doing it mechanically or he is doing it for the sake of money. He has in fact chosen his job, for the love of it. Agreed it wasn’t a perfect marriage, but he strives on to achieve that perfection. He sharpens himself against the demands of his job. He moves on.

Steven Pressfield calls this as being a ‘Professional’. The detachment is a magnificent twist in his definition though it’s not implicitly stated by him. I find that resonating with the ancient wisdoms of India. He himself refers to Bhagvat Gita, ‘Do you work and there it ends!’ Swami Vivekananda goes on even criticizing that we are having a mind of trader; to buy and to sell; to give and to take. But he asks us to just give; it may come back to us thousand folds greater. But that shouldn’t be our expectation. We should just give our best.

This mentality I believe will give us the magnanimity not to feel cheated of having high hopes, rather give us even headedness to accept and treat victory and failure alike. This even headedness itself will give us that necessary detachment from our work and reduce our anxiety towards performing. In fact, Swami Vivekananda actually says that this detachment will in fact make us better performers and increase the quality of our work. Though it sounds like a paradox, I personally want to try it.

Great man, a karma yogi, seems to have realized that. He moves on. He continues to do his duty, despite the ups and downs and his limited power and influence. He moves on. He works hard at perfecting himself and in liberating himself. He believes that it is by perfecting himself that he will be able to manifest a greater change in world than by anything. May be that is when, Gandhi must have declared, ‘Be the change you want to see in this world!’ It is no use blaming the others for what is happening around. It is up to us to take up that responsibility in trying to do our bit, our contribution in making this world a better and beautiful world.

May God bless us all!

Choosing a career

He was in a dilemma – one of my close friends – to make a decision for his career! I suppose almost everyone in their late 20s or early 30s come to a point of mid-life career choices and changes.

But this friend was a little different. Instead of letting impulse take over, he applied an analytical process in choosing his career. I learnt about his methods and was personally fascinated by it! Here is his method.

Unlike a fresher searching for a job, it is interesting to see how different a mid-career dynamics work. My friend was no more in a position of distress to search for a job; rather he had a luxury to be offered more jobs than he wanted. That’s where his dilemma started – an expanded list of choices, all seeming good, leaving him pretty confused.

He had four different job offers – all were good in their own aspect. But my friend doesn’t want to settle down for less than the best – he was of course in a critical juncture of his career and personal life. Being a meticulous person, he decided to list out the criteria that he was currently looking for in a job.  Here is his list.

·         Salary: He wanted to make sure that the ‘salary’ was on the list, unlike before. For his previous choices, he knew that ‘salary’ wasn’t a criterion, but now quoting him, ‘also money’ – salary become an important criterion.

·         Location: Neither was location. He has roamed around the globe and this time he decided to stay close to his family.

·         Security: In terms of the job’s nature and continuity for another 10 years at least.

·         Stability: Of the institution

·         Growth: Of the sector, institution and his own skill sets

·         Mentors: Within the institution, within the sector for whom he taught he could seek guidance

·         Match/ Suiting: To his own temperament – whether we like it or not, not all of us are made the same

·         Marriage: Of course he is going to marry soon and doesn’t want his job nature to affect his personal life and vice versa.

As you could see the list was very personal for him and he was careful in listing it and defining it for himself. It could be different for somebody else.

Given the above criteria for the job, he rated each of the job profile he was offered on a scale of 1-3: 1 being bad, 2 being okay and 3 being good.

Here are his ratings:

Criteria	PK	MRT	AFC	TRS*
Salary	2	1	1	3
Location	3	1	2	3
Security	3	3	2	2
Stability	3	1	2	2
Growth	3	2	2	2
Mentors	1	2	3	1
Suiting	2	1	3	1
Marriage	2	1	1	3
Total	19	12	16	17

*Names of the organizations are changed.

Finally, he calculated the total of the ratings. Based on the above analysis and introspection, he did choose the job that rated the highest.

Now it has been a month since he joined the new organization.

The Art of Mathematics

I found this interesting question in one of the articles I was reading on Calculus,

“A rectangle is to be formed by using a piece of wire that is 36 inches long. What will its dimensions be if it encloses the greatest area?”

Here, we have a problem that states, the perimeter of a rectangle is 36 inches, and we have to deduce the dimensions of that rectangle (length and breadth) which will have the greatest area possible.

I have been trying to calculate that.

To cut the long story short, I have made the following table, given the fact that everybody knows that the formula.

Perimeter of a rectangle = 2 (l + b) units

Area of a rectangle = l X b sq. units

With the above conditions, the possible dimensions of the length and breadth should have a sum of l + b = 18

If, 2 (l + b) = 36,

Then, l + b = 18

So the possible dimensions are, 17 + 1, 16 + 2, and 15 + 3… so on

Table: Perimeter v/s Area of the rectangle

P=2(l+b)	36	36	36	36	36	36	36	36	36
l+b	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18
A=lXb	17	32	45	56	65	72	77	80	81
l	17	16	15	14	13	12	11	10	9
b	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9

I have even plotted a graph for that Perimeter against Area. 

With Perimeter being constant at 36 inches, the greatest area is achieved at 81 sq. inches, and the dimensions of length and breadth is 9 inches.

Here is the interesting part, it makes a square. Yes, the rectangle with the greatest area is a ‘square’.

I tried working out for other possible values of perimeter as well. For every problem, it comes that “area with the greatest rectangle is a square, for the given value of perimeter.”

So what?

If you  have constructing or living in a home, we could now deduce that best possible room with the maximum amount of space/ area will be a square with the same amount of mortar used (perimeter value).

But we don’t usually build square rooms, do we?

On the other hand, it has been a very common practice among us, as told by our forefathers, the best possible dimensions of a room will be a product of two consecutive odd numbers, say – 9 X 11, 11 X 13… etc… This has serious amount of scientific reasoning into it, for the product of two consecutive odd numbers is the ‘second best’ spacious dimension for the given amount of perimeter.

Interesting isn’t it?

So two conclusions that has kept me thinking were,

1. The possibility that there could be two rectangles with same perimeter but varying area
2. A square is the largest rectangle with maximum area for the given perimeter 

Oh the beauty of Maths!!

On Constructivism

From the book, ‘Tuition to Intuition’ by Dr.K.N.Anandan (pg.no.284)

Susan Hanley describes her perspective on the objectivist model:

“Classes are usually driven by “teacher talk” and depend heavily on textbooks for the structure of the course. There is the idea that there is a fixed world of knowledge that the student must come to know. Information is divided into parts and built into a whole concept. Teachers serve as pipelines and seek to transfer their thoughts and meanings to the passive student. There is little room for student-initiated questions, independent thought or interaction between students. The goal of the learner is to regurgitate the accepted explanation or methodology expostulated by the teacher.”

Von Glaserseld’s (1995b) in radical constructivist conception of learning says, the teachers play the role of a “midwife in the birth of understanding” as opposed to being “mechanics of knowledge transfer”. He argues that: “From the constructivist perspective, learning is not a stimulus-response phenomenon. It requires self-regulation and the building of conceptual structures through reflection and abstraction.” Fosnot (1996) adds that ‘rather than behaviours or skills as the goal of instruction, concept development and deep understanding are the foci.”

In constructivist paradigm, learning emphasizes the process and not the product. How one arrives at a particular answer, and not the retrieval of an ‘objectively true solution’, is what is important. Learning is a process of constructing meaningful representations, of making sense of one’s experiential world. In this process, students’ errors are seen in positive light and as a means of gaining insight into how they are organizing their experiential world. The notion of doing something ‘right’ or ‘correctly’ is to do something that fits with ‘an order one has established oneself’. This perspective is consistent with the constructivist tendency to privilege multiple truths, representations, perspectives and realities.

Design principles of Constructivism

Jonassen (1991) notes that many educators and cognitive psychologists have applied constructivism to the development of learning environments. From these applications, he has isolated a number of design principles:

1. Create real-world environments that employ the context in which learning is relevant;
2. Focus on realistic approaches to solving real-world problems;
3. The instructor is a coach and analyzer of the strategies used to solve these problems;
4. Stress conceptual interrelatedness, providing multiple representations or perspectives on the content;
5. Instructional goals and objectives should be negotiated and not imposed;
6. Evaluation should serve as a self-analysis tool;
7. Provide tools and environments that  help learners interpret the multiple perspectives of the world;
8. Learning should be internally controlled and mediated by the learner

Jonassesn (1994) summarizes what he refers to as “the implications of constructivism for instructional design”. The following principles illustrate how knowledge construction can be facilitated:

1. Provide multiple representations of reality;
2. Represent the natural complexity of the real world;
3. Focus on knowledge construction, not reproduction;
4. Present authentic tasks (contextualizing rather than abstracting instruction);
5. Provide real-world, case-based learning environments, rather than pre-determined instructional sequences;
6. Foster reflective practice;
7. Enable context-and content dependent knowledge construction;
8. Support collaborative construction of knowledge through social negotiation.

Visit to Malaiyur

Seldom did I guess that it would be an inspirational journey. My two years of experience at a tribal pocket in Jawadhu hills gave me the necessary will and confidence to agree upon or at least didn’t scare me. Thus the journey to Malaiyur village began on 24^th June, 2013 (Monday).

A secluded village – roadless – unconnected – perched on top of a mountain (I was told it belongs to the Sirumalai hills range). Amazing to see a community of 200 odd families that have been living up there for generations – though not categorized under Scheduled Tribes (ST). The walk itself was ardous – didn’t expect such a steep climb and the ageing started kicking in. Yeah my vigour of 20s is soon to end. But I found it worth only after seeing those sweet kids studying at their night school/ tuition centre.

A bunch of carefree lower primary schoolers are a treatise to any teacher – couldn’t help myself getting in the rhythm with their multiplication tables and rhymes. So cute they are. I went into narrating stories – which was wonderful. For the first time, I started realizing a proper story teller and a narrator blossoming within me. This inspired my friend Ranjith from EcoLogin who was accompanied with me to join the crowd. Little did I know that I can narrate such stories – Thonthi vayiru Ramasamy, Varam ketta Rana, Tortoise-Hare story part-2 (yeah! There is a sequel to it!) (Courtesy Rajendran sir). Little did I know I was at bliss.

How it all started?

Given the remoteness of the village, the discrimination was obvious – both socially and economically. There is this one person named Ponnazhagan who took on a lead to do something for his community. An 8^th standard pass-out, he realized the importance of Education that could bring a life-changing impact upon his kins. He himself struggled hard to study, for he had to walk at least two and a half hours to reach the nearest school at Mulaiyur village. This struggle inspired him to start a night school or a tuition centre at his village to help those students out some ten years before. Now this tuition centre has been catering to a large number of children year after year – that there are graduates in BA, MA, MSW, Diplomas looking back at this humble centre for aiding them out. And of course, it doesn’t end here and a lot more needs to be done and could be done for this community

How to reach the village?

You can reach the village by taking the bus to Natham from Dindigul or Madurai. From Natham, there are share autos that take a detour on Dindigul road at a village called Erumanaickenpatti and to reach a hamlet called Elliparai where Ponnalazhagan stays. From there is a 3 km hike uphill to reach Malaiyur. For more plans on visiting this place one can get in touch with EcoLogin www.ecologin.org.

Teaching ‘Time’ – the fun way

One of the objectives we (as Teachers) may want to teach 3^rd standard students to learn about Time is ‘to tell time to the nearest 5 minutes.’ Most of the children by age 7-8 are able to tell time as 5’o clock, 8’o clock, etc where the short hand is at the particular number while the long hand is almost taken for granted to be at number 12.

So, for the children to learn the skill of telling time close to 5 mins, the concept of 1 hour is equal to 60 mins needs to be introduced.

Mr.Rajendran in his book, ‘Inikkum Kanakku, part-2 for Class 3 and 4’ writes about an interesting way to present this concept by introducing a sequel to the ‘The Hare and the Tortoise’ story.

“The tortoise won the race. But rabbit wants another one. Both start to practice hard. Just a day before the race, rabbit meets tortoise and boasts that I can finish the race in 1 hour. For that tortoise replies, 'Oh it takes 60 minutes for me.' Considering himself as being at an advantage, he tells the same to his friend peacock. The more sensible peacock says to rabbit, 'You are a fool.' Why do you think peacock calls the rabbit a fool." And that starts the whole new discussion on introducing minutes, hours in the subject on time.. …..”

The subsequent discussion on why the peacock called the hare stupid will definitely yield to a point where at least one of the students will say that both means the same. Thus, the children arrive at an abstract concept like 1 hour = 60 minutes in an exciting way. From this, we could build on the concept how the multiplication table 5 is used to denote the minutes in clock and thereby making sense of the minutes on the clock.

Attaining the Concept

Let’s play a game. I am going to introduce names of animals in two categories.

Category 1	Category 2
Dog	Lion

Now you got the first set of animals. Let me introduce second and the third one.

Category 1	Category 2
Dog	Lion
Cow	Elephant
Cat	bear

Can you guess a pattern in Category 1 and 2? If you can, hold on, if you can’t its okay. Now, I am going to ask you some questions. Tell me under which category ‘goat’ comes.

Yes you are right - Category 1.

Category 1	Category 2
Dog	Lion
Cow	Elephant
Cat	bear
Goat

Now next one - ‘tiger’?

Yes! Category 2

Category 1	Category 2
Dog	Lion
Cow	Elephant
Cat	bear
Goat	Tiger

Now tell me where does,

• Horse comes?
• Deer?
• Giraffe
• Hen

Do this one by one.

Category 1	Category 2
Dog	Lion
Cow	Elephant
Cat	bear
Goat	Tiger
Horse	Deer
Hen	Giraffe

Now, are you able to identify the category? Not yet, don’t answer. Let’s go on further. Can you give me an example for category-1? An example for category-2? Elicit at least three sets of examples.

Category 1	Category 2
Dog	Lion
Cow	Elephant
Cat	Bear
Goat	Tiger
Horse	Deer
Hen	Giraffe
Duck	Cheetah
Rabbit	Snake
Buffalo	Monkey

Can you now tell me what the category means?

Yes! Category 1 is ‘Domestic animals’ and Category 2 is ‘Wild animals’.

In the game, you must have got your ‘aha’ moment earlier or later, but it was to your thinking that helped you get there. Even if you didn’t get it and got the answer externally you were able to take in the concept inside so easily and naturally.

This technique called ‘Concept Attainment Model’ was developed by Jerome Bruner, a pioneer in Constructivist Pedagogy.

Information processing and pattern recognition, it seems, one of the fundamentals of human cognitive ability. CAM builds on that. Bruner uses an ‘Yes/No’ model instead of two categories model I used to introduce one concept by giving an example against a non-example.

I used it to introduce ‘Punctuation’ and ‘Capitalisation’ by presenting a positive example of a correct sentence against the negative example of a wrong sentence. Then we discussed on deducing what made each sentence right or wrong, thus developing a list of grammar rules for writing a correct sentence.