Story: Mahesh
When the word "boss" comes into a conversation, aggression, imposition and mistreatment are common; the same was expected from my juniors too. To my surprise, appreciations from my sub-ordinates especially in an unexpected time brought a lot of joy. It was overwhelming for me to experience this moment.
As a growing company, the majority of our team members are very young, mostly fresh out of colleges. Along with a lot of joy, and enthusiasm, we have been facing our own share of problems, especially on the behavioral front. To address some general issues, the company had arranged a training program on personal development. Initially, there was no excitement among the employees, but, to everyone's' surprise, the response of the attendees was quite overwhelming. Such program being organized the first time in the company, many points brought about a very good realization in each and every one.
By the end of the program, I have seen vibrant faces of the employees overflowing with new energy to showcase these learnings and implement the same in making the team stronger. Just when I stood up to conclude the program with a 'Thank you' speech, there was an interruption from employees.
Many employees started praising me citing various examples of how I led them by the same examples. While one employee cited an experience where I canceled my trip (along with another employee) to complete a project report which had crashed just before we left for an office trip, another employee acknowledged that 80% of the learnings in the programs were already being followed and taught by me.
Even though I laugh at that moment now, it was funny that I literally cried and gave the 'Thank you' speech with teary eyes.