Congruency – A word that is on its extinction, not as a word but as a practice….it’s nothing but a single word description for a phrase called Talk the Walk….”Saying what we do…Doing what we say”…to put it simply…
But the million dollar question is – “is it so difficult to be congruent?” and what stops us to follow congruency in everything we do in our daily lives.
For example – we promise our children of an outing over the weekend….and we end up not doing it….we promise our spouse of a shopping which doesn’t happen…we promise our colleagues of maintaining integrity with some confidential discussions….and we end up socializing it at the back end….
What do we get if we live a life this way….and how long can we betray our close pals, family members,
colleagues, teams and the world itself as a whole…am sure we are more at a disadvantage than any benefit out of this exercise…
Just think the effect of such behavior on our world around us…and imagine the way the world would treat us
back….worse?? if not immediately, but as they say what goes around comes around….we will have our share of embarrassment, humiliation and all such effects when someone behaves the same way…by not being congruent with his words and actions towards us.
Friends and family members may forgive us for what we say and do….but just imagine….are we sure that we will be spared even at our workplace?? As I told, we might not see an immediate reaction to our words and actions….but it gets accumulated and consolidated at one corner of the hearts of the people who are watching us over a period of time….
The questions that bug my mind are – “why do we do this”, “whom are we doing this for”, “who is benefitted out of this”, “what happens to our character”….and so on….
I feel that this behavior is inherited from the people who are our superiors….we take them as examples; we feel that if they can do this, why can’t I do it? And this is a chain reaction and a vicious circle which never ends. Some or other becomes a victim day in and day out… All this happens due to our lust for growth and prosperity
All those people whom we try to emulate in this matter are not good examples of positive leadership and this will have a negative impact on how are we perceived as an organization within the organization. Sometimes, it might also happen that people on the top tend to ignore such behaviors unless they become the victims and end up using this to their benefit under the camouflage of business strategy.
It is very important for all of us to be transparent enough in maintaining a congruent culture in our lives.
Leaders on the top play a very crucial and vital role in cascading a congruent culture across the business. If leaders want to know what is going on the floor…they should do that themselves rather than heeding to the appointed spies as they could manipulate the information and our leaders are very good at making perceptions just by going on the feedback given by the respective managers or colleagues which might not be true to a great extent. This leads to a phenomenon called mislabeling of a worthy workforce. If we don’t work for our mislabeled subordinates, then we know nothing of leadership. We know only tyranny. Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if we must be without one, let’s be without the strategy.
Before we exhibit congruency to the outside world, let’s promise ourselves to be congruent with our inner self at least to give a worthy start for a more meaningful life for ourselves and for others around us.
