Discipline is a tool to enhance effectiveness through a structured approach and perfection is a mirage.
My friend Raju, who is an electrician, is of a third kind -- he falls in between my list of people who I like and those I stay away from. He is extremely skilled and carries out work wonderfully. In fact, his work sometimes extends from electric tasks to plumbing and masonry.
Over the years, I have attained sainthood in terms of dealing with him. Once he informs me that he is coming, I have to repeatedly call him on his phone to remind him. This sometimes goes on for a couple of days.
I also struggle to justify and explain my bond with him to my dear ones and why I do not get upset and engage some other person in his place. There are a few more handymen whose grumpiness, indiscipline and lack of etiquette I overlook.
I developed much of this tolerance through my job as a manager. Some of my team members had quirky lifestyles. There was one gentleman who would go to bed only in the wee hours and wouldn’t start work till noon. There was no way he would turn up if I included him in meetings or involved him in scheduled work before afternoon. He did wonders once he did started work. Initially, though his behaviour did bother me, I began to realise that the outcome was more valuable than my ego or discipline.
There were few other members who were night owls and others who were highly disciplined morning larks. I assigned responsibilities accordingly and leveraged them to serve our customers in either eastern or western geographies outside the country. The outcome was marvellous. It wouldn’t be imprudent to say that some areas of disciplinary culture followed their English owners when they exited the country post-independence.
Discipline is a tool to enhance effectiveness through a structured approach and perfection is a mirage. It is counterproductive when these are expected from others to satisfy our desires of authority and egos. Flexibility and our accommodation of diverse styles provides optimum results, deviations that negatively impact results are corrected. We seldom recognise our imperfections that are accommodated by our near and dear ones. It is only when the negative impact of our imperfections exceeds admirable virtues that we start to suffer from unfavourable treatment from others.