Dreamwork

"It's a deal, you will be getting the initial funding of two million dollars in two weeks !!" said Mr. Pollock as he shook hands with Raj.

The presentation had done wonders. The foreign counterpart was mightily impressed. Raj had worked tirelessly to get the presentation in place within a unbelievably short timeline of 3 days. Needless to say, he had a great team as well. This was the moment the entire team had been waiting for.

After all, building and sustaining a startup is definitely always a bit more than a one man show, isn't it? The entire team had been at it for the last one year. It was equally exciting and exhausting to say the least but they had made it and made it as a team.

However, things were not so smooth to begin with, let's rewind a bit.

Raj had passed out of one of the premier management institutes in the country eight years ago, had landed a lucrative job with one of the leading MNC banks in the country on the first day of the campus placements and had a three week dream induction stint at the Singapore office of the bank before he settled down in his role as an equity analyst based out of Mumbai.

He was exceptionally good at his work. He enjoyed what he did, this is where he had always wanted to be. What truly set him apart was his empathic nature. He would always make it a point to check on his team members and enquire if he could do anything to help. He valued each one in his team immensely. This ensured that his team performed tremendously well.

Within a span of six years, he had moved three teams with cent percent success rate, had three promotions and had earned a reputation of being a people's person. When he spoke, everyone listened to and valued him. Although much appreciated, he had his share of critics in the organization. They believed that he had never been tested, the path to success has been too easy. Little did they know that their views about Raj were soon going to change.

His latest team was considered very difficult to please. It had managers changing every six months.

Raj was given the responsibility of bringing some stability to the team. One of the team members, Joy was the trouble monger. He was the most experienced in the team and hence had this so called superiority complex, so to say.

Joy would constantly nag the other members in the team and put them down. He would find excuses to argue and pick up fights. Why would any manager or team tolerate him?

They could talk to the HR and get him transferred to another department. There was a catch. He was a star performer as far as work was concerned. Also, the company policy was such that they never sacked an employee until it became too grave an issue.

Joy's case was one of those brilliant employees with slight behavioral issues not warranting expulsion. Also, Joy would never agree to a transfer as he was the undisputed king of his process. The fact that he had setup the process three years ago from scratch had made him somewhat snooty.

This explained perfectly well about the managers shifting out of the team every six months. Everyone thought Raj would chicken out as well. Joy was indeed a difficult person to deal with.

Raj was undeterred, he was quite determined to make his time in the team count. He truly believed in the innate goodness of people.No one is born rude or angry, the circumstances determine how a person turns out to be.

Raj started his first week with the team meeting all the team members individually except for Joy, he asked each one of them about their experience in the process and concerns, if any.

Each one in the team was generally happy with the process as it provided a sharp learning curve but were a bit concerned about the frequent change of managers as it showed the team in a poor light. None of them were forthcoming about Joy although a couple of team members hinted that Joy had an attitude problem at times. Raj understood that the team was hesitant to speak up as trust was lacking and he should first work towards building trust amongst the team members and also between the team and himself.

The first month was spent understanding the business as usual, Raj believed that unless and until he understood the process from scratch, he would never be able to identify what the real issues are. 

Raj remained non confrontational with Joy, in fact he would tell the team that Joy was an asset to the team, the team should strive to be like Joy. This definitely aroused some suspicion in the team as to whether Raj was attempting to butter up Joy so that his place in the team is not questioned. Joy, on the other hand, was pretty amused by Raj putting up with him, no matter what.

The fact that Raj had gotten married just before taking charge of the team added to his challenge. Now, along with his job, he had a wife as well, towards whom he had an equal sense of responsibility. She was considerate enough to postpone their honeymoon as he was taking charge of the new team, there was absolutely no scope for taking time off.

Two months had passed since their wedding and no plans of honeymoon yet. Raj could sense the irritation in her voice once in a while but she was fine, that's what he hoped.

Raj went through Joy's track record in the organization, it was brilliant. He had delivered on every opportunity, never shied away from taking up challenges. He had been with the company for eight years. He had slogged day in, day out year after year. He was hand picked specifically from his previous team to setup the current process as he had due technical expertise required for the job. Raj was thoroughly impressed with his appraisal reports for the last three years. The fact that the team didn't have a steady manager made it obvious that he was managing the team for all practical purposes.

One thing suddenly struck Raj, why was Joy not heading the team? Why was he not made the manager? Why was it happening that someone else was constantly required to supervise him when he knew the process in and out?

In his head, Raj argued that being a manager is much more than just being skilled at what you do or knowing the process by heart. You need to know one thing very clearly,

"It's never a successful person, it's always a successful team. Ofcourse, there will be a leader but it's the team that matters"

He knew what he had to do next. He set up a meeting with. Joy was in no mood to soften. Nevertheless, Raj started the conversation by mentioning that he wanted to tell him how much he appreciates his contribution to the team The moment he had completed saying that, Joy burst out laughing.

He said that he had listened to this line so many times that it didn't make any difference. All his prior managers would say the same nice words but then they would happily forget his contributions when the appraisal time arrived. He substantiated his point by stating that he had been looked over for promotion the previous year when he was the most deserving.

He also mentioned that he had put in more than 12 hours a day for two months at a stretch when there was a sudden attrition in the team the previous year, still the previous manager had never acknowledged him. Most of the team was new, they were still in the learning phase and he had to be there in office every day. He didn't even remember when was the last time he took a proper vacation as he ended up working remotely even if he had taken time off.

Raj knew he had hit the bull's eye. Joy had told exactly what he was anticipating. He could see the dejection in his eyes clearly, when you give so much and don't get anything in return, it definitely hurts. His mind suddenly drifted to his wife who was not very vocal about things but her eyes said it all.

Raj mentioned that he can't do much about things that didn't go well in the past but he can trust him to make things work this year provided he would incorporate a few minor changes to his day to day work routine.

Firstly, he should stop expecting everyone in the team to work at the same level as he does. Each person is different, he should learn to appreciate the similarities and respect the differences. Resentment would not improve things ever.

Secondly, he should be open to change, new people in the team will take some time to pick up things. He should be smart enough to gauge each person's expertise and assign him or her work accordingly.This will ensure that there is no skill set mismatch.Also.if he believes someone is clearly a misfit in the process, we can work together to get it sorted.

Joy didn't seem convinced. Nevertheless, he agreed. Over the course of the next one month, Raj worked closely with Joy to ensure that all that was discussed in the meeting was put to practice. The results were slowly beginning to show. The team could notice a pleasant change in Joy's behavior.

Two months down the line, things were a lot better and stable as well. Raj decided to take a week off as things were going smooth.

He had planned a trip to Switzerland that was long due. His wife was super excited. He had sat his wife down and apologized, she laughed it off and asked him to cut down on drama. Finally, he had gotten guilt free or so he thought. The last five months had been extremely gruelling.

Raj was on his way to the airport, it was 1am. He had left office a couple of hours earlier as he had some last minute shopping left. Joy was feeling a little unwell when Raj left but he assured him that he would leave early.

The moment Raj reached the airport, he decided to check on Joy. He was still in office. He mentioned that there was an adhoc request that had come in from the U.S. office and had to be completed the same day before U.S. office closes down. He was coughing continuously and was sounding too weak. Raj immediately sent a mail to his U.S. counterpart asking if the adhoc can be postponed by a day, he received a firm negative response. The entire team had left, no one except Joy had remote work access.

Raj could sense something wasn't right. He turned to his wife, she already knew the trip was not happening, she asked him to get her a cab and she will cancel the tickets.

After his wife left, he took a cab and reached the office. It was 1.30 am. Joy was almost on the verge of collapse. Raj immediately called the security to get an ambulance, Joy was rushed to the hospital just in time. It was dengue.

Raj had informed Joy's family, he left the moment they arrived at the hospital, asking them to call him if need be.

He reached office at 3.30 am, sat through the excel sheet that Joy was working on, finished it just in time. Luckily, Joy had completed more than half of the work and Raj didn't have to spend too much time to complete it.

Joy recovered. The global achievement awards were announced the next month. Joy Mendonsa was the winner. Raj finally went to Switzerland, this time it actually happened. His wife was a magnanimous human being, he knew he was lucky.

By then, Raj was contemplating quitting his job and setting up something on his own. He spoke to his wife and she was ok with his decision. Raj had completed a year with this team and he knew Joy was capable of taking charge and he is no longer required.

He put forth his decision to leave. The management agreed with a heavy heart. It was announced that Joy was being promoted and would be heading the team going forward. Finally, it was farewell time. Everyone spoke at length about Raj and his magic. Joy didn't say much. He handed over a gift to him.

Once everyone had left, Joy asked Raj to open it. It was a framed picture of a hand. He mentioned that the hand in the picture was Raj's that had ensured that he sailed through. A tear escaped his eyes.

Eight months had passed since the farewell. Raj was on his way to creating a new team, fulfilling a new dream. Joy's gift was sitting pretty on his table.

As they say "Team work makes the dream work".