Do you have a Story to share?
My father began his professional life in the tumultuous times of the mid-70’s. One of India’s youngest CA’s (back then), he worked in the finance department of a major public sector company in East India.
As a young, freshly minted boarding school educated Indian professional, his early career was as challenging as the India story. He told me stories of working with colleagues, bosses and supervisors who were easily manipulated, charmed or bought. He sent back suitcases filled with notes, sweet pots stuffed with rasgullas! My father held his ground and navigated through murky corporate corridors where he was the clearly the outsider. My father was threatened, he was bullied, he was cornered. His bosses were unhappy. His peers sneered. He soldiered on! Despite the odds, he earned immense respect during his tenure from those who understood him.. So much so that he received a star farewell when he left his job to jump into entrepreneurship.
“That was the culture everywhere,” he said to me, “You are either with them or against them.”
I imagined my father as the angry-young man of the 70’s!
Today, I want to know more about that ‘organisational culture’ that shaped India in the 80’s-90’s.
I am NOT looking for stories of corruption, or distress, instead I am looking for stories that showcase systems, processes and relationships that helped people and organisations swell.
When India was young, what did Indian workplaces look like? What kind of organisational culture facilitated professional, social, economic growth for Indian professionals.
I am looking for first-hand accounts / personal stories of individuals who worked in India, be it government / private sector across geographies and organisational hierarchy.
Here some questions that I have for you:
- How did caste / class / education / gender impact employee relations?
- How did Managers / Supervisors work with workers and their seniors?
- How did department heads / regional managers / CEOs create ‘organisational culture’?
- What were the factors that impacted personal / organisational growth?
- What did values like Empathy, Collaboration, Trust, Respect, Accountability mean back in the day? What were the habits, practices and culture that challenged / strengthen values at the workplace?
Why am I looking for this?
I am designing a Conversation / Story – led Workshop module on Organisational Culture.
I am looking at India-specific real / unheard / untold stories that help us pivot narratives of ‘Then & There’ to ‘Here & Now’ to ‘When & There’.
This is also an exercise to bring out stories of our elders (parents, relatives, etc) who built their careers at a time when organisational culture was NOT much talked about.
I am looking for people who worked in banks, academia, healthcare, public sector, India Inc and any other sector. If you have an elder at home or in your community, go ahead & ask for stories.
How will this be used?
- Stories when selected will be recorded / documented in audio and / or text format. Due credits and acknowledgements would be shared about the origins of the story.
- The stories will be shared with the client. They will be further used by them in their internal trainings.
For more questions, write to me at rituparna@yourstorybag.com
To know more about our work and how we create stellar Employee Experience, look up Cha, Golpo & Adda and Onboarding with Stories
