Lessons in “Teamwork”

from an age-old fable

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“The Hare &Tortoise”

Vijay L Sonavane

ME (Elect)

Once upon a time a tortoise and a hare had an argument about who was faster.

They decided to settle the argument with a race.

They agreed on a route & started off the race.

The hare shot ahead & ran briskly for some time.

Then seeing that he was far ahead of the tortoise, he thought he'd sit under a tree for some time & relax before continuing the race.

He sat under the tree & soon fell asleep.

The tortoise plodding on overtook him & soon finished the race, emerging as the “undisputed champ”.

The hare woke up & realized that he'd lost the race.

The moral of the story is that slow & steady wins the race.

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This is the version of the story that we've all grown up with.

But, “The story” continues …

The hare was disappointed at losing the race & he did some soul-searching.

He realized that he'd lost the race only because he had been overconfident, careless & lax.

If he had not taken things for granted, there's no way the tortoise could have beaten him.

So, he challenged the tortoise for another race.

The tortoise agreed.

This time, the hare went all out & ran without stopping from start to finish.

The “Hare” won by several miles.

The moral of the story?

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Fast & consistent will always beat the slow & steady. If you have two people in your organization,

• One slow, methodical & reliable, and
• the Other fast & still reliable at what he does,

the “fast & reliable” chap will consistently climb the organizational ladder faster than the slow & methodical chap.

It's good to be slow & steady;

but it's better to be fast and reliable.

But the story doesn't end here …

The tortoise did some thinking this time, & realized that:

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“there's no way he can beat the hare in a race the way it was currently formatted.”

He thought for a while, & then: “challenged the hare to another race, but on a slightly different route”

The hare agreed.

They started off.

• In keeping with his “self-made commitment” to be consistently fast, the hare took off & ran at top speed until he came to a broad river.
• The finishing line was a couple of kilometers on the other side of the river.

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The hare sat there wondering what to do???

In the meantime, the tortoise trundled along, got into the river, swam to the opposite bank, continued walking & finished the race.

The moral of the story?

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First identify your core competency & then change “the playing field” to suit your core competency.

In an organization,

• if you are a good speaker, make sure you create opportunities to give presentations that enable the senior management to notice you.
• If your strength is “analysis”, make sure you do some sort of research, make a report & send it upstairs (to your BOSSES)

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Working to “your strengths” will not only get you noticed, but will also create opportunities for “growth & advancement”.

The story “still” hasn't ended …

The hare & the tortoise, by this time, had become pretty good friends

and they did some thinking together.

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Both realized that the last race could have been run much better.

So, they decided to do the last race again,

but to run as a TEAM, this time.

They started off, &

• this time the hare carried the tortoise till the riverbank.

There, the tortoise took over & swam across with the hare on his back.

On the opposite bank,

the hare again carried the tortoise & they reached the finishing line “together”.

They both felt a “greater sense of satisfaction” than they'd felt earlier.

The moral of the story?

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It's good to be “individually brilliant” & to have “strong core competencies” ;

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but, unless you’re “able to work in a team” & harness each other's core competencies, you’ll

always perform “below par”

because there will always be “situations at which you'll do “poorly” & someone else does well.

Teamwork is mainly about situational leadership,

• letting the person with the relevant core competency for a situation take “leadership”.

There are more lessons to be learnt from this story.

• Note that neither the hare nor the tortoise gave up after failures.
• The hare decided to work harder & put in more effort after his failure.
• The tortoise changed his strategy because he was already working as hard as he could.

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• In life, when faced with failure,
• Sometimes it is appropriate to work harder & put in more effort.
• Sometimes it is appropriate to change strategy & try something different. And
• Sometimes it is appropriate to do both.

The hare & tortoise also learnt another vital lesson.

When we stop competing against a rival and instead start competing against the situation, we perform far better.

To sum up, the story of the hare & tortoise teaches us many things:

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• Never give up when faced with failure
• “Fast & consistent” will always beat “slow & steady”
• Work to “your competencies”
• Compete against the “situation”, not against a rival.
• Pooling resources & working as a “TEAM” will always beat “individual performers”

Let’s come together

and

build stronger “TEAMS”!

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For Feedback contact:�Mr. Vijay L. Sonavane

vlsonavane@gmail.com

M:98333 62062�

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Thank You

for

Your kind Attention!