Story of the Three
Monks
“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is
progress. Working together is success”
An ancient Chinese proverb- "One monk will shoulder two buckets of
water, two monks will share the load, but add a third and no one will want to
fetch water."
A beautiful story about the fruitful
outcomes of mutual understanding in a team as well as about the disastrous consequences
of internecine conflicts.
Here it is, à Three Monks.
Different Scenarios
and Learning:
Scenario
1:
A young monk lives in a temple, on the top of
a hill. Other than his normal routine of prayers, he has the task of bringing
two buckets of water up the hill from the water-body near the hill's base. He
lives happily as he has to take care of himself only.
Ø Here, team has not
been built yet, just one individual is completing his tasks without any problem.
Scenario
2:
But soon, another monk arrives. Young monk
tries to burden the new monk with the task but the new monk calls his trick and
asks him to share the work. But, when they actually start doing it, they find
that the carry pole is not suitable for such usage. But, after some trials they
come to an agreement about the way they want to perform the task.
Lessons
Learnt:
Ø
If we have some experience of a place, that
doesn't give us a right to tease the new joiners, but a responsibility to show
them the way, we should try to build a healthy work environment.
Ø
We should never think of anyone being stupid,
their abilities and capacities might not be explicitly visible but that does
not mean, they don't have any.
Ø
We should never underestimate a person's
understanding; he might be knowing it and at the same time, might not be
showing it.
Ø
Try building a team, as a team usually
performs better than the individuals.
Ø
While working in a team, try to accommodate
others and be encouraging at the same time.
Ø If going gets tough
such as team is not going along well, understand everyone's perspective.
Ø Give people time to
settle and let them take the initiative.
Scenario 3:
Then a third monk arrives and both of the
other monks expect him to bring the water but the new monk drinks everything he
brings and the other two monks don't want to do the task anymore. Consequently,
because of this conflict, no one fetches water although everybody is feeling
thirsty. At night, a rat knocks down a candle holder causing fire in the
temple. The three monks finally get together and make an effort as a team to
put out the fire. They succeed in this task and later on, formulate a method to
bring the water. Now, they have understood the axiom "unity is
strength" and live a harmonious life thereafter.
Lessons Learnt:
Ø Don't try to change
people, give them time to change themselves at their own pace.
Ø Don't push your
expectations too far; it might cause trouble to the whole team.
Ø If team is not going
along, it doesn't mean that we should let things take their own course. We
should strive to change the flow and bring people together.
Ø It is true that a
mis-happening brings people together but that doesn't mean, we should wait for
one to put things in order.
Ø A good team can
perform any task, the authority and responsibilities need to be delegated
properly.
Learnings can be
Summarised as below:
·
Unity - means
oneness, or togetherness. When there is oneness there is likely to be more
strength in opinion, more strength in action, and more strength in character.
This is a very simple and obvious fact that, if one person tries his hands on
some job, he will manage much less than what a group effort will achieve.
·
Teamwork -Team
work is essential in corporates for better output and a better bonding among
employees. In a team , Workload is shared and individuals feel motivated
to perform better than his team members
·
Division of work
or labour - Division of labour represents a qualitative increase in
productivity. In a successful organization, work and labour is divided as per
economic, technological and physical strength of individual. Such structured
division lead to success
