Push away the mental blocks

DC Sharma

To be a constructive manager, you ought to know how to make your workforce productive. You have to help your employees get rid of their mental blocks. These inhibitions always obstruct their output and productivity. Your positive and optimistic attitude along with the timely guidelines can help them counter these mental blocks. Even their morale would get a boost.  

You must start exploring novel methods of enhancing your employees' efficiency. The sooner you do, the better it will be. Each day, in every possible way, try to apply creative methods. Encourage your workforce to think out of the box. There shouldn't be any defined way of accomplishing a task, only the result should matter. Give this liberty to employees till they are sticking to ethical means of achieving target tasks.  

Break the set pattern

Employees with a mental block stick to a fixed frame of work each time they do their job. You need to think of the ways and means to counter that mental block. As a constructive manager, you need to increase productivity not only to survive, but also to excel. Here is how you can break these mental knots that trouble your workforce.

• Try marking deadlines for your employees. They will realise the value of time management. Finishing tasks before the deadline would give them a sense of achievement.
• Make your workforce to visualise their success clearly. Soon they will start focusing on the end result. Help them make their goals specific rather than too broad. The smaller the goals, the easier it becomes for them to achieve these. This will help them get rid of the obstructions caused by their mental knots.
• As most of your workforce has already been victims of AP/SC knots, initially self doubt may grip them. However, once they realise that their doubt is self generated out of their past experiences, they would soon feel encouraged as they get inspired to keep on doing their best. Often, words of praise and encouragement would start working magic.
• At the same time, try making your workforce aware of the latest methodologies. That will make things easy for them. This would prove to be the best timely help. Try to update their knowledge rather than allowing them to blindly pursue their goals.  
• You have to keep a watch on things that employees have the tendency to delay. And as they put off the work, it piles up adding to further problems and worries for them. Conduct regular refresher courses and workshops for them. Thus, they will acquire new knowledge
• Analyse how your workforce is performing after seeking guidance and advice from you. But over-supervision on your part can again prove a hindrance. So give them some freedom too. It is better to wait and watch, rather force upon them your instructions. A cool and calm employee learns better than a forced one. Your well-intentioned efforts would surely help your workforce to get rid of their AP/SC knots. 

Break away

Mental blocks are also known as AK/SC knots - Aslan's principle (AK), and swami's cat (SC). 

AK: Aslan's friend loved to jog daily. Every day he would follow the longest rout intentionally, ignoring the shortest one. On that route lived his close friend, Aslan. He enjoyed that time gossiping with him. After three weeks, Aslan left that place. But his friend would follow the same long route as a habit. He got enslaved to the Aslan knot (AK).

SC: What's swami's cat? To still his mind, a swami would tie his cat to a pole to avoid any disturbance. His disciples too developed this mental knot. They would keep tying the cat even when the swami had left.

 The writer is Kangra-based career psychologist