Management Lessons from Childhood Activities-1
Film Show
A journey into my
childhood has helped me to find the treasure of learning, a learning that can
be used in the world of management. Those born in 1970s had no access to
gadgets, probably the only gadget a typical Indian middle class had was a radio,
in the mid of 70s came a TV, which was for the affordable class.
While reading
this some of you might feel we were unfortunate or some of you might feel we were
free from the clutches of mobiles, whatever you feel that’s your choice. But we
had no other choice than going out of homes to play with our friends and
neighbours.
There were many
childhood activities which are closer to my heart, but in this article I would
like to focus on a activity called –Film
show.
Film show was one
of my favourite activities which we used to do during our summer vacations due
to the presence of hot sun. During those days I remember a common dialogue
spoken by any Tamil mother
“Summer Leave vituachi edhaku apprama orrula
errakuru veyil yellam endha pasanga meladhan, kaka madhiri suthuvanga (summer
leave has been declared and the entire heat will be on these kids & they
will roam like a crow)”
But today’s mother don’t use the above
statement they tell “eppapathalam mobile la games veliydranga, veliya poi
eduvadhu physical veliyda matringranga (Every time they keep playing with mobile,
they don’t engage in any outdoor activities)
Times would have changed but the mother’s love and care remains the same in any generation.
Coming back to
the film show now let’s understand what we mean by this, is it an electronic projector,
is it a slide shower or a motor operated projector.
It is none of the
above it was purely a homemade projector using collection of few things we used
in our day to day life along with few materials which we need to buy it from
the shops.
Let me introduce
you to the things which we used to make our own projector
A shoe box which was used to stock some materials
like shoe polish, brush, socks etc.
We used to make two holes in the box, one in front
to place a lens and in the rear we make hole to divert the sun light and ensure
it falls on the lens.
A hand mirror which was used for shaving and
makeup
We used to place the mirror in the outdoor to
capture the sun light and direct it towards the shoe box
A lens was used mainly as a toy, in some houses
they were used to read hand written documents
We used to remove the lens from the rim and place
it on the hole which is in front of the shoe box
Film bits that was discarded after editing was
sold in petty shops at 25 Piece for 5 pieces, we used to buy Rajinikanth, Kamal
Hassan and other actors films.
This was placed behind the lens in the shoe box
for projection.
This was used as a projection screen
Sunlight was used as a source of light for projection
Let’s understand the process we followed to
project an image on the screen
Step-1- A mirror is placed outdoors to capture the sunlight and
the same is beamed to indoors through a window.
Step-2- The captured light is diverted into the shoe box and the
light beam falls on the film and same hits the lens.
Step-3- once the mirror, film and the lens are well synchronized it
zooms into an image which is projected on the white cloth.
These were static images without sound. The joy was in
ensuring the sunlight is captured perfectly to see the image from a small film
version to a large screen version.
The final output might look like this
The Crew Members and lessons we can learn
from each member
Mirror operator: Places the mirror outdoors to capture the
sunray and beams in into the shoe box and co-ordinates with the person indoors
who operates the projector.
Lessons
·
The
mirror operator senses the sunlight and starts adjusting the mirror similarly
we should sense the changing environment and adjust our internal mirror to
achieve a goal.
·
The
mirror operator does not do it alone, he/she works with operator inside and
understands his/her needs and works, similarly we don’t work alone we might
work for an organisation or we might be running an organisation hence we should
learn to develop skills and knowledge required based on the organisation needs.
·
Mirror
operator might become tired because of being exposed hot sun; he/she seeks rest
or would like to play the others a role which is indoors.
·
Similarly
in life, we will also burnout, let’s learn to take a break or play a different
role to beat the monotony with in.
Operator: is the person who works along with the mirror operator,
places the film in box and tunes the lens to project the image.
Lessons
·
The operator
checks the light which beams and adjusts the box position to ensure the light
falls on the film. Similarly in life we need to keep seeing the outside world
and evaluate our own self to check whether our skills and knowledge is in line
with what is required outside.
·
The
operator does not do it alone, he/she works with mirror operator outside and
understands his/her position, similarly we don’t work alone, we work for our
customers and hence we understand their needs and bring changes within.
·
The
operator also needs to co-ordinate with the screen holders and communicate how
to hold it and keep alerting them about the shrinks in the cloth, screen
holders are our internal customers who should be told to be alert and stick to their roles so that the
organisation gets the right growth & projection
·
Operator
might become tired because of adjusting the lens and the film to achieve
optimum projection, hence he/she might opt to play the role of a mirror
operator, similarly in life we should look for job rotation at one end and
learn to acquire an additional skill set to ensure, we enjoy our work.
Screen holder: In some places we cannot tie the white cloth
and hence there will be 2 persons who will hold the white cloth for projection.
Lessons
·
The job might look monotonous but it
plays a vital role in achieving the end result similarly certain jobs might
look monotonous but it plays a key role in the organisation.
·
Screen holders sees the audience
reaction, operator and mirror operator functions, hence they are able
understand the audience reaction and learn the function of both mirror operator
and operator.
Similarly some functions in the work
place works both with the external customers and internal customers, hence
their exposure will be good and can quickly adopt in the other role.
There will few be
audiences who will be there to cheer-up and enjoy those static films.
These audiences
can be kids of lesser age, they don’t only act as audience they assist all the
functions and keep giving feedback about the quality of the projection and they
wholeheartedly clap when they see a clear image.
Lessons
These audience
are none other than our second line, when we share our knowledge with others,
we are not only reducing our burden we are also developing the second line.
When I played
this game as a kid, all I wanted is to achieve a clear projection. In simple
words determination to prove that I can also show a film and entertain my
friends.
Now when I look
back I question myself do I have the same determination to project what I am
and what I want?
Let’s
connect with our childhood activities to unleash the qualities that are hidden
within us.
Written
by
M.L.Narendra
Kumar
Comments
Post a Comment