Leadership Lessons from Village
Life-Part-2
Corporate Thinnai
Since I am from Southern part of India, I
would like to introduce certain Tamil words and it’s meaning for better
understanding. In a village outside the home there is a place for sitting which
is called Thinnai means porch or portico in an old village house in Tamil Nadu
Thinnai was an open Veranda that served many
purposes. One of the main functions of the Thinnai was to provide free lodging
to the travelers at night. This was during that period when there was no
electricity in the villages, and there were no buses or trains.
Thinnai was used by men folks to assemble and
rest or hold talks. Teachers of arts and literature taught young children on
these raised platforms.
Each house in a Village will have a Thinnai,
where the respective house-owner will treat the fellow villager as a friend and
initiate discussion that is commonly understood by all and share their views.
When I was young, I have seen in one side of
Thinnai, elderly people will be planning how to conduct religious festival etc.
And on the other side we will be playing some board games. Let us understand
how a Leader can apply the concept of Thinnai in the modern workplace.
Lesson-2-Thinnai in Corporate World- Though we might not have a
concrete Thinnai, but we can create a Thinnai and conduct open house
discussion, learn some new art, and have a group discussion. By doing so, we
uphold our tradition, and we can conduct some of our discussion in traditional
manner, which will sound innovative and break the monotony.
My reflection from the discussion on the Thinnai is, openness, respect for others views and feeling a sense of being equal. Thinnai is a place where, everybody feels important., Leaders should mentally feel their meetings are like Thinnai where people views should be given importance
Conduct a corporate Thinnai event to plan
some festival celebration, hold some traditional event meetings &break the
monotony of being too formal
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