(How important the Chairman’s speech is in any company? New Chairman’s Speech and how it matters for the company like CIL)
Every company is basically an identity workspace , a space where the employee feels recognized with, an identity she or he heavily borrows from , again an identity which itself gets assimilated , consolidated over the time with the collective identities of these employees where organization always looking towards the excellence of the individual and to be known by the same. Now while reinforcing the extant or established identity or reengineering the newer experimentation, it is very much important to understand the psyche of the company we are constructing(or reconstructing) this identity. Normally when leadership grows from inside, his version or view of identity will be always different from somebody who enters from outside (industry or company). Even if the industry is generically characterized by any special trait or type of service /product it caters to or creates , the identity and its interpretation will again vary. The insider who goes through the gruelling and grinding of any company which may be entrenched with some specific process like mining , steel , FMCG or entangled with specific purpose to be served like welfare , non profit , NGOs . The insider views are dotted with so many storylines , allegories of chivalry , valor and achievement but equally punctuated with experience traps of hindrance, blockades , resistance , red tapes and such others. So scripts of speech of any insider must reflect these experience, exposure and decision making capacity of the incumbent whereas the outsider never has that past baggage to show case all these blues or bugs while speaking. The outsider always comes with some different perspective may be new and fresh to the company but very much in vogue in the outside world where the incumbent worked.
So any speech from any body specially taking the reign of it or working at it’s helm must not miss or mesh with all the above narratives which has been duly processed over the past tenures of decades and so is very much expected to be put forward whenever given the chance to deliver. Industry like ours which always reels under the hardship of rough and rustic adversaries of all most all kinds like natural hazards , oddity in working , confronting unions (although militancy was very past these days) etc always discounts any rhetoric or dialogue from dais or playing to gallery with sheer cynicism , apathy and anger. An industry grown on its own with scanty regard to any modern management theory (although being incubator of almost all of them but in very crude way too silent and too shy to be advertised!! ) , CIL just gives a damn to any so called corporate culture and expects the people on the top must be plain speaking rather than weaving the cob web of words. There are industries where the more informed and erudite participants expects their head must be so called sauvé , savvy and sophisticated as well as erudite ,educated and enlightened enough while delivering their speech to connect with them. But not in our organization which by default overindulges in overtly more hazardous rather than just harsh environment and believes in facts to be presented in its utmost lucid form. And people in command must speak their mind rather than spin the cobweb of jargons, gimmicks being obsessed with style of communication bereft of substance of communiqué .
In the above pretext we must appreciate the first lecture of Mr. AK Jha the new chairman -elect who while being contestant was always considered the underdog in the high profile grand prix(long protracted selection process culd not have any better name) for the post lying vacant for almost three quarter of the year. More aptly be described being a dark horse in the chairman race as there a few other heavyweights’ names were round the corner , the man on dais simply has spoken his mind , confessed his passionate and protective personality as he described himself an ordinary but honorable man and narrated his realization in simplest term which suits best with the character of field we work.Never boasting of huge baggage of qualification, pedigree , charisma normally any chairman brings with his appointment ,he clearly felt enough humbled to be described a man with difference by some of his colleagues , he was more appreciative about the coal people at large rather than himself and thanked the audience in the sprawling, soothing corporate auditorium and the employees in the scorching, rugged field all of whom have inspired him enough for their genuine worth and cause to be approved for their last pay hike. He very much rightly proposed himself to be a facilitator, a man in such post as always is desired to be rather than just the chieftain of the company. He was honest enough , he was frank enough and he was fair enough while admitting his indebtedness to almighty God and Goddess (Lord Jagannath and Ma Kali) with whose blessing he could have reached such height, he was grateful enough to the people of CIL who gave him chance to serve them. The man on the dais never spoken what he never practiced. The simplicity was blatantly unarming. No playing with words, no spinning the cobweb of inflated claim (about one self) and ingenuine promise (for others), Mr. Jha spoke long as much his inner self wanted. Yes sometimes he appeared to go overboard when he showed his concern for the employee and loved to address it one to one basis. Yes, it always needs much more panache to place employee first rather than just power, position or predilection to promote their cause. However emotionally charged these words may be, there was truth in his admission, there his heart and soul poured fully on what he uttered in those few moments of his love and respect for the people. A rarest cult in this industry who never forgets every bit of comfort anybody enjoys in elsewhere(HQ or office premises) apart from the hazard and hardship of the field is always sweated out by our coal miner pitted against all possible odds in working zone (best be called war zone or winning zone of of king coal) , the man on the dais kept on reminding otherwise forgetful audience , about the sacrifice , sweat and suffering our colleagues , or coworkers are exposed in real time in our workfields.And it was not then at all surprising that the last claps he desired after his emotional pitch from the audience is for those brave hearts , the strong warriors ,the resilient fighters in the frontiers called coalfields fighting against all odds in real time to fuel almost every turbine of our nation to kindle the light in every house hold and every shop floor.