The modern breed of Ekalavyas

When a fresh recruit joins an organization, there is a lot of hunger to learn & prove one’s self. Although this also applies to experienced folks jumping ships, it’s much more perceived in graduates fresh out of college. Most of the smaller companies don’t have the luxury chalking out a dedicated training plan for these newbies. And here is where this concept of “learning on the job” is being thrust upon. The new recruit is given a particular project task (albeit a minor one to start with) and asked to co-work with seniors in the team to accomplish the same, and in the process learning the rules of the game. However, in most cases, the seniors have their hands full & can’t spare much time to train the rookies. But, the new recruits need to demonstrate their learning & take up critical tasks pretty soon.

Ekalavya was a tribal warrior with an immense passion for archery. He wanted to learn from one of the best masters around, Guru Dronacharya , the very high profile teacher of the princes of Hastinapur. Ekalavya tried to approach Dronacharya, but he was blatantly refused any training. Although Dronacharya did see the talent in him, he was conveniently “busy” either with his highest priority task (honing the skills of his favorite prodigy Arjun) or not-so-important tasks (desperately trying to improve the skills of other mediocre princes). More-over he saw Ekalavya as a potent competition to Arjun. Not getting discouraged, Ekalavya observed the great master imparting his wisdom from distance, learning the various techniques of bow control and target aiming. He went back to practice on his own, recollecting what he learnt & put it to good use. He became an expert archer in due course of time.

This strikes a resemblance in some organizations where the new recruit is encouraged to learn the tricks of trade from a guru. But the guru himself is occupied with a list of high priority and low priority tasks. Training is left as a back-burner and the new recruits are left finding their own way to find the solution. The recruit then needs to keenly observe the senior(s) in the team during the meetings, conference calls and other interactions. Gather whatever they can, go back, do more learning, practice on their own, and complete the assigned activities. I am sure this “learning on the job” concept is definitely not going anywhere, and here is me showering all the modern day Ekalavyas a big round of applause…