Butterfly Effect

I was reading an Article on ET.. Its worth to understand the criticality of each an every individual in an organisation. Butterfly Effect was a term popularised by the American mathematician and meteorologist, Edward Lorenz, which essentially referred to the idea that the fluttering of a butterfly’s wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that may ultimately result in the occurrence of a tornado in a certain faraway location. The flapping wing represents a small change in the initial condition of the system, which causes a chain of events leading to large-scale alterations of events. Had the butterfly not flapped its wings, the trajectory of the system might have been vastly different. Look closely and we will see that the Butterfly Effect has repercussions beyond meteorology, especially in our organisational set-ups, where small acts can lead to big effects. As the war for talent heats up in the Indian market, many corporate leaders tend to think that it takes complicated performance evaluation systems and steep salary hikes to motivate and retain their employees in the system. These do help, but only to a certain extent. An employee would stay productive only if he is made aware of how he is important to the system. Interestingly, this does not require any great efforts, but simple and small gestures. In fact, gentle nods of approval could boost morale levels and constant appreciations could help reducing employee attrition to an extent that could never be achieved through complex appraisal systems. A great example of this is Mary Kay Ash, a US businesswoman who built a multi-billion dollar cosmetics empire from a mere $5,000 initial investment. She founded her company based on a simple rule of encouraging managers to treat staff, customers, suppliers — everyone — with the same care, consideration, and concern they would like to receive themselves. It brought spectacular success to Mary Kay. She once said, “Our marketing plan is not based on any great management revelation, but on the simple policy of making people feel important, through every communication that goes out. At Mary Kay, we learn to imagine an invisible sign around each person’s neck that says ‘Make me feel important’.” Rely on small gestures of appreciation to create positive changes in your organisation. As one meteorologist once remarked about Lorenz theory, “One flap of a seagull’s wings could change the course of weather forever, and we won’t even realise it.” And as Mary Kay would say “Small praises to your people could lead to big successes that could change the fortunes of your company.”