Identify Housefly leaders in your corporate

The corporate leaders and the HR function must bite the bitter truth that the house flies don’t grow once they have emerged from the pupa stage. Life cycle of the domestic fly passes through three distinct phases viz.,

1. egg
2. larva (maggot)
3. pupa

before they metamorphosed to an adult housefly. The maggots (larva) hatch out from the eggs. The larva then transform into pupa. From pupa, the adult emerges. The fly once come from the pupa, doesn’t grow further until death. They remain ‘the same’ irrespective of how much ever food they get to eat or are provided.

The interesting question is that then what determines the size of the fly as we can see fly in different size? The answer of the above question is the real message of the nature to the corporate and its HR function. Within the same species of housefly, some would be small and some would be really big in size. How such size differentiation is possible if the truth were that the flies don’t grow once they come from pupa.

Only the food that the larva (maggot) of the fly get to eat, determines the actual size of the fly. If they get less food to eat (the larva of the housefly), subsequently, the fly that emerge from the pupa will be small in size and if the maggots get lot to eat, the fly will be much larger in size. In the sense, the size of the fly is exclusively determined by the quantum of food available to the larva and not to the adult fly.

Many employees do exist in the corporate like ‘housefly’. Whatever the exposure, support, mentoring or training are given to them, they seldom show any signs of growth or leadership quality. Most of the HR function presumes that if more number of HR trainings are given to the people, they slowly develop all required managerial and leadership qualities. The bitter truth is that they are yet to understand that some employees may not grow any further as already they have reached the state of ‘an adult housefly’.

What they are today is what they are after complete metamorphosis. Unless such people are identified early, the corporate may unnecessarily waste resource, time and effort in those people. The suggestion is not to eliminate such people from the corporate but be aware of the fact that those people cannot be developed any further.

It is not about what type of training should be given to people in different ‘levels’, when such trainings should be given, who will benefit and who will not, also the HR function should evaluate.

Only sincere, committed and sensitive HR function can do such job.

Nature has vast knowledge in management and indeed has employed ‘unimaginable’ number of management principles while creating different species of plants and animals. The corporate leaders must learn to decode the management secrets of nature for the total and complete prosperity of the organization.

It is often said that ‘one can bend a stick but not a tree’ is what the life cycle of the housefly communicate to the corporate management. Learn the life cycle of housefly and learn to understand the people and their behavioural dynamics.

Dr S Ranganathan