Characters in a team

It was all tailor made hectic Monday yesterday. It's a monday morning and oh no, he should be quite busy is the artificially created character that takes rounds in the corporate world. I agree that they are genuinely working persons scattered in the world, who would be having a really pain in the, beep, hectic monday. And talking about characters, I was going through this round table discussion in Cricinfo, which talks about how important is to have characters in a team. I do read Cricinfo blogs and they do write sensibly. Again, the word cricket gives you a feeling as if snakes and lizards are crawling on your skin, not for you chicks. It was a good article and every team needs characters. Sure, each one of us is an artistically etched typical character on our own, who would never try to change despite the shortcomings highlighted by your friends, but what me mean by character is, the whole team should be able to laugh with you and they should feel your absence if you aren't around. Sort of your, happy-go-lucky Aman ( played by Shah Rukh Khan) in the movie Kal ho Na ho, who has a solution to every problem of yours. We are not getting into movies now.

You are a team comprising of five different people with varying degrees of professional experience and everyone has a view point on how to handle a task and then there is a team leader who is the ring master. The team leader has got his own ring masters over him. An ideal team (of five) would be a team comprising of a pompous chatter box, a sarcastic yet point talking bloke, normally your funny chap, a calm - always on the mission sir - who sort of gives you a feeling while you enter the team that he is THE guy who is working on a 10 year old algorithm for the safe return of a space craft from Mars - geek, and then the poke in your face ever present nuisance bloke who is like a metal pin in your otherwise delicious chicken piece ( for non vegetarians) or a rare type of grass grown in the Savannahs found in your tasty sandwich ( for vegetarians), all with qualified expertise to get on with the job. And watching the ring master having pains and gains managing this rare collection of antiques in the team is the real fun. I said it would be an ideal case, so chances of that sort of team existing, is possible, but rare.

After the character description, (now I am wondering, if I too can etch characters a bit) the real character is the one who mingles well with the team. He is the one who understands the job quickly, efficiently and does it on time. Talks only when needed when it comes to the job and yet makes everyone comfortable in his team. A quick learner and a good listener. Should not hesitate to address a point to his higher officials. If you are doing that,you would automatically gain respect, though he would hardly be known his value in his company, because, don't expect your company to appreciate you genuinely saying, Good job dude. If you are chatter box that could assist you in becoming a decent character as well. Show real concern to your colleagues and listen to their cribbing. That sort of gives a solidity to him and to your stature as well. You are having a social gathering, and people should wait for your arrival, to take the proceedings from there on. And then, there is a real character, where before his entry people are having a good laugh and a banter, and after his arrival the group suddenly goes hush - hush and converses everything in a low voice for the first few minutes until they get comfortable with that bloke, only to have a whale of a time later.