Three Monks: A Chinese Tale

 

 "For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack."

Based on an old Chinese saying, “three monks, no water,” this story teaches a gentle, humorous lesson about responsibility. Three monks allow personal pride to interfere with the performance of daily tasks, each believing that the other two should be the ones to go downhill to fetch water. When a fire breaks out, however, they understand how silly they’ve been and work together to save the temple. 

                                            

It is evident that  team work is necessary for successful organization.

The first lesson for managers is to always remember that all members are not equal. Each has a different capability and should be assigned work accordingly. 

The second lesson is to assign right work to right people. We saw in the video that when third monk was given task of fetching water he was consuming most of it himself. So he was not the right person for such hard task. Finally not only his work was utilized, he was also not consuming the monastery resource as he was positioned near water pool down the hill.

The solution not just lie in  hard work but also smart work.  Hard work is key to progress but smart work is the magic behind a successful organization.

Continuous Innovation is the need of the hour. Any organization cannot sustain for longer period without innovation. In the Video, we can see that the monks innovated pulley system only after the hut caught fire. To avoid such situation we should always look for better opportunities through continuous innovation.

 

“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”

 (A. Warhol).

Disputes and conflicts are bound to arise but they need to be minimized. Team work and coordination is the key to success.