A child today stares into a television to watch a reality show related to adventure and a housewife at home awaits her favourite dance show. This gravitation toward reality TV is fuelled by the concept of ‘local heroes’. A local hero is a protagonist in flesh and blood who is reminiscent of the boy / girl next door, but is achieving or living his dreams. The break down of the feudal system in contemporary society has made bigger role models out of ordinary folk on the street rather than persons in high ranking positions.
Indian Navy has a tradition of seeking out its own ‘local heroes’. This is done at the grass root level by means of cash / proficiency awards on ship or at the pinnacle of Indian Navy by bestowing awards ranging from NM to PVSM. These awards are a tool for motivation and also fulfil the HR function of rewarding excellence. However, for the seaman at sea, these awards are a distant unachievable milestone. These awards only announce the winners; how they won these accolades rarely comes in the foreground. To expound my assertion, I seek help of the management cliché which calls for control of ‘People-Process-Product’ in order to get the desired result. By this premise, the Indian Navy rightly rewards the deserving-People for delivery of the desired-Product. There is an unfinished agenda pending to highlight the Process that was used by the rewarded individual to achieve the laudable result. The award winners become heroes-that inspire awe in brother sailors. But to become a ‘local heroes’, the journey to victory should be reviewed and followed by all. Anyone following the effort of the awarded individual should be able to see himself in the shoe of the protagonist.
Contemporary issues /challenges in Navy require contemporary solutions. A great re- affirmation of faith is kindled in an individual if one cites and shows him one amongst his own, who has excelled above the benchmark. The archiving of the efforts of these awardees for posterity is wanting. There is no better institution than CLABS in Navy, to spearhead the trend of documenting the practises adopted by sailor/ officer. The road map of effort which resulted in medals ranging from NM to PVSM, to be bestowed on an individual needs to be published and proliferated. Every year selected case studies on award winners should be converted into workshop study / motivational lecture series. As a starting measure, what need to be done is to enumerate the inspiring citations of people who have done wonders, in periodicals like Mashaal / Naval Despatch. By initiating this practice the gains for the navy would be multi-fold. It will not only honour our role models in Navy of today. It will also infuse a culture of excellence that has local success story weaved into it. So I yearn to see the day when instructors in Navy will cite living examples of contemporary seaman of our Navy. We need not seek help of heroes from the annals of history or from management Gurus of US /or Japanese industry. Till that day of glory, when feat of ordinary men with extraordinary deeds is extolled, my search for a local hero will continue.
Indian Navy has a tradition of seeking out its own ‘local heroes’. This is done at the grass root level by means of cash / proficiency awards on ship or at the pinnacle of Indian Navy by bestowing awards ranging from NM to PVSM. These awards are a tool for motivation and also fulfil the HR function of rewarding excellence. However, for the seaman at sea, these awards are a distant unachievable milestone. These awards only announce the winners; how they won these accolades rarely comes in the foreground. To expound my assertion, I seek help of the management cliché which calls for control of ‘People-Process-Product’ in order to get the desired result. By this premise, the Indian Navy rightly rewards the deserving-People for delivery of the desired-Product. There is an unfinished agenda pending to highlight the Process that was used by the rewarded individual to achieve the laudable result. The award winners become heroes-that inspire awe in brother sailors. But to become a ‘local heroes’, the journey to victory should be reviewed and followed by all. Anyone following the effort of the awarded individual should be able to see himself in the shoe of the protagonist.
Contemporary issues /challenges in Navy require contemporary solutions. A great re- affirmation of faith is kindled in an individual if one cites and shows him one amongst his own, who has excelled above the benchmark. The archiving of the efforts of these awardees for posterity is wanting. There is no better institution than CLABS in Navy, to spearhead the trend of documenting the practises adopted by sailor/ officer. The road map of effort which resulted in medals ranging from NM to PVSM, to be bestowed on an individual needs to be published and proliferated. Every year selected case studies on award winners should be converted into workshop study / motivational lecture series. As a starting measure, what need to be done is to enumerate the inspiring citations of people who have done wonders, in periodicals like Mashaal / Naval Despatch. By initiating this practice the gains for the navy would be multi-fold. It will not only honour our role models in Navy of today. It will also infuse a culture of excellence that has local success story weaved into it. So I yearn to see the day when instructors in Navy will cite living examples of contemporary seaman of our Navy. We need not seek help of heroes from the annals of history or from management Gurus of US /or Japanese industry. Till that day of glory, when feat of ordinary men with extraordinary deeds is extolled, my search for a local hero will continue.
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