Adaptability at Workplace

Recently me and my team performed a skit on Adaptability at Workplace. An interesting idea on its own, we had to perform on this topic as it is one of the Foundational Competencies of our company. Excited by this new opportunity to show our creativity, Darshan, Padmashree and myself assembled in a small Discussion Room to script and enact this skit. The most important decision to make was the fact that we got to know about the skit just 2 DAYS in advance. We had several doubts if the time was sufficient to come up with a script, and also the dialouges. We also had doubts of our ability to come up with an innovative idea for the script. But two things probably cleared the dilemmas. We found out that this was a competition, so there was that extra motivation to participate ;). But more importantly we came across the book "WHO MOVED MY CHEESE?" by Dr. Spencer. This was the "inspiration" for our script. Let me take some time in describing this amazing book.

This is a simple book, with a huge moral. This is that kindof book we generally have in middle school as Moral Science text books. It is a simple parable book that reveals profound truths about change. It is an amusing and enlightening story of four characters who live in a 'Maze' and look for 'Cheese' to nourish them and make them happy. Two are mice named Sniff and Scurry. And two are little people' - beings the size of mice who look and act a lot like people. Their names are Hem and Haw. 'Cheese' is a metaphor for what you want to have in life - whether it's a good job, a loving relationship, money, a possession, good health, or spiritual peace of mind. And 'The Maze' is where you look for what you want - the organization you work in, or the family or community you live in. In the story, the characters are faced with unexpected change. Eventually, one of them deals with it successfully, and writes what he has learned from his experience on the maze walls. Written for all ages, this story takes less than an hour to read, but its unique insights can last for a lifetime.

We just took the basic idea from this book. We had 3 charecters in our skit
1. A person who anticipates change, keeps himself ready by being upto date in current technologies, and basically plays the role of Sniff and Scurry. This was played by Darshan.
2. A person who is dejected by change, is at first reclutant to accept the change, but later realizes it is better to overcome the fear of new and unknown, rather than rot in a place where there is no future. This person adapts to change, allbeit a little late. But finds the journey to be fruitful.
This was played by Padma and she depicted the role of Hem.
3. A person who is angry that there has been a change. Who is adamant that his environment has to change with him, and not the other way around. Is constantly brooding over the changes that have taken place, and will never come to terms with it. This was played by me, and I tried my best to depict the charecter of Haw(I always play the bad guy role ;) ).

The 'Cheese' was depicted as AWESOME PROJECTS (which everyone desires for). And the change was depicted as the project getting shelved.

The skit started with all the 3 of us playing new hires in our dream company. We go through the rigours of training, and after 2 months of hard work, we get rewarded by getting the AWESOME PROJECT. In the beginning we are all enthusiastic about it. But 5 months down the line, when we are comfortable with the project, and can handle all the situations with ease, Padma and Me start to relax. But Darshan keeps himself upto date with the current growing and 'happening' technologies. 1 year into the project, we get a disastorous news that the project has been shelved. Although all of us are disappointed over it, only Darshan decides not to brood over this, and makes some calls and gets into another project since he was upto date in the new technologies that he had voluntarily learnt. Padma is dejected, and I',m angry. We feel that we have been cheated. This is the part where we try to potray that some one has moved our cheese. But after sometime Padma realizes that its not worth waiting for the project to come up again and decides to search for new ones. But it has been a long time since she has learnt anything new, and finds it difficult in the beginning. But she decides to enjoy the learning phase, and finally lands into another great project.
The final moral that we tried to portray was "Change Happens, Anticipate Change and Adapt to change as quickly as possible. Change is inevitable, So Enjoy the change as it will happen again and again."
And needless to say, with this script and an incredible performance(sorry for being modest :D) we won the first place!