The smell of the place
I am at the Department of Motor Vehicles in New York City on a hot, humid morning. Even before I enter, there is already confusion and frustration. A guard stops people on the sidewalk, asking if they have an appointment. Customers plead, “But I just need to…” At least one of every two people is turned away.
Inside, there’s a kiosk to check in. An older couple in front of me is being scolded by a staff member. Let's call the employee “Ruth.”
“That’s not a confirmation number!”, Ruth screams. “Where’s your confirmation number?” The older woman, speaking in a plaintive whisper with a mild accent, tries to answer, pointing to her phone. She’s met with more hostility and an even louder rebuke: “That’s not a confirmation number!! Where’s your confirmation number?!”
And so on. Forty windows. Hundreds of people waiting. Each interaction fraught with the potential for conflict: a false step in the process, a missing document, language barriers.
The stress in the room is palpable. Everyone, each employee and each person in the waiting room, is on edge.
Why does it have to be this way?
A professor and founder of the Indian School of Business, Sumantra Ghoshal, described it as “the smell of the place.”
To give a sense of what he meant, he contrasted his experiences in the Fontainebleau forest in the spring with his mid-summer holiday in the broiling Calcutta heat. In the first context he’s full of energy and vitality. In the second he’s tired and listless.
“Revitalizing people has a lot less to do with changing people," he said, "and has a lot more to do with changing the context.”
It’s a wonderful 8-minute talk. Of course he’s right. The processes and systems and maddening bureaucracy all shape behavior. So does dealing with the public in NYC, a mind-boggling melange of attitudes and issues. It can feel overwhelming and oppressive.
Yet we can’t all move to the Fontainbleau forest. Or hope for a new management team to transform the broiling Calcutta summer into something else.
What we can do, though, is make an intentional choice about how we relate to each other. Within each interaction, each moment, is the chance to choose kindness and human dignity, for ourselves and the other person. If it helps, we can view our choice as a form of rebellion: “Yes it’s hot and unpleasant here, but I won’t add to the suffering or be someone I don't want to be.”
At the kiosk, I help the older woman find her confirmation number and check in. We sit next to each other and exchange pleasant small talk. Later on I meet Ruth again to take my photo. I’m tentative, knowing I might be yelled at. But this time she makes a different choice. She’s helpful, even friendly to the person in front of me, and then to me. I wonder if it’s because of my skin color or my English, or maybe her mood just changed. I don’t know, but I’m grateful.
“Thank you,” I say. “Have a nice day.” She smiles.
Professor Sumantra Ghoshal’s talk on organizational context and “the smell of the place.” (8 minutes)