Leadership Wisdom From An Empty Cup Of Chai

This is one of my most treasured memories of my articleship days. It was my first experience of an audit assignment which set the tone for the rest of my articleship journey.

Just like any new article working in Statutory Audit, I was assigned the much dreaded task of vouching. In the endless barrage of reverse ticks and referencing, I really looked forward to the afternoon respite in the form of a steaming cup of Chai.

One fine day as I was sitting with the accounts team, tea was served to us auditors, but not the staff. Finding it a bit odd how they refused the nectar of gods, I asked them why nobody was having any.

It was only then that they told me that as per the directions of the management they aren’t allowed to have food or beverages in the working areas — an exception was made for auditors.

With all my wisdom and intellect all I could think of was, “Huh, that’s whack”

As I finished my chai with a newly gained sense of guilt now, I remember finding that rule unnecessarily strict — a personal attack against chai in the workplace, but the employees did not seem to mind, so I chose not to start a revolution and got back to work.

However, over the months after auditing several organisations and working with their management, I could look back at that experience with a deeper appreciation.

The disciplinarian rule, seemingly insignificant at first, clearly reflected the ethos of the staff who upheld the rule willingly. The discipline of maintaining the workspace also reflected in the quality of work.

I could see a leader’s role in setting the tone and cultivating the right work culture. It is quite fascinating how an organisation’s culture percolates down to the smallest of actions.

The accounts team always met deadlines and maintained records in a pristine and orderly fashion — it was one of my favourite client interactions during articleship!

Not being able to have chai there was a small price to pay…maybe.