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Samyak [name changed] works at an advertising firm. Not long before organizations had to switch to work-from-home again due to the second wave of COVID-19, his team had been working hard to finalize an ad campaign for a client. However, he and his colleagues realized that it took a lot of work to impress them because they had been quite picky about the designs in the past.

As his team discussed the campaign idea with the client, it was rejected in one go. The client expressed that they had better expectations and suggested more than half a dozen changes. Samyak was discouraged and frustrated, and so was his team. They had to make changes to their work and do so in a short period.

The team started working to incorporate the changes that the client expected. However, they grew more resentful in the days that followed.

The solution

The deadline was closing in on the team, but there seemed to be no real progress in their work. Samyak and his colleagues started sidelining the campaign, focusing more on the client’s shortcomings. They were operating from a self-focused mindset. They saw the client as an obstacle to overcome since they often suggested changes close to project deadlines. It challenged the team on the creative front since they needed more time to brainstorm and execute new ideas.

Soon enough, Samyak realized it wasn’t working out. As an individual keen on looking at situations through the lens of Emotional Intelligence, Samyak thought he could intervene despite his initial slip up and resentment toward the client. He decided to talk to his team members.

As he held space for his colleagues to express what was bothering them, they shared how they considered the rework unnecessary and started blaming the client. “Nothing ever can impress them!” “They always do this!” “So inconsiderate!” “Why can’t they stick to one thing? Why do they always keep making so many changes? Are we supposed to read their minds?” Many judgments found their way to the surface, but Samyak decided to delve deeper. He thought of helping himself and his colleagues transform those judgmental thoughts into helpful insights to overcome the self-focused mindset. Samyak sat down to discuss some key points with his colleagues.

What really happened in the situation?

Rather than remaining stuck in complaining about their client, talking about the problem ceaselessly, and misinterpreting the incident, Samyak redirected the discussion to address what really had happened.

The team agreed that they worked on a campaign on which the client gave them some feedback, and they had five days to make the changes and present their work to the client again.

How did they feel about the situation?

After helping his team members separate their judgments, interpretations, and complaints from what had happened, he also asked everyone to reflect on their feelings.

He and his colleagues shared how they were discouraged, frustrated, and angry. A little while later, a team member shared, “The client is inconsiderate. Of course, we would feel angry!”

What were they needing?

Samyak was cautious that his team members might blame their feelings on the client because that’s what we usually think. We hold other people entirely responsible for how we feel.

Samyak was aware of the Emotional Intelligence principle that other people’s words or actions can only trigger feelings in us, but they aren’t responsible for how we feel. He helped his team members understand that their feelings of discouragement, frustration, and anger were, to some extent, triggered by the client, but the actual cause of those feelings was their needs. We feel pleasant emotions when our needs are met and unpleasant emotions when our needs are unmet.

Once Samyak helped his colleagues understand this principle, they eventually identified that their frustrations, discouragement, and anger came from unmet needs for consideration, respect, creativity, understanding, and client support.

What concrete actions and agreements would be helpful?

To meet their needs better in the days to come, the team identified the following actions: Asking for the required time to incorporate change requests made close to the project deadline; discussing with the client about the urgent project changes if extending the project deadline isn’t possible. It would help them in giving priority to what’s necessary; setting realistic and mutually feasible project deadlines in the future; working in multiple iterations with the client so that there’s enough time to make changes if/when required; d) Understanding the client’s needs rather than blaming them for being inconsiderate, self-serving, etc.

The result

This incident is an insightful example of how we start operating from a self-focused mindset when we remain stuck in complaining, blaming, and seeing people as objects.

The next day, Samyak and his team had a brief discussion with the client regarding the challenges they were facing and the concrete actions they could take to make working with each other more fruitful. As a result of the emotionally intelligent solution that Samyak sought, his team could communicate clearly with the client, this time with an impact-focused mindset.

They could even transform some of the client’s judgments into the underlying needs that they might have had. For instance, when the client said, “We can’t just waste so much time only discussing what we need to do,” what Samyak and his team heard was “We need efficiency. It helped them mutually decide how they would like to hold their future meetings to spend more time working on the campaign than discussing what to do. Similarly, when the client remarked, “We expected you to show us better work,” Samyak sensed what the client was trying to say—We need your support and expertise to help our end users to understand our brand clearly. As a result, Samyak and his team became more curious to understand what the client was expecting and how they could add value to those expectations through their work.

Operating from an impact-focused mindset helped Samyak’s team to cooperate with the client back and forth. His team and the client better understood each other’s feelings, needs, and expectations. They also created some mutual agreements, making it easier for them to work together.

When we operate with a self-focused mindset, we sometimes hear judgments and criticisms (even if that is not the other person’s intention). An impact-focused mindset helps us in two key aspects. It helps us identify ways to cooperate and invite cooperation from others by helping us hear the unmet needs behind any (of their) judgment. It helps us understand what individuals need from us.

Working with people certainly comes with challenges because each of us has different needs and expectations. With a self-focused mindset, we make working together more challenging because we see each other as objects. We don’t consider that they also have feelings, needs, challenges, and expectations. On the contrary, we can ease the challenge of working together with an impact-focused mindset, which helps us see that other people are people too.

Questions for reflection

If you’re having judgmental thoughts toward someone in a situation, ask yourself what has really happened and how you are feeling? Which needs are those feelings coming from? What concrete actions/agreements would be helpful?

What will happen if you continue to operate from a self-focused mindset?

The author is the Linchpin at My Emotions Matter, an education initiative that helps individuals and teams learn the mindset and skills of Emotional Intelligence. You can learn more at myemotionsmatter.com

A suspicious object was found in Sinamangal, Kathmandu on Wednesday.

The suspicious object was found near Khotang Halesi Jewelers near Sinamangal Bridget this morning.

SP Sitaram Rijal of the District Police Range, Kathmandu said that the suspicious object was found near the shutter of Khotang Halesi Jewelers.

He said that a bomb disposal team was called to defuse the suspicious object.

Security has been beefed up in the area, police said.

Today in the Nepali calendar marked two historic moments in terms of the efforts for progressing towards a just society with the abolition of two discriminatory practices in the West Terai and the Madhes.

On Shrawn 2, 2057 BS (July 17, 2000) the government made an announcement to ban the kamaiya system, a form of a bonded-labor prevalent in Kailali, Kanchanpur, Bardiya, Banke and Dang of western Nepal.  With the government declaration, over 32,500 individuals belonging to impoverished and marginalized communities in these districts were freed from the modern form of slavery.

After two decades of the banning of the kamaiya system, on Shrawn 2, 2079 BS (July 18, 2022) the government came up with a significant announcement declaring the liberation of Harawa-Charawa, the bonded laborers in the agriculture sector in the Madhes region.

But the grievance of former kamaiyas is that their real liberation from modern forms of slavery has not been realized yet.

According to Kamaiya system abolition movement leader Pashupati Chaudhary, it has been 23 years since the abolition of the kamaiya system, but still over 2300 freed kamaiya households in five districts in west Nepal are forced to live a wretched life. "The government's claim is that it has already carried out the rehabilitation of former kamaiyas, but it has not taken place in practice."

"The KP Sharma Oli-led government handed the responsibilities of rehabilitating the freed kamaiys to the local government, since then the process has remained stalled. As a result, former kamiayas have been pushed towards vulnerable works," he said. 

The Bonded Labour (Prohibition) Act, 2058 (2002) bans all sorts of bonded workers and traditions, but the sustainable liberation of them has not been possible yet, people concerned said.

Rights activist Sanjaya Mahara said the abolition of bonded labor, forms of modern slavery, was indeed a welcoming and historic step, but the persistent lack of availability of sustainable means of livelihood for them continued to affect the target groups adversely.

The Ministry of Land Reform and Management amassed the details of kamaiyas in 2057 BS and 2059 BS and categorized them in four groups from A to D. As per the government data, 27,021 former kamaiyas were provided land and shelter.

Vice-Chairperson and Spokesperson of the National Land Commission, Naresh Khadka, said complaints are receiving that Kamaiya have not still got rid of problems in lack of rehabilitation even after being freed from Kamaiya since long.

He said that the problems could be resolved to some extent if landless Dalits, landless squatters file complaints within the jurisdiction of the Commission.

Spokesperson Khadka said, "Although the Commission's jurisdiction does not incorporate freed kamaiya, haliya and harawa charawa, land ownership certificate of the land they are using can be provided keeping the problems and recommendations pointed out by study task force formed in different times."

He further said the government should resolve the problems through an appropriate work procedure as they have been receiving some complaints that the land provided by the government to free Kamaiya is only on paper.

Harawa charawa of Madhes are also worried thinking their problems might not be resolved for years like the freed kamaiya.

National Harawa Charawa Rights Forum, Darshan Lal Mandal, said although the government declared Harawa Charawa free one year ago, data collection and rehabilitation programmes have not been moved ahead so far.

He urged to forward the rehabilitation programmes immediately as per the four-point agreement signed with Forum.

Similarly, Advocate and Right Activist Balaram Bhattarai pointed out that the government has to take effective steps for appropriate rehabilitation of Harawa Charawa as keeping bonded labour is an insult to democracy and against the constitution.

The government announced the end of all practices related to bonded labor after promulgation of Bonded Labour (Prohibition) Act, 2058 on February 21, 2002.

As per this, the then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government on September 6, 2008, had announced the free- Haliya system. 

Similarly, the announcement of free-kamalahari system was made on July 18, 2013.

South Asian nations are facing challenges in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to ending hunger, improving nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture. Malnutrition is described as the greatest form of violence and a weapon of mass destruction. Shakeb Nabi, Country Director of Nepal of Welt Hunger Hilfe (WHH) says, “Two millions people die around a year globally of hunger i.e. 5,500 people per day die of hunger.”

The regional consultation meeting on “Promoting Nutrition sensitive Agriculture for improving Nutrition security and Health of Smallholders in South Asia” was held for a two-day period on 12-13 July 2023 in Kathmandu, with the goal of addressing malnutrition and food security as well as identifying major Nutritional Sensitive Approaches (NSA) in South Asia. 

The event, organized by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and Welt Hunger Hilfe (WHH), brought together stakeholders from the food and agriculture industries, government representatives, and experts in the field to discuss nutrition-sensitive approaches in the region.

Dr Tamanna Ferdous, the Regional Nutritional Advisor, emphasized the need for a multi-sectoral approach to combat child malnutrition in South Asia. She provided alarming statistics on global hunger and malnutrition, highlighting the insufficient consumption of necessary food groups by children in South Asia. “According to the Global Hunger Index research, world hunger is increasing and most children in South Asia do not consume enough of the necessary food groups,” she said that over 7m individuals experience regular hunger, and 2 out of 3 women who are of reproductive age have at least a micronutrient deficiency worldwide. Globally, 50m  children are wasted, 150m children are stunted, and 30 percent of women of childbearing age have an iron deficiency. 

Bedu Ram Bhusal, Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Development, attended the event as a special guest. Stephan Russek, Head of Development Corporation and Economics at the German Embassy, emphasized the importance of collaborative efforts and a multi-sector approach.

Minister Bhusal said that we should focus on indigenous crops to minimize hunger and malnutrition issues.

During the event, country representatives presented papers on the nutrition situation in their respective nations. Issues such as poor meal diversity, lack of micronutrients, improper cooking techniques, and increased marketing of unhealthy food were discussed. Progress reports showed improvements in reducing underweight, child wasting, and anemia in Nepal. However, challenges such as poor policy implementation, lack of coordination among stakeholders, unregulated pesticide use, and pre- and post-harvest losses still hinder Nepal’s nutrition-sensitive approaches.

Sujan Dhungel, senior monitoring and evaluation officer, presented a progress report on the state of anemia, stunting, and wasting. Within a five-year period, the prevalence of underweight decreased from 48 to 19 percent, child wasting decreased from 11.3 to eight percent, while anemia among children under the age of five decreased from 53 to 43 percent. 

Sachin Jain, Secretary Bikash Samiti of Madhya Pradesh in India, highlighted the significance of nutrition-sensitive micro planning and community engagement. He emphasized the importance of equal participation, prioritization, implementation, and continuity in the community. Project Coordinator of WHH Nepal, Deependra Chaudhary, shared insights on a behavioral change approach to address malnutrition, specifically discussing a successful 15-day nutrition camp that educated the community on health and nutrition.

In a panel discussion, Sabnam Shiwakoti, Joint Secretary of Nepal’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, identified weak strategic implementation, sectoral funding distribution, and inadequate reporting and monitoring as obstacles to improving nutritional security programs. Dr Dipika Agrahar, Principal Scientist at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), highlighted the lack of value placed on micronutrients in South Asia due to financial constraints.

The conference celebrated the collaborative multi-sectoral strategy called ‘Nutrition Smart Community,’ involving various stakeholders. It also resulted in new policies and recommendations to promote nutrition security in South Asian countries, taking into account the contextualized nutritional status of each country and the challenges discussed during the event.