Leadership

Leadership is all about inspiring people to break their performance barriers and over achieve. It’s about directing people to get things done and meeting goals and objectives within time and cost constraints. Leadership is a set of qualities and is not necessarily associated with a title. A title is consequence of demonstration of the leadership quality. Leadership is not about banging the table and telling people that you are “the boss”. Leadership can be established but is not readily accepted. Leadership comes with respect and respect is to be commanded and not demanded. Being a leader takes a lot of hard work. Leadership is not for the individual to state, but it is to be acknowledged by others who surround you.

LEADERSHIP is an ART. It is the ART of creating FOLLOWERS…

Leadership is a mixture of some qualities in the right proportion and these qualities must be developed and practiced over time. In the following paragraphs, I put down some of my thoughts and practices, which, I hope, will help me to be a good leader someday, and I am working very hard to get there…

Be humble
I believe that I am a Manager and because I possess certain skills and qualities. I am a Manager because there is no other person in my current organization who suits this position better. So, I must be thankful to others who have not spent the kind of time or effort in honing the skills that I have become good at over time.

Another line of thought is that, “What is my identity without my team” the answer is “I am nothing, because, I will not be able to deliver any product without my team”. So, for me to perform I need my team and I am grateful to all my team members for choosing to stay and work in my team and in my organization.

These thoughts keep me grounded and humble.

Be approachable
My team members must feel free to come over anytime to, discuss the product requirements, escalate matters, discuss personal differences with me and other team members, get inputs on their personal finance management or discuss the pros and cons of buying an apartment in a certain location. Some of my old team members have even approached me to get my advice on a certain job assignments that they are considering. When I am approachable, the bad news travels faster resulting in quicker actions to minimize damage. First things first, I will be approachable only if people feel comfortable talking with me. For people to feel comfortable with me, they have to be assured that I am their well wisher and a neutral individual, meaning, I have demonstrated that I am fair and impartial. They have to believe that I am not there to harm them. It takes a lot of time and effort to win over people.

Be available

I must be available when my team needs me. If I am not physically present, I must make suitable arrangements for communication with my team and ensure that the team functions well, in my absence. I must demonstrate “let’s get to work” instead of “go and get to work” effectively. I must be able to foresee issues that my team might face and have suggestions and/or solutions in hand ahead of time.

Be fair

I must be fair to all my team members, I must not demonstrate special liking to one or a few individuals and my decisions must be neutral and acceptable to all. There must be a single set of rules applicable to all team members and no special accommodation to one or few people in the team. I must load all team members with equivalent amount of work.

"Being fair" is tricky as I am dealing with perceptions of people. I can control my actions but not people's perceptions. There have been occasions when I have been accused of partiality by my Managers when my intentions were good, this hurts. I could have run, but I chose to stand and continue to fight this perception and change it. I am learning to think thru' all my decisions and it's effects on people before implementing it. It takes a little more time than usual, but it is worth it.

Be a good follower
Many times, I have faced situattions where I was unable to take a decision, unable to take a stand. In these occasions, I bring together a few key players in the team and explain the problem to them. I also express my inability to take a decision. Then I invite suggestions from these team members and look for a consensus. Once all have agreed to a decision, I stand by the decision and take it forward. By doing this, I am demonstrating to my key team members that I can follow too. Being a good leader requires one to be a good follower too. By following others' decision, I don't degrade myself, I only better my chances of being accepted as a good leader.

Demonstrate patience and control the temper
I must accept and be patient with the shortcomings of the business, the system and it's people. If something does not happen as expected, it does not always mean that the effort was not there, I must understand and accept that "we win some and we lose some". An outburst and throwing a temper tantrum only complicates matters, it demotivates and humiliates others. The relationships that I have worked on for years are very delicate by nature and good associations go bad with one outburst or show of temper. The result of a temper tantrum is a team which fights battles half heartedly, evidently the battle will be lost.

When things go wrong, I must express dissatisfaction first and then work on the shortcomings of the system and it's people, demonstrate patience, and encourage people to go on and the job will be done.

Demonstrate a positive attitude
I must demonstrate a positive outlook and attitude towards life, my company, people in my team and the project in general. I believe that good things happen to people who do good. If I have any difference of opinion, I must be able to mask it suitably so that my difference of opinion does not come between the team and the goals of the project I am working on. When my team members have a negative feeling, I must be able to guide them and give them a positive outlook without compromising on the goals and objectives set for me or for the team member by my Company’s management. Last but not the least, I must shield my team members from the business pressures, I must be smiling and encouraging under all circumstances.

Demonstrate knowledge
I must have a good understanding of the project requirements my team is working on, or the project that the team will take up next. I must be able to give my team suggestions and solutions when required. If I don’t know an answer, I must obtain an answer thru’ escalation and revert to the team members without fail. Most of all, I must be in a position to take an informed decision on any situation in the project. I understand that people will approach me only if they know that I can provide a solution to their problems, so I must be prepared.

Demonstrate empathy
When my team members approach me with a problem, professional or personal, I must demonstrate empathy, I must acknowledge the problem and listen them out instead of jumping to conclusions without giving them a chance to talk. Other people’s problems may seem silly to me because I am not facing the problem myself, nevertheless, I must show sufficient interest and try and provide a neutral solution to the individual. Sometimes, I don't have to provide a solution, I just have to listen them out, they get rejuvenated and find a solution by themselves.

Empower
I must identify the next in command and groom them to take on more responsibilities. I must partner with them and empower them to enable them to take decisions on project activities and I must show trust and stand by their decisions. If the decision is wrong, I must correct them and show them the way, so that they don’t make the same mistake again. I must enable them to run the show in my absence.

There is a lot more to leadership qualities than what I have stated in the previous paragraphs and I am sure these are documented elsewhere...

Here are some key aspects of leadership

• The success of a leader is measured by how well the team performs when the he/she is absent.
  
• Leadership does not depend on your level of operation in the Organizational hierarchy, you can demonstrate leadership qualities at all levels.
• Never wait for an opportunity to demonstrate leadership qualities, demonstrate it in your current assignment.
• Win over others with your positive attitude, knowledge and personality.
• The leader does not wait for things to happen, the leader makes things happen.