Working for a Tyrant Boss!

My 1st Boss was a Tyrant, 2nd one was Friendly Back Stabber, 3rd one was Heartless Task Master, 4th one Hands off Delegator and I don't want to talk about my 5th and current boss for obvious reasons!.

1st Boss: Very loud, everything he says has to be done or someone gets yelled at. He gives me my first assignment and asks me how I will to go about it!, I had no idea where to start, no idea what I should do, people tell me that I will be torn apart. I sat thinking how I will solve it for about 30 mins, could not find the answer, had to close the task on the same day, so I mustered up courage, accepted martyrdom and walked into the Lion's den, I said, "Sir, I don't know how to solve this problem". Boss smiles, sits me down, explains step by step from fundamentals... a lesson I have not forgotten till date. From then on, he was my favorite. I was awed by his practical knowledge. No one dared to challenge him, because, he was never afraid to roll up his sleeve and complete the task without any help. He was fearless and would never buckle under pressure, because he had "been there and done that".

Lesson:

• Knowledge is power!. 
• Never show resistance to do what you expect from your team members, when you lead, you lead from the front. If you expect your team to put in 16 hours to complete a task, you be ready to put 20 hours, be available to them, just in case they need anything.
• When team members come to you for help, spend time to mentor them, if you are able to help them, they will be independent soon, which will give you some spare time to add another skill and grow.
• Never be afraid of approaching your boss and saying you don't know or I need help, he cannot take your life, worst case, he can fire you, but you can always find another job...

2nd Boss: Young, soft spoken, diplomatic, understanding, he was a role model to me. I liked working for him from day 1. He made me feel comfortable, he said I have great potential!, he allowed me to fail, there was always someone else who would pitch in to help me complete my task because he could not afford a delay, don't worry he said, all is well, you'll learn to get the tasks done faster as you spend more time. When the time of the appraisal came, his rating for me was "Below Expectations", when I asked why?, he said, you are not up to the mark, there is a lot of scope for improvement!, I said, "you said it was ok!, you said, I will learn in time". I was quite surprised with his behavior, but I had no one but myself to blame, I had failed, and I was foolish to take his re-assurances literally and take it easy.

Lesson: 

• I failed because I did not work hard enough and took it easy.
• It is not ok to fail, never be carried away with re-assurances that tomorrow will be a better day, there is no tomorrow if you don't make the best use of today. Don't go to bed if you know that you are going to fail tomorrow.
• You get paid for performance, not potential.

3rd Boss: Middle aged, assertive, tough task master, very aggressive. He was an expert at delegation and empowerment. He was teaching me and throwing responsibilities at me, one at a time, watching me, when I was getting a reasonable handle of the task, he would throw one more at me. Each responsibility was adding an hour or two extra to my work hours, but I did not break. When I went to him with my problems, I always came back with solutions to my problems and a few of his problems to solve. He knew how to make people work, he was a master at chess!. One day, one of my Technical Leaders came to me with a complaint on an under-performing Team Member and that he needed a replacement. I took this matter up to my boss, he calmly said, "I don't have more people to give you, your performance appraisal depends on this Team Member's success, now go and get to work". I had no choice but to make this guy work out, I was able to turn this guy around.

Lesson:

• I learned to find my own solutions to my problems, not go running to my boss for solutions, I learned that by owning up the problem, by thinking hard and trying really hard, we can find solutions to any problem. 
• I learned multi-tasking. 
• I learned to prioritize. 
• I learned to observe how my Boss thinks and be prepared with answers ahead of time. I was careful not to make assumptions using "my bosses' thought process" as a shield.
• Learnt the difference between Aggression and Assertiveness and when to use each.
• To win, you need to set a target better than the current record.

4th Boss: Middle aged, very easy going, not quick to take decisions, was ok with whatever I said or did, never directed me. I went with my proposals for improvements, he agreed, he never challenged me. I liked this person. He was responsible for the department, but I was doing all the work, taking decisions, choosing directions and strategy. There was no real contribution from him. He used to proudly mention that he had "empowered" me, while he had actually "delegated" all tasks to me.

Lesson:

• I did not grow in this set up, I was contributing all my knowledge from my previous jobs into this one, and was not adding any more.
• I was working very hard to ensure that all was well, while someone else was walking away with the credit, it's glory and the accolades.

~o~o~o~

From my experience with all the bosses I have worked for, I hated the demanding bosses the most, but I got to learn a lot from them. They challenged me to do more, and do better, they were never satisfied with what I said or what I did. All suggestions I made were "wrong" and there was always a better "solution" that I was not aware of. Result was that, I was getting better and better and I was growing.

I have also had the opportunity to work for very capable and demanding bosses who used to insult, humiliate and waste time by conducting 8 hour meetings to punch holes in a 5 slide presentation just to demonstrate their power. I got a lot to learn from this type too, but what I learned was what "Not To Do".

Under the "not so demanding" bosses, life was stagnant, I never grew, I never learnt and I failed.

I have realized the value of my demanding bosses long after I left them, but deep inside my heart, I am grateful to all my bosses who pushed me hard, demanded more than I could deliver, it is because of them I am where I am and I do what I do...

Thank you my Tyrant Boss!.

What I learnt from my Mother: Responsibility

When I was a kid, I used to feel important when my parents would assign some tasks to me, like watering the plants everyday or bringing the newspaper and milk bottles from our door-step every morning. I remember very clearly, that I would perform each of my tasks for a few days and then either lose interest or get lazy and then forgot all about it only to find out many weeks later, that my mother had "assumed the responsibilities" of my tasks....

There was not a single day, when my mother would forget to make breakfast on a Sunday or chose to skip doing the laundry because it was a National Holiday!

My mother would ask me, my brother and my dad, what we would like to eat the next day and carefully plan every night how she is going to fulfill our wishes for "tomorrow". There is not a single day that I remember of, when my mother did not fulfill a "reasonable" demand!

Another interesting fact that I remember about my mother is that, I don't recall my mother falling sick or being too sick to cook, there was always something to eat when I was hungry.

What I learnt from my mother was RESPONSIBILITY and that

• Responsibility is ABSOLUTE! - there are no ifs and buts, no National Holidays, no breaks and no vacations. 
• Responsibility is not a 9 to 6 job! - it is a 24x7 job. 
• When one takes up a Responsibility, it better get done, because someone is depending on you to do it. 
• Responsibility does not need "Comfortable Working Conditions" or "Encouraging and Supportive Customers", only an iron will to do a great job at all costs.
• Responsibility is a Thankless Job! - don't expect a pat in the back for each successful attempt, get on to the next task as soon as possible.
• There are no Shortcuts when one takes up a Responsibility! - the involvement and commitment required is 100% - no one likes a half cooked meal.
• Anything that prevents one from executing the Responsibility is just an Excuse! and not a Reason.
• Most important thing about Responsibility is that one feels for the task or the group of people. The "Brain" follows the "Heart" when a responsibility is involved.

An amazing lesson, valid at home and at work at all time. 

How I wish, we all implement these lessons at work, there will be no loss making companies and no dis-satisfied employees...

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.