Leadership Redefined by Shyam Rao

Leadership Redefined

LEADERSHIP REDEFINED Bringing the Leader With In You BY

Leadership Redefined

leadership redifined

G SHYAM RAO

Bringing the Leader With In You No of Copies : 1000 Year of Publication : May 2011 Price : Rs. 80.00

Printed at :

by shyam rao.g

Creative Media House Hyderabad

Published by : SHRI SHARADA GAYATHRI PUBLICATIONS New Delhi - Hyderabad - New Jersey

SHRI SHARADA GAYATHRI PUBLICATIONS New Delhi - Hyderabad - New Jersey

Leadership Redefined

P R E F A C E

My humble thanks to the authors of various books through which I took the cue and guidance, which formed as platform for this creativity.

Having born and brought up in a very lower middle class joint family, I was denied personal attention from parents and other family members thereby my strengths and weaknesses were hard to be identified or detected. When I reached my 10th standard I was inclining towards learning English and trying my best to converse with friends. My Principal in school, also an English teacher in 10th standard, began to encourage me though not directly. In class she used to look at me for answers, more often than not. That prompted me to focus more on my English and inspired taking English as interesting subject. My application towards English, continued even in 1st year jr. college where I won an essay competition captioned "what should a student learn from the Indian freedom struggle". Then I compared myself as to where I was standing, a question haunted in my mind, am I in the right direction? Would I go in the right path if opt Writing? Would I get immediate bucks with this? as my dad would expect money as soon I finish my graduation, yet I had a parameter to see if I am improving in the subject, a satisfying comparison: "from a humble child who cannot utter an English word, TO a student who won a prize competing against others who hailed from good English background. Then I began to realize; it is not always the background and roots which help to prepare a strong-foundation in life, but it is your strong zeal and zest within that emboldens you to the right direction and good platform.

And last but not least my wife Anuradha, daughter Vaishu are who encouraged me to bring this book up and excited to see my articles coming up in a book shape.

Thereon, I never ceased to neglect my strength although my line of function in profession is different than my career. From the year 1995 to 2000 I wrote poems in English mostly picking social subjects.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My heartfelt thanks to all who have supported me taking up this task. When I shared this idea of writing this book, they have been with me all through. Special thanks to my colleagues Sarma Kovvali, Kumar and Lakshmi, for encouraging me to take up this project. Sarma Kovvali in particular, has been very helpful and was hinting me all through writing this article. He has given me his guidance on the subjects I can instill and improve on. As for this book, he had contributed enormously by guiding me with his valuable inputs. He burnt the mid-night oils to page-make and proof read the book. Importantly, he came up with creative thoughts and gave final touches to the cover page, which I felt is fabulous.

Thanks to all without you I couldn't have written this book. - Shyam

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In 1997, I shared my passion on writing with a friend of mine Srinivas, who also happened to be my colleague, He then requested me to write a poem on Mother. The request came in from his side, as he lost his mom due to cancer. He loved his mother a lot; he was the witness of her suffering that caused due to chemotherapy. I heeded at his request and sought some inputs as to what he was looking for; in the poem. I wrote it and when he read it, he broke down. He said the poem was an exact Photostat of the way his -4-

Leadership Redefined

mother loved him and it emulated what he desired in it - we both dedicated it on his mother's name. Later, the poem was published in a website called topica.com in the same year. It won USD150 in the best analogy category, on the Mother's love. I was ecstatic and began to feel like a Superman. I could never imagine that I can do such good work in this particular arena. Truly, it was a fillip for me to take up poetry very seriously, but due to personal issues, my focus was distorted. Again, from 2005, I woke the sleeping skill up and began to write again. I resumed writing poetry as a par time hobby. Interestingly, I became voracious towards reading articles and books, and that's when I thought I would also put my hands in this area. As a first step, I started translating the Telugu articles into English and add them to my knowledge data base. All the articles were pertinent to Management traits and spiritual segments. I subscribed to many Management and Inspirational websites so as to enable myself to learn and have an in-depth knowledge. In the process of knowing these, I discovered that all the websites gave an insight and examples of non-Indians who mastered in respective subjects. At this very juncture, a seed of an objective began to germinate into my mind that; why not we use Indian role-models and re-write the articles. Bharat Varsh, from ages, have been the birth place of greats; like Lord Krishna, Gautam Buddha, Chanakya and many Indian scholars like Mahatma Gandhi, APJ Abdul kalam, Deepak chopra and Shiv Khera, who have been embodiments of Leadership qualities, Motivational virtues and Inspirational merits. Reading Bagavat Gita made an inroads for me to start working on a book on Leadership Skills.

He is (1) simple and understanding (2) reads his sub-ordinates problems and resolves them (3) smiling; with no element of stress and strain (4) a perfect replica of work-life-balance theory (5) Leads from the front (6) mingles and befriends with his team mates (7) mentors anyone who walks into his room (8) no hypocrisy (9) crystal clear transparency (10) orderly work style and rouses the strengths of his subordinates (11) quick decision making I approached Ramana sharing my idea of taking his style of working and reproducing the same in a book form. Since we both are very good friends, we shared couple of jokes on each other; he initially was very modest and said that he would fit into the bracket of Leaders whom I think of. But I resilient and convinced him. To give more brief about Ramana; born in a small village in Andhra Pradesh, India, he feels he has been incredibly fortunate to have had the great opportunity of education - graduate in CS from BITS, Pilani + an MBA from Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley. His 20+ years of experience in software industry covers both systems and application product development, IT, Sales and Services. He has been tiny startups that grew, all the way to world's largest software house Microsoft.He is a big follower of the premise that leadership is all about influence and about earning credibility. He believes that happiness is in pursuing whatever is in one's heart, but checking with head at times, and strive to marry the two is an art if consciously mastered, will get you to be the happiest... The book I wrote explains the Leadership traits and behaviors', and would also have the examples of Indian greats and morals derived out their actions. I have also quoted some observations from the work style of Ramana Prasad Parimi which demonstrated his sheer leadership quality.

To help myself with information to write the book, I also needed a leader with whom I worked in close quarters. My mind immediately guided me to a person who has been a real leader. He is Ramana Prasad Parimi. I made a mental check of this personality if he would fit into all the traits that a true leader has to possess. I was successful in doing a project work on him and arrived at a conclusion that he IS THE MAN for me to take my writing forward.

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Leadership Redefined

Wha bout? Whatt is this book all a about? The book is all about the qualities and behaviorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of Leadership . It depicts the demonstration of Leadership qualities by various personalities who epitomize this attribute.The book kick starts with fundamental definition as to what actually is the Leadership, and what the various types of leadership traits are. The book has salient features of the subject matter and explains how an individual can be successful whether in an organization, personal life or in political administration; by possessing or demonstrating Leadership qualities.

well defined to the understanding of the readership. The book also explains how a leader proactively thinks about a contingency plan, Plan B and prepares for the eventuality in advance. The empathy and appreciating factors are also well defined which are one of the best behaviours of a Leader. I am more than hopeful that the readership would thrive reading this book.

There is an elaborate explanation about how organizations are emphasizing their employees to harness the Leadership qualities; for them to grow in all aspects of life, in par with organizational values, vision and mission statements. It also symbolizes how the attribute can help an organization to build and grow if and when the fundamental objectives are followed and complied to. The book describes how leaders can tackle biggest of big challenges in organizations with their leadership quality. I have in most cases provided live examples and anecdotes where a person has exemplified a Leadership quality. For every type of leadership trait, I have projected a personality demonstration for a clear understanding of a set of traits. My objective to come out with this book is to make the trait a very down to earth and comprehendible so as to enable the readership to have an interesting and memorable reading experience. Quoting anecdotes, signify the importance of leading by examples and it very legibly enters the minds of readership. The book also projects as to how important a Leader is for an organization, a nation or a group. The role of a leader is so pivotal that the followers are totally reliant on their decision which result in success. It elaborates how a leader awakens the powers and strengths of his/her subordinates and ensures that the best of their potential is utilized. The accountability factors are also very -7-

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Leadership Redefined

Leader ship Sk ills Leadership Skills The teachings of Lord Krishna are known all over world, the famous Bhagavad -Gita. Three thousand years back Lord Krishna taught Arjuna self-development which is key to leadership skills. The teachings of the Gita centuries back will be applicable to present day where the knowledge of the individual is powerful. If individual wants he can make or unmake. Many corporates can follow the teaching of the Gita for human resources development of the managers and workers. Modern management process and management philosophy can be found in "Sri Bhagavad Gita" in the dialogue between Lord Krishna and Arjuna. The Mahabharatha war was fought three thousand years ago, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Arjuna having seen the contingents of Duryodhana and Pandavas, asks Sri Krishna to take the chariot and keep it in between the two armies. Arjuna wants to know with whom he has to fight in the battle. Arjuna sees father's grandsons, maternal uncles, brothers, sons, fathersin-law and well-wishers. After seeing his Kinsmen, Arjuna speaks with grief. Arjuna decides not to fight the war. Lord Krishna started his dialogue with Arjuna; the essence of this management dialogue was divided into eighteen chapters in the Bhagavad-Gita

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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.

The Despondency of Arjuna. The way of discrimination. The way of action. The way of knowledge. Renunciation of action. The way of contemplation. The way of knowledge and realisation. The way to supreme spirit. The way of royal knowledge and royal secret Meditation of the divine glories. The vision of the universal form. The way of devotion. Discrimination between nature and soul The separation of three Gunas. The way to supreme person. The distinction between divine and demonical attributes. The separation of the three kinds of faith. The way of renunciation.

After completing the dialogue, Arjuna says, my delusion is destroyed and I have gained my memory through your (Lord Krishna) teaching, I am ready to fight battle, free from doubt, about my duties will be carried out at your command. This clearly shows the management and development of individual (self) in right direction taught by Lord Krishna to Arjuna which made Arjuna do his duty selflessly by fighting the historic Kurukshetra war and winning the war was his goal.

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Leadership Redefined

The power of individual has been realized since eternity starting with Lord Krishna to present day.

Wha ship Whatt is Leader Leadership

The four fundamental functions of management process of modern management are 1. Planning 2 Organizing 3. Actuating 4. Controlling Which were taught by Lord Sri Krishna to Arjuna 3000 years back through the dialogue between Arjuna and Lord Krishna, which became the Gita -The management epic. Gita teaches the fundamentals about the development of individuals mind, concentration, self-control, development of the character, knowledge, virtues, duty, work, action, devotion, leading to liberation. The Gita teaching will help the development of human resources, which is an asset to an organization. One of the major goals of management is to develop human resources into hard to replace assets of a firm. Thus Gita-teachings help the all- round development of the human resources to reach the goal of the individuals, enterprises, organizations, Governments and Societies. The teaching of Gita is eternal because it is practiced in the past, present and future for development of the individual, for the development of the moral and happy society.

"Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right." "Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." The word "leadership" can bring to mind a variety of images. For example: - An army officer, charging forward to meet the enemy. - An explorer, cutting a path through the jungle for the rest of his party to follow. - An executive, developing her company's strategy to remain ahead of the competition. Leaders help themselves and others to do the right things. They set direction, build an inspiring vision, and create something new. Leadership is about mapping out where you need to go to "win" as a team or an organization. Leadership is dynamic, vibrant, and inspiring. Yet, while leaders set the direction, they must also use management skills to guide their team to the right destination in a smooth and efficient way. The ability to stay calm and focused, which in Mahindra Singh Dhoni's case, as a Leader, assumes almost supernatural proportions, can come in many different ways. There is the calm that surrounds Sachin Tendulkar like an aura, which comes from an ability to concentrate and ignore distractions. This kind of calm depends on the intensity of the focus and the magnitude of the hunger underpinning this single-minded pursuit of perfection.

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Leadership Redefined

Then we have the calm of the simpleton, best characterized by the matter-of-fact genius of VirenderSehwag. This is the calm of the amnesiac, who has a magical ability to stay in the present by simply not acknowledging or even believing that there is past or the future. Dhoni's calm has elements of all of the above, but there is an important difference. For his composure comes from drawing strength from the whirl and whorl of the madness that surrounds cricket in India. Dhoni is the still point of a raging universe, growing calmer and stiller as pressure goes on the boil around him. Distractions act centripetally, pushing him towards the centre, rather than pull him away from what really matters. He is led not by the hunger for outcomes, but by the idea of action itself in its simplest, most distilled form. The rare ability to separate the complex from the complicated, the understanding of the former and the easy sidestepping of the latter makes Dhoni a leader of an exceptional kind. Just as successful businessmen display an silent instinct for what makes money, for they see the world in terms of shapes of opportunity and risk rather than focus on the outward form in which they appear, Dhoni sees the game stripped bare of its surface complexity and is able focus on the its underlying essential structure. He avoids saying too much, recognizing that wordiness is a curse, for it serves to complicate the game by creating an impossibly large variety of labels and classifications. Dhoni speaks the guttural monosyllabic truth, and acts likewise. His batting too reflects this form of direct honesty, even as it has evolved over the years. As a batsman, Dhoni has exchanged Neanderthal flair for oracular calculation. He retains the brutality of his early days, the ability to dispatch a ball to its wretched destiny, but has now combined it with canny ability to carve out a path, whatever be the circumstances. He wields the bat as it were it were also a hockey stick, and has added precision to his brute power. He is hardly the most aesthetic of sights, and uses the bludgeon considerably more than the lance. He bats with the force of his personality and is inclined to grab batting by the scruff of its neck rather than take it gently by the hand. As a leader, perhaps what distinguishes him the most is his unhesitating and absolute embrace of his role as a leader and - 13 -

of everything that entails. Most leaders at some point of time or other, try and walk away from the absoluteness of the responsibility that it carries or make excuses for the fact that their role has some limitations. This is often true for the captain of a side is hardly the sole arbiter of a team's fortune. In Dhoni's case however, he accepts his own leadership fully, and in a team dominated by massive personalities and adulation-fuelled egos, this is the one factor that makes him accepted in turn. He feels little need to show his authority overtly and is happy to take advice from everyone, but he is unmistakably and incontrovertibly the man in charge. He shows acute awareness of what it means to lead the Indian cricket side, he openly acknowledges how his actions might or might not be read, but he goes ahead and does what he thinks is right without being overwhelmed by the thought of what criticism might ensue. Unlike other leaders, who when faced with this much scrutiny, develop a pro-active form of defensiveness and carry a continuous dialogue in their heads with their presumed critics, developing a prickly sensitivity to any criticism, Dhoni looks the possibility of being criticized in the eye, but does not allow that to modify his actions or color his attitude. I would be fair to say that Mahendra Singh Dhoni is India's only uncontested leader. No one else carries such collective legitimacy; no politician, no business leader no other sportsperson certainly can claim to have the kind of support that he does. There are others who receive the same kind of unstinted support from their own constituencies be it a Narendra Modi or perhaps even a Mayawati, but we have no one else who draws support from across all constituencies. Even at those times when his decisions are criticized, there is little doubt that he is and deserves to be the one leading the team. Perhaps Dhoni represents a form of wisdom that manages to find the timeless from within the noisily transient. He shows us that we can participate in all the tumult and glitter of our shiny new lives, that we can make crores of rupees and enjoy the best of material rewards and find a way to convert all that into something pure and still, something that makes us connect with what really matters. And that we can find a quiet form of eternity in the cacophony of today. - 14 -

Leadership Redefined

Note: Leadership means different things to different people around the world, and different things in different situations. For example, it could relate to community leadership, religious leadership, political leadership, and leadership of campaigning groups.

Authentic Leader ship Leadership Being a Leader That People Want to Follow

Most of us have heard of "authentic leadership." Books, leadership courses, and even entire businesses have been built around this idea. But it's often easier to identify authentic leaders than define what makes them that way. What do the words "authentic leader" actually mean? What truly makes one, and why is it worth the effort to become one? There are many different answers to these questions. In this article, we'll discuss why it is so important, and we'll examine the different characteristics that make someone an authentic leader.

Why Authentic Leadership? Leadership today is very differentfrom leadership in our parents' generation. The old style of "top down" management just doesn't work anymore. Workers generally want to be fully engaged, and committed to what they're doing. They want to feel as if their work matters. And they want to believe in the people who are in charge. Because of these higher expectations, it's vital for leaders to know how to inspire passion and confidence in the people they're leading. When people work alongside a truly authentic leader, they'll often give their whole hearts and minds to the cause. In these situations, a spirit of teamwork and loyalty can spread throughout an organization, resulting in higher morale and greater productivity. Authentic leaders inspire trust in their teams. People are more - 15 -

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Leadership Redefined

willing to be open about problems, which mean that those problems are more likely to get fixed, instead of ignored. What is Authentic Leadership? So, authentic leadership can inspire people to pull together, work hard, and communicate. But how do you become an authentic leader? What does it involve? There's no easy answer for these questions, because it means a lot of different things. It involves a diverse group of skills, actions, and behaviors. At root, however, authentic leadership is all about ...

Ethical Leader ship Leadership Doing the right thing

We've seen some high profile ethical failures in the press in recent years. The devastation caused by fraud in 2G license allocations and also scams in organizing Common Wealth Games, will not be forgotten so soon by people. Politicians and CEOs of several other well-known companies have been charged with bribery and corruption. This highlights the extent to which it can be difficult for leaders to determine what's right and wrong. Some make the wrong choices - and end up in the courts, or in the news. What we rarely see, however, are stories about the numerous companies that are managed by ethical leaders. While standards seem to keep falling in some corporations, other leaders "raise the bar" and inspire their teams to do the same. These leaders do the right thing, at the right time, for the right reasons. They put their ethics before the bottom line - and as a result, they have dedicated teams that would do almost anything for them. So how do they do it? And how can you do it as well? We'll show you how to define your own ethical standards - and start putting those standards into practice.

Define Your Organization's Values To lead your team with character and integrity, you must set an example. You're the leader, remember? Your team looks to you. To begin, you must know your own values as well as your organization's values. For example, the global technology giant 3M is well known - 17 -

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Leadership Redefined

for its company values. Why? Because the entire team - from top executives all the way down to the mailroom - live and breathe the principles of honesty and integrity every day. 3M communicates clearly that it wants its staff to do things like keep promises, have personal accountability, and respect others in the workforce. Every leader in the company knows this, so they work by these rules. And as a result, everyone else follows. Your personal values are also important. If the company's written rules don't say that you must be fair to everyone, but this value is important to you - then, of course, you're going to do it. Good leaders follow their personal values as well as organizational values. Ask yourself these questions: - What standards of behavior are really important to my company? - What specific values do I admire in certain leaders? Do I identify with those values? - Would I still live by those values, even if they put me at a competitive disadvantage?

Set the Tone Now that you know your company's core values, you can begin to set the tone and create the right environment for your team and your organization. Again, leading by example is the best way to do this. It's what you do, not what you say, that demonstrates to your team what you care about. So, if your company values honesty above all else, then make sure you demonstrate that by being honest with everyone around you. If your company values free speech, then make sure you allow your team to communicate their ideas openly. Next, establish consequences for team members who don't follow corporate values. If you allow someone to come in late continuously without making up the hours, that won't set a good example for the rest of the team. - 19 -

You need good consequences as well. Set up some kind of reward system for team members who consistently act according to the company values. It is not out of place to quote the leadership skills of our beloved former President of India APJ AbhulKalam. In his various books about leadership traits he quoted a personal experience of his when launching a prestigious satellite, here is the anecdote. "In 1973 I became the project director of India's satellite launch vehicle program, commonly called the SLV-3. Our goal was to put India's "Rohini" satellite into orbit by 1980. I was given funds and human resources -- but was told clearly that by 1980 we had to launch the satellite into space. Thousands of people worked together in scientific and technical teams towards that goal. By 1979 -- I think the month was August -- we thought we were ready. As the project director, I went to the control center for the launch. At four minutes before the satellite launch, the computer began to go through the checklist of items that needed to be checked. One minute later, the computer program put the launch on hold; the display showed that some control components were not in order. My experts -- I had four or five of them with me -- told me not to worry; they had done their calculations and there was enough reserve fuel. So I bypassed the computer, switched to manual mode, and launched the rocket. In the first stage, everything worked fine. In the second stage, a problem developed. Instead of the satellite going into orbit, the whole rocket system plunged into the Bay of Bengal. It was a big failure. That day, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, Prof. Satish Dhawan, had called a press conference. The launch was at 7:00 am, and the press conference -- where journalists from around the world were present -- was at 7:45 am at ISRO's satellite launch range in Sriharikota [in Andhra Pradesh in southern India]. Prof. Dhawan, the leader of the organization, conducted the press conference himself. He took responsibility for the failure -- he said that the team had worked very hard, but that it needed more technological support. He assured the media that in another year, the team would definitely succeed. Now, I was the - 20 -

Leadership Redefined

project director, and it was my failure, but instead, he took responsibility for the failure as chairman of the organization. The next year, in July 1980, we tried again to launch the satellite -- and this time we succeeded. The whole nation was jubilant. Again, there was a press conference. Prof. Dhawan called me aside and told me, "You conduct the press conference today." I learned a very important lesson that day. When failure occurred, the leader of the organization owned that failure. When success came, he gave it to his team. The best management lesson I have learned did not come to me from reading a book; it came from that experience."

By recognizing when these situations might occur, you can make the right decisions when and if something actually happens. Prepare in advance - Imagine yourself in the situations we just mentioned. What would you do if you knew one of your colleagues was about to be fired, but you weren't legally allowed to tell her? Putting yourself in these imaginary situations can help you work through your feelings and decide what you would do if the situation became real. In real life, you may have only seconds to reach a decision. Of course, you won't be able to imagine every possible ethical dilemma you might face, but this exercise will help you get to know your values, and it can prepare you for the decisions you may have to make.

Recognize Ethical Dilemmas Here's the scenario: You're in a meeting with other top executives, and you realize that one of your colleagues has changed the numbers in his report. As you listen, you realize that he's exaggerating how well his team is doing on a major project. Instead of saying that his team will finish in eight weeks, which he previously told you, he's promising to be done in only five weeks. And instead of saying that the project will help increase company earnings by 4%, which he also told you earlier, he's promising a 12% increase. What do you do? He's a close colleague and a personal friend. On the other hand, he's overstating how well his team is doing. Do you support him, or do you tell the truth to the other executives? We're often faced with tough choices like this in the workplace. Most of the time, however, ethical dilemmas aren't this obvious, and they can be hidden in ways that are hard to uncover. So, how do you recognize these dilemmas? Identify "trigger" situations - Certain situations seem to attract ethical dilemmas. Some of these are areas like purchasing, hiring, firing, promoting, and calculating bonuses. There can also be other unexpected situations. You could make a mistake - will you admit it to your boss, or try to cover it up? Or you could discover that a colleague is acting unethically - do you protect the person or tell someone? - 21 -

Listen to your "inner voice" - Your conscience often tells you that something isn't right, even if this is just a feeling of uneasiness with something. If you face a situation that makes you uncomfortable, or goes against one of your core values or beliefs, then make sure that you stop and think things through rationally. Re-evaluate your decision before you act - If you're in a difficult situation and you aren't sure what to do, make a decision. But before you act on that decision, ask yourself how you would feel if your actions were in the company newsletter or on the evening news for everyone to see. Would you be proud of what you did? If not, then reconsider your decision.

When in Doubt... At times, you'll make a decision but still wonder if you did the right thing. You may be uncomfortable, but these situations can teach you to trust yourself and your instincts. If you calm your anxiety and look logically at the situation, your instincts will often guide you in the right direction.

Key Points Ethical living - and leading - takes courage and conviction. It means doing the right thing, even when the right thing isn't popular or easy. But when you make decisions based on your core values, then you tell the world that you can't be bought - and you lead - 22 -

Leadership Redefined

your team by example.

you - or in yourself? and how does power influence the way you work and live your life?

Once you identify your company's core values as well as your own, you can start to set the tone with your team and your organization. Actions always speak louder than words, so make sure you do as you would wish others to do.

Understanding Power

Fiv eF orms of P ow er ive Forms Pow ower

One of the most notable studies on power was conducted by social psychologists John French and Bertram Raven in 1959. They identified five bases of power:

Understanding Where Power Comes From in the Workplace

1. Legitimate - This comes from the belief that a person has the right to make demands, and expect compliance and obedience from others. 2. Reward - This results from one person's ability to compensate another for compliance. 3. Expert - This is based on a person's superior skill and knowledge. 4. Referent - This is the result of a person's perceived attractiveness, worthiness, and right to respect from others. 5. Coercive - This comes from the belief that a person can punish others for noncompliance.

Leadership and power are closely linked. People tend to follow those who are powerful. And because others follow, the person with power leads. But leaders have power for different reasons. Some are powerful because they alone have the ability to give you a bonus or a raise. Others are powerful because they can fire you, or assign you tasks you don't like. Yet, while leaders of this type have formal, official power, their teams are unlikely to be enthusiastic about their approach to leadership, if these are all they rely on. On the more positive side, leaders may have power because they're experts in their fields, or because their team members admire them. People with these types of power don't necessarily have formal leadership roles, but they influence others effectively because of their skills and personal qualities. And when a leadership position opens up, they'll probably be the first to be considered for promotion. Do you recognize these types of power in those around - 23 -

If you're aware of these sources of power, you canâ&#x20AC;Ś - Better understand why you're influenced by someone, and decide whether you want to accept the base of power being used. - Recognize your own sources of power. - Build your leadership skills by using and developing your own sources of power, appropriately, and for best effect. The most effective leaders use mainly referent and expert power. To develop your leadership abilities, learn how to build these types of power, so that you can have a positive influence on your colleagues, your team, and your organization.

The Five Bases of Power Let's explore French and Raven's bases of power according to these sources. - 24 -

Leadership Redefined

Positional Power Sources Legitimate Power A president, prime minister, or monarch has power. So does a CEO, a minister, or a fire chief. People holding these formal, official positions - or job titles - typically have power. Social hierarchies, cultural norms, and organizational structure all provide the basis for legitimate power. This type of power, however, can be unpredictable and unstable. If you lose the title or position, legitimate power can instantly disappear - since others were influenced by the position, not by you. Also, your scope of power is limited to situations that others believe you have a right to control. If the fire chief tells people to stay away from a burning building, they'll probably listen. But if he tries to make people stay away from a street fight, people may well ignore him. Therefore, relying on legitimate power as your only way to influence others isn't enough. To be a leader, you need more than this - in fact, you may not need legitimate power at all.

Reward Power People in power are often able to give out rewards. Raises, promotions, desirable assignments, training opportunities, and even simple compliments - these are all examples of rewards controlled by people "in power." If others expect that you'll reward them for doing what you want, there's a high probability that they'll do it. The problem with this basis of power is that you may not have as much control over rewards as you need. Supervisors probably don't have complete control over salary increases, and managers often can't control promotions all by themselves. And even a CEO needs permission from the board of directors for some actions. So when you use up available rewards, or the rewards - 25 -

don't have enough perceived value to others, your power weakens. (One of the frustrations of using rewards is that they often need to be bigger each time if they're to have the same motivational impact. Even then, if rewards are given frequently, people can become satiated by the reward, such that it loses its effectiveness.)

Coercive Power This source of power is also problematic, and can be subject to abuse. What's more, it can cause unhealthy behavior and dissatisfaction in the workplace. Threats and punishment are common tools of coercion. Implying or threatening that someone will be fired, demoted, denied privileges, or given undesirable assignments - these are examples of using coercive power. While your position may give you the capability to coerce others, it doesn't automatically mean that you have the will or the justification to do so. As a last resort, you may sometimes need to punish people. However, extensive use of coercive power is rarely appropriate in an organizational setting. Clearly, relying on these forms of power alone will result in a very cold, technocratic, impoverished style of leadership. To be a true leader, you need a more robust source of power than can be supplied by a title, an ability to reward, or an ability to punish.

Personal Power Sources Expert Power When you have knowledge and skills that enable you to understand a situation, suggest solutions, use solid judgment, and generally outperform others, people will probably listen to you. When you demonstrate expertise, people tend to trust you and respect what you say. As a subject matter expert, your ideas will have more value, and others will look to you for leadership in that area. What's more, you can take your confidence, decisiveness, and reputation for rational thinking - and expand them to other sub- 26 -

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jects and issues. This is a good way to build and maintain expert power. It doesn't require positional power, so you can use it to go beyond that. This is one of the best ways to improve your leadership skills. For instance, the local MLA in Hyderabad; Jayaprakash Narayan, who also happened to be the chief of Lokayukta and an IAS officer, is an expert in Politics, Political Sciences, Constitutional ethics, Rules and regulations. Any occasions where he was involved in discussions, debates or seminars, he usually takes over respective forums and embeds it with complete information and enlightenment. He has complete command over and outperforms others in a healthy atmosphere. His ideas are more valued than others and thus he is deemed as an Expert Power. He is confident, decisive and thinks differently.

Referent Power This is sometimes thought of as charisma, charm, admiration, or appeal. Referent power comes from one person liking and respecting another, and strongly identifying with that person in some way. Celebrities have referent power, which is why they can influence everything from what people buy to whom they elect to office. In a workplace, a person with charm often makes everyone feel good, so he or she tends to have a lot of influence. Referent power can be a big responsibility, because you don't necessarily have to do anything to earn it. Therefore, it can be abused quite easily. Someone who is likable, but lacks integrity and honesty, may rise to power - and use that power to hurt and alienate people as well as gain personal advantage. Relying on referent power alone is not a good strategy for a leader who wants longevity and respect. When combined with other sources of power, however, it can help you achieve great success. Sachin Tendulkar's contribution towards earning fame to the country to the heights, has also brought admiration in each and every citizen in India that they began to treat him as God. The placards in every match displayed by spectators show "if we have - 27 -

seen god, it is Sachin", such is the impact and footprints laid by him. The referent power is tremendous here that in Children force their parents to buy Boost as he promotes the product. Another example is the ad by Abhishek Bachan for Idea Celluar. The famous quote "what an idea sir jee" reverberates in all most all the viewing population of India. The sales for Idea Cellular have increased by many folds after their innovative ads through Abhishek Bacha. The reference Power transferred through him has a positive effective on the sales of the company, but also throws some good and humorous messages in the common public. When it comes to reference power being negatively encashed; we notice some leaders pertaining to a religion, cast and sect asking their particular group to vote for a specific political party during the elections. In a democratic set up, it forms a pivotal and fundamental right of a citizen to exercise franchise in line with his/ her will and wish - none has right to influence the right of others. Similarly, we always see congress leaders who take the reference of Gandhi family and earn votes from Indian votaries, which is not an appropriate exercise to do. Instead, they should expose the developmental work they do for the common people and project them to the understanding. It would form a right platform for them to be in power and leadership.

Key Points Anyone is capable of holding power and influencing others: you don't need to have an important job title or a big office. But if you recognize the different forms of power, you can avoid being influenced by those who use the less effective types of power - and you can focus on developing expert and referent power for yourself. This will help you become an influential and positive leader.

Apply This to Your Life 1. Go through each of the power bases, and write down when and how you've used that source of power in the past. 2. Ask yourself if you used the power appropriately, consider - 28 -

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the expected and unexpected consequences of it, and decide what you'll do differently next time. 3. Think about the people who have power and influence over you. What sources of power do they use? Do they use their power appropriately? Where necessary, develop a strategy to reduce someone else's use of illegitimate power over you. 4. When you feel powerless or overly influenced, stop and think about what you can do to regain your own power and control. You're never without power. Make an effort to be more aware of the power you have, and use it to get what you need, confidently and effectively.

Using the Tool: Expert power is essential because as a leader, your team looks to you for direction and guidance. Team members need to believe in your ability to set a worthwhile direction, give sound guidance and co-ordinate a good result. If your team perceives you as a true expert leader, they will be much more receptive when you try to exercise influence tactics such as rational persuasion and inspirational appeal. And if your team sees you as an expert you will find it much easier to guide them in such a way as to create high motivation:

Lead from the front

- If your team members respect your expertise, they'll know that you can show them how to work effectively. - If your team members trust your judgment, they'll trust you to guide their good efforts and hard work in such a way that you'll make the most of their hard work.

There are many different power bases that a leader can use and exploit.

- If they can see your expertise, team members are more likely to believe that you have the wisdom to direct their efforts towards a goal that is genuinely worthwhile. Taken together, if your team sees you as an expert, you will find it much easier to motivate team members to perform at their best.

Exper ow er Expertt P Pow ower

These include problematic ones such as the power of position, the power to give rewards, the power to punish and the power to control information. While these types of power do have some strength, they put the person being lead in an unhealthy position of weakness, and can leave leaders using these power bases looking autocratic and out of touch. More than this, society has changed hugely over the last 50 years. Citizens are individually more powerful, and employees are more able to shift jobs. Few of us enjoy having power exerted over us, and many will do what they can to undermine people who use these sorts of power. However there are three types of positive power that effective leaders use: charismatic power, expert power and referent power.

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So how do you build expert power? - Gain expertise: The first step is fairly obvious (if time consuming) - gain expertise. And, if you are already using tools like the information gathering tool, the chances are that you have already progressed well ahead in this direction. - But just being an expert isn't enough, it is also necessary for your team members to recognize your expertise and see you to be a credible source of information and advice.: - Promote an image of expertise: Since perceived expertise in many occupations is associated with a person's education and experience, a leader should (subtly) make sure that subordinates, peers, and superiors are aware of his or her formal education, relevant work experience, and significant accomplishments. - One common tactic to make this information known is - 30 -

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to display diplomas, licenses, awards, and other evidence of expertise in a prominent location in one's office - after all, if you've worked hard to gain knowledge, it's fair that you get credit for it. Another tactic is to make subtle references to prior education or experience (e.g., "When I was chief engineer at GE, we had a problem similar to this one"). Beware, however, this tactic can easily be overdone. - Maintain credibility: Once established, one's image of expertise should be carefully protected. The leader should avoid making careless comments about subjects on which he or she is poorly informed, and should avoid being associated with projects with a low likelihood of success. - Act confidently and decisively in a crisis: In a crisis or emergency, subordinates prefer a "take charge" leader who appears to know how to direct the group in coping with the problem. In this kind of situation, subordinates tend to associate confident, firm leadership with expert knowledge. Even if the leader is not sure of the best way to deal with a crisis, to express doubts or appear confused risks the loss of influence over subordinates. - Keep informed: Expert power is exercised through rational persuasion and demonstration of expertise. Rational persuasion depends on a firm grasp of up-to-date facts. It is therefore essential for a leader to keep well-informed of developments within the team, within the organization, and in the outside world. - Recognize subordinate concerns: Use of rational persuasion should not be seen as a form of one-way communication from the leader to subordinates. Effective leaders listen carefully to the concerns and uncertainties of their team members, and make sure that they address these in making a persuasive appeal. - Avoid threatening the self-esteem of subordinates: Expert power is based on a knowledge differential between leader and team members. Unfortunately, the very existence of such a differential can cause problems if the leader is not careful about the way he exercises expert power. - Team members can dislike unfavorable status comparisons where the gap is very large and obvious. They are likely to be upset by a leader who acts in a superior way, and arrogantly flaunts his greater expertise. - In the process of presenting rational arguments, some leaders lecture their team members in a condescending manner and convey the impression that the other team members are "ignorant." Guard against this. - 31 -

Leader ship Styles Leadership Using the Right One for the Situation

From Mahatma Gandhi to Winston Churchill to Martin Luther King, there are as many leadership styles as there are leaders. Fortunately, businesspeople and psychologists have developed useful and simple ways to describe the main styles of leadership, and these can help aspiring leaders understand which styles they should use. So, whether you manage a team at work, captain a sports team, or lead a major corporation, which approach is best? Consciously, or subconsciously, you'll probably use some of the leadership styles in this article at some point. Understanding these styles and their impact can help you develop your own, personal leadership style - and help you become a more effective leader. With this in mind, there are many different frameworks that have shaped our current understanding of leadership, and many of these have their place, just as long as they're used appropriately. This article looks at some of the most common frameworks, and then looks at popular styles of leadership.

Leadership Theories Researchers have developed a number of leadership theories over the years. These fall into four main groups: - 32 -

Leadership Redefined

1. Behavioral theories : Behavioral theories focus on how leaders behave. Do they dictate what needs to be done and expect cooperation? Or do they involve the team in decisions to encourage acceptance and support? there are three types of leaders:

a.Autocratic leaders : Make decisions without consulting their teams. This is considered appropriate when decisions genuinely need to be taken quickly, when there's no need for input, and when team agreement isn't necessary for a successful outcome.

b.Democratic leaders They allow the team to provide input before making a decision, although the degree of input can vary from leader to leader. This type of style is important when team agreement matters, but it can be quite difficult to manage when there are lots of different perspectives and ideas.

c.Laissez-faire leaders They don't interfere; they allow people within the team to make many of the decisions. This works well when the team is highly capable and motivated, and when it doesn't need close monitoring or supervision. However, this style can arise because the leader is lazy or distracted, and, here, this approach can fail. Clearly, then, how leaders behave impacts on their effectiveness. Researchers have realized, though, that many of these leadership behaviors are appropriate at different times. So, the best leaders are those who can use many different behavioral styles and use the right style for each situation.

2. Contingency theories How does the situation influence good leadership? The realization that there isn't one correct type of leader led to - 33 -

theories that the best leadership style is contingent on, or depends on, the situation. These theories try to predict which leadership style is best in which circumstance. When a decision is needed fast, which style is preferred? When the leader needs the full support of the team, is there a better way to lead? Should a leader be more people oriented or task oriented? These are all examples of questions that contingency leadership theories try to address. A popular contingency-based framework is the HerseyBlanchard Situational Leadership Theory, which links leadership style with the maturity of individual members of the leader's team.

3. Trait theories What type of person makes a good leader? Trait theories argue that leaders share a number of common personality traits and characteristics, and that leadership emerges from these traits. Early trait theories promoted the idea that leadership is an innate, instinctive quality that you either have or don't have. Thankfully, we've moved on from this approach, and we're learning more about what we can do as individuals to develop leadership qualities within ourselves and others. What's more, traits are external behaviors that emerge from things going on within the leader's mind - and it's these internal beliefs and processes that are important for effective leadership. Trait theory does, however, help us identify some qualities that are helpful when leading others and, together, these emerge as a generalized leadership style. Examples include empathy, assertiveness, good decision-making, and likability. However, none of these traits, nor any combination of them, will guarantee success as a leader. You need more than that.

4. Power and influence theories What is the source of the leader's power? Power and influence theories of leadership take an entirely different approach. They're based on the different ways in which leaders use power and influence to get things done, and the leadership styles that emerge as a result. Perhaps the most well-known of these theories - 34 -

Leadership Redefined

is French and Raven's Five Forms of Power. This model distinguishes between using your position to exert power, and using your personal attributes to be powerful. French and Raven identified three types of positional power - legitimate, reward, and coercive - and two sources of personal power - expert and referent (your personal appeal and charm). The model suggests that using personal power is the better alternative and, because Expert Power (the power that comes with being a real expert in the job) is the most legitimate of these, that you should actively work on building this. Similarly, leading by example is another highly effective way to establish and sustain a positive influence with your team. Another valid leadership style that's supported by power and influence theories is Transactional Leadership. This approach assumes that work is done only because it is rewarded, and for no other reason, and it therefore focuses on designing tasks and reward structures. While it may not be the most appealing leadership strategy in terms of building relationships and developing a longterm motivating work environment, it does work, and it's used in most organizations on a daily basis to get things done.

Transf orma tional Leader ship ansforma ormational Leadership Within all of these theories, frameworks, and approaches to leadership, there's an underlying message that leaders need to have a variety of factors working in their favor. Effective leadership is not simply based on a set of attributes, behaviors, or influences. You must have a wide range of abilities and approaches that you can draw upon. Having said this, however, there's one leadership style that is appropriate in very many corporate situations - that of Transformational Leadership. A leader using this style: Has integrity. Sets clear goals. Clearly communicates a vision. Sets a good example. Expects the best from the team. Encourages. Supports. Recognizes good work and people. Provides stimulating work. Helps people see beyond their self-interests and focus more on team interests and needs. Inspires. In short, transformational leaders are exceptionally motivating, and they're trusted. When your team trusts you, and is really "fired up" by the way you lead, you can achieve great things! The transformational leadership style is the dominant leadership style taught in our How to Lead: Discover the Leader Within You program, although we do recommend that other styles are brought in as the situation demands. Having said that Transformational Leadership suits very many circumstances in business, we need to remember that there may be situations where it's not the best style. This is why it's worth knowing about the other styles shown below so that you have a

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greater chance of finding the right combination for the situation you find yourself in. We all very well know Maryadhapurushottham Ram, who is an epitome of a qualitative Leader. When we understand indepth about his transformational leadership, we will realize a combination of Inspirational motivation and an self-idealized leader. - Sri Ram created future vision for Ayodhya and the vision was clearly communicated to the people of Ayodhya before leaving to the forest. He was a change agent; he changed the kingship of Kiskhinda from Vali to Sugriva and the kingship of Lanka. He was courageous -- firm and brave to take all the risk to protect the words his father (King Dasaratha) gave to Kaikeyi. As a transformational Leader, he believed in Hanuma and set him to recover Sita from Lanka. He was value driven, never deviated from his word. With ease he dealt with complex situations, he had encountered a dreaded situations wandering for Sita, but never lost his confidence. He had his will power behind him and gained strength from every moves he made to find her. He formed a team of vanaras, took their help, crossed the great indian ocean, deafeated mighty Ravan and recovered Sita. Sri Ram has articulated a vision and mission for himself and his countrymen, through his leadership style and remained as an exemplary personality demonstrating highest performance.

Popular Leader ship Styles Leadership The leadership theories and styles discussed so far fit within formal theoretical frameworks. However, many more terms are used to describe leadership styles, even if these don't fit within a particular system. It's worth understanding these!

1.Autocratic leadership Autocratic leadership is an extreme form of transactional leadership, where leaders have absolute power over their workers or team. Staff and team members have little opportunity to make suggestions, even if these would be in the team's or the organization's best interest. Most people tend to resent being treated like this. Therefore, autocratic leadership often leads to high levels of absenteeism and staff turnover. However, for some routine and unskilled jobs, the style can remain effective because the advantages of control may outweigh the disadvantages.

2. Bureaucratic leadership Bureaucratic leaders work "by the book." They follow rules rigorously, and ensure that their staff follows procedures precisely. This is a very appropriate style for work involving serious safety risks (such as working with machinery, with toxic substances, or at dangerous heights) or where large sums of money are involved (such as handling cash).

3. Charismatic leadership A charismatic leadership style can seem similar to transformational leadership, because these leaders inspire lots of enthusiasm in their teams and are very energetic in driving others forward. However, charismatic leaders can tend to believe more in themselves than in their teams, and this creates a risk that a - 37 -

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Leadership Redefined

Leadership Redefined oriented and people-oriented styles of leadership.

project, or even an entire organization, might collapse if the leader leaves. In the eyes of the followers, success is directly connected to the presence of the charismatic leader. As such, charismatic leadership carries great responsibility, and it needs a longterm commitment from the leader.

4. Democratic leadership or participative leadership Although democratic leaders make the final decisions, they invite other members of the team to contribute to the decision-making process. This not only increases job satisfaction by involving team members, but it also helps to develop people's skills. Team members feel in control of their own destiny, so they're motivated to work hard by more than just a financial reward. Because participation takes time, this approach can take longer, but often the end result is better. The approach can be most suitable when working as a team is essential, and when quality is more important than speed to market, or productivity.

5. Laissez-faire leadership This French phrase means "leave it be," and it's used to describe leaders who leave their team members to work on their own. It can be effective if the leader monitors what's being achieved and communicates this back to the team regularly. Most often, laissez-faire leadership is effective when individual team members are very experienced and skilled self-starters. Unfortunately, this type of leadership can also occur when managers don't apply sufficient control.

6. People-oriented leadership or relations-oriented leadership This is the opposite of task-oriented leadership. With people-oriented leadership, leaders are totally focused on organizing, supporting, and developing the people in their teams. It's a participative style, and it tends to encourage good teamwork and creative collaboration.In practice, most leaders use both task- 39 -

I would want to quote an incident of People-oriented leadership demonstrated by Ramana Parimi here. His down to earth nature, which is a good attribute for a Leader to succeed is admired by one and all. I took lead to conduct a fun event in a Resort sometime in last year. It was hard summer. For me to coordinate employees leaving the campus and being at Resort which is 27 km.s was a big task. I called up most of them to be at the bus bay from where our transportation starts. By the time I called up team members to start and be at specified location, Ramana had already called them up and requested them to be at the location by scheduled time. I was rapt by this man's pro-active style of working. Then it was left for me to be on my feet and began to check my list of activities for the event, so as to enable myself to be competing with him, only with a view not to give him a chance to take up such a small errand. By the time we alighted the bus in the Resort, he was already waiting on his Bermuda and Rayban glasses, rearing to go and enjoy with the team to the optimum. I conducted a skit wherein he acted as a female, made up himself like a lady. He gelled with his team and helped writing the skit briskly. He latched on to his roll and fulfilled it to the core. Others, who were little skeptical and reticent until then, have come forward voluntarily and participated in the skit. I observed he exemplified himself to make others involve themselves spontaneously, without any request or follow up. Demonstration of such a skill is also an exemplary leadership quality - worth learning :

7. Servant leadership This term, created by Robert Greenleaf in the 1970s, describes a leader who is often not formally recognized as such. When someone, at any level within an organization, leads simply by meeting the needs of the team, he or she is described as a "servant leader." In many ways, servant leadership is a form of democratic leadership, because the whole team tends to be involved in decision - 40 -

Leadership Redefined

making.

ever it can be effective in other situations.

Supporters of the servant leadership model suggest that it's an important way to move ahead in a world where values are increasingly important, and where servant leaders achieve power on the basis of their values and ideals. Others believe that in competitive leadership situations, people who practice servant leadership can find themselves left behind by leaders using other leadership styles.

10. Transformational leadership

8. Task-Oriented leadership Highly task-oriented leaders focus only on getting the job done, and they can be quite autocratic. They actively define the work and the roles required, put structures in place, plan, organize, and monitor. However, because task-oriented leaders don't tend to think much about the well-being of their teams, this approach can suffer many of the flaws of autocratic leadership, with difficulties in motivating and retaining staff. 9. Transactional leadership This style of leadership starts with the idea that team members agree to obey their leader totally when they accept a job. The "transaction" is usually the organization paying the team members in return for their effort and compliance. The leader has a right to "punish" team members if their work doesn't meet the pre-determined standard. Team members can do little to improve their job satisfaction under transactional leadership. The leader could give team members some control of their income/reward by using incentives that encourage even higher standards or greater productivity. Alternatively, a transactional leader could practice "management by exception" - rather than rewarding better work, the leader could take corrective action if the required standards are not met.

As we discussed earlier, people with this leadership style are true leaders who inspire their teams constantly with a shared vision of the future. While this leader's enthusiasm is often passed onto the team, he or she can need to be supported by "detail people." That's why, in many organizations, both transactional and transformational leadership are needed. The transactional leaders (or managers) ensure that routine work is done reliably, while the transformational leaders look after initiatives that add new value.

Key Points While the transformational leadership approach is often highly effective, there's no one "right" way to lead or manage that fits all situations. To choose the most effective approach for yourself, consider the following: The skill levels and experience of your team. The work involved (routine, or new and creative). The organizational environment (stable or radically changing, conservative or adventurous). You own preferred or natural style. Good leaders often switch instinctively between styles, according to the people they lead and the work that needs to be done. Establish trust - that's key to this process - and remember to balance the needs of the organization against the needs of your team.

Transactional leadership is really a type of management, not a true leadership style, because the focus is on short-term tasks. It has serious limitations for knowledge-based or creative work, how- 41 -

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Leadership Redefined

Situa tional Leader ship Situational Leadership Choosing the Right Leadership Style for the Right People

One-Minute Manager," among others. The theory states that instead of using just one style, successful leaders should change their leadership styles based on the maturity of the people they're leading and the details of the task. Using this theory, leaders should be able to place more or less emphasis on the task, and more or less emphasis on the relationships with the people they're leading, depending on what's needed to get the job done successfully.

Leadership Styles You've just finished training the newest member of your team. Now that he's ready to start working, you give him the data that you need him to enter into the company's database, and then you hurry off to a meeting.

According to Hersey and Blanchard, there are four main leadership styles: Telling (S1) - Leaders tell their people exactly what to do, and how to do it.

When you return later that afternoon, you're disappointed to find that he hasn't done anything. He didn't know what to do, and he didn't have the confidence to ask for help. As a result, hours have been lost, and now you have to rush to enter the data on time. Although you may want to blame the worker, the truth is that you're as much to blame as he is.

Selling (S2) - Leaders still provide information and direction, but there's more communication with followers. Leaders "sell" their message to get the team on board.

How can you avoid situations like this? Management experts Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard argue that these things happen because leaders don't match their style of leadership to the maturity of the person or group they're leading. When style and maturity aren't matched, failure is the result. In this article, we'll review the Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership速 Theory, and we'll explain how it's used in different leadership situations.

Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory The Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory was created by Dr Paul Hersey, a professor and author of "The Situational Leader," and Ken Blanchard, author of the best selling "The - 43 -

Participating (S3) - Leaders focus more on the relationship and less on direction. The leader works with the team, and shares decision-making responsibilities. Delegating (S4) - Leaders pass most of the responsibility onto the follower or group. The leaders still monitor progress, but they're less involved in decisions. As you can see, styles S1 and S2 are focused on getting the task done. Styles S3 and S4 are more concerned with developing team members' abilities to work independently.

Maturity Levels According to Hersey and Blanchard, knowing when to use each style is largely dependent on the maturity of the person or group you're leading. They break maturity down into four different levels: M1 - People at this level of maturity are at the bottom - 44 -

Leadership Redefined

level of the scale. They lack the knowledge, skills, or confidence to work on their own, and they often need to be pushed to take the task on. M2 - at this level, followers might be willing to work on the task, but they still don't have the skills to do it successfully. M3 - Here, followers are ready and willing to help with the task. They have more skills than the M2 group, but they're still not confident in their abilities. M4 - These followers are able to work on their own. They have high confidence and strong skills, and they're committed to the task. To use this model, reflect on the maturity of individuals within your team. The table above then shows which leadership style Hersey and Blanchard consider the most effective for people with that level of maturity

5. You estimate they're at an M3 maturity level, so you use the matching S3 leadership style. You coach them through the project's goals, pushing and teaching where necessary, but largely leaving them to make their own decisions. As a result, their relationship with you is strengthened, and the team's efforts are a success.

Key Points All teams, and all team members, aren't created equal. Hersey and Blanchard argue that leaders are more effective when they use a leadership style based on the individuals or groups they're leading. Start by identifying whom you're leading. Are your followers knowledgeable about the task? Are they willing and excited to do the work? Rate them on the M1-M4 maturity scale, and then use the leadership style that's appropriate for that rating.

Leadership Style Examples 1. You're about to leave for an extended holiday, and your tasks will be handled by an experienced colleague. He's very familiar with your responsibilities, and he's excited to do the job. 2. Instead of trusting his knowledge and skills to do the work, you spend hours creating a detailed list of tasks for which he'll be responsible, and instructions on how to do them. 3. The result? Your work gets done, but you've damaged the relationship with your colleague by your lack of trust. He was an M4 in maturity, and yet you used an S1 leadership style instead of an S4, which would have been more appropriate. 4. You've just been put in charge of leading a new team. It's your first time working with these people. As far as you can tell, they have some of the necessary skills to reach the department's goals, but not all of them. The good news is that they're excited and willing to do the work.

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Leadership Redefined

Balancing T ask and Task People-Oriented Leader ship Leadership

Leadership Grid, it plots the degree of task-centeredness versus person-centeredness and identifies five combinations as distinct leadership styles.

Understanding the Model The Managerial Grid is based on two behavioral dimensions: Concern for People - This is the degree to which a leader considers the needs of team members, their interests, and areas of personal development when deciding how best to accomplish a task. When your boss puts you in charge of organizing the company party, what do you do first? Do you develop a time line and start assigning tasks or do you think about who would prefer to do what and try to schedule around their needs? When the planning starts to fall behind schedule, what is your first reaction? Do you chase everyone to get back on track, or do you ease off a bit recognizing that everyone is busy just doing his/her job, let alone the extra tasks you've assigned?

Concern for Production - This is the degree to which a leader emphasizes concrete objectives, organizational efficiency and high productivity when deciding how best to accomplish a task. Using the axis to plot leadership 'concerns for production' versus 'concerns for people', Blake and Mouton defined the following five leadership styles:

Your answers to these types of questions can reveal a great deal about your personal leadership style. Some leaders are very task-oriented; they simply want to get things done. Others are very people-oriented; they want people to be happy. And others are a combination of the two. If you prefer to lead by setting and enforcing tight schedules, you tend to be more production-oriented (or task-oriented). If you make people your priority and try to accommodate employee needs, then you're more people-oriented. Neither preference is right or wrong, just as no one type of leadership style is best for all situations. However, it's useful to understand what your natural leadership tendencies are, so that you can then begin working on developing skills that you may be missing. A popular framework for thinking about a leader's 'task versus person' orientation was developed by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton in the early 1960s. Called the Managerial Grid, or

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Country Club Leadership - High People/Low Production This style of leader is most concerned about the needs and feelings of members of his/her team. These people operate under the assumption that as long as team members are happy and secure then they will work hard. What tends to result is a work environment that is very relaxed and fun but where production suffers due to lack of direction and control. - 48 -

Leadership Redefined

Produce or Perish Leadership High Production/Low People Also known as Authoritarian or Compliance Leaders, people in this category believe that employees are simply a means to an end. Employee needs are always secondary to the need for efficient and productive workplaces. This type of leader is very autocratic, has strict work rules, policies, and procedures, and views punishment as the most effective means to motivate employees. This leader is mostly ineffective. He/she has neither a high regard for creating systems for getting the job done, nor for creating a work environment that is satisfying and motivating. The result is a place of disorganization, dissatisfaction and disharmony.

Middle-of-the-Road Leadership Medium Production/Medium People

satisfaction and motivation and, as a result, high production. Being aware of the various approaches is the first step in understanding and improving how well you perform as a manager. It is important to understand how you currently operate, so that you can then identify ways of becoming competent in both realms.

Step One: Identify your leadership style Think of some recent situations where you were the leader. For each of these situations, place yourself in the grid according to where you believe you fit.

Step Two: Identify areas of improvement and develop your leadership skills Look at your current leadership method and critically analyze its effectiveness. Look at ways you can improve. Are you settling for 'middle of the road' because it is easier than reaching for more?

This style seems to be a balance of the two competing concerns. It may at first appear to be an ideal compromise. Therein lies the problem, though: When you compromise, you necessarily give away a bit of each concern so that neither production nor people needs are fully met. Leaders who use this style settle for average performance and often believe that this is the most anyone can expect.

Identify ways to get the skills you need to reach the Team Leadership position. These may include involving others in problem solving or improving how you communicate with them, if you feel you are too task-oriented. Or it may mean becoming clearer about scheduling or monitoring project progress if you tend to focus too much on people.

Team Leadership High Production/High People

Continually monitor your performance and watch for situations when you slip back into bad old habits.

According to the Blake Mouton model, this is the pinnacle of managerial style. These leaders stress production needs and the needs of the people equally highly. The premise here is that employees are involved in understanding organizational purpose and determining production needs. When employees are committed to, and have a stake in the organization's success, their needs and production needs coincide. This creates a team environment based on trust and respect, which leads to high

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Step Three: Put the Grid in Context It is important to recognize that the Team Leadership style isn't always the most effective approach in every situation. While the benefits of democratic and participative management are universally accepted, there are times that call for more attention in one area than another. If your company is in the midst of a merger or some other significant change, it is often accept

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able to place a higher emphasis on people than on production. Likewise, when faced with an economic hardship or physical risk, people concerns may be placed on the back burner, for the shortterm at least, to achieve high productivity and efficiency.

Action Center ed Leader ship Centered Leadership Balancing task, team and individual

Annotation: Theories of leadership have moved on a certain amount since the Blake Mouton Grid was originally proposed. In particular, the context in which leadership occurs is now seen as an important driver of the leadership style used. And in many situations, the "Team Leader" as an ideal has moved to the ideal of the "Transformational Leader": Someone who, according to leadership researcher Bernard Bass: Is a model of integrity and fairness. Sets clear goals. Has high expectations. Encourages. Provides support and recognition. Stirs people's emotions. Gets people to look beyond their self-interest. Inspires people to reach for the improbable.

Imagine you've recently started a new job as a team leader. At first, you're completely overwhelmed with all there is to do. You've got to get to grips with the group's objectives, assign tasks, keep everyone motivated, and adhere to a strict schedule. And that feels like just the tip of the iceberg! You also know that, under your predecessor, several of the team were struggling a little, so you devote a lot of your time to coaching these individuals. This seems to be working well, with the team members concerned growing in confidence as a result of your hard work. But after a few weeks, your start to realize that things are going badly wrong in other areas. The group isn't working cohesively as a whole, and an unpleasant blame culture has sprung up amongst several team members. And an important deadline is missed. You've been so busy coaching people that you didn't see these things till it was too late. Managing a team is very much like juggling several balls at once. Drop one ball, and it spoils the whole pattern. Unfortunately, this is an easy mistake for managers to make, as they spend too much time on one responsibility at the expense of others that are just as important. This is where a management model like Action Centered Leadership helps you monitor the balance between the key areas for which you're responsible, helping you avoid dropping any balls along the way.

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In this article we'll detail what Action Centered Leadership is, and how to use it with your team.

Action Centered Leadership Action Centered Leadership (sometimes known as ACL) is a model that was first published in 1973 by leadership expert, John Adair. It's so-called because it highlights the key actions that leaders have to take when managing their teams. And it's particularly helpful because it groups these responsibilities together under three key areas

Fiedler's Conting enc y Model Contingenc ency Matching Leadership Style to a Situation

What is your natural leadership style? Do you focus on completing tasks, or on building relationships with your team? Have you considered that this natural leadership style might be more suited to some situations or environments than it is to others?

Leadership Style Identifying leadership style is the first step in using the model. Fiedler believed that leadership style is fixed, and it can be measured using a scale he developed called Least-Preferred Co-Worker (LPC) Scale.

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The scale asks you to think about the person who you've least enjoyed working with. This can be a person who you've worked with in your job, or in education or training. You then rate each factor based on this person and add up your scores. If your total score is high, you're likely to be a relationship-orientated leader. If your total score is low, you're more likely to be task-orientated leader. Unfriendly Unpleasant Rejecting Tense Cold Boring Backbiting Uncooperative Hostile Guarded Insincere Unkind Inconsiderate Untrustworthy Gloomy Quarrelsome

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8

Friendly Pleasant Accepting Relaxed Warm Interesting Loyal Cooperative Supportive Open Sincere Kind Considerate Trustworthy Cheerful Harmonious

The model says that task-oriented leaders usually view their LPCs more negatively, resulting in a lower score. Fiedler called these low LPC-leaders. He said that low LPCs are very effective at completing tasks. They're quick to organize a group to get tasks and projects done. Relationship-building is a low priority. However, relationship-oriented leaders usually view their LPCs more positively, giving them a higher score. These are high-LPC leaders. High LPCs focus more on personal connections, and they're good at avoiding and managing conflict. They're better able to make complex decisions.

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Leadership Redefined

Situational Favorableness

Step 3: Determine the most effective leadership style

Next, you determine the "situational favorableness" of your particular situation. This depends on three distinct factors:

Figure 2 shows a breakdown of all of the factors we've covered: Leader-Member Relations, Task Structure, and Leader's Position Power. The final column identifies the type of leader that Fiedler believed would be most effective in each situation.

Leader-Member Relations - This is the level of trust and confidence that your team has in you. A leader who is more trusted and has more influence with the group is in a more favorable situation than a leader who is not trusted. Task Structure - This refers to the type of task you're doing: clear and structured, or vague and unstructured. Unstructured tasks, or tasks where the team and leader have little knowledge of how to achieve them, are viewed unfavorably. Leader's Position Power - This is the amount of power you have to direct the group, and provide reward or punishment. The more power you have, the more favorable your situation. Fiedler identifies power as being either strong or weak.

Step 1: Identify your leadership style Think about the person who you've least enjoyed working with, either now or in the past. Rate your experience with this person using the scale in Figure 1, above. According to this model, a higher score means that you're naturally relationship-focused, and a lower score means that you're naturally task-focused.

Step 2: Identify your situation Answer these questions: Are leader-member relations good or poor? Is the task you're doing structured, or is it more unstructured, or do you have little experience of solving similar problems? Do you have strong or weak power over your team? - 55 -

Breakdown of Most Effective Leader Style For instance, imagine that you've just started working at a new company, replacing a much-loved leader who recently retired. You're leading a team who views you with distrust (so your Leader-Member Relations are poor). The task you're all doing together is well defined (structured), and your position of power is high because you're the boss, and you're able to offer reward or punishment to the group. The most effective leader in this situation would be high LPC - that is, a leader who can focus on building relationships first. Or, imagine that you're leading a team who likes and respects you (so your Leader-Member relations are good). The project you're working on together is highly creative (unstructured) and your position of power is high since, again, you're in a management position of strength. In this situation a task-focused leadership style would be most effective.

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Leadership Redefined

Criticisms of the Model

Path-Goal T heory Theory

There are some criticisms of the Fiedler Contingency Model. One of the biggest is lack of flexibility. Fiedler believed that because our natural leadership style is fixed, the most effective way to handle situations is to change the leader. He didn't allow for flexibility in leaders.

Discovering the Best Leadership Style

For instance, if a low-LPC leader is in charge of a group with good relations and doing unstructured tasks, and she has a weak position (the fourth situation), then, according to the model, the best solution is to replace her with a high-LPC leader instead of asking her to use a different leadership style. There is also an issue with the Least-Preferred Co-Worker Scale - if you fall near the middle of the scoring range, then it could be unclear which style of leader you are.

Imagine that your boss has just assigned a major project to your new team. There are some very talented people within the team, but you've worked with them in the past, and that was... not a pleasant experience.

There have also been several published criticisms of the Fiedler Contingency Model. One of the most cited is "The Contingency Model: Criticisms and Suggestions," published in the Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 13, No. 3. The authors say that, even under the best circumstances, the LPC scale only has about a 50 percent reliable variance. This means that, according to their criticism, the LPC scale may not be a reliable measure of leadership capability.

You've always felt that the best way to manage a fastpaced, expert team is to set objectives, and then let team members work out for themselves how they'll deliver. You don't want to interfere with what they're doing, so you rarely have meetings with individuals or with the group.

It's also perfectly possible that your least preferred coworker is a genuinely confused, unpleasant or evil person (they do exist) - if you are unfortunate enough to have encountered such a person just once in your career, then you might always be categorized as a low-LPC leader, however people-oriented you actually are.

The problem is that the team hasn't responded well to this approach. So what else should you do? Would daily meetings waste your people's time? And would they be annoyed if you involved yourself more in decision-making, or gave them more guidance on the project? When identifying the best style to use when leading a team, we have to consider several different factors, and it's easy choose the wrong approach. When this happens, morale, effectiveness, and productivity can suffer. Path-Goal Theory is a model that can help you think about your leadership style, based on your team's motivations and expectations, and your current situation.

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Emotional Intellig ence in Leader ship Intelligence Leadership Learning How to Be More Aware

According to Daniel Goleman, an American psychologist who helped make the idea of EI popular, there are five main elements of emotional intelligence: 1. Self-awareness. 2. Self-regulation. 3. Motivation. 4. Empathy. 5. Social skills. The more that you, as a leader, manage each of these areas, the higher your emotional intelligence. So, let's look at each element in more detail and examine how you can grow as a leader.

When you think of a "perfect leader," what comes to mind? You might picture someone who never lets his temper get out of control, no matter what problems he's facing. You might think of someone who has the complete trust of her staff, always speaks kindly, listens to her team, is easy to talk to and always makes careful, informed decisions. These are qualities of someone with a high degree of emotional intelligence. Why emotional intelligence is so important for leaders and how you, as a leader, can improve yours.

Emotional Intelligence in Leadership 1. Self-awareness If you're self-aware, you always know how you feel. And you know how your emotions, and your actions, can affect the people around you. Being self-aware when you're in a leadership position also means having a clear picture of your strengths and weaknesses. And it means having humility. So, what can you do to improve your self-awareness?

What Is Emotional Intelligence?

Keep a journal - Journals help improve your self-awareness. If you spend just a few minutes each day writing down your thoughts, this can move you to a higher degree of self-awareness.

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to understand and manage both your own emotions, and those of the people around you. People with a high degree of emotional intelligence usually know what they're feeling, what this means, and how their emotions can affect other people.

Slow down - When you experience anger or other strong emotions, slow down to examine why. Remember, no matter what the situation, you can always choose how you react to it. (Our article on Managing Your Emotions at Work will help you understand what your emotions are telling you.

For leaders, having emotional intelligence is essential for success. After all, who is more likely to succeed - a leader who shouts at his team when he's under stress, or a leader who stay in control, and calmly assesses the situation? - 59 -

2. Self-regulation Leaders who regulate themselves effectively rarely verbally attack others, make rushed or emotional decisions, stereotype - 60 -

Leadership Redefined

people, or compromise their values. Self-regulation is all about staying in control. This element of emotional intelligence, also covers a leader's flexibility and commitment to personal accountability. So, how can you improve your ability to self-regulate? Know your values - Do you have a clear idea of where you absolutely will not compromise? Do you know what values are most important to you? Spend some time examining your "code of ethics." If you know what's most important to you, then you probably won't have to think twice when you face a moral or ethical decision - you'll make the right choice. Hold yourself accountable - If you tend to blame others when something goes wrong, stop. Make a commitment to admit to your mistakes and face the consequences, whatever they are. You'll probably sleep better at night, and you'll quickly earn the respect of those around you. Practice being calm - The next time you're in a challenging situation, be very aware of how you act. Do you relieve your stress by shouting at someone else? Practice deep-breathing exercises to calm yourself. Also, try to write down all of the negative things you want to say, and then rip it up and throw it away. Expressing these emotions on paper (and not showing them to anyone!) is better than speaking them aloud to your team. What's more, this helps you challenge your reactions to make sure that they're fair!

3. Motivation Self-motivated leaders consistently work toward their goals. And they have extremely high standards for the quality of their work. How can you improve your motivation? Re-examine why you're doing this - It's easy to forget what you really love about your career. So, take some time to remember why you wanted this job. If you're unhappy in your role - 61 -

and you're struggling to remember why you wanted it, try the Five Whys technique to find the root of the problem. Starting at the root often helps you look at your situation in a new way. And make sure that your goal statements are fresh and energizing. For more on this, see our article on Goal Setting. Know where you stand - Determine how motivated you are to lead. Our Leadership Motivation Assessment can help you see clearly how motivated you are in your leadership role. If you need to increase your motivation to lead, and it then directs you to resources that can help. Be hopeful and find something good - Motivated leaders are usually optimistic, no matter what they face. Adopting this mindset might take practice, but it's well worth the effort. Every time you face a challenge, or even a failure, try to find at least one good thing about the situation. It might be something small, like a new contact, or something with long-term effects, like an important lesson learned. But there's almost always something positive - you just have to look for it. It is worthwhile taking a leaf out of Ramana's book when he deals with his big team. The attribute which he exhibits not only motivates his subordinates but also brings in a tight bonding amongst the team members. I was associated with Ramana and was directly reporting under him as his Admin, for 2 years. During the tenure I was fortunate enough to observe him in close quarters and learnt some traits from him. To start with; although this activity of his is visibly a trivial errand, but it has an enormous effect on his subordinates. Every morning, once he is in office, he picks up his coffee, walks up to his project folks and talks to them invariably with each and every-one. He exchanges wishes, personal greetings, guides, counsels, extends and seeks help. From the day he joined the division, I had been observing this act of his, which had a tremendous positive influence on each and every team member. When boss appears before the subordinate right at his/her workplace, it not only gives a feel good factor, but also - 62 -

Leadership Redefined

gives way for acquaintance with boss, eliminate the fear factor (boss versus subordinate); transparency in dealing with issues, builds relationship and morale. It also paves way for a subordinate to take up an issue with utmost ease in view of the fact that psychological strength that boss is behind them to encourage. The activity also helps employees to come out with new ideas and innovations. Giving opportunities; jelling with team members and being friendly like a family member, results in building outstanding organization. Ramana, I noticed is an epitome of this trait.

4. Empathy For leaders, having empathy is critical to managing a successful team or organization. Leaders with empathy have the ability to put themselves in someone else's situation. They help develop the people on their team, challenge others who are acting unfairly, give constructive feedback, and listen to those who need it. If you want to earn the respect and loyalty of your team, then show them you care by being empathic. How can you improve your empathy? Put yourself in someone else's position - It's easy to support your own point of view. After all, it's yours! But take the time to look at situations from other people's perspectives. See our article on Perceptual Positions for a useful technique for doing this. Pay attention to body language - Perhaps when you listen to someone, you cross your arms, move your feet back and forth, or bite your lip. This body language tells others how you really feel about a situation, and the message you're giving isn't positive! Learning to read body language can be a real asset when you're in a leadership role because you'll be better able to determine how someone truly feels. And this gives you the opportunity to respond appropriately.

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Respond to feelings - You ask your assistant to work late - again. And although he agrees, you can hear the disappointment in his voice. So, respond by addressing his feelings. Tell him you appreciate how willing he is to work extra hours, and that you're just as frustrated about working late. If possible, figure out a way for future late nights to be less of an issue (for example, give him Monday mornings off).

5. Social skills Leaders who do well in this element of emotional intelligence are great communicators. They're just as open to hearing bad news as good news, and they're experts at getting their team to support them and be excited about a new mission or project. Leaders who have good social skills are also good at managing change and resolving conflicts diplomatically. They're rarely satisfied with leaving things as they are, but they're also not willing to make everyone else do the work. They set the example with their own behavior. So, how can you improve your leadership by building social skills? Learn conflict resolution - Leaders must know how to resolve conflicts between their team members, customers, or vendors. Learning conflict resolution skills is vital if you want to succeed. Improve your communication skills - How well do you communicate? Our communication quiz will help you answer this question, and it will give useful feedback on what you can do to improve. Learn how to praise others - As a leader, you can inspire the loyalty of your team simply by giving praise when it's earned. Learning how to effectively praise others is a fine art, but well worth the effort.

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Leadership Redefined

The Agile Leader pta bility Leader:: Ada Adapta ptability

Key Points Thanks to the many challenges and opportunities that arise when working with others, leaders must have a solid understanding of how their emotions and actions affect the people around them. The better a leader relates to and works with others, the more successful he or she will be. Take the time to work on self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. Working on this will help you excel in the future.

There is a well-known Chinese proverb that says that the wise adapt themselves to circumstances, as water molds itself to the pitcher. Perhaps at no other time in recent history has adaptability been more important than it is now. Adaptability - the ability to change (or be changed) to fit new circumstances - is a crucial skill for leaders, and an important competency in emotional intelligence. A study conducted by the Economist Intelligent Unit, entitled Growing Global Executive Talent, showed that the top three leadership qualities that will be important over the next five years include: the ability to motivate staff (35%); the ability to work well across cultures (34%); and the ability to facilitate change (32%). The least important were technical expertise (11%) and "bringing in the numbers" (10%). As a leader, it is therefore crucial to make a concerted effort to understand people of different cultures, and cultural adaptability has become a leadership imperative. As an example, a Foundation Services Leader in Hyderabad is currently working with 24 different cultures represented in his team! An example of a leader who epitomizes this prized quality is Ramana Parimi, PUM of FS, in RXD, MSIT, MS Hyderabad, who has spent much of the past two decades in various overseas postings in Software Industry. In a recent interaction, he said: "I did not expect to live outside the United States for 15 years; the world has changed, so I have had to change, too. When you look at my bio, I have had worked with many companies in US and - 65 -

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Leadership Redefined

India, gone through lot of changes and reached the world's largest company, MS" This willingness to get out of one's comfort zone, and learn continuously as a way of adapting to changed surroundings, marks a key difference between successful and unsuccessful leaders. Let us about the dumb mistakes we make when we work from a mental script that does not match the requirements of realworld situations .One of the reasons this happens has to do with the way that the brain processes new information. It creates what is called "behavioral scripts", or mental models that automate almost every action that we take. For example, growing up, we build a behavioral script for the physical motions required in tying our shoes. Through practice, this script is eventually entrenched and it ends up making the action so easy and automatic that we never give it another thought. Another example of a behavioral script that we learn is ducking when something is thrown at us. Behavioral scripts simplify our world, make us more efficient and help us move around faster and with less effort. They influence not only our actions but also what we perceive and believe. "We tend not to notice things that are inconsistent with the models, and we tend not to try what the scripts tells us is bad or impossible. The efficiency of these scripts carry with them a downside: they can divert our attention from important information coming to us from our environment. In other words, the models or scripts push us to disregard the reality of a situation, and dismiss signals because the message we get from our scripts is that we already know about it. So we make decisions about a situation. Mental scripts may also result in stubbornly clinging to the notion that "this is how we have always done it", refusing to understand and accept the realities of a new situation. We tend to "generalize into the future what worked in the past." So, whatever worked in the past, do it; whatever didn't work, avoid it. This is, of course, the anti-thesis of the quality of being adaptable, of being flexible under the influence of rapidly changing external conditions. It can make us rigid, unresponsive to - 67 -

change, and unwilling to learn and adopt new ways, all of which can have an impact on our ability to survive and succeed in the long run. People who score high on the adaptability competency are able to deal more positively with change, and they are able to do what it takes to adapt their approach and shift their priorities.

Here are a few tips for developing adaptability. When you catch yourself shooting an idea down, take a moment to consider what mental scripts you might have developed, which are influencing your behavior. Mental scripts are so automatic that you have to decide intentionally that you want to challenge them, if you want to improve your leadership. Help your people distinguish between observation and inference, between fact and conjecture. Inference and conjecture can be influenced by mental scripts which don't have a bearing on reality. Be the voice in the room that calls others' attention to this possibility, and help everyone pause so that they can analyze inferences and conjectures that may or may not be valid. Do you habitually insist on going "by the book"? Is this necessary for every issue? Might you enhance your team's productivity if you paid more attention to the effect that this might have on the people involved? What would happen if you applied standard procedures more flexibly? Consider that when we push the envelope, when we intentionally put ourselves in situations that are outside our comfort zone, we grow. Are you trading on old knowledge? Do you need to update your skills? Are you relying too much on your title as the sign of authority? In today's working environment, surrounded by highly intelligent and specialized knowledge workers, this no longer works. We need to adapt by continually evolving and reinventing ourselves. In "Rethinking the Future", Warren Bennis talks about the importance for leaders to recompose their leadership style and to continue to adapt: "It's like snakes. What do snakes do? They molt, they shed their outside skins. But it's not just that. It's a matter of continuing to grow and transform, and it means that executives have to have extraordinary adaptability." This applies to every level in the organization: - 68 -

Leadership Redefined

change or perish. When we are in a position for a length of time, we may tend to become accustomed to the status quo and fail to challenge the process in order to continue to grow and improve. If you left tomorrow, what would your successor do to improve things? Consider making these changes yourself. In today's environment of complex challenges and rapid change, the ability to solve problems becomes even more crucial. The Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory (KAI) measures the way people solve problems and make decisions. Adapters prefer a more adaptable, methodical and organized approach to problemsolving, and are more likely to seek a solution to a problem by working within current framework rather than developing a completely new one. Innovators, on the other hand, prefer a less orderly, more unconventional and ingenious approach to problem-solving and are likely to seek solutions by thinking outside the box. One looks to do things better, the other looks to do things differently. If you want a test to assess your level of adaptability, consider StrengthsFinder or Emotional Competence Inventory (ECI). The latter tests adaptability on four scales: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Openness to new ideas. Adaptation to situations. Handling of unexpected demands. Adapting or changing strategy.

Adaptability is not just a "nice to have competency". It is a competitive advantage for you, as a leader and for your organization. So, where does your company stand in terms of adaptability? What do you need to do to keep up with the pace of change, with the increasing complexity of today's workplace? Long ago, Benjamin Franklin said: "Wide will wear, but narrow will tear". What can you do today to widen your perspective, to stretch the limits imposed, to extend the scope and meaning of what you do as a leader?

The P ow er of T ble Pow ower Trrust: A Steel Ca Cab

Trust is largely an emotional act, based on an anticipation of reliance. It is fragile, and like an egg shell, one slip can shatter it. Trust pervades nearly every aspect of our daily lives. It is fundamentally important in the healthy functioning of all of our relationships with others. It is even tied to our wealth: in a Scientific American article, Dr. Paul J Zak, a Neuro-economist at Claremont Graduate University, discovered that trust is among the strongest known predictors of a country's wealth - nations with low levels tend to be poor. According to Dr. Zak, societies with low levels of trust are poor because the inhabitants undertake too few of the long-term investments that create jobs and raise incomes. Such investments depend on people trusting others to fulfill their contractual obligations. In seeking to understand what was physically going on in the human brain that instilled trust, he discovered that oxytocin, a hormone and neurotransmitter, increases our propensity to trust others in the absence of threatening signals. We are indeed wired to trust each other, but, as Dr. Zak points out, our life experiences may "retune" the oxytocin to a different "set point", and thus to different levels of trust throughout the course of life. When we are brought up in a safe, nurturing and caring environment, our brains release more oxytocin when someone trusts us - resulting in our reciprocating that trust. By contrast, early experiences of stress, uncertainty and

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isolation interfere with the development of a trusting disposition and decrease oxytocin levels. In today's uncertain climate, it is not surprising that study after study shows a decline in the trust that individuals have in business and political leaders, and in institutions. A research found that three adults surveyed in 20 countries trust corporations less now than they did a year ago. Another survey shows that only 44% of junior employees (those earning less than Rs.6 Lakhs per year) trust their employers to tell them the truth. This is an alarming statistic, especially given how much time, effort and concern are expended in crafting leadership communications to employees. Even though we are faced with a crisis in trust, and have ample examples of leaders who have eroded their employees', customers' and shareholders' trust, I am a firm believer that the majority of leaders walk the path of trustworthiness. In fact, it can be harrowing for many leaders if they receive feedback that others don't find them trustworthy. But being trustworthy, in someone's eyes, is based on their own perceptions, and may be strongly influenced by the fracture of trust in the world around them. Indeed, people don't automatically trust leaders these days. Trust needs to be earned through diligence, fidelity and applied effort.

the Edelman Barometer of Trust said they need to hear a company message three to five times before they believe it. Lewis Carol knew this when he said: "What I tell you three times is true." Your reputation is like a brand. Manage your brand, what you want to be known for, as diligently as Nike or Volvo manage theirs. Brand is trust. Be known as a truth teller in your organization. A leader I coached recently mentioned to me that, before an impending merger, he was troubled by employees asking for information that he couldn't disclose at that time. What do you do in such a situation to preserve the trust you have with your people, while honoring the confidentiality of sensitive information? An honest compromise would be to share what you can (there is usually something we can share) and to add: "This is all I can share right now." This preserves trust, as your people know that you did not lie, and, they understand that even though you have more information, strategic imperatives prevent you from sharing it just then. Earn the trust of your customers by insisting that everyone observes the "five pillars of trust": 1. 2. 3. 4.

If lack of trust is an issue which causes you concern, what can you do to manage perceptions of trust? Here are a few quick tips: Monitor your use of "I" in your communications. Do an audit of your emails, for example, and see how frequently you use "I" as opposed to "we". Peter Drucker said: "The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say 'I.' And that's not because they have trained themselves not to say 'I.' They don't think 'I.' They think 'we'; they think 'team.' They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don't sidestep it, but 'we' gets the credit. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done." View promises you make as an unpaid debt. Keep talking about what matters. 60% of respondents in - 71 -

Keep your promises. Be willing to help. Treat customers as individuals. Make it easy for customers to do business with

you. 5. Ensure that all physical aspects of your product or service give a favorable impression. (Source: Winning Customers, by 1000 Ventures.) As much as this is hard to do, don't try to lead through email. Get out from beneath your desk periodically, and have "face time" with people. The more time you spend with people, the more the level of trust increases. If you are leading virtual teams, pick up the phone more often. Do you manage your moods or do people experience - 72 -

Leadership Redefined

you as agreeable one day and confrontational the next? Predictability engenders trust. Are the corporate stories you tell consistent or do they vary depending on who you are speaking to? It's so easy to get caught up in the moment and exaggerate claims. Even though your intentions may be harmless, these little slips chip away at trust, because people don't judge us by our intentions. Do you make people feel safe? Fear and trust are mutually exclusive. Most leaders would be shocked to find out that, in many cases, people fear them. As a leader, you have a lot of power: the power to hire, fire, promote and demote; the power to assign or withdraw choice assignments and perks; and the power to give or withhold recognition.

Am I just as happy about others' achievements as I am of my own? Do I consistently strive to deliver great work? Is "candid" a quality people would readily attribute to me? Trust is power. It's the power to inspire and influence. It's the glue that bonds us to each other, that strengthens relationships and turns threads of connections into steel cables. Leadership is difficult work. As George Washington said, "I can promise nothing but purity of intentions, and, in carrying these into effect, fidelity and diligence."

Against the current backdrop of unemployment and a failing economy, people's fears can be magnified. An empathetic leader senses this and devotes effort and time to make people feel safe. Empathy involves understanding others' anxiety and making a genuine effort to reduce it. Organizations typically spend considerable energy and effort in team building initiatives, including workshops, retreats, and adventure type experiences. While all of these have their place, if organizations want to increase collaboration and enhance teamwork, they need to start with trust. It's the benchmark of healthy team relationships, it's a very simple process. It's all about individual behaviors. Do individuals behave in a trustworthy manner or not? There is only a pass or fail here. And what are these behaviors? We all instinctively know them, but sometimes we need to remind ourselves of what they are. Ask yourself: Do I share information that I know is helpful to others, or do I withhold it? Do I treat everyone with kindness and compassion. Do I try to do good in my dealings with others? Do I follow through on my commitments, even if it is at considerable personal expense? Do I seize opportunities to encourage others? - 73 -

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Optimism The hidden asset

of being able to convince others that they have the ability to achieve levels of performance beyond those they thought possible. They are able to paint an optimistic and attainable view of the future for their followers: They move others from being stuck with "how things are done around here" and help them see "how things could be done better". In The Leadership Advantage, an essay from the Drucker Foundation's Leader to Leader Guide, Warren Bennis tells us that optimism is one of the key things people need from their leaders in order to achieve positive results. Every "exemplary leader that I have met," writes Bennis, "has what seems to be an unwarranted degree of optimism - and that helps generate the energy and commitment necessary to achieve results."

Among the topics that young people study before they enter the workforce is calculus, the mathematics of change and motion. While training in calculus is undoubtedly valuable, I believe that training in optimism is also important. Just as it is good discipline to solve problems like the velocity of a car at a certain moment in time, it is also crucial to figure out what drives people to give us the very best that they have to offer. Ironically, Leibniz, one of the inventors of calculus, is also known for his philosophy of optimism. He was considered to be an inveterate optimist, asserting that we live "in the best of all possible worlds". Optimism is an emotional competence that can help boost productivity, enhance employee morale, overcome conflict and have a positive impact on the bottom line. In writing about optimism, you face the danger of being seen as advocating a "Pollyanna" or quixotic approach. The truth is, however, optimism has been proven to be a powerful tool that will pay dividends for your personal life and give you a competitive advantage professionally in your career. There is a lot to be gained, indeed, in cultivating an optimistic outlook. ake leadership, for example. Nowhere is optimism more important than in leading organizations. Highly effective leaders have a transforming effect on their constituents: they have the gift - 75 -

Consider, as well, the reverse: the effect that pessimistic individuals can have on an organization's creativity and innovation. To be innovative, you need to be open to new ideas, wide open to seeing possibilities, willing to take risks and encourage others to take risks - willing to challenge the process in order to create new solutions or products or improve processes. In short, you need to have a sense of adventure and an expectation of success. Those who have a pessimistic outlook typically approach changes to the status quo with the familiar: "We tried this before", "It won't work", or "It will never fly". Such individuals often label themselves as "devil's advocate". How can someone who has a pessimistic outlook embrace change over the safety of the known? There are other areas which are impacted positively by optimism. Take sales, for example: A study shows that new sales personnel at Metropolitan Life who scored high on a test on optimism sold 37 percent more life insurance in their first two years than pessimists (Seligman, 1990). In another study involving debt collectors in a large collection agency, the most successful collectors had significantly higher scores in the area of selfactualization, independence and optimism. (Bachman et al, 2000, cited by Cary Cherniss.) Perhaps more significant are the countless studies that have shown that people with an optimistic outlook have healthier - 76 -

Leadership Redefined

relationships, enjoy better mental and physical health and live longer. In The Wisdom of the Ego, Dr George E Vaillant, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, writes about individuals who have "both the capacity to be bent without breaking and the capacity, once bent, to spring back". Vaillant mentions that, in addition to external sources of resilience (such as good health or social supports), these individuals have important internal sources which include a healthy self-esteem and optimism. These coping mechanisms are fully explored in Dr Valliant's subsequent book: Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life, a truly fascinating study that will be particularly interesting to fellow boomers. This is a compendium of three studies involving over 800 individuals, men and women, rich and poor, who were followed for more than 50 years, from adolescence to old age. In it, we discover that one of the most powerful predictors of successful aging is habitually using mature coping mechanisms or defenses, what Vaillant calls the ability to "make lemonade out of life's lemons." Vaillant's study discovered five of these coping mechanisms: Altruism (doing for others what they need, not what we want to do for them); Sublimation (diverting energy to more constructive pursuits such as creativity, art, sports); Suppression (postponement of stressors, not repression); Humor and anticipation. Anticipation is realistic, hopeful planning for the future. This means not operating in a pessimistic crisis mode but preparing and adapting for whatever life brings. So how do you recognize an optimist? Alan Loy McGinnis, author of The Power of Optimism, studied the biographies of over 1000 famous people, and isolated 12 characteristics of the optimistic personality. Among these is: "Optimists look for partial solutions", that is, freed from the tyranny of perfectionism and from paralysis by analysis, they are open to taking small steps towards achieving success. Another characteristic of those who have an optimistic nature is: "Optimists use their imagination to rehearse success", in other words, they play positive mental videos of preferred outcomes, much like sports figures do. Michael Jordan, for example, once stated that he never plays a game that he hasn't - 77 -

first visualized. Another trait is that "Optimists think that they have great capacity for stretching" - they believe that their personal best is yet to come. Dr Martin E Seligman, the modern scholar most often associated with studying the traits of optimists, and former president of the American Psychological Association and Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, has devoted decades to studying optimistic people and reports three traits that they have in common: They view adversity in their lives as temporary, specific and external, that is, not entirely their fault, as opposed to pessimists who view adversity as unchangeable, pervasive, and more personal. In the face of setbacks, challenges or difficult jobs, pessimist are more likely to do worse than predicted and even give up, while optimists will persevere. Optimism, therefore, is also an important component of achievement, and is especially important in times of chaos, change and turbulence. Those who have an optimistic outlook will roll with the punches, will be more proactive and persistent and will not abandon hope. So, where does optimism come from? Is it something we are born with or is it learned? For some lucky individuals, being optimistic comes naturally. The good news is that, for those who don't have it naturally, optimism is an attitude that can be learned and practiced. Here are some strategies you can consider in your journey to becoming more optimistic or in helping someone else who suffers from pessimism: 1. Avoid negative environments. If this is not realistic, make every effort to seek the company of positive individuals in your organization. Sometimes this may mean fraternizing with peers in other departments. Stay away from the professional complainer. 2. Celebrate your strengths. The key to high achievement and happiness is to play out your strengths, not correct your weaknesses. Focus on what you do well. (If you are not sure what your signature strengths are, consider reading Now Discover Your Strengths which includes a web-based questionnaire that helps you discover your own top-five inborn talents.)

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3. Take care of your spiritual and emotional well being by reading inspirational material on a daily basis. This may be different for each person. Some may be inspired by daily quotations, others by reading biographies of successful people in their field and yet others may derive inspiration from reading about all the innovations that we are graced with. A useful website for this is the World Future Society, which keeps up with new inventions. 4. Manage or ignore what you cannot change. When faced with setbacks, identify what you can change and proactively try to find ways to do something about it. We have often heard this advice - it bears repeating. Be inspired by Benjamin Franklin's words: "While we may not be able to control all that happens to us, we can control what happens inside us." 5. Learn to reframe. This involved deliberately shifting perspective and looking for the hidden positive in a negative situation: the proverbial silver lining. Look for the gift in the adversity. 6. If you are serious about developing greater optimism, there is no better book than Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life by Dr Martin E Seligman. Learn Dr Seligman's ABCDE model for disputing pessimistic thoughts. This is a very useful and powerful tool to help you change the way you explain events that trouble you from optimistic to pessimistic. Click here for our Book Insight on Learned Optimism. 7. Adapt your language and outlook. Consider how a simple shift in the language you use can make a difference in your outlook: Do you frequently say: "yes, but...." in response to your constituents' suggestions? The "but" automatically negates anything you have said in the beginning part of the sentence. A simple shift to "yes, and..." might make a positive difference. Check the emails you have sent recently. Count the proportion of negative to positive words. It could be enlightening. 8. Become aware of your stance in business meetings. Are you known as the "devil's advocate", the one who is quick to shoot down others' ideas? Jumping in too quickly to negate an idea can derail the creative process. Often valuable ideas are the - 79 -

result of an initial "crazy" thought. At meetings, even when we don't have the floor, we are under a magnifying glass. Practice being more upbeat, practice speaking last, and see what happens. 9 Focus outside yourself, on important people in your life, on pursuits and projects that fire you up. Bertrand Russell once said that the quickest way to make ourselves miserable is to continually focus on ourselves. It was his love of mathematics that kept him going. 10. Nurture a culture of optimism when you are in charge of other people at work. Expect people to succeed. Even when they occasionally fail to achieve what they set out to do, encourage them so that they can tackle the next challenge. A simple: "I know you'll do better the next time" can have very positive effects. 11 Cultivate spontaneity. Consider putting aside all your plans once in a while to take a walk with your kids, play a game or catch a show. Getting out of your comfort zone by being spontaneous helps to develop your optimistic muscle, as spontaneity essentially involves an expectation of having a pleasurable experience. 12. Consider the health benefits. If you need an extra motivation for practicing optimism, consider the statistics linking optimism to greater health. As Dr Seligman explains, there is evidence to believe that immune systems among optimistic people are stronger than among pessimists. This paper would not be balanced if we did not address the benefits of pessimism. Pessimists, as Seligman explains, may be more realistic and accurate about dangers and risks. At times, when there is a risk of serious negative consequences, a cautious, risk-avoiding evaluation is appropriate and desirable. But the positive effects of being optimistic - fighting depression, aiding in professional, academic and sports achievement, and boosting mental and physical health - outweigh the benefits of being a career pessimist. The answer then is, as - 80 -

Leadership Redefined

Seligman explains, "flexible optimism", i.e. having the wisdom to assess situations and identify those that require a pessimistic inquisition, and those that call for optimism, for having a "can do" attitude" and taking a chance. Winston Churchill had a reason for saying: "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." Practice seeing the opportunity.

Wha t's Empa thy Got to Do What's Empathy With It?

A few weeks ago, I came across a bumper sticker that said: "I am not good at empathy. Will you settle for sarcasm?" The humor in the bumper sticker led me to think of the slight unease or self-conscious discomfort that many people feel when a term such as "empathy" is introduced in a business environment. Notions of "touchy-feely", spring to mind. While empathy is a right brain activity, it is far from being a touchy-feely topic. At its core, empathy is the oil that keeps relationships running smoothly. The fact that empathy is an important component of effective relationships has been proven: In studies medical patients who had damage to part of the brain associated with empathy showed significant deficits in relationship skills, even though their reasoning and learning abilities remained intact. Indeed, empathy is valued currency. It allows us to create bonds of trust, it gives us insights into what others may be feeling or thinking; it helps us understand how or why others are reacting to situations, it sharpens our "people acumen" and informs our decisions. - 81 -

A formal definition of Empathy is the ability to identify and understand another's situation, feelings and motives. It's our capacity to recognize the concerns other people have. Empathy means: "putting yourself in the other person's shoes" or "seeing things through someone else's eyes". There are numerous studies that link empathy to business results. They include studies that correlate empathy with increased sales, with the performance of the best managers of product development teams and with enhanced performance in an increasingly diverse workforce. A few of these studies can be viewed on the site of The Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations. Yes, increasingly, the topic of empathy is encroaching on the business world. We are now even seeing terms such as "empathy marketing" and "empathy selling". Not long ago, I came across the term "user empathy", referring to user interface. Along those lines, in his book, A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age, Daniel Pink predicts that power will reside with those who have strong right-brain (interpersonal) qualities. He cites three forces that are causing this change: Abundance, Asia and Automation. "Abundance" refers to our increasing demand for products or services that are aesthetically pleasing; "Asia" refers to the growing trend of outsourcing; "Automation" is self-explanatory. In order to compete in the new economy market, Pink suggests six areas that are vital to our success. One of which is Empathy; the ability to imagine yourself in someone else's position, to imagine what they are feeling, to understand what makes people tick, to create relationships and to be caring of others: All of which is very difficult to outsource or automate, and yet is increasingly important to business. Empathy is also particularly critical to leadership development in this age of young, independent, highly marketable and mobile workers. In a popular Harvard Business Review article entitled "What Makes a Leader?", Dr. Daniel Goleman isolates three reasons for why empathy is so important: the increasing use of teams, (which he refers to as "cauldrons of bubbling - 82 -

Leadership Redefined

emotions"), the rapid pace of globalization (with cross cultural communication easily leading to misunderstandings) and the growing need to retain talent. "Leaders with empathy," states Goleman, "do more than sympathize with people around them: they use their knowledge to improve their companies in subtle, but important ways." This doesn't mean that they agree with everyone's view or try to please everybody. Rather, they "thoughtfully consider employees' feelings - along with other factors - in the process of making intelligent decisions."

and to the context.

Empathy, then, is an ability that is well-worth cultivating. It's a soft, sometimes abstract tool in a leader's toolkit that can lead to hard, tangible results. But where does empathy come from? Is it a process of thinking or of emotion? From my perspective, I believe that it is both: We need to use our reasoning ability to understand another person's thoughts, feelings, reactions, concerns, motives; This means truly making an effort to stop and think for a moment about the other person's perspective in order to begin to understand where they are coming from: And then we need the emotional capacity to care for that person's concern; Caring does not mean that we would always agree with the person, that we would change our position, but it does mean that we would be in tune with what that person is going through, so that we can respond in a manner that acknowledges their thoughts, feelings or concerns.

4. Practice the "93% rule", when communicating about feelings and attitudes, words - the things we say - account for only 7% of the total message that people receive. The other 93% of the message that we communicate when we speak is contained in our tone of voice and body language. It's important, then, to spend some time to understand how we come across when we communicate with others about our feelings and attitudes.

So this leads me to a question that I am sometimes asked: "Can you teach someone to be empathetic?" We all know some people who are naturally and consistently empathetic these are the people who can easily forge positive connections with others. They are people who use empathy to engender trust and build bonds; they are catalysts who are able to create positive communities for the greater good. But even if empathy does not come naturally to some of us, I firmly believe that we can develop this capacity. Here are a few practical tips you might consider to help you do this: 1. Listen - truly listen to people. Listen with your ears, eyes and heart. Pay attention to others' body language, to their tone of voice, to the hidden emotions behind what they are saying to you, - 83 -

2. Don't interrupt people. Don't dismiss their concerns offhand. Don't rush to give advice. Don't change the subject. Allow people their moment. 3. Tune in to non-verbal communication. This is the way that people often communicate what they think or feel, even when their verbal communication says something quite different.

5. Use people's name. Also remember the names of people's spouse and children so that you can refer to them by name. 6. Be fully present when you are with people. Don't check your email, look at your watch or take phone calls when a direct report drops into your office to talk to you. Put yourself in their shoes. How would you feel if your boss did that to you? 7.

Smile at people.

8. Encourage people, particularly the quiet ones, when they speak up in meetings. A simple thing like an attentive nod can boost people's confidence. 9. Give genuine recognition and praise. Pay attention to what people are doing and catch them doing the right things. When you give praise, spend a little effort to make your genuine words memorable: "You are an asset to this team because.."; "This was pure genius"; "I would have missed this if you hadn't picked it up." - 84 -

Leadership Redefined

10. Take a personal interest in people. Show people that you care, and genuine curiosity about their lives. Ask them questions about their hobbies, their challenges, their families, their aspirations.

Humility The most beautiful word in the English language

Empathy is an emotional and thinking muscle that becomes stronger the more we use it. Try some of these suggestions and watch the reactions of those you work with. I believe you will notice some positive results. Years ago, I had come across a saying that went something like this: the measure of a man [or woman], is how they treat someone who is of absolutely no use to them. Empathy should not be selective: It should be a daily habit. If I were to create a bumper sticker, I would say: Empathy: Don't Leave Home Without It!

Many years ago, one of my university professors mentioned that "windowsill" was voted the most beautiful word in the English language. Being an armchair linguist, this factoid naturally stayed with me. Words have enormous power. They can make us erupt into laughter or bring tears to our eyes. They can influence, inspire, manipulate and shock. They can build and destroy. Some words have different effects on different people. One such word is humility. It is one of those words that are seldom in neutral gear. Some, like me, love the word and all it stands for. Some almost fear it and interpret it synonymously with lack of self-confidence or timidity. The dictionary defines humility as modesty, lacking pretence, not believing that you are superior to others. An ancillary definition includes: "Having a lowly opinion of oneself, meekness". The word "humility" first struck me in the context of leadership when Jim Collins mentioned it in his seminal work Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't. In this book, Collins examined companies that went from good to great by sustaining 15-year cumulative stock returns at or below the general stock market, and after a transition point, cumulative returns at least three times the market over the next 15 years. Among the many characteristics that distinguished these companies from others is that they all had a Level 5 leader. Level 5 leaders direct their ego away from themselves to the larger goal of leading their company to greatness. These leaders are a complex, paradoxical mix of intense professional will and ex-

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treme personal humility. They will create superb results but shun public adulation, and are never boastful. They are described as modest. An example of such a leader who epitomized humility is David Packard, the co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, who, in Jim Collins' words, defined himself as a HP man first and a CEO second. He was a man of the people, practicing management by walking around. Shunning all manner of publicity, Packard is quoted as saying: "You shouldn't gloat about anything you've done; you ought to keep going and find something better to do." Another great leader is Patrick Daniel, CEO of North American energy and pipeline company Enbridge, who espouses two leadership attributes: determination to create results and humility, shifting the focus away from himself and continually recognizing the contributions of others. "I have learned through the lives of great leaders," he said, "that greatness comes from humility and being at times, self-effacing." Clearly these leaders, and many others like them, don't espouse the meaning of humility as "meek". On the contrary, it is a source of their strength. But the notion of being self-effacing is one that we struggle with in our competitive culture, prescribing that we take every opportunity to toot our own horn, and that we don't dare leave the house without our dynamic elevator speech all rehearsed. We often confuse humility with timidity. Humility is not clothing ourselves in an attitude of self-abasement or selfdenigration. Humility is all about maintaining our pride about who we are, about our achievements, about our worth - but without arrogance - it is the antithesis of hubris, that excessive, arrogant pride which often leads to the derailment of some corporate heroes, as it does with the downfall of the tragic hero in Greek drama. It's about a quiet confidence without the need for a meretricious selling of our wares. It's about being content to let others discover the layers of our talents without having to boast about them. It's a lack of arrogance, not a lack of aggressiveness in the pursuit of achievement. An interesting dichotomy is that, often, the higher people rise, the more they have accomplished, the higher the humility index. Those who achieve the most brag the least, and the more - 87 -

secure they are in themselves, the more humble they are. "True merit, like a river, the deeper it is, the less noise it makes". (Edward Frederick Halifax). We have all come across people like that and feel admiration for them. There is also an understated humility of everyday people we work with who have the ability to get the job done without drawing attention to themselves. Witness the employee who is working at his computer into the late hours, purely motivated by a keen sense of duty, the executive assistant who stays after 5:30pm on a Friday night in an empty office to await a courier, or the manager who quietly cancels an important personal event to fly out of town to attend to the company's business. This is akin to the philanthropist who gives an anonymous donation. Humility is also a meta-virtue. It crosses into an array of principles. For example, we can safely declare that there cannot be authenticity without humility. Why? Because, there is always a time in a leader's journey when one will be in a situation of not having all the answers. Admitting this and seeking others' input requires some humility. Another mark of a leader who practices humility is his or her treatment of others. Such leaders treat everyone with respect regardless of position. Years ago, I came across this reference: the sign of a gentleman is how he treats those who can be of absolutely no use to him. Something interesting happens, too, when we approach situations from a perspective of humility: it opens us up to possibilities, as we choose open-mindedness and curiosity over protecting our point of view. We spend more time in that wonderful space of the beginner's mind, willing to learn from what others have to offer. We move away from pushing into allowing, from insecure to secure, from seeking approval to seeking enlightenment. We forget about being perfect and we enjoy being in the moment. Here are a few suggestions on practicing humility: 1. There are times when swallowing one's pride is particularly difficult and any intentions of humility fly out the window, as we get engaged in a contest of perfection, each side seeking to - 88 -

Leadership Redefined

look good. If you find yourself in such no-win situations, consider developing some strategies to ensure that the circumstances don't lead you to lose your grace. Try this sometimes: just stop talking and allow the other person to be in the limelight. There is something very liberating in this strategy.

The T alisman of Leader ship Talisman Leadership Authenticity

2. Here are three magical words that will produce more peace of mind than a week at an expensive retreat: "You are right." 3. Catch yourself if you benignly slip into over preaching or coaching without permission - is zeal to impose your point of view overtaking discretion? Is your correction of others reflective of your own needs? 4. Seek others' input on how you are showing up in your leadership path. Ask: "How am I doing?" It takes humility to ask such a question. And even more humility to consider the answer. 5. Encourage the practice of humility in your company through your own example: every time you share credit for successes with others, you reinforce the ethos for your constituents. Consider mentoring or coaching emerging leaders on this key attribute of leadership. There are many benefits to practicing humility, to being in a state of non-pretence: it improves relationships across all levels, it reduces anxiety, it encourages more openness and paradoxically, it enhances one's self-confidence. It opens a window to a higher self. For me, it replaces "windowsill" as the most beautiful word in the English language.

"I have come to realize that, for me at least, the quest for 'authenticity' is really a new spin on an age-old quest to find meaning and do the right thing. It's a journey not a destination; a process not an answer." - Hugh Mason Some time ago, I heard a young woman say, "I am enough." I was struck and intrigued by the expression, and so I set out to research it. It originated with a psychotherapist, who was asked how he did what he did so successfully. His response was, "Before a session with a client, I let myself know that 'I am enough.' Not perfect - because perfect wouldn't be enough. But I am human, and there is nothing that this client can say or do or feel that I cannot feel in myself. I can be with them. I am enough." This echoes the serenity of mind, the calm spirit that characterizes a 'Mensch' - in other words, a person of integrity, a quality that is defined in the dictionary as 'a state of being complete or undivided.' Leaders such as these are the epitome of authenticity. They come from the standpoint of being enough, of seeing themselves as complete human beings, providing a unique contribution to the world by giving their own brand of wisdom, ingenuity, perceptiveness, fairness, and fierce loyalty to their organizations, and to those they lead. Authentic leaders are also promise-keepers. This applies to even the smallest of promises. Years ago, I met the CEO of a Fortune 500 organization. I noticed something about him. He carried with him a small, black notebook into which he noted

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down any promise he made. No matter how junior the person was to whom he spoke, he made the same effort to note down his promises to that person so that he could follow through. We can rely on the word of such a person. Transparent communication is a by-product of authentic leaders' lucid thinking and uncompromising ethic. Such leaders say a great deal with a few words, and there is no communication gap between their internal vision of the world and its outward expression. There is directness in their language. This transparency in communication is the holy grail of leadership, especially today - with a reported four million blogs in the blogosphere where a lack of transparency can be particularly detrimental to an organization. Conformity smoothes our day's journey at work. Blind conformity, however, has its downsides. It saps creativity, for one. It removes all sense of individuality. If you are a leader who demands conformity, I encourage you to think how this might erode your constituents' authenticity as they are pressured to conform. I once worked for a leader in a technology company, who adopted, as part of the company values, the notion of 'intelligent disobedience.' The concept comes from Seeing Eye dogs. While dogs must learn to obey the commands of the blind person, they must also know when they need to disobey commands that can put the owner in harm's way, such as when a car is approaching. Intelligent disobedience is not about being difficult and disobeying for disobedience sake. Rather, it is about being given the authority to use your judgment - for example, when a decision no longer applies, or when a rule interferes with the wellbeing of the customer. Much has been written about 'CEO disease' - a term that describes the isolation that surrounds a leader when constituents are reluctant to bring bad news or worst-case scenarios to them, for fear that such disclosure might trigger a shoot-the-messenger reaction. Establish a culture that values openness - a literal, not only figurative, open-door policy. Make it safe for staff to stick their neck out. Consider instituting 'Giraffe Awards' to encourage people to stick their necks out for the overall good of the company and its stakeholders. Fallout of working for, or being associated with, an - 91 -

inauthentic leader is that this person robs us of our own authenticity as we tread carefully around them. We focus on what keeps us safe in our jobs. In the process they don't get the best out of us - they get our labor, but not our full engagement - that X factor that divides high performance from minimum acceptable standards. We all know too well that high engagement is one of the keys to building a high-performance, sustainable organization in today's competitive environment. There are many ways to foster that engagement in organizations - one of them is to take a close look at the quality of the leader. Do people feel that the leader is who he or she says they are? Are people convinced that the leader has no hidden agenda, and that the person genuinely cares for them? All of these factors affect engagement and the bottom line. Lack of authenticity in a leader carries a hefty price tag. A test of our veracity as leaders is the annual or semiannual performance reviews. More animosity and erosion of trust has been unnecessarily generated through the dreaded performance reviews than through any other HR process. Before you write the first word, sit back and see that person as a real human being. It is very difficult to capture the sum totality of an individual in a form. A few decades ago, a leader to whom I reported, and for whom I had great respect, reviewed my performance and wrote 'rarely, if ever late' as the rating for my attendance. When I pointed out that, in fact, I was never late, he said that he couldn't write that, as this might be perceived by head office as the 'halo effect' because 'no one is never late,' and that this would cast doubt on the veracity of all the other comments in the performance reviews. If you are unsure how to rate someone because you have not had a chance to observe them in a certain behavior, level with them, and ask their help in rating that particular aspect of their performance instead of guessing. Watch the level of trust soar with that individual. Leadership is difficult work, and it can be easy to stray from who we are at the core in order to satisfy business imperatives. Being totally authentic may present particular challenges in today's highly competitive environments where, for example, proprietary knowledge needs to be closely guarded, or where news of impending layoffs needs to be managed in order to avoid - 92 -

Leadership Redefined

losing key staff. We can be unwittingly mired in politics. We sometimes find ourselves in situations where we need to look over our shoulders continuously to protect ourselves. We cannot always trust that others are genuine with us. Even when we strive to do our very best, others will sometimes betray us. Much happens in the course of our careers as we climb the achievement ladder. We can sometimes, slowly and imperceptibly, wander off from our authentic selves. Despite all of this, we need to make every effort to stay true to who we are. As Howard Thurman eloquently said, "Find the grain in your own wood." Here is what I call the 'leaves' of authenticity: 1. Living your values as a leader every day is an important key component of authentic leadership. However, you need to examine these values periodically to consider their validity in today's environment. Work-life balance, for example, is no longer a perk - it may be an essential requirement for attracting the best minds to your organization. 2. Are you in the habit of making hasty promises that you know from past experience you are unable to keep? Think back on what promises you made, to whom, and see if you can fulfill some of these. 3. There is a real freedom when we shed all affectation. Are there times in your life when you see yourself being forced to put on a show to make an impression on others? Resolve to stop that, once and for all. Watch yourself soar when you are unencumbered by the weight of pretense. Tell yourself, "I am enough" - and mean it. 4. Straight talk, self-confidence, and simplicity - these are the building blocks of substance; the triumph over image. Think about how you can make these a daily habit.

illustrate important aspects of your leadership style, such as, what motivates you to lead; what your philosophy of leading is; and who you are as a person. Personal stories are the most effective form of storytelling for leaders. 7. Adversity reveals our true character. Consider your conduct when things go wrong. Remind yourself that, as a leader, you are continuously under a looking glass. People want to be inspired by you. 8. When you are given a script you didn't write for a presentation that you have to deliver, spend extra time to make the words your own. Purge your presentations of inadvertently inflated language, which often ends with others questioning your authenticity as a speaker. For example, replace the words 'eating establishments' with 'restaurants', 'learning environments' with 'schools' or 'universities', 'expeditious' with 'efficient.' Take inspiration from Winston Churchill, who said, "Speak in short, homely words of common usage." 9. Are you forced to live in disharmony between who you are and what you do? Have you turned a deaf ear to the whispers of your heart? Resolve today to take action to start the journey back to finding yourself, to reconnecting with your passions and values. If this is not possible for you because of restrictions in your current circumstance, think about small compromises that you can start making right now to be more in a state of harmony. 10. If you are an emergent leader, comfortable with seeking approval before making any decisions, develop a plan to start practicing self-reliance. Start with smaller-scale decisions, and progressively move on to more significant ones. Only when you free yourself from the need to have others' approval can you truly start to evolve into the authentic leader you were meant to be.

5. Are there areas in your life where you might lack consistency without intending to? For example, are you kind to some people, but not to others? Are you completely truthful in some circumstances, but not in others? What does this insight tell you? 6.

Start collecting personal stories that you can use to - 93 -

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Being accounta ble to y our self in accountab your ourself ship leader leadership

themselves accountable for the big ticket items such as driving for results, whether in sales, operations, marketing or financing, identifying root causes for business problems, developing a vision and strategy and managing resources effectively. Let's clarify something before we proceed: no leader worth his salt wakes up in the morning deciding that he or she is not going to be accountable today. No one wants to do a bad job. But things happen during the course of the day that can divert the best of us from our good intentions and more often than not, it is unintentional, personal "slips". It is about these seemingly innocuous personal slips that I want to talk. They take many, subtle forms. Let's explore a few of the garden-variety ones:

"I swear by Apollo"... so starts the Oath of Hippocrates, an oath of ethical, professional behavior sworn by all new physicians - a promise to practice good medicine to the best of their ability, for the good of their patients. It essentially boils down to a commitment to "do no harm". Wouldn't it be great to have such an oath for leaders - an oath of personal accountability, not just for business outcomes and for leading others, but for leading oneself? I am reminded of the proverb "Physician, heal thyself", suggesting that one should take care of one's own faults first before correcting the faults of others - so I add to the above: Leader, lead thyself. Any nuts-and-bolts leadership primer will explain that one of the key leadership competencies is holding others accountable. This entails, among other things, setting clear expectations and guidelines, clearly communicating goals and objectives, following up to ensure fulfillment of responsibilities, providing feedback on performance, coaching those whose performance is not up to par and, finally, taking any necessary corrective action. But a leader cannot expect to hold others accountable successfully if they are not holding themselves accountable first. While this is an important dimension of leadership, it is easy to slip, when it comes to accountability for our own behavior. This can happen even to leaders who do a great job at holding - 95 -

You have a chronic problem employee but you don't make the tough decision to let the individual go, because you want to be a nice person. Instead, after much deliberation and agony, you decide to transfer the person to another department essentially moving the problem to another part of the company and hoping it goes away. Deep down, your intuition is whispering to you that the problem has not been solved but, in your elation at having found the solution to a nagging problem, you hush your intuition. You come to the office the next day, with a spring in your step and a song in your heart - relieved at having shed a burden. A senior member of your team has a habit of treating less influential ones very poorly in meetings, interrupting them, discounting their contributions and generally exhibiting poster-like bad behavior. It mortifies the recipients, embarrasses other team members and even bothers you. Again, though, because you value harmony and hate confrontation of any kind, you choose to ignore the offending behavior and hope that it will stop on its own. The fact that the perpetuator is an aggressive, high achiever, successfully delivering results, makes it even harder for you to step up and do something. You have just announced the company's drastic cost cutting measures and asked for everyone in your department to cooperate by eliminating all discretionary spending. You delivered a genuinely inspiring speech to your team and everyone is on board to make this work. Two days later, employees see a $1,000 chair delivered to your office - an earlier purchase you had - 96 -

Leadership Redefined

genuinely forgotten to cancel. Others, of course, don't judge us by our intentions - they only have the appearance of events to judge you by. A mistake was made, the ownership of which falls on several shoulders including yours. Driven by the anxiety and chaos that ensues, you minimize your role in the fracas, and even unwittingly suffer from temporary corporate amnesia, forgetting that you were fully briefed in advance. You set out to find a scapegoat, genuinely convincing yourself that it is surely their fault. This can easily happen in times of stress because, as a leader, you handle dozens of issues on a daily basis. However, others involved only handle a few issues and remember the course of events with laser-like precision. Well, the list can go on. Some slips are due to personality preferences, others just from the sheer amount of work and stress that leaders often experience. The reasons are multiple and really not important. It's the behaviors that are important. They are all examples of behaviors you would not condone in others when you set out to hold them accountable. And as we all know, when there is a disparity between what you tell others to do and what you do yourself, people will believe your actions and not your words. The fallout of this scenario is an erosion of trust, one of the high prices we pay for lack of self-accountability. Let's also not neglect to mention that, as a leader, you sometimes have to take unpopular decisions and this can, by itself, elicit criticism. You are always in a fishbowl. So what strategies can you adopt to be more careful, to be selfaccountable - essentially to report to yourself? 1. Just as companies are rightfully concerned about how they are viewed by customers or shareholders, consider taking time to reflect on how your actions are viewed by all stakeholders: your direct reports, your peers, your clients. Go through a formal 360Â° Leadership Assessment process or simply get hold of a leadership assessment form and use it to reflect on how others in your team would rate you on each dimension. 2. For example: Puts the interests of the team before own interests; Shares credit for successes; Readily shares relevant - 97 -

information; Asks how am I doing; Treats others with respect regardless of their position; Fosters teamwork across all departments; Stands behind decisions made by the team; Provides honest feedback in a timely basis. Would others respond in this way about you? 2. At the end of each day, when you clear your desk before you head home, take a few short minutes to mentally go over your day. Think about significant conversations you held meetings you attended, emails you sent and other actions you undertook. 3. Are you proud? Could you have done better? This will inspire you to plan your next day around your highest purpose. Getting into this habit of introspection will pay dividends in the long run. 3. Decide to hold yourself accountable for developing other leaders. By mentoring a protĂŠgĂŠ to enhance their personal and professional growth, you strengthen your own leadership skills and reinforce your determination to be self-accountable as you become the model. 4. When something goes wrong, look inwardly for solutions. It is especially in difficult times that our self-accountability is challenged. Martin Luther King said it poignantly: "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." 5. When a mistake is made, do you ask: "Whose fault is it?" or do you say: "What can we learn from this?" or "What can I do to improve this situation?" 6. To that end, consider reading John G. Miller's book: QBQ! The Question behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability in Work and in Life. Reading the book inspires one to move away from the blame game we have all been tempted to play at one time or other and take ownership of issues. 7. Think about promises you make to new hires during the interviewing courtship period. In our zeal to want to attract the - 98 -

Leadership Redefined

brightest and most talented, we can easily over promise. Keep a record of your interview notes and what you promised to candidates. If subsequent events make it impossible to keep the promises, at least you can address them with the individual. This is better than forgetting about them altogether. 8. What about promises you made to yourself? Write out your personal and professional goals with clear targets. Read them once a week. Are your day-to-day action aligned with your values, your standards, your philosophy of leading? What are your boundaries? Do you take measures to protect them? If your answers to these questions are negative, what is causing this? What insights does this give you? Use this information as a means to spur you to action rather than guilt. 9. Moliere, 17th century French dramatist, said: "It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable." Is there anything that you are avoiding doing that needs to be done? For example, are you putting off a difficult conversation? Are you delaying any important decisions? Are you delegating away responsibilities that should stay in your court? Self-accountability, then, is staying true to us despite difficult circumstances. It's doing the right thing even when we are tempted to bend a few rules for expediency's sake. Perhaps Deborah Lee put it best: "Self-accountability is who you are when no one is looking". It's also the best antidote to feeling victimized by circumstances and in so doing, frees up precious creative energy for us to accomplish what matters to us. Above all, it entails owning up to the consequences of our decisions and choices, because there is no choice without accountability.

Leading b y Example by Making sure you "walk the talk"

There's the boss who tells everyone to stay late, and then leaves promptly at 5:00pm to go golfing. There's the supervisor who criticizes everyone for spending time on the Internet, but is discovered buying groceries online in the middle of the afternoon. And the CFO who recommends layoffs to stop "unnecessary spending," but then buys herself brand-new luxury office furniture. Do you know any of these people? There's hardly anything worse for company morale than leaders who practice the "Do as I say, not as I do" philosophy. When this happens, you can almost see the loss of enthusiasm and goodwill among the staff. It's like watching the air go out of a balloon - and cynicism and disappointment usually take its place. No matter what the situation is, double standards witnessing people say one thing, and then doing another - always feel like betrayals. They can be very destructive. If this ever happened to you, you can probably remember that sense of disappointment and letdown. If you're in a leadership position, then you know that you have a responsibility to your team. They look to you for guidance and strength; that's part of what being a leader is. And a big part of your responsibility is to lead them with your own actions. So why is it so important to lead by example; and what happens when you don't?

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Leadership Redefined

Why It Matters There's an old saying about the difference between a manager and a leader: "Managers do things right. Leaders do the right things." (It's best to be both a manager and a leader - they're just different processes.) As a leader, part of your job is to inspire the people around you to push themselves - and, in turn, the company - to greatness. To do this, you must show them the way by doing it yourself. Stop and think about the inspiring people who have changed the world with their examples. Consider what Mahatma Gandhi accomplished through his actions: He spent most of his adult life living what he preached to others. He was committed to nonviolent resistance to protest injustice, and people followed in his footsteps. He led them, and India, to independence - because his life proved, by example, that it could be done. Although Gandhi's situation is very different from yours, the principle is the same. When you lead by example, you create a picture of what's possible. People can look at you and say, "Well, if he can do it, I can do it." When you lead by example, you make it easy for others to follow you. Look at legendary businessman, Jack Welch of General Electric. Welch knew that to push GE to new heights, he had to turn everything upside down. So that's just what he did. He developed the whole idea of a "boundaryless organization." This means that everyone is free to brainstorm and think of ideas - instead of waiting for someone "higher up" in the bureaucracy to think of them first. He wanted his team "turned loose," and he promised to listen to ideas from anyone in the company. And he did. Everyone from the lowest line workers to senior managers got his attention - if they had something to say or a new idea that might make the company better. It wasn't just "talk," and it didn't take his team long to figure that out.

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Welch stayed true to his passions and what he knew was right. As a result, GE became an incredibly successful company under his management. His team was always willing to follow his lead, because the people within it knew that he always kept his word. What does this mean for you? If you give yourself to your team and show them the way, then, most likely, they'll follow you anywhere.

When You Don't Lead by Example We've seen just how powerful it can be to lead by example. But what happens when you don't follow this rule? How does your team feel when you tell them to do one thing, and then you do the exact opposite? As we said earlier, if this ever happened to you, then it shouldn't be hard to remember how angry and disappointed you were. When leaders don't "practice what they preach," it can be almost impossible for a team to work together successfully. How can anyone trust a leader who talks about one thing, but does another? Consider what might have happened if Gandhi had, even one time, been in a physical fight with his opposition. His important message of nonviolent protest would probably have been much harder to believe after that. His followers would have looked at him with suspicion and distrust. The chances of them getting into physical arguments or committing acts of violence probably would have increased dramatically. Do you think that Alexander the Great's soldiers would have fought so hard for him if he had sat on top of a hill, safe from the battle? Probably not. He would have been just another average general in our history books, instead of the example of a successful leader that we know today.

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Leadership Redefined

And so it is with your team. If you say one thing and do another, they likely won't follow you enthusiastically. Why should they? Everything you tell them after that may meet with suspicion and doubt. They may not trust that you're doing the right thing, or that you know what you're talking about. They may no longer believe in you. Good leaders push their people forward with excitement, inspiration, trust, and vision. If you lead a team that doesn't trust you, productivity will drop. Enthusiasm may disappear. The vision you're trying so hard to make happen may lose its appeal, all because your team doesn't trust you anymore.

Look closely at your own behavior. If you criticize people for interrupting, but you constantly do it yourself, you need to fix this. Yes, you want people to pay attention to one another and listen to all viewpoints, so demonstrate this yourself. If, in the spirit of goodwill, you make a rule for everyone to leave the office at 5:00 p.m., then you need to do it too. If you stay late to get more work done, your team may feel guilty and start staying late too, which can destroy the whole purpose of the rule. The same is true for something like a lunch break - if you want your team to take a full hour to rest and relax, then you need to do it too.

Key Points Good leadership takes strength of character and a firm commitment to do the right thing, at the right time, for the right reason. This means doing what you say, when you say it. If your team can't trust you, you'll probably never lead them to greatness. Leading - and living - by example isn't as hard as it might sound. It's really the easiest path. If your team knows that you'll also do whatever you expect from them, they'll likely work hard to help you achieve your goal. Mahatma Gandhi and Alexander the Great helped change the world because they lived by example - and, as a result, they accomplished great things.

Apply This to Your Life If you ask a co-worker to do something, make sure you'd be willing to do it yourself. If you implement new rules for the office, then follow those rules just as closely as you expect everyone else to follow them. For example, if the new rule is "no personal calls at work," then don't talk to your spouse at work. You'll be seen as dishonest, and your staff may become angry and start disobeying you.

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Leadership Redefined

A Leader's Mood The dimmer switch of performance

attributable to the actions and behaviors of their leader. A leader creates the environment that determines people's moods at the office and their mood, in turn, affects their productivity and level of engagement.

Afterglow or Aftermath?

In response to a discussion on the effect of a leader's mood on the performance of a team, a participant in a recent leadership workshop made this heartfelt and realistic remark: "I cannot see how I am expected to be in a good mood for four quarters in a row." The point is well taken. But can you afford, as a leader, to even entertain this thought? All of the research on employee performance points to the contrary. There is a concept in French which is called "Noblesse oblige". It means, roughly, that wealth, power and prestige go hand-in-hand with certain social responsibilities - in other words, with privilege comes duty. It is a privilege when we have the opportunity to lead a team of people, but with it comes many responsibilities, chief of which, some leadership pundits would contend, is managing moods. In a Harvard Business Review article called Leadership That Gets Results, Daniel Goleman cites research which shows that up to 30% of a company's financial results (as measured by key business performance indicators such as revenue growth, return on sales, efficiency and profitability) are determined by the climate of the organization. So what is the major factor that drives the climate of an organization? It's the leader: in Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence, Goleman states that roughly 5070% of how employees perceive their organization's climate is - 105 -

Witness the number of times you may have driven home with an internal glow, reliving a positive encounter with an upbeat and supportive boss, perhaps savoring a "bon mot" about your performance that he or she left with you on a Friday afternoon. How great it made you feel, and how eager you were to get out of bed on the following Monday morning, and get back to the office to give that man or woman the very best that you had to offer. That's the "afterglow" that lingers and gives you renewed energy to be more productive, to bring your finest talents to work. And think about the reverse of the afterglow - the aftermath, or bitter aftertaste. This is what Susan Scott, in Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life, One Conversation at a Time, brilliantly calls "The Emotional Wake." That's what lingers with you after being the recipient of some acrid remarks from a leader in a negative mood. How did that affect your determination to overcome difficulties in a project, to keep your heart fully engaged in the process, to want to continue to give that person your very best game?

Contagion and Consequences Leadership literature is full of studies attesting to the consequences of a leader's mood. One such study involved 62 CEOs and their top management teams and it showed that the more upbeat, energetic and enthusiastic the executive team was, the more co-operatively they worked together, and the better the company's business results. The study also showed that the longer a company was managed by an executive team that didn't get along well, the poorer the company's market returns. Perhaps nowhere is a leader's mood more crucial than in the service industry where employees in a bad mood can, without fail, adversely affect business. In one of a multitude of such studies involving 53 sales managers in retail outlets who led groups ranging in size from four to nine members, it was found - 106 -

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that when managers themselves were in an upbeat, positive mood, their moods spilled over to their staff, positively affecting the staff's performance and increasing sales. We can all take an inspiration from organizations such as Starbucks who place great value on the importance of creating a positive climate for employees which, in turn, ensures a pleasant customer experience and repeat visits. "We are always focused on our people" is an explicit statement to new recruits on the company's career site. When we move the curtain a bit, we can see clearly that a leader's bad mood is a source of infection - an emotional contagion that eventually spreads across people to entire units. We can learn a thing or two from leadership in the military. Imagine the effect on troop morale and energy that an "overwhelmed", "anxious", "worried" or "irate" leader would have? And how about a leader who is plagued by uncertainty? "Indecision," as HA Hopf puts it, "is contagious. It transmits itself to others." It can become debilitating and habit-forming in an organization, as people take their cues from the leader's state of mind.

Inconsistent Means Unpredictable We could argue that the occasional bad mood, the occasional rant, on a bad "corporate hair day", is excusable. Often, we refer to this type of behavior with statements such as: "She can't control her temper sometimes, but she is so brilliant". Or, "He has an amazing mind but he has a tendency to shout at people when it's stressful." It is as though brilliance is an excuse for bad behavior. And it may very well have to be in some environments - but the message it sends to constituents is one of inconsistency, which is an undesirable trait in any leader. We want our leaders to be predictable because there is comfort and safety in predictability. Predictability engenders trust and an unpredictable leader elicits anxiety and, in some cases, even fear, both of which negatively affect performance and productivity. Of course, no leader steps out of the elevator in the morning with an intention to spread a bad mood around but, as sure as there is gravity, events occur during the course of some days that can derail even the best among us. To be clear, we are not advocating that leaders turn into a shrink wrapped version, complete with - 107 -

false smiles and fake cheerfulness. Constituents spot a nongenuine smile anyway and are very adept at noticing when a leader infantilizes them.

The Right Mood? There are, of course, no easy solutions to managing emotions on an hourly basis in the often difficult circumstances in which leaders must operate and make decisions. However, we can draw some advice from another Harvard Business Review article entitled Primal Leadership: The Hidden Driver of Great Performance. First of all, it's important to note that a leader's mood has the greatest impact on performance when it is upbeat. But it must also be in tune with those around him. Goleman et al call this dynamic resonance. "Good moods galvanize good performance, but it doesn't make sense for a leader to be as chipper as a blue jay at dawn if sales are tanking or the business is going under. The most effective executives display moods and behaviors that match the situation at hand, with a healthy dose of optimism mixed in. They respect how other people are feeling - even if it is glum or defeated - but they also model what it looks like to move forward with hope and humor." The operative threesome here is "optimism", "hope" and "humor". As someone once put it, leaders are dealers in hope.

Steps Towards Better Performance So what are the specific recommendations? Your mood and behavior affects performance. How do you work on attaining the consistent, emotionally intelligent leadership behaviors that breed success in yourself and others? Here are a few other suggestions to consider that can improve your and your team's performance:

Model Meeting Behavior Take a hard look at your behavior in meetings, which are often "cauldrons of emotion." Do you model the way by setting a positive tone right from the start? Or do you impose your own - 108 -

Leadership Redefined

"pace" based on how you feel at the moment? Aim for a calm, relaxed mood, and a consistent, positive approach.

Look for Good in Others Long before leadership books were in vogue, Andre Malraux, French novelist and statesman, reminded us that one of the central objectives of a leader is to make others aware of the greatness that lies in them. Be known in your organization as someone who is always on the lookout for what is right with people. It engenders good will and is good for business.

Read the Climate Do you have a good reading of the climate of your unit or organization? Can you accurately sense what the emotional atmosphere is? Is it upbeat? Is it energized? Is it down or dejected? Do people seem slightly apprehensive and somewhat cautious in your presence? Can you ask a trusted acolyte if the atmosphere changes when you are away?

Be Pleasant and Cooperative If you are an emergent leader, and working on having a pleasant personality is not a priority for you, consider putting some effort into cultivating this prized quality. It is almost impossible to have executive presence without it. Be cooperative, for example sharing ideas and shortcuts. This is another example of how mood affects productivity.

Be Emotionally Attractive Along that vein, focus on being emotionally attractive. This links to the concept of resonant leadership. Resonant leaders are individuals who have the ability to manage their own emotions and those of others in a manner that drives the success of their teams and organizations. In Resonant Leadership: Renewing Yourself and Connecting with Others through Mindfulness, Hope and Compassion, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee explain that resonant leaders create a positive emotional tone in the organization and engage and inspire people. As the title of their book - 109 -

indicates, these leaders possess three core qualities which are: mindfulness, hope, and compassion. Consider making these a part of your arsenal as a leader.

Manage the Emotions of Change Be particularly mindful of how you manage emotions if your organization is undergoing change: how you handle emotions during these crucial times can help or hinder the change process. It's a known fact that if the resistance to change is emotional, it is the hardest form of resistance to overcome. As the leader handling a change initiative, don't avoid the emotions that accompany the change process. Set the mood and manage the emotions - or they will manage you. If you cringe at the whole notion of emotions in the workplace, talk of empathy and compassion, intuition or discussions of emotional intelligence, I encourage you to reconsider this mindset. Hone your intuitive ability, and listen to those hunches that hint to you that something in your behavior and actions on bad days is causing a ripple effect on others. These are the whispers we try to dismiss when we elect to focus only on "rationality". Intuition is a precious tool worth including in our kit. Einstein put it best: "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." As the leader, you have in your hand the switch that can control the intensity of engagement of the people who do the work in your organization. It's like being a director in a movie: "The first work of the director is to set a mood so that the actor's work can take place" (William Friedkin, American movie and television director/producer.) A leader's upbeat mood metaphorically oxygenates the blood of followers - it's a transfusion into the corporate arteries. It may be one of the most potent contributions you can make as a leader.

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Leadership Redefined

A Bit of P erfume Perfume Giving praise

"To see things in the seed, that is genius", said Lao-tzu, Chinese philosopher. This is what we now refer to as Appreciative Intelligence, a term coined by TojoThatchenkery to describe the capacity by certain individuals to see the positive inherent potential of situations or people - it is the ability to see a breakthrough product, top talent, or valuable solution of the future that is not readily visible in the present situation. In short, it is the ability to see the mighty oak in the acorn. The term originated when the author began studying the explosive entrepreneurial growth in Silicon Valley in the late 1990s. According to the author, it is appreciative intelligence that allowed, partly, for so many highly talented immigrants from different countries to assemble in the area and flourish. As the author puts it, venture capitalists looking to fund the right ideas were asking the question, "How can I make this work?" as opposed to "What are the chances this idea will fail?" They created an environment of high anticipation of positive results which became a contagious fever of opportunity, achievement, resilience and possibility recognition. (Appreciative intelligence is not to be confused with appreciative inquiry, which is an approach and methodology for analyzing organizations). Appreciative intelligence is a mental ability of individuals who have a knack for reframing situations (the glass half full/half empty) and a keen eye for spotting what's valuable and positive in a situation or in people. And these individuals go one step further: they are able to envision how the positive aspects can be used to create a better future. Combining the two in an organization, i.e. a leader with - 111 -

appreciative intelligence using an appreciative inquiry approach, constitutes a powerful force indeed for effecting positive change and inspiring others to give the very best they have to offer. Imagine if all leaders in an organization proactively and mindfully practiced appreciative intelligence. Imagine the profound, healthy impact that this would have on an organization's culture. Such a culture would fuel employees' motivation. Surveys of what employees want consistently rank "appreciation for work well done" high up on the motivation index - well above "good wages". Ironically, managers often place good wages above appreciation in their responses of what employees want. Other surveys show that one of the reasons employees leave companies is because of lack of praise and recognition. Leaders often talk of the challenge of building trust in their organization. Adele B. Lynn's study on trust in the workplace shows that 54% of those polled would work for less remuneration if the following trust building factors were present: 1. Importance: giving people a sense of importance about who they are and about their role in the organization; 2. Touch: feeling that the leader genuinely cares about them, feeling a connection with the leader; 3. Gratitude: being appreciated for their contributions and sacrifices; receiving genuine gratitude; 4. Fairness: knowing that leaders ensure equal and fair distribution of rewards. Recognition and praise are indeed high octane fuel for the soul. When we receive a genuine compliment, we experience an inner glow - it's a warm, magical feeling that makes us break into a smile. It makes us want to go the extra mile for the person who bestowed the sincere compliment. If this were not important to us, we would not be treasuring all of the mementos of awards, plaques, appreciative notes and emails, and other tokens of appreciation that we receive over the years. But intuitively, we all know that genuine appreciation is a key factor in our relationship with our constituents, and any basic management course will touch on the value of praising employees for their contributions. Yet many well-meaning and otherwise caring leaders are reluctant to express their appreciation of others' talents and contributions. - 112 -

Leadership Redefined

Many years ago, I worked for a great leader, one who genuinely cared for his constituents, and who confided in me one day that he found expressing praise a very difficult thing to do - publicly and even harder, privately. I asked him why that is. He said, "I grew up in a household where praising was not something we did." There is a profound implication in this statement. Our families are our first corporations - that's where we learned many of our behaviors, and it is often difficult to break these ingrained patterns. Withholding praise, however, is a pattern of behavior that we need to unlearn if we want to bring the best out in people. We need to get over the embarrassment that grips some of us when we have to praise an individual. Here are some pointers for practicing this important skill: 1. If you have difficulty praising others, analyze the root causes of this. If it is a fear of embarrassing others, know that even the most introverted individuals who shun public praise enjoy reading an email to all staff about their contributions. If it is a discomfort at not knowing how to do it, read the few simple rules below and consider working with a coach for one or two sessions on this most important aspect of a leader's communication repertoire. Self-awareness precedes self-management. 2. Sometimes, withholding praise is simply due to a lack of time for leaders who are required to handle an ever increasing number of issues during the course of a harried day. If this is your challenge, I encourage you to reframe how you view this particular issue. Showing your people you care about them needs to move up on the list of items in your "to do" list. It takes less than 10 seconds to say, "I appreciate the time and thought you put into this report. It is exceptional. Thank you."

missed this if you hadn't picked it up." The praise does not have to be elaborate. It just needs to be genuine. 5. When you drop by an employee's office or cubicle to deliver the praise, don't follow that with a conversation about business matters or other projects. Deliver the praise and leave. Come back later for discussions on other matters. This gives the praise its moment of honor and heightens its value in the eyes of the recipient. 6. A primer for rewarding and recognizing others is Jim Kouzes' and Barry Posner's Encouraging the Heart: A Leader's Guide to Rewarding and Recognizing Others. The book provides 150 ways to encourage the heart. Another useful book is Steven Kerr's Ultimate Rewards: What Really Motivates People to Achieve (Harvard Business Review Book Series). The book outlines many different sources of motivation including accountability, responsibility, organizational culture, coaching, teamwork, incentives and goal setting. 7. Finally, how can you apply the dynamic concept of appreciative intelligence on yourself? What are your talents? Practicing appreciating our talents and gifts opens us up to appreciating others' greatness. Perhaps the ultimate appreciation is letting people know that their work - no matter how far removed they are from the top of the pyramid - is important to the organization. It's about making everyone feel like an owner and helping them understand how their work contributes to the overall purpose of the company. It's about practicing seeing more people. Excellence involves everyone.

3. Praise has a limited "best before" date. Don't delay its expression or wait until performance review time - when you see something that is worthy of praising, do so promptly after the event.

There is another lovely Chinese quote that says, "A bit of perfume always clings to the hand that gives roses." As leaders, when we make people feel great about themselves, paradoxically we elevate ourselves to greatness as well.

4. Make your genuine words memorable for your constituents by being specific about the achievement. Not many of us remember the perfunctory "job well done", but we all would remember someone who tells us "This was pure genius," or "I would have

`On this context, it is not out of place to quote the incident happened on April 27th, 2011. I got a call from Ramana Parimi to join the conference room in second floor. I ran to him with sorts of likely

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scenes hovering around my mind. I went inside the room and a group senior leaders sitting in the conference room. They were just waiting for me. Along with other Administrators, I was also asked to sit since it the day when Admin Professional Week is celebrated across the globe. It was a very good thought from Ramana's team although I moved out of his team 7 months back. He remembers my good work and appreciates it openly. He candidly expresses the concern and corrects anyone who he feels is off track in any issue. However, he is smiling and always keeps the tempo of mingling with people, appreciates them for good work. When Ramana called me inside and I spoke about myself, there was an applause in the room. I give this credit to Ramana who specifically remembers each and every good work / contribution made by his team members and exposes them at right forums so that their morale boots. I feel this is the right leadership to recognize the team members.

De grees of Giving Deg Leading with generosity

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit. - Nelson Henderson When we think of generosity, our thoughts automatically drift to gifts of money or charity. In the context of leadership, there are other gifts that don't have a monetary value, but whose value is beyond price. These include giving someone a chance; giving someone the benefit of the doubt; and giving others a reason to want to work for you. It entails giving others latitude, permission to make mistakes, and all the information that they need to do the job. It's giving them the authority that goes with responsibility - it's giving them due credit for their ideas. In a nutshell, all of this translates to generosity of spirit, a quality we admire in leaders. Generosity, a word which once meant 'of noble birth,' used to be associated with members of the aristocracy who, by virtue of their privileges, were expected to show generosity towards those in lesser standing. A leader too, by virtue of her position, and the power and privileges that she holds relative to those she leads, has the same expectations and obligations. A prime obligation is to lead with a generous heart, and to be guided by a nobility of mind. A leader's generosity has a positive spreading effect - conversely, its absence has a series of negative consequences that, if a leader paused to reflect on them, may stop her in her tracks. I am a firm believer that people need more than just 'a nice job close to home.' Most people want to find meaning in their jobs they want to feel that they are a part of something bigger and something better. They want to know that what they do matters. A leader with a generous spirit understands this need, and connects the dots

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for people - the dots that help them see how the work they perform, no matter how small it may be in the scheme of things, has a bearing on the ultimate vision of the company. There is a well-known anecdote that is related by Tom Peters about a hospital in the US that treats cancer. During a series of staff interviews, an interviewer asked the housekeeper what her job entailed. She responded, "I help to cure cancer." Somewhere in that hospital, a leader connected the dots for this individual, and made her feel that she was an integral part of the hospital's mission. Do you do that for the people who do the work in your unit or organization? There is a lot of talk these days about lack of engagement in the workforce. Imagine how engaged people are when their leader makes them feel that they are a fundamental part of the success of the organization; that everyone, from the receptionist or mail clerk to the Vice President of Product Development, constitutes a binding thread, tightly interwoven into the company fabric - each equally doing its part to give the fabric its strength. A leader with a generous spirit delegates not just routine work, but understands about delegating worthwhile work that becomes a gift of development and growth for someone else. How we love those leaders. These are the leaders that make us want to get out of bed in the morning and go to work to give that person the very best that we have to offer. These are the leaders who get our discretionary effort, every day. And what about gifts of information? In a survey on effective motivation published by 1000 Ventures, one of the top items that individuals want in the workplace is the ability to be 'in' on things. This was rated 9 on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest. Managers ranked this item as 1! This is a large chasm in understanding. The quickest way to satisfy this need in constituents is to share information. We have all come across some leaders who are inclined to hoard crucial information as the currency of power. Leaders with a generous spirit give employees a chance to get under the hood and to be a part of the inner circle. Freely and generously sharing know-how, expertise, and ideas is not only beneficial for employees - it's a smart way of doing business. - 117 -

Albert Camus said: "Real generosity toward the future consists in giving all to what is present." How often, as leaders, we are so focused on future achievements, on realizing the vision of the organization, that in the process, we neglect the people who are there. A leader of a successful software firm confessed to me once that she woke up one day realizing how much she had disconnected emotionally from the people who did the work in her organization, while focusing on the strategic imperatives of the company. Today, we have a tendency to be too self-absorbed. We become self-involved to the point where, without intending it, we exclude others; and we often only consciously notice that we have excluded them when they have become disengaged. Self-absorption inherently prevents generosity. Once in a while, it helps to stop and ask oneself: Am I giving enough to the people around me? There is an African village where the greeting words for 'good morning' or 'hello' are: "I am here if you are here." Imagine the gift we give others when we are fully present with them - when we truly see them. Perhaps this is what Ralph Waldo Emerson meant when he said: "The only gift is the gift of thyself." Bill Clinton recently ended a speech to a 6,000-member audience with an exhortation to "see more people." This preceded his reference to all the people who do the clean-up work behind the scenes after the audience leaves. Do we give a thought to the people who are unnoticed in our organizations, those who quietly work in the background? While generosity in its pure sense is altruistic, you do still get something back from it: surprise dividends in the form of a recycling of goodwill, a surplus of cooperation, and the sheer satisfaction of seeing another benefit from our giving of ourselves, our time, our attention, our knowledge, the very best that we have to offer those who cross our paths at work or life. We will never know what opportunities we may have missed in life by showing up tightfisted. It is hard to receive anything if we don't open our hands to give. As a leader, giving people the gift of not just our appreciation for good work, but our genuine admiration for their talents, is generosity of spirit at its pinnacle. This is the difference between saying to someone: "Great job" versus "This was pure genius;" or - 118 -

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"I appreciated your help" versus "I couldn't have done it without you." When it comes to genuine praise, like the sun at high noon, give resplendently. When you see good work, say it, and say it from the heart, just as you thought it. Free up the thought, and let it breathe - let it fly out there in the form of generous words, and watch what you get back. Giving is ultimately sharing. Here are some practical tips to enhance our generosity of spirit:

Give anonymously Real generosity of spirit is doing something for someone without their knowledge. Think of one or two deserving people in your organization that you can help by planting a career-enhancing seed on their behalf - perhaps saying something positive about their work to someone in authority?

Know when to forgive Give people a sense of importance

In Adele Lynn's book, In Search of Honor: Lessons from Workers in How to Build Trust, we learn that 55% of workers value "giving people a sense of importance" as the number one item for building trust in the workplace. Consider what small actions you could take intentionally today to make people feel that the work they do is important, and that they themselves, as people, are important to your team.

Give feedback, not criticism If giving frequent criticism is your style of management, consider some of these questions: Is your motivation genuine, or is it to gain points? Are you picking the right moment? Are you stopping to reflect how you might deliver the feedback while still honoring the other person?

Give people visibility Giving people visibility in your organization is a special gift we bestow to help others shine and grow. I encourage you to think how you might give people more access to senior executives, and more access to your boss. Consider as well that people like to know that their boss's boss knows the great contributions they made to a project, or about their significant effort in writing a report that does not bear their name. Knowing that our leader is representing us well to upper management is a high-octane motivator, and engenders fierce loyalty.

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Martin Luther King said that "The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind." Consider how harboring vindictive thoughts, even though so compelling at times, is nothing but violence to oneself. A characteristic of a generous person is a total lack of resentment - it's in effect being too noble, too big for that. Who do you need to forgive? What do you need to let go?

Give encouragement Look around you and pick someone who needs encouragement, and resolve to give them that. Consider that some people have never received encouragement in their life - not from teachers, not from bosses, not even from parents.

Give opportunity One of the most valuable gifts we can give someone is giving them a chance. Is there someone right now to whom you could give a second chance to prove themselves? If so, what active steps can you take to create the right circumstances for them to succeed? What doors can you open for someone who is well deserving, but not well positioned to be noticed?

Share your knowledge and experience Resolve to become a philanthropist of know-how. What knowledge, expertise, or best practices can you share with others as a way to enrich them? For inspiration, read about other leaders who practice teaching in their organization for everyone's benefit for example, Jack Welch, whose calendar was filled with hundreds - 120 -

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of hours spent teaching thousands of GE managers and executives at the company's training center at Croton-on-Hudson; or the ex-CEO of Intel, Andy Grove, who devoted considerable amounts of time to teaching newly hired and senior managers his philosophy on how to lead in an industry where innovation goes stale very quickly.

The Uncer tainty F actor Uncertainty Factor

Give moral support Public speaking is known to be among the greatest fears experienced by millions of people. The next time you attend a presentation given by an apprehensive team member, practice giving them moral support. The simplest of generous acts are abstaining from checking your Blackberry, giving the odd nod in agreement, and practicing looking with kind eyes. Finally, take some inspiration from Walt Whitman's beautiful words: "The habit of giving enhances the desire to give." Giving is like building a muscle. It requires practice and persistence - once it becomes habitual, you will emerge as a stronger leader.

Last week, as I was rushing to select a birthday card for a friend , one card in particular caught my eye. It showed a sepia photograph of an old wharf leading to a peaceful lake. The wharf had clearly seen better days: some of its floor boards were broken and some were missing. Some of the handrail posts were also gone. As I find beauty in things that are asymmetrical, I decided to purchase the card. But it wasn't until that evening when I sat down to address the card that I noticed the back of it. It said: "Rely on your dreams". I found the juxtaposition of the old unstable wharf with the implication of "reliability" an interesting dichotomy - a subtle message from the artist on the power of our dreams and aspirations in times of instability and uncertainty. : "Maturity of mind is the capacity to endure uncertainty". This capacity to not get derailed or immobilized by the uncertainties and rapid, often chaotic changes we all face in our personal and professional lives, is a personal asset that is remarkable and rare amongst individuals. In a study conducted by The Centre for Creative Leadership, inability to handle change emerged as one of the primary causes for executive derailment, (followed by inability to work well in a team and a deficit in interpersonal skills). Time and time again, I have seen highly competent and successful leaders, individuals with high IQ and strong knowledge in their area of expertise, get on

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the wrong path because they stubbornly refused to adapt to the changing demands of the moment. And it is often during times of uncertainty and chaotic change that our behavior speaks louder about who we really are as a person. Having been personally involved in numerous management changes, mergers and acquisitions, rapid growth periods, and drastic "right sizing" and downsizing, I have seen two types of individuals who surface in these unsettling and uncertain conditions: those who manifest their shadow, their dark side, and those who help themselves and others around them to ride out the storm. The latter inevitably shine brighter and emerge as leaders, rising above the crowd. As all project managers know, the uncertainty of major ventures or projects which go awry can have nefarious consequences that filter down to the rest of the organization, affecting everyone, from the mail clerk to the CEO - a careless acquisition, not paying attention to the rampant overhead of certain pet projects and not foreseeing changing trends, to name just a few. Developing competence in managing uncertainties is crucial. A short but insightful article published by MIT Sloan Management Review, entitled Managing Project Uncertainty: From Variation to Chaos, outlines four major types of uncertainties: Variation: despite detailed and well conceived project plans, the project schedules and budgets end up at odds with actual costs and timescales. Foreseen Uncertainty: the team isolates identifiable and predictable influences that may or may not occur. Unforeseen Uncertainty: some major factors cannot be predicted. Chaos: where even the basic structure of the project plan is uncertain. The authors state that companies that spend some time at the outset of a project to create an "uncertainty profile", that is, ascertain what kind of uncertainty is likely to dominate their project, will be better able to quickly adapt to it and choose the right management strategy. The article reveals numerous tools and techniques for managing each type of uncertainty such as using decision-tree techniques and sharing risk lists with all stakeholders. Along the same vein, an insightful article is The Quest for Resil- 123 -

ience, Harvard Business Review (September 2003). In turbulent, uncertain times, the only sure advantage is the capacity for reinventing your business model before it's too late. Among the many wisdom nuggets in this article, what struck me is the notion that, as the leader, you need to "filter out the filterers", that is you need to find those individuals in the organization who are plugged tightly in to the future and understand well the implications for your company's business model - and allow these people to give voice to their opinions, without being censured by the watchdogs of the status quo who isolate you from potential distasteful news. As the author aptly puts it: "You should be wary of anyone who has a vested interest in your continued ignorance..." Corporate uncertainty is not going away. Successful individuals within those companies are those that are agile and can adapt. So what are some strategies that you can use to make yourself change-proof and to cope with organizational uncertainty and the personal upheaval that it causes? Here are some suggestions for leaders and constituents: 1. If you are in charge of leading others, watch for signs of a lethargic culture of complacency which can easily happen when times are good. Do your best to turn things around now so that you have a high performance culture instead. You will have done your team a favor. Some strategies to consider include reinforcing the strategic imperatives and priorities; engaging your constituents and making a true effort to know their strengths and work preferences; managing the talent in your organization well; communicating frequently and with heart. See Creating a High Performance Culture (Ivy Business Journal - March/April 2005). 2. As the leader, practice empathy by allowing individuals to express their doubts and misgivings without being defensive. People need an outlet. Make it safe for them to speak. 3. Draw up a plan to make yourself incredibly valuable to your organization. If the company is unable to allocate dollars for your training, raise your worth by personally investing in your own training. Find an area in your department or organization where there is a gap in skill, talent or knowledge and work to acquire what you need to fill that gap. Increasing your value to the company is a - 124 -

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sound strategy even when there are no fears of impending change. It's just a smart thing to do. 4. Raise your visibility by volunteering to work on committees, give presentations, or start a worthwhile project that will attract positive attention by everyone. We often hear this but we don't do it because we are too busy already with our own jobs or lack the motivation. (A few years ago, a client in a technology company volunteered to create a one person "future research" committee and spent some of his leisure time reading everything there was to read about future trends affecting his company's products and technology and shared these insights with everyone in the company. This initiative created a buzz around him and insulated him from a restructuring phase that later occurred at his company.) 5. Be aware of your comportment during times of stressful company announcements. Do you walk out of the meeting immediately sharing your interpretations of all the possible negative aspects of the situation? Or do you give the company leaders the benefit of the doubt - adopting a positive wait and see approach? 6. No matter how unsettling the uncertainty is, don't abandon your commitment to your job - don't quit before you have quit. There is something detrimental to our psyche when we lose our sense of purpose and meaning in what we do and just coast along waiting for the sword of Damocles to fall. Do whatever it takes to recreate your commitment. It will be a source of strength and dignity.

you would disperse in being frustrated or disappointed into becoming the best of who you are. This is not mere rhetoric. You just need to catch yourself in the act when you are giving in to feelings of dejection and discouragement and remind yourself that there are better things to do with your time. I ended up keeping the birthday card that was destined for my friend. It is on my desk as a beautiful reminder of the strength that comes from relying on our dreams, on our purpose, on our passion, no matter how uncertain our current situation may be. These are the things that energize us, inspire us, propel us forward - the things that put a fire in our belly just thinking about them. "What every man needs, regardless of his job or the kind of work he is doing, is a vision of what his place is and may be. He needs an objective and a purpose. He needs a feeling and a belief that he has some worthwhile thing to do. What this is no one can tell him. It must be his own creation." (Joseph M. Dodge, Sitterson Professor, Florida State University.) Joy and hope are an inside job. Abandon the tendency to think that what is now will continue into the future. Focus on what you want for your future, rather than on what you don't want. Something remarkable happens when we successfully make that shift.

7. Be aware that one of the key emotional intelligence competencies today is being able to manage change. At the first level this means having the ability to define the general need for change within the scope of your responsibility; the second level is to act in supporting the change; the third level is personally leading change and the fourth level, is championing change and being a change catalyst. Consider taking an emotional competence test to determine your level in this competency. With some effort, training and/ or coaching and the right mind-set, we can all be change savvy. 8. Above all, don't let uncertainty and job frustrations drain your energy away from the personal goals and aspirations that you had planned for yourself. Channel the precious mental energy that - 125 -

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The Gr een-Ey ed Monster Green-Ey een-Eyed Keeping envy out of the workplace A CEO to whom I reported, a few years ago, entered my office one day, slumped into the chair across from me and said, clearly bewildered: "I have done everything I can to make the staff happy - we pay good wages, we have a rich benefit plan, we allow people flexibility in their hours, and yet, still there is animosity and bickering. I don't understand what drives these people to behave the way they do." The answer was at once simple and complex. It had to do with employee emotions - and, in particular, one emotion: Envy. Emotions are a powerful instigator of behavior, and envy, the unmentionable emotion, is perhaps one of the most pervasive and powerful of all the disruptive emotions that affect our corporate environments. We are not used to talking about envy in polite society or in our workplaces. Yet it is there, woven within the fabric of our organizations and it affects employee moods, organizational morale and culture and, ultimately, it is one of the causes of employee disengagement and productivity loss. There are many reasons for envy to manifest itself in the daily theatre of the workplace: Competing for scarce resources or limited budgets, and vying for important assignments, are commonplace situations that can trigger predictable envy; Coveting attributes and qualities a colleague has that another might lack is another understandable possibility in the frailty of human nature; Losing a promotion to someone better qualified can also be a trigger for envy. Many of these situations are normal occurrences and cannot be avoided. They are a part of our workplace scenarios and many human resources practitioners have, at one time or other, witnessed a manifestation of these situations. But there is an overlooked trigger for envy that may very well be an insidious cause of much discontent and disruption in the workplace. It is the leader's unwitting behavior towards select people in the organization. - 127 -

Let's take one case in point: It is safe to say that many organizations have an individual who has a great deal of personal power that is often not associated with any position function or high level title - it comes from what is often referred to as "having the boss's ear". All employees, except perhaps the hapless newcomer, sense that anything that is said within earshot of that individual will automatically be relayed to the boss - worse still is the fear that it will be relayed with personal filtering and self-serving interpretations. This naturally causes others to envy the person's power and closeness to the boss and results in a climate of apprehension and distrust of the individual, and by extension, the leader. Another common scenario is associated with the hiring of new "top guns". Here is what happens: A leader joining an organization inherits a number of long-term employees. In due course, the leader hires additional employees who are often perceived to be more liked by the leader because they were hand-picked by him or her and are viewed as more in line with the leader's ethos and style. It's not uncommon to hear the leader himself privately refer to this as "assembling my own team". The existing employees are still well treated but there are subtle nuances in the leader's behavior towards the newcomers that signal that the newcomers are viewed as more valuable to the team: The leader is seen spending more time with them and is generally more complimentary and supportive of anything they do or say. In meetings, for example, he or she will more readily support ideas and suggestions by the newcomers, will represent them more favorably to upper management and give them more visibility in the company. While it is impossible for a leader to eradicate envy from the workplace, there is much a leader can do to create an environment that minimizes its occurrence. The scholar who has done the most research on the issue of envy in the workplace is Dr Robert P Vecchio. In "Managing Envy and Jealousy in the Workplace", one of many articles he has authored on the topic, DrVecchio talks about envy and jealousy as "commonplace in work settings in part because of the inherent competitiveness of organizational life". He recommends five initiatives to counteract these pervasive reactions:

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1. Evaluating the emotional maturity of candidates at the time of hire. 2. Incorporating elements of team culture. 3. Implementing incentives that support cooperation. 4. Encouraging open communication. 5. Placing high performers [who often give rise to envy] in mentor roles. To this, one can add a note of advice to leaders regarding their personal behavior: As leaders, we are continuously being observed by employees who notice our every move and micro expressions - they know which employees are allowed in the inner circle from which they feel excluded. Leaders should pay particular attention that they don't innocently build these chosen few up while neglecting the others. As my CEO was made aware that afternoon when he dropped into my office, frequent public praise of only a select few, heightens employees' feelings of insecurity about their own performance and causes resentment which in turns affects productivity. A leader who becomes aware of this stress-related reaction that his or her behavior causes on employees will be better able to manage negative emotions, such as envy, in the workplace and create a more relaxed and happier work environment for everyone. In turn, this will help avoid the loss of productivity that accompanies the green-eyed monster.

Cultur al Dimensions Cultural Understanding workplace values around the world

We know we are living in a global age. Technology has brought the world much closer together. This means that people of different cultures find themselves working together and communicating more and more. This is exciting and interesting, but it can also be frustrating and fraught with uncertainty. How do you relate to someone of another culture? What do you say, or not say, to start a conversation off right? Are there cultural taboos you need to be aware of? Building connections with people from around the world is just one dimension of cultural diversity. You also have issues like motivating people, structuring projects, and developing strategy. What works in one location may or may not work somewhere else. The question is, "How can I come to understand these cultural differences?" Are we relegated to learning from our mistakes or are there generalized guidelines to follow? Fortunately, a psychologist named Dr Geert Hofstede asked himself this question in the 1970s. What emerged after a decade of research and thousands of interviews is a model of cultural dimensions that has become an internationally recognized standard. With access to people working for the same organization in over 40 countries of the world, Hofstede collected cultural data and analyzed his findings. He initially identified four distinct cultural dimensions that served to distinguish one culture from another. Later he added a fifth dimension and that is how the model stands today.

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He scored each country using a scale of roughly 0 to 100 for each dimension. The higher the score, the more that dimension is exhibited in society.

The Five Dimensions of Culture Armed with a large database of cultural statistics, Hofstede analyzed the results and found clear patterns of similarity and difference amid the responses along these five dimensions. Interestingly, his research was done on employees of IBM only, which allowed him to attribute the patterns to national differences in culture, largely eliminating the problem of differences in company culture. The five dimensions are:

1. Power/Distance (PD) This refers to the degree of inequality that exists - and is accepted - among people with and without power. A high PD score indicates that society accepts an unequal distribution of power and people understand "their place" in the system. Low PD means that power is shared and well dispersed. It also means that society members view themselves as equals. Application: According to Hofstede's model, in a high PD country like Malaysia (104), you would probably send reports only to top management and have closed door meetings where only a select few, powerful leaders were in attendance.

This refers to the strength of the ties people have to others within the community. A high IDV score indicates a loose connection with people. In countries with a high IDV score there is a lack of interpersonal connection and little sharing of responsibility, beyond family and perhaps a few close friends. A society with a low IDV score would have strong group cohesion, and there would be a large amount of loyalty and respect for members of the group. The group itself is also larger and people take more responsibility for each other's well being. Application: Hofstede's analysis suggests that in the Central American countries of Panama and Guatemala where the IDV scores are very low (11 and 6, respectively), a marketing campaign that emphasized benefits to the community or that tied into a popular political movement would likely be understood and well-received.

3. Masculinity (MAS) This refers to how much a society sticks with, and values, traditional male and female roles. High MAS scores are found in countries where men are expected to be tough, to be the provider, to be assertive and to be strong. If women work outside the home, they have separate professions from men. Low MAS scores do not reverse the gender roles. In a low MAS society, the roles are simply blurred. You see women and men working together equally across many professions. Men are allowed to be sensitive and women can work hard for professional success. Application: Japan is highly masculine with a score of 95 whereas Sweden has the lowest measured value (5). According to Hofstede's analysis, if you were to open an office in Japan, you might have greater success if you appointed a male employee to lead the team and had a strong male contingent on the team. In Sweden, on the other hand, you would aim for a team that was balanced in terms of skill rather than gender.

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5. Long Term Orientation (LTO) This refers to how much society values long-standing as opposed to short term - traditions and values. This is the fifth dimension that Hofstede added in the 1990s after finding that Asian countries with a strong link to Confucian philosophy acted differently from western cultures. In countries with a high LTO score, delivering on social obligations and avoiding "loss of face" are considered very important.

4. Uncertainty/Avoidance Index (UAI) This relates to the degree of anxiety society members feel when in uncertain or unknown situations. High UAI-scoring nations try to avoid ambiguous situations whenever possible. They are governed by rules and order and they seek a collective "truth". Low UAI scores indicate the society enjoys novel events and values differences. There are very few rules and people are encouraged to discover their own truth.

Application: According to Hofstede's analysis, people in the United States and United Kingdom have low LTO scores. This suggests that you can pretty much expect anything in this culture in terms of creative expression and novel ideas. The model implies that people in the US and UK don't value tradition as much as many others, and are therefore likely to be willing to help you execute the most innovative plans as long as they get to participate fully. (This may be surprising to people in the UK, with its associations of tradition!)

Application: Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions imply that when discussing a project with people in Belgium, whose country scored a 94 on the UAI scale, you should investigate the various options and then present a limited number of choices, but have very detailed information available on your contingency and risk plans. (Note that there will be cultural differences between French and Dutch speakers in Belgium!)

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Leadership Redefined performance and do further research and preparation for the next time.

Key Points: Cultural norms play a large part in the mechanics and interpersonal relationships at work. When you grow up in a culture you take your norms of behavior for granted. You don't have to think about your reactions, preferences, and feelings. When you step into a foreign culture, suddenly things seem different. You don't know what to do or say. Using Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions as a starting point, you can evaluate your approach, your decisions, and actions based on a general sense of how the society might think and react to you. Of course, no society is homogenous and there will be deviations from the norms Hofstede found, however, with this as your guide you won't be going in blind. The unknown will be a little less intimidating and you'll get a much-needed boost of confidence and security from studying this cultural model.

Apply This to Your Life: Take some time to review the scores by country for the various cultural dimensions Hofstede identified. Pay particular attention to the countries from which the people you deal with on a day-by-day basis come. In light of these scores, think about some interactions you've had with people in other countries. Does your conversation or association make more sense given this newly found insight? Challenge yourself to learn more about one culture in particular. If your work brings you in contact with people from another country, use that country as your point of reference. Apply Hofstede's scores to what you discover and determine the accuracy and relevance for you.

Above all, make cultural sensitivity a daily part of your life. Learn to value the differences between people and vow to honor and respect the things that make each nation of people unique.

Cr oss-Cultur al Leader ship Cross-Cultur oss-Cultural Leadership Few successful businesses now work with people from only one culture. At the shallowest level, most Western businesses (even those based in one location) employ people from many cultural backgrounds. At a deeper level, the impact of globalization and cost differences between regions means that many companies either outsource parts of their business or are outsourcing partners for other businesses. Because of this, leaders in the 21st Century need to be adept at managing people of different cultures. They need to be able to grasp the essence of each culture quickly, because culture is so important in shaping customer or employee behavior. And leaders must learn to shape culture (at least that in their own organizations) so that it is positive, and aligned with the direction the organization is taking. To do any less means that they will fail to get the best from the individuals with whom they work, and will not be able to draw on the strengths that different cultures offer. Culture operates at different levels. At one level, individuals are shaped by their ethnic, racial, religious and national backgrounds. At another, they are influenced by the standards, ideals values and experience of their teams. And at yet another level, they are shaped by the culture of their organization. Culture is complex and multi-faceted.

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10 Common Leader ship and Leadership gement Mistak es Mana Manag Mistakes Avoiding Universal Pitfalls

takes.

Experience is the name every one gives to their mis- Oscar Wilde

It's often said that mistakes provide great learning opportunities. However, it's much better not to make mistakes in the first place! In this article, we're looking at 10 of the most common leadership and management errors, and highlighting what you can do to avoid them. If you can learn about these here, rather than through experience, you'll save yourself a lot of trouble!

1. Lack of Feedback Sarah is a talented sales representative, but she has a habit of answering the phone in an unprofessional manner. Her boss is aware of this, but he's waiting for her performance review to tell her where she's going wrong. Unfortunately, until she's been alerted to the problem, she'll continue putting off potential customers. According to 1,400 executives polled by The Ken Blanchard Companies, failing to provide feedback is the most common mistake that leaders make. When you don't provide prompt feedback to your people, you're depriving them of the opportunity to improve their performance. To avoid this mistake, learn how to provide regular feedback to your team. (You can use our Bite-Sized Training session on Giving Feedback to gain an in-depth understanding of feedback, and to learn how to provide it effectively.)

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When you're a manager or leader, it's easy to get so wrapped up in your own workload that you don't make yourself available to your team. Yes, you have projects that you need to deliver. But your people must come first - without you being available when they need you, your people won't know what to do, and they won't have the support and guidance that they need to meet their objectives. Avoid this mistake by blocking out time in your schedule specifically for your people, and by learning how to listen actively to your team. Develop your emotional intelligence so that you can be more aware of your team and their needs, and have a regular time when "your door is always open", so that your people know when they can get your help. You can also use Management By Walking Around, which is an effective way to stay in touch with your team. Once you're in a leadership or management role, your team should always come first - this is, at heart, what good leadership is all about!

3. Being Too "Hands-Off" One of your team has just completed an important project. The problem is that he misunderstood the project's specification, and you didn't stay in touch with him as he was working on it. Now, he's completed the project in the wrong way, and you're faced with explaining this to an angry client. Many leaders want to avoid micromanagement. But going to the opposite extreme (with a hand-offs management style) isn't a good idea either - you need to get the balance right.

4. Being Too Friendly Most of us want to be seen as friendly and approachable to people in our team. After all, people are happier working for a manager that they get on with. However, you'll sometimes have - 138 -

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to make tough decisions regarding people in your team, and some people will be tempted to take advantage of your relationship if you're too friendly with them. This doesn't mean that you can't socialize with your people. But, you do need to get the balance right between being a friend and being the boss.

5. Failing to Define Goals When your people don't have clear goals, they muddle through their day. They can't be productive if they have no idea what they're working for, or what their work means. They also can't prioritize their workload effectively, meaning that projects and tasks get completed in the wrong order. Avoid this mistake by learning how to set SMART goals for your team. Use a Team Charter to specify where your team is going, and detail the resources it can draw upon. Also, use principles from Management by Objectives to align your team's goals to of the mission of the organization.

Hurrying recruitment can lead to recruiting the wrong people for your team: people who are uncooperative, ineffective or unproductive. They might also require additional training, and slow down others on your team. With the wrong person, you'll have wasted valuable time and resources if things don't work out and they leave. What's worse, other team members will be stressed and frustrated by having to "carry" the under-performer. You can avoid this mistake by learning how to recruit effectively, and by being particularly picky about the people you bring into your team.

8. Not "Walking the Walk" If you make personal telephone calls during work time, or speak negatively about your CEO, can you expect people on your team not to do this too? Probably not!

Do you know what truly motivates your team? Here's a hint: chances are, it's not just money!

As a leader, you need to be a role model for your team. This means that if they need to stay late, you should also stay late to help them. Or, if your organization has a rule that no one eats at their desk, then set the example and head to the break room every day for lunch. The same goes for your attitude - if you're negative some of the time, you can't expect your people not to be negative.

Many leaders make the mistake of assuming that their team is only working for monetary reward. However, it's unlikely that this will be the only thing that motivates them.

So remember, your team is watching you all the time. If you want to shape their behavior, start with your own. They'll follow suit.

For example, people seeking a greater work/life balance might be motivated by telecommuting days or flexible working. Others will be motivated by factors such as achievement, extra responsibility, praise, or a sense of camaraderie.

9. Not Delegating

6. Misunderstanding Motivation

7. Hurrying Recruitment

Some managers don't delegate, because they feel that no-one apart from themselves can do key jobs properly. This can cause huge problems as work bottlenecks around them, and as they become stressed and burned out.

When your team has a large workload, it's important to have a full team. But filling a vacant role too quickly can be a disastrous mistake.

Delegation does take a lot of effort up-front, and it can be hard to trust your team to do the work correctly. But unless you delegate tasks, you're never going to have time to focus on the

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"broader-view" that most leaders and managers are responsible for. What's more, you'll fail to develop your people so that they can take the pressure off you. .

Leading Equals Motivating people effectively, without authority

10. Misunderstanding Your Role Once you become a leader or manager, your responsibilities are very different from those you had before. However, it's easy to forget that your job has changed, and that you now have to use a different set of skills to be effective. This leads to you not doing what you've been hired to do - leading and managing.

Key Points We all make mistakes, and there are some mistakes that leaders and managers make in particular. These include, not giving good feedback, being too "hands-off," not delegating effectively, and misunderstanding your role. It's true that making a mistake can be a learning opportunity. But, taking the time to learn how to recognize and avoid common mistakes can help you become productive and successful, and highly respected by your team.

Does this sound like a job you'd want? You'll be managing a diverse group of people from a variety of departments. They each have different areas of expertise and different ways of getting work done. The people don't report to you, and you'll have little to no authority over directing their performance. However, you'll be held accountable for the team's output. To accomplish the team's goals, you'll be expected, among other things, to motivate, facilitate, encourage, communicate effectively, build trust, and resolve conflict. This doesn't sound like a lot of fun, does it? When leading a team of your peers, these are typical challenges. Leadership is a complex subject. There are visionary leaders, empowering leaders, charismatic leaders, and valuesbased leaders. For each of these styles, there are situations where that style is and is not effective. However, the one thing that traditional leaders can usually rely on, regardless of their style or situation, is legitimate power. When things get tough, a traditional leader has the status and position to demand how work is done. But when you're in charge of a team of your peers, your level of authority is often nonexistent. You might have as little status as the person to whom the work has been given - but is that enough to lead what is essentially a horizontal collaboration? To lead a multifunctional peer group, you must have all the characteristics of great leaders - and then some. Here are the key skills you'll need to succeed.

Master the Group Process Learn to lead discussions and proactively manage - 141 -

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different personalities. You never know what past experiences good and bad - team members have had with one another. Whatever the history, your role as leader starts by setting a positive foundation for the team's interactions: Establish a relaxed environment, where everyone is encouraged to share opinions and ideas. Ask for input from everyone, and encourage quieter members to speak up. Use active listening skills, like paraphrasing and asking questions for clarification. Insist on respect for one another and, for tasks taking a lot of time and effort, consider developing a team charter to define your team's goals and how the team will work. Use participative decision making tools, and try to ensure active involvement and commitment from the team.

Empower Team Members Leaders who give power to others can be very influential and motivating. When leaders use their power to help others accomplish great things, people often want to work very hard for them. When you empower someone, you're essentially saying that you trust that person. When people feel trusted, they may naturally want to take on more responsibility for the outcome, because they'll share in the spotlight when success is achieved. Empowerment, then, is a great motivator, and it can be used to recognize the efforts of team members. When leading your peers, be creative with reward and recognition - sometimes assigning a task or granting a level of authority can serve as a very effective reward. Beyond this, work hard to motivate the people you're working with and, in particular, give praise wherever it's due. - 143 -

Be Flexible Rules, regulations and a heavy-handed approach can cause resentment and non-compliance in a team of peers. Use discretion, and learn to adapt to the changing environment - this can be critical. You won't always be the expert, and you won't always know what to do. With a flexible leadership style, you can often deal with changing circumstances without compromising your leadership role. If you rely on a rigid structure and style, you may find yourself challenged often, and you may waste your energy fighting interpersonal battles instead of accomplishing goals. Essentially, you need to help your team adjust to changes in direction, circumstance, and priority. Whenever you get a cross-section of people working together, there can be times of ambiguity and uncertainty. When you're open to change, your team will see that, and they'll be more likely to also accept change.

Set Goals Few teams would get very far without goals. Certainly you need goals to point you in the right direction and to evaluate performance. When you bring together a diverse set of people, having a clear direction is even more essential. All team members will likely have their own perspectives. These could lead your team down very different paths - if there's no central direction to follow. Different paths can also cause conflict around resources and priorities. You can avoid many of these difficulties with clear goal setting that's based on agreed and valuable objectives. It's much easier to keep people working together effectively if objectives are clear, if it's obvious how the team's output will help its customer, and if disputes are resolved by referring to the team's goals. From then on, it's important that you develop an imple- 144 -

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mentation plan and remain focused on your targets.

Support and Protect Your Team Each team member usually has his or her own regular job to do in addition to the team's specific tasks. This means that commitment to your team may be weakened from many directions. As the leader, and the one who is ultimately accountable, concentrate on getting the support and resources your team needs to do the job well.

Focus on these three key areas: Obtain resources Your team may quickly lose momentum if it encounters resource shortages. If you get your team what it needs - when the team needs it - your status, influence, and ability to motivate can increase significantly.

This can be a delicate balancing act, because you don't want to run back and forth with too much information. Figure out what each side needs to know to remain satisfied, and then provide it.

Key Points Leading a team of your peers is a definite challenge. It can put all of your leadership skills to the test. From setting goals to involving team members in decision making to creating a climate of openness and honesty, you need to have it all - and more. If you remember to put your team's needs first, and if you work very hard to protect their interests, you'll prove to them that you're committed to and passionate about their success. When you demonstrate that you believe in the value of their work, and when you're willing to work through any obstacles you encounter, your team will respect your integrity - and they'll want to work hard with you, and for you, to achieve results.

Manage stakeholders Many people outside your team may strongly influence the team's success. First, you may encounter outside resistance from various sources. For example, John's manager may not allow him to work more than one hour per week on team projects, or the finance director may refuse to "spend one more dollar on that project." There may also be key team champions. As a leader, your challenge is to figure out how to use the champions' influence to persuade "resisters" to change their opinions. A great way to gain the respect of your team is to protect it from negative outside influences so that members can produce great work.

Obtain management feedback Your team needs to know they're supported. Make sure you receive regular communication from managers and executives. You're the liaison - the link - to ensure that management knows what's going on, and that your team knows what management thinks. - 145 -

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Now Y ou'r e the Boss ... You'r ou're Boss... Learning how to manage former peers

Wha eal Leader Knows Whatt a R Real Developing Fundamental Leadership Skills

Becoming a boss can change almost everything - and it can change nothing. Sure, you have more power. And you can influence your former peers in ways that you've never imagined before. But you're still the same person, just with a bit more authority. Suddenly, though, the things you say have more importance, and your former teammates look to you for answers, not just ideas. What do you do with this newly found power? It may be tempting to make the changes that you always wanted, order what you want to be done, and feel good about your new promotion. However, this type of behavior may not win you much respect or cooperation. But you probably don't want to use the opposite approach either. A new boss who tries to remain "one of the guys" and an equal part of the team can end up frustrating everyone. When you're more concerned about relationships than results, poor decisions are usually inevitable. If you're afraid of being called "bossy," you may not hold people accountable, or you may avoid making unpopular decisions. So, how do you manage the difficult learning curve of becoming a boss, and the delicate balance of leading former peers? There's no immediate or easy solution, and you won't be perfect. However, by understanding the challenges and keeping an open mind, you can develop new ways to relate to your team that are effective and produce results.

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What is it that distinguishes 'good' leaders from 'mediocre' ones? Is it their decision-making abilities, their charismatic persuasiveness, or the clarity of their vision? Do great leaders have these qualities naturally, or were they acquired at college? The good news is that you can learn to be a leader, just as long as you put in the time needed to learn the fundamental skills needed. How these skills are applied on a day-to-day basis, however, is what sets good leaders apart from mediocre ones. So, if you want to be a better leader, what specifically do you need to learn to do? Do you need to go business school to learn these things? Or can you learn them on the job? To quote best example lets take an ikon from the freedom struggle and later post independence issues the Independent India had. The Iron Man Sardarpatel was made the Home Minister. He was relentless on his task to unite the great India into one. As a result of which, he had fight against all odds and make a stern plan to liberate Hyderabad and merge it with India union. The Nizam of Hyderabad had to concede and accede Hyderabad to be merged with Republic India. Such was the impact of his dealing that it has become a easier task for other territories to get integrated into Indian Republic.He was a leader of class with utmost dedication and devotion to duty.

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Ne w Gener ation Leader ship New Genera Leadership Bridging the age gap

In the US, the drop in birth rate in the post baby boom years means that, by 2010, the number of people in the 35-44 middle management age-group will drop by nearly 20%. Many other major economies worldwide are facing similar demographic changes. One practical consequence of these statistics is that organizations will have to work much harder to attract and retain good people. New Generation leaders are a scarce commodity, and should be nurtured as such.

Generations X and Y: What They Care About Picture this scenario: the leader of your long-established team has retired, and his replacement is a young manager straight out of business school. She's anxious to get going in the organization - with fresh ideas and fresh enthusiasm - and you hope that she'll bring some new life and energy into the company. As the weeks go by, however, you begin to see growing discomfort and conflict between the older staff and this new team member. Your older colleagues think "the new kid" is overconfident, pushy, and too anxious to leave right at 5:00 pm. The newcomer finds it hard to get support from her older colleagues. She's concerned that they can't (or won't) multitask, they're less confident with technology, and they're unwilling to share their hard-earned knowledge. As a result, cooperation is suffering. How can you bridge this generation gap? And why is this important? There's little doubt that the US workforce is at a unique point in history (we'll look at other countries shortly). As "Baby Boomers" (people born between 1946 and 1964) begin to retire, the new generation steps into their shoes. Generation X, or Gen X (born between 1965 and 1976), and Generation Y, or Gen Y (also called "Millennials," born between 1977 and 1998), have values and work styles that are completely different from the baby boomers. Finding ways to bridge the gaps within this new multigenerational workforce takes great skill - and it all starts with understanding how the new generation of leaders thinks, and what's important to them. - 149 -

The new generations of leaders often have a completely different way of working from their older counterparts. (Keep in mind that we can't discuss all of the characteristics of these new groups in such a short space. Also, not everyone in these generations fits these characteristics: we're going to make some huge generalizations here, however hopefully these generalizations will be useful!) For example, while boomers usually view long hours as evidence of loyalty and hard work, Gen X and Y tend to try to have more work/life balance. They've seen their parents' lack of quality of life, and the lack of loyalty companies showed to these hard-working parents in the 1990s, and they're not impressed. They want flexible hours, more vacation time, continuous training, and telecommuting options. They expect to leverage technology to work efficiently instead of staying late in the office to get it all done. Boomers have traditionally felt that you have to "pay your dues" to your company - and if you hate your job, that's just part of life. Generations X and Y typically don't accept this; they want rewarding, intellectually stimulating work - and they don't want someone watching them too closely to check on their progress. These new groups are independent, creative, and forward thinking. They celebrate cultural diversity, technology, and feedback, and they prefer more of a "lattice" or individualized approach to management (as opposed to the traditional "corpo- 150 -

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Leadership Redefined six-week sabbatical every four years.

rate ladder"). The new generations also tend to like teamwork. Studies have shown that colleague relationships rank very high on Gen X and Y's list of priorities. Things like salary and prestige can often rank lower than boomers might expect, or might want for themselves.

Attracting and Retaining the New Generations Many have talked about how Gen X and Y seem always ready to leave one company and move onto something better, as soon as there's an opportunity. While it's true that they usually won't stay with a job if they're unhappy - as boomers often did this doesn't mean they aren't serious or loyal. It simply means that if you want to keep the best and brightest leaders in your organization, you need to offer them an environment that's geared to their values. Quite a few Fortune 500 companies are changing their entire organizations to meet the wants and values of these new generations. Here are some examples: A major U.S. chemical company has eliminated its "corporate ladder" approach to management. There are no bosses, and there's no top and bottom in the chain of command. Instead, authority is passed around through team leaders, so everyone in the company has a sense of equality and involvement. A large U.S. accounting firm gives four weeks of vacation to every new hire (most U.S. companies offer only two weeks). This firm also offers new parents classes on how to reduce their working hours to spend more time with their families. A software company in Silicon Valley has no set office hours. Staff come in and work when they choose. Everyone gets paid time off every month to do volunteer work, and they get a - 151 -

If you think these dramatic policies would never work and would be too costly, then remember - these are all very profitable, highly productive companies with low turnover. They've made new rules, and they're successful.

Leadership Styles So, what does all this say about the new generation's leadership styles? Well, it's easy to see that Gen X and Y are unlikely to lead in the same way the boomers did. The new leaders value teamwork and open communication. They'll encourage collaboration, and they won't give direction and expect to be followed just because they're in charge. They want to understand their peers and other people's perspectives. They'll spend more time building relationships with their teams than their predecessors did. Because they value their family time, they'll also give their staff enough time for personal lives. As a result, corporate culture might become less rigid than it is now, bringing more flexibility and a sense of fun. As a result, if you're a member of a team whose leadership is being passed from an older generation leader to a new generation leader, you'll probably need to adjust to having more autonomy delegated to you, and to finding that the boss may not be around as much to check on things. This new generation values action, so they'll work more efficiently and productively to earn time off. They'll expect their team to work hard too, but they'll also know when it's time to leave the office and go play. One of the ways in which they gain this efficiency is by using technology. Although they themselves will usually get to grips with this easily, you may need to remind new generation leaders that other members of their team need more training and support than they do themselves, if they're to get up to the same speed with new applications. - 152 -

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Leadership Redefined they're the target of discrimination, you'll quickly lose them.

But they'll also follow a leader who has heart. So if you have new generation managers in your team, then you'll probably have to prove your worth before they'll fully support you. But once you show them that worth, they'll follow you all the way.

Guidelines: Here are some things you can do in your company to ensure that your new generation of leaders wants to stay. Offer ongoing training, especially if it teaches skills like organization, time management, leadership, and communication. People in Gen X and Y usually love to learn new things, so opportunities to grow are high on their list of priorities. Increase nonmonetary benefits. Gen X and Y tend to value time as much as, if not more than, money. They have lives outside of work, and spending time with family and having fun are very important to them. Increase your vacation benefits and offer flexible working hours. These people are often busy parents who appreciate when a company understands that the traditional 9-to5 day isn't always practical.

Be "green." The new generations have grown up with Earth Day and the threat of global warming. They want to make less of an impact on the environment. Studies have shown that people who work for companies with green initiatives have higher job satisfaction, and turnover is usually much lower.

Key Points There's no doubt that the new generation of leaders has priorities that are often quite different from those of most leaders in place today. So if you want to hire and keep the best and brightest people, the ones who will lead your company into the future, then you must create a work environment that's tailored to their values and priorities

Give them freedom. Gen X and Y are often self-reliant and don't always look to a leader for direction. Their goal is to complete tasks in the most efficient way possible, while still doing them well. So don't force them to work under a management style that boomers often preferred, with the boss giving orders. Give them the freedom to make their own decisions. Earn their loyalty and respect. Gen X and Y may not automatically be loyal to leaders, just because those leaders are in charge. Younger staff want open communication and leaders who are supportive and worthy of being followed. Treat women and men as equals. Gen X and Y grew up with mothers who were often focused on their careers as well as their families. They're used to viewing women and men equally, so be sure you compensate both genders equally. If women feel - 153 -

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Leadership Redefined does stand out is that she has forged great relationships with people from all parts of the company. Because of this, whenever changes occur, managers count on her to see the benefits and motivate her colleagues to accept them.

Building T omor s Tomor omorrrow's Leader Leaders Identifying and developing leaders Organizations need leaders - and not just in the top executive positions.Effective leaders have the vision to see what needs to be done, and to motivate and energize people to perform excellently. With strong leadership skills in place, you'll find it much easier to build a strong, respected and prosperous organization. With all the talent in your company right now, spotting people with leadership potential is not always easy. However, to ensure your business's continuing performance, you need to identify these people and nurture their leadership potential - it's a potential that's far too valuable to waste. So how do certain people show they have what it takes to lead others?

The Right Kind of Potential It's common to label high achievers as potential leaders. Unfortunately, it's not that simple: If people perform well, that really only shows that they're well suited to their jobs. Let's look at two examples: Kala menon, the R&D expert, whose research led to discovering a new gene, is certainly a great scientist. Her coworkers admire the work she does, and it's very likely she'll be promoted because of her technical skills. But. she doesn't share her knowledge, and doesn't help others understand her methods. Kriti in marketing is a good employee whose work is above average but not necessarily extraordinary. However what - 155 -

Who is the real leader? Chances are that Sue is a more promising leader than Carla. You won't know, though, until you look a lot deeper and observe many more behaviors. What's clear from the start is that job performance, by itself, is not a reliable indicator.

Crisis Planning Preparing your response to the unexpected Crises happen from time to time in all organizations. So when one happens "on your watch" how will you react? Will you resolve it in a way that seems graceful and well-considered? Or will you stumble, and make mistakes which seriously damage your business - and your career? This depends on the quality of your crisis planning. Crisis planning requires foresight, insight and hindsight. When you plan for a crisis you are, by definition, planning for something that has not yet occurred but might do, and might have a serious impact on your business. No one wants a crisis to happen, but we must acknowledge the truth: Unanticipated events do occur and the results can be serious or even disastrous. The need for it is clear, but because the exact nature and likelihood is unknown, many of us put off crisis planning. Don't make that mistake! It's not defeatist or fatalistic, it's simply realistic. If a crisis happens, you'll manage it much more successfully if you've prepared properly in advance! When we think of business crises, we often think of - 156 -

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major disasters such as terrorist attacks, hurricanes, or a pandemic of avian flu. While terrorism and natural disasters definitely need to be anticipated, it's worth remembering that there are many other types of less dramatic business crisis that can cause damage to your organization.

Conting enc y Planning Contingenc ency Developing a Good 'Plan B' Have a solid Plan B ready. Fires, floods, tornadoes - these are the things we often connect with contingency planning. But what if your main supplier suddenly goes bankrupt? Or, what if your entire sales force gets sick with food poisoning at your annual sales conference? Or, your payroll clerk simply calls in sick on payroll day? These things can all cause confusion and disorder if you haven't prepared for them properly. Contingency planning is a key part of this preparation. As you see, contingency planning is not just about major disasters. On a smaller scale, it's about preparing for events such as the loss of data, people, customers, and suppliers, and other disruptive unknowns. That's why it's important to make contingency planning a normal part of your everyday business operations.

Risk Assessment The need for contingency planning emerges from a thorough analysis of the risks that your organization faces. It's also useful in thinking about new and ongoing projects: what happens when 'Plan A' doesn't go as expected? Sometimes Plan A simply means 'business as usual.' Other times, with more sophisticated risk management plans, Plan A is your first response to deal with an identified risk - and when Plan A doesn't work, you use your contingency plan.

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Leading - and Succeeding - in a Downturn "The truth is that no one factor makes a company admirable. But if you were forced to pick the one that makes the most difference, you'd pick leadership." Warren Bennis, Organizational Consultant and Author As organizations adapt to changing business environments, the need for effective leadership is especially critical. When times are good, leading a company or a team is exciting. Resources are plentiful, customers are satisfied, and opportunity is everywhere. However, when the economic conditions are challenging, this excitement and positive energy tend to weaken. People often feel the pressures of work, and they fear for their job security. These worries and fears present a major challenge for leaders who need to keep their teams on target and productive. One of the keys to protecting yourself and your business in an economic downturn is to develop a culture that builds, and sustains, effective leadership practices. Good leadership is good leadership, regardless of the economic climate. However, during difficult times, top-notch leadership skills become even more important. Second-rate leaders might be able to keep a company going in a strong economy. However, you need high-performing leaders to succeed in tough times. Of course, you need leaders who can control costs and conserve cash. However you also need leaders who see opportunity - and who will strive to seize that opportunity - despite all the negativity. You need leaders who remain committed to their people. And you need leaders who can transfer their positive outlook to the people and processes around them.

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In an economic downturn, you need to conserve your resources so that you can survive. However, you also need to position yourself to benefit as competitors falter, and to be ready when the economy recovers. An economy in decline is often an opportunity to regroup, rethink, and renew.

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