Its not been too long since I assumed leadership positions at the workplace, but its already been a hell of an experience...a thoroughly enjoyable one. I've always been fond of reading sensible management stuff and all that has come pretty handy off-late. Anyway, so here are a few pointers (some pre-defined, some self-created) which have kept me in pretty good stead when it comes to leading a team.
1. Be a team member first and then a boss: One of the biggest mistakes that most people new to leadership roles commit is to think that they are the ultimate authority. I personally feel, there couldn't be bigger disaster than adhering to such a mindset. The true essence of being a leader lies in added responsibilities and not power.
2. Respect comes from work, not from position: You've just been given the responsibility of leading a business commitment. Great, so does that mean you are only supposed to sit in an air conditioned cabin and pass orders? Absolutely not. Just being the boss won't help you gain the respect of your colleagues. Its your work that would. I guess its really important that team members start respecting the leader from the bottom of their heart and not just for the sake of it. In all probability the best way to make your team members respect you is through dedicated work. Once the leader is seen as someone committed to his work, the ones under him would automatically start following him. In short, action speaks louder than words.
3. Imposing something on your team members is synonymous to killing their natural abilities: I'm a big fan of this theory and my personal experience has further vindicated my faith in it. Most newborn leaders feel that people under them are supposed to do only what they are told to. This is to me is the biggest hole that a leader could dig for his team. Allow the team members to chose their own roles and they would be smiling and shining all the time. Let people play to their strengths and specializations. This way they would be fall in love with their work and there couldn't be a more efficient person than one who loves his work.
4. Appreciate in public, criticize in private: This is something I learnt from Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. During my college days, he had once visited our campus. In a personal interaction session, I had asked him as to what according to him was the most important trait of a boss. Every single word that he said in return is still deeply embedded in my mind. His answer was, "When your team does well, let your team members take the credit. Appreciate their work in full public view. However, when things start going wrong, you as the leader should be the one accepting the responsibility and facing criticism. Even if you know that it was your team mate's fault, not yours, never let it out in public. Finally to make sure that the person at fault learns from it, talk to him in private and let him know where he went wrong. This way not only would the people under you gain immense respect for you, they would also seek comfort in the fact that they have a leader who would always safeguard them in times of trouble." These are some golden words and certainly the best piece of advice ever given to me. (I guess he had also stated something similar in one of his interviews for the print media)
5. Never lose your cool: There could be nothing more putting off than having a leader who gets irritated and starts screaming and shouting every now and then. On the contrary stay calm and cool and it would rub off on your team members as well.
6. Create leaders in your team, do not interfere in every single activity: My personal experience says that people generally tend to shine the most when they know they are their own boss. Try giving some powers to your team members and they would become more responsible. Something that I keep on telling my team is that "This is your space. Decorate it the way you want to. When you are stuck up, call me and I would be there to help you out but till then you are the boss." This single statement has a profound effect on all my team members and its really satisfying to see each one of them excited about their responsibilities.
7. Its your responsibility to safeguard the reputation of everyone working under you: Pretty much self-explanatory.
8. Be assertive, not autocratic: If you observe Corporate Inc, you would notice two major leadership groups. Ones who tend to create a one-man army kind of an illusion and ones who let others in their company shine equally well. An example of the first kind is someone like Vijay Mallya. Despite him being labelled successful and the so called "King of good times", I personally hate his style of leadership. I wonder how effective he would be when things start going wrong . His company is so very dependent on his reputation that even a slight bit of tinge on him would end up ruining the entire company. A great example of this was the last year's IPL. Remember the Bangalore team split? Another prime example of this form of leadership is Satyam's Ramalinga Raju. On the other hand you have someone like Narayan Murthy who despite being an influential figure has made sure that his colleagues at Infosys (Nandan Nilekani, Mohandas Pai, etc) are equally well known. As a result despite his voluntary retirement from executive activities, the company's leadership team has remained equally competent.
9. Think out of the box: One of the biggest advantages of being the decision-maker is that you are free to explore innovative and uncharted territory. Lateral thinking is something that would enable you to come up with new ways of improving team efficiency. Of course, for this you've got to possess risk-taking abilities as well and this where I would say for the nth time, trust your instincts.
10. Keep your personal grudges aside, your team comes way ahead of your personal ego: Do I need to say more?
11. Promote two-way communication and an open work culture: I suppose a leader is as good as his team and in such a scenario, more is the input from the team in every single decision making process, more would be the options available. Of course, one must also keep in mind the good old phrase "Too many cooks spoil the broth".
1. Be a team member first and then a boss: One of the biggest mistakes that most people new to leadership roles commit is to think that they are the ultimate authority. I personally feel, there couldn't be bigger disaster than adhering to such a mindset. The true essence of being a leader lies in added responsibilities and not power.
2. Respect comes from work, not from position: You've just been given the responsibility of leading a business commitment. Great, so does that mean you are only supposed to sit in an air conditioned cabin and pass orders? Absolutely not. Just being the boss won't help you gain the respect of your colleagues. Its your work that would. I guess its really important that team members start respecting the leader from the bottom of their heart and not just for the sake of it. In all probability the best way to make your team members respect you is through dedicated work. Once the leader is seen as someone committed to his work, the ones under him would automatically start following him. In short, action speaks louder than words.
3. Imposing something on your team members is synonymous to killing their natural abilities: I'm a big fan of this theory and my personal experience has further vindicated my faith in it. Most newborn leaders feel that people under them are supposed to do only what they are told to. This is to me is the biggest hole that a leader could dig for his team. Allow the team members to chose their own roles and they would be smiling and shining all the time. Let people play to their strengths and specializations. This way they would be fall in love with their work and there couldn't be a more efficient person than one who loves his work.
4. Appreciate in public, criticize in private: This is something I learnt from Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. During my college days, he had once visited our campus. In a personal interaction session, I had asked him as to what according to him was the most important trait of a boss. Every single word that he said in return is still deeply embedded in my mind. His answer was, "When your team does well, let your team members take the credit. Appreciate their work in full public view. However, when things start going wrong, you as the leader should be the one accepting the responsibility and facing criticism. Even if you know that it was your team mate's fault, not yours, never let it out in public. Finally to make sure that the person at fault learns from it, talk to him in private and let him know where he went wrong. This way not only would the people under you gain immense respect for you, they would also seek comfort in the fact that they have a leader who would always safeguard them in times of trouble." These are some golden words and certainly the best piece of advice ever given to me. (I guess he had also stated something similar in one of his interviews for the print media)
5. Never lose your cool: There could be nothing more putting off than having a leader who gets irritated and starts screaming and shouting every now and then. On the contrary stay calm and cool and it would rub off on your team members as well.
6. Create leaders in your team, do not interfere in every single activity: My personal experience says that people generally tend to shine the most when they know they are their own boss. Try giving some powers to your team members and they would become more responsible. Something that I keep on telling my team is that "This is your space. Decorate it the way you want to. When you are stuck up, call me and I would be there to help you out but till then you are the boss." This single statement has a profound effect on all my team members and its really satisfying to see each one of them excited about their responsibilities.
7. Its your responsibility to safeguard the reputation of everyone working under you: Pretty much self-explanatory.
8. Be assertive, not autocratic: If you observe Corporate Inc, you would notice two major leadership groups. Ones who tend to create a one-man army kind of an illusion and ones who let others in their company shine equally well. An example of the first kind is someone like Vijay Mallya. Despite him being labelled successful and the so called "King of good times", I personally hate his style of leadership. I wonder how effective he would be when things start going wrong . His company is so very dependent on his reputation that even a slight bit of tinge on him would end up ruining the entire company. A great example of this was the last year's IPL. Remember the Bangalore team split? Another prime example of this form of leadership is Satyam's Ramalinga Raju. On the other hand you have someone like Narayan Murthy who despite being an influential figure has made sure that his colleagues at Infosys (Nandan Nilekani, Mohandas Pai, etc) are equally well known. As a result despite his voluntary retirement from executive activities, the company's leadership team has remained equally competent.
9. Think out of the box: One of the biggest advantages of being the decision-maker is that you are free to explore innovative and uncharted territory. Lateral thinking is something that would enable you to come up with new ways of improving team efficiency. Of course, for this you've got to possess risk-taking abilities as well and this where I would say for the nth time, trust your instincts.
10. Keep your personal grudges aside, your team comes way ahead of your personal ego: Do I need to say more?
11. Promote two-way communication and an open work culture: I suppose a leader is as good as his team and in such a scenario, more is the input from the team in every single decision making process, more would be the options available. Of course, one must also keep in mind the good old phrase "Too many cooks spoil the broth".
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