The way you lead…
It is often said that leadership is not determined by titles and designations. It is about how people look up to you. However it is also so true that this is better said then done. Yes, most of the time! The few who stand out are the true leaders.
Time and again I fail to see examples being set, time and again I feel there are only a few leaders to look up to! But why?
Some years back in one of the organisations that I has worked for, one of our senior leaders left office a little early but came back in a while to pick up something and you know what? Most of his direct reports were gone! And they were senior leaders too! And he had exclaimed something like ‘When the cat is out, the rat has his day’. Well, not the exact quote but on similar lines. So where was the integrity? What did these senior leaders demonstrate to the younger lot?
Few years back, I had attended a training program and there the trainer had precisely said that many of the leaders fail to demonstrate their oneness with the team. The trainer mentioned how many of the junior folks worked extra hours and on certain weekends too. And on those days you would hardly see any of the senior people around. And that’s because that was not their job to stay back or come on off days. They didn’t even bother to think how much of a moral booster that would be! The example has stayed with me!
Another aspect was the attendance and the number of hours you spend in the office. What impression does a manager send when he arrives late or doesn’t turn up on time for the meetings? The same trainer had cited another example where the HR put up the names of the punctual lot on their notice board so as to shame the latecomers in a very subtle way or may be motivate in some cases as well, depending on the receiver. This example, I feel ,should be followed every now and then!
Next is the acceptance of meeting invites. How difficult is it to respond, simply say no if you cannot attend. The less you respond, the more busy you seem and the more important you appear to the external world while quietly demonstrating that this behavior is acceptable. You simply pass it on!
In another organisation I remember a senior lady walking into a meeting room biting an apple. Well, the simple way to check if your behavior is right is to ask how you would have reacted had any of the juniors behaved the same? I have several stories of this self proclaimed smart leader and this space wouldn’t be enough. Once she handed over all her work to a junior to go and enjoy a lunch and smartly blaming the junior for having not completed that piece of work!
Another aspect where the leaders fail is recognizing the work done by the team or some individual team member. While at an award distribution ceremony, the lead may walk up to accept the award, it isn’t very difficult to credit the team member(s) who have made this possible. It just takes some will to get this right. There are scores of instances when individuals give their best but when it comes to the actual recognition, they may have moved to a different department. Most managers will simply fail to mention forget about handing over that award to the deserving person. This is one of the most demotivating factors and specially when the individual might have only moved to the extended department.
The ‘Me Syndrome’! My team! I did this! There are so many around who can’t just be out of this ‘Me Syndrome’! They have forgotten this basic lead by example rule where you speak as the team and not your individual self! There are managers who think they enabled a raise or a promotion but in an ideal system the manager only facilitates it and the employee earns it!
What I don’t know is whether these misses are acceptable? Whether the leaders are swallowing more than what they can chew? Whether delegation is not happening? Or whether the leaders are just very secure in their secure position and behavior? And in many cases the leaders just demonstrating that everything is acceptable!
