After quite a long hiatus I am back with the second part of the series called 'Ganguly Principles'. You can contact me with your comments on rishin.chatterjee@gmail.com. I dont mind hate mails so you can go ahead and speak your mind.
Ganguly Principles Contd:
Principle 4
The leader's communication with his subordinates has often been a debated issue. Should the style of communication be formal or should it be informal? The principle hereby states that the communication style has to be determined by the leader keeping the profile of the person to whom he or she has to communicate with in mind. In other words there is no sacrosanct way of communication and the leader who would confine himself to one style of communication may not be in a position to receive the best effort from his subordinates. On a more serious note if his or her style of communication is not accepted by certain key subordinates there would be disconnect between them and the leader which may hinder the effective implementation of the plan.
So what should a leader do? The leader has to first and foremost understand the psyche of the people who he has under his command. People who have worked with him before and have consistently shown their faith in his or her leadership are the least vulnerable to a sudden change of communication style, even if it happens for a moment. This is because like the leader has had the opportunity to study them, they too have had the opportunity to study the leader and know his mind flow. Most importantly they are also aware of the implications of the leader's behaviour in certain situations without fomenting doubts in their minds about it. In effect the leader can afford to spend less time in studying these people unless someone in the group has been exhibiting unnatural behaviour whether as an individual or as a team.
For the new entrants in the team the leader has to take extra care to understand the kind of communication that a person would respond most positively to. Communication is something that the leader can customise effectively to the needs of the member and he would be wise to do so. However in the long run, the leader, to garner maximum effectiveness, should try to evolve a uniform communication style to ensure greater team-building and delegation. But this should only be attempted once the members have themselves reached a stage where they can properly assess the meaning of a leader's behaviour and/or understand the implications of a leader's behaviour and mannerisms.
Principle 5
It is a firm belief that a leader should ultimately make himself redundant from the operational point of view in so much that he can concentrate more on planning for the future direction of the actions of the team to be able to achieve the goals. However at any point in time if the team is found wanting in certain aspects the leader should be able to seamlessly fit anywhere into the operational machine and contribute to the physical effort of the team.
It is a firm belief that for the above to happen the leader has to first attain operational excellence in all the tasks that the team would have to perform. One would go to the extent to say that the leader should aim to be the best executioner of most of, if not all the tasks required to be done. Moreover he must at regular intervals seek to update himself on the changes in the tasks that have occurred as a result of changes in the environmental conditions. He must always be in a position to lead by example. Finally the leader must also always be ready to face the extreme eventuality – he must have the capability to finish the job alone if need be. This is what would be the difference between him and the rest and this is what would ultimately determine the respect that his subordinates would have for him.
Principle 6
'Work hard, party harder' is a concept that is increasingly gaining acceptance as a policy, albeit informal, especially in younger organisations. The leader's role in social interaction would be to further the camaraderie among the team. Aloofness and leadership are words that are thus not compatible. The leader's presence in bad times must be complimented by his presence in good times too. The leader's job is two fold –rejuvenating his team through social interactions as well as finding time for himself to rejuvenate himself and getting his bearings back on track. The leader as a person has to act as a social animal even if he is not one by nature. Social interaction for him may often not be a relaxation but an extension of his work life, hence the need to find his own private space wherever or whenever he can. For those leaders who are social people by nature they must ensure that they maintain their dignity and position in such gatherings while not being in an exalted state.
The leader as a person should always maintain his social position with the aim of sustaining the position of respect that others place him in. In other words 'getting carried away' by the emotions associated with the occasion isn't something that is in the armoury of the leader. His social interactions may or may not be perfunctionary but at no point must he openly show his personal disgust (if any) towards a person. It would reduce his esteem in the eyes of the rest of the team. His interpersonal relationships must be bordering on friendliness and impartiality. His use of humor must be in accordance with the power of acceptance of the humor among people around him. The interaction should be of high quality in terms of the fact that he should see himself as a provider of valuable advice as well as a conduit for the emotions of his mates.
A contrary view is also that a leader must always lead from front at work while he lurches in the shadows during play. This is also not wrong in so much that the leader must utilise the time in spotting the opinion leaders and also the points of disgruntlement during this time and plan on how to sort the issues at hand.
Principle 7
The leader is an epitome of respect. This can happen both ways. In the first case the leader has to prove himself to be worthy of respect. It is here where his speaking and convincing capabilities come into the picture. More important is his ability to 'walk the talk'. Very often we have seen politicians pledging to resign if something or the other does not happen as per their wishes. Yet when things don't go as asked for they are more often than not firmly entrenched in their positions giving obtuse and lame reasons as to why the conditions under which they made the pledge no longer hold relevance. A true leader is not the one who reneges from his pledges but upholds them. A true leader's position is not just obtained by position and rank; it is obtained by his persona and his ability to live on the ethics that he has set for himself. It is that what wins the respect of his mates. The true strength comes not from the position but the ability to lead at whichever level the person is.
The second aspect is that the leader must always show respect for his colleagues. He must instil in them the motto that they 'don't work under him, but with him'. By giving a patient hearing to his mates' suggestions and problems he is integrating them into the process, building the confidence in them and giving them the much desired sense of belonging and empowerment. By empowering people under him he is showing respect to their abilities. There will always be certain people who may not live up to the task but on the whole most people will reward the leader with a performance that will justify the leader's confidence in them and also the leader's respect for them.
Principle 8
Empower his team mates will also give the leader the much needed time to chalk the future direction of the team. This will happen because he will no longer need to immerse himself completely in the day to day running of the show (though monitoring will always be required). When this situation becomes the reality the leader will play the key role in the transformation of the team and its objectives keeping the environment in mind. He will be the change agent and will be instrumental in making the team embrace the new changes. The true hallmark of the leader would be measured by the smoothness in which the change can be evolved and how well the members of the team fit into the new structure of things.
The leader thus must always lead from the front, and almost by example. To make the change happen the leader must himself be the master of the change process. He must know the new procedures like the back of his hand before he can urge his mates to embrace them. This way not only will he lead by example but he will also be in a position to coach the rest of the team in using the new systems and procedures.
Principle 9
Most leaders suffer from a feeling of insecurity that is beyond words. While most may enjoy giving prim and proper sound bytes saying that they are open to changes in the structure and the like, in reality they would go out of their ways to ensure that their position is well cushioned and any structural changes would keep their authorities intact.
The true hallmark of the great leader lies in his selflessness. This selflessness will be exemplified by his interest in developing the leadership talent pool of his team. The greatest possible reward for the leader would be to see his protégés in positions of leadership, using the same values that he has impressed upon them, to lead their own teams successfully. Only then will his values and beliefs along with the systems that he has setup sustain beyond him. Unless this fact is ingrained in the leader neither will he progress and nor will the people under him progress, without perhaps bitter struggles for power and revolts. Even then so the new leaders who have come up after a struggle may not hold his philosophies good. This would mean that all the hard work put in the development of the team would come to nothing in the end.
In this endeavour the leader should be supported by his organisation which should give him the confidence that his position would not come under threat and he would rise in the organisation once people trained by him are ready to assume his position. It would be a fitting reward to a great leader. From a personal point of view the leader would have achieved his self-actualization goals of leaving beyond a successful and positive legacy that would be the envy of future generations.
To train leaders the important aspect would be to provide the potential leaders a scope to act as understudies to the leaders themselves and see for themselves the considerations that need to be accounted for when taking important decisions. They should also be given the scope to express their views which would be examined, if need be corrected, and if really worthwhile then accepted. It would be the first step for the new leaders. Then would come autonomy and so on, which is beyond the scope of this article.
The underlying philosophy is that a great leaders is the one whose decisions outlive him and this can only happen if he trains and puts in place the right chain of command before bidding farewell.
Posted at 11:22 am by Rishin
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