The Essential Element of Leadership

For an organization to succeed, it is vital for teams to have clarity of direction. Three elements which can help establish a clear direction for any team are:
- A Team Mission Statement
- A Team Vision Statement
- Team Values

Most organizations who conduct workshops for defining the three elements would do well to remember the words of Charles Schwab, the former CEO of a brokerage house. He used to say that people will work hard for money, but will give their lives for meaning. And the most powerful way of giving meaning to people's lives is by helping teams to define their Personal Mission, Vision and Values, BEFORE they do so for the organization. This will have a powerful impact on the employees engagement with the entire process of defining, as well as the practice of the values. Apart from making their individual lives more meaningful, this sequence of workshops helps in two ways;

1.  the understanding of the importance of values in their personal lives renders the task of defining the organizational values (challenging at best), much easier.
2. it helps individuals draw a line-of-sight between the personal and the organizational mission and values

Living the Vision
The task accomplished, the leader has to embark on what Tom Peters calls "the essential element of leadership" - living the vision vigorously and practicing the values diligently. To do this, he needs to ensure open and continuous channels of communication with his employees. This constant contact will help the business leader to support his teams to live the defined vision, practice the values and to shape the culture and the way that things get done. Here are some way of doing it:

1. Keep leaders, managers, HR staff and others engaged in the process through conference calls, email bulletinsand online forums
2. Create an intranet page focused on the implementation and practice of the three elements where you can put a list of FAQ's as well as experiences of the people with the new practices
3. Maintain focus on monitoring and course correction. Provide channels for feedback and ideas. Document questions and issues and share responses in different media.

Keeping at it
Once the mission-vision and values are sufficiently integrated into the system, its no time to stop. For, to quote Robert Levering, the co-founder of Great Places to Work Institute, "there is no such thing as 'too much communication". He cites examples of two CEO's who did it successfully:

1. One of the values of Genentech, a biotech company was   'open communication'. The CEO did an extraordinary job of being transparent. Any question asked over email, would be responded to within 48 hours.
2. Medtronic, a medical devices company has an event where actual patients come and talk about how their lives have been saved by Medtronic heart devices. This way, employees can see how people's lives have been saved. During the session, says Levering, there's not a dry eye in the house.

 Can you think of similar creative ways of living your values and connecting your organization's vision to it's impact on your customers?  Doing so should pay you rich dividends.

An Attitude to Up the Bottomline

"Sir, I cannot change the behavior of others, but I can change mine." This statement came from Navneesh, a young dynamic sales executive of a high performance metals company.

It happened at a group coaching workshop I was conducting  for the key executives from sales, marketing HR and logistics functions. As one of the activities of the day, I had the participants review their experiences of the past 15 days of their service delivery  interactions with internal customers. These were to be in areas of Coordination, Cooperation and Collaboration, examples of each which were provided,such as;
Coordination: Reduce the need for others to require clarification resulting from unclear communication

Cooperation: Accept feedback from others without being defensive

Collaboration:  Follow up all agreements in writing with customer within two days of oral agreement.

At the end of this review, the participants were to map their feelings about each of these interactions on the Emotigraph. This was a graph with Interaction event on the X-axis and Feelings about the interactions on the Y-axis, which was on a scale of 1-5; where 1=Unpleasant and 5=Very pleasant. The exercise completed, I asked the participants, "Having done the exercise, how many of you felt in the interactions reviewed, that you were right  and the others wrong?

I mapped their feedback on a scale  of 1-10, and the responses stacked up as follows:
90% put themselves between 1 (they were right) and 5 (maybe the other party was right). But Navneesh's response floored me, he placed himself at 10 (the opposite party was right!). When I asked him to explain, his reply was an astounding, "Sir, I cannot change the behavior of others, but I can change mine, and therefore, I always believe the other party is right." One would imagine that this is a wimpish or defensive strategy guaranteed to lose every argument. But one couldn't be more wrong. In point of fact, an attitude such as Navneesh's can help to quickly gain trust and resolve conflicts. The attitude has helped him be a person with with a high degree of a positive 'can do' attitude and one of the highest sales achievers in his team. Where does an attitude such as Navneesh's stem from? It comes from the practice of what Stephen Covey in his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People describes as, Seeking First to Understand and then Be Understood. The practice of this habit can lead to rich dividends. It can help employees within organizations to  seek common ground with a colleague and a way to move forward together.

Dr Xavier Amadorin in his book  I am Right You Are Wrong, Now What? Has a more detailed process for the practice of the 5th Habit which he calls LEAP (Listen-Empathize-Agree-Partner) process,  With the use of the LEAP process and strategy, employees can;

• stop trying to force their colleagues to say they are wrong 
• begin to listen in a new way that immediately lowers their own anger and defensiveness, 
• convey genuine understanding, empathy, and respect for the others point of view, even when they disagree with it. 

On the other hand, what happens in organizations where a majority of employees in inter-company service delivery interactions take the stand, "I'm right, you're wrong?" It can lead to frustrating, circular  arguments and situations that stall progress and hurt relationships.

The result? Dissatisfied customers and ultimately - an unhealthy impact on the bottomline.

Dear Wannabe CEO

Dear Wannabe CEO,
The Wikipedia defines Young Turks as, "groups or individuals inside an organization who are progressive and seek prominence and power." Does this description fit you? If it does, then, I am sure you would have noticed the exciting headline in the Economic Times (30th June 2011) which said, " Young CEOs Add More Zip to Companies than the Old! The report quotes the findings of a study of BSE 100 companies which show that CEOs under 50 (the young category) added an average of 26.43% value to their companies as against the old guard (over 55) whose value addition was only 4.34%.  Now you will notice that the young category in this case stretches up to age 50, but I am guessing you as a young (and I mean young) aspiring executive with fire in your belly, fierce ambition and sharp focus are under 30. If you are, then  please read on.

As a member of the old guard, my experience tells me, that as a part of your preparation for the leadership game, you need to gain clarity about a few key factors. Two things to begin with;

• Your Values and Beliefs
• Your Risk-Benefit Quotient 

Sorry to sound patronising, but since many of your tribe rarely make time for self-reflection, I propose the following simple start to your journey.

STEP 1: Take stock of your Values and Beliefs by identifying your school of leadership:  

The clearer you are about what you value and believe in, the happier and more effective you will be.

Values are about how we have learnt to think things ought to be or people ought to behave, especially in terms of qualities such as honesty, integrity and openness.

Beliefs are generalizations that people use to give themselves a sense of certainty and a basis for decision-making in an uncertain and ambiguous world.

Adapting the work of G. Richard Shell, author of Bargaining for Advantage in the context of business, leaders can belong to three schools of leadership:

1. The Poker School - "It's a Game"
To poker players, business is a game and anything that can be done to gain advantage within the rules of the game (generally speaking, the laws of the land), is fair and just.

E.g. The Ambanis

2. The Idealist School - "Do the right thing, even if it hurts."
To the idealist, there is no separation between business and life. If you would not lie to your loved ones, you do not lie to your clients. If it's OK to tell a "white lie" to protect the feelings of a friend or prevent a tragedy, it's OK to tell a "white lie" to protect a corporate ally or prevent a business tragedy. While two idealists may differ in the specific set of rules they live by, they share the rigidity of doing what they believe to be "right", even when it seems contrary to their business goals.

E.g. N. R. Narayana Murthy

3. The Pragmatist School - "What goes around comes around."
The behaviour of a pragmatist may be inseparable from that of an idealist, but the motivation is different. While the idealist tells the truth and treats people fairly because it's "the right thing to do", the pragmatist tells the truth and treats people fairly because they believe it is the most effective way of getting things done. However, they will not hesitate to use deception as a necessary tool in pursuing their aims. Because pragmatists value their reputation (being seen to be honest), they will tend towards "misleading" statements over outright lies.

E.g. Barrack Obama

To which school of leadership do you belong?

STEP 2: Assess your risk-benefit quotient

The JISC Infonet defines risk as: 'A future event (or series of events) with a probability of occurrence and the potential for a) loss or b) impact on objectives that can be either positive or negative.'

No decision can ever be completely free of risk, but you also have to weigh up the benefits. How good have you been at assessing the probability of risk vs. the benefits? Use the Risk Matrix below to assess six major decisions you have made in the past as below;

1.       Analyse each of the six decisions based on two parameters; Risk and Impact

2.       Enter the results of each finding by ticking the appropriate box in the matrix

3.       Enter your scores in the table below.

Zone	No. Of Decisions	Risk Type
Purple		Aggressive risk-taker
Orange		Balanced risk taker
Pink		Unjustified risk-taker
Yellow		Risk averse

 

This analysis should help you increase your awareness of your ability to assess risk vs. the attendant gains. Considering that different positions and profiles need different degree of risk taking ability, you can draw your own conclusions about your suitability for each.

Call to Action

You have assessed yourself for two important factors in your success as a leader; values and beliefs and risk type, but bear in mind these tools are only meant to heighten your awareness of the two. To be better prepared for the leadership game, you need to constantly work on analysing and evolving yourself as a leader, not only in these two areas but many others as well!

All the Best!

Your Well-wisher.

Uday Arur, Business coach

Salaam Salamat

Salamat Irani owned the City Bakery at M.G. Road, Pune. My visit to his
bakery was prompted by a desire to buy Pune’s famous Shrewsbury biscuits 

from the Kayani Bakery. My cousin instead recommended Salamat’s bakery, 

which he claimed baked cashew biscuits to die for. So down we drove to the 

City Bakery on Main Street, a place with shelves and bottles redolent of an 

old world charm. The wall behind the old style counter at the bakery had a 

black board that had a humorous quotable quote written in chalk (changed 

every day).Salamat, the curly-haired, friendly and very talkative owner, 

welcomed my cousin (his school buddy) cheerily and on his introducing us, 

chided him saying, ‘what are you doing Rahul, you are starving your guests!’ 

So saying, he opened a packet of his famous cashew biscuits and laid it on 

the counter for us to eat (and of course sample!). Salamat, I discovered, 

knew all his regular customers and made it a point to address them by their 
names, (‘Good afternoon Mr. Joshi, what can I do for you today?’). It was 
highly entertaining and educative to see how Salamat treated his customers
and so I decided to hang around for some more time to watch him in action.
  

To Mrs. Joshi, who wanted to buy buns, he said mischievously, ‘ only three
buns Mrs. Joshi, you must be starving your family! And what can I pack for
your friend over here?’ (Mrs. Joshi’s friend smiled and shook his head, but
you can be sure he is going to drop in again!) An aged Parsi customer 

doddered in looking for kharis and realizing they were not in stock, turned 

to go away,‘chaalo, paisa bachi gayo!’ smiled Salamat cheekily, eliciting a 

smile from the Parsi gentleman. The next gentleman who walked in was 

looking for jam tarts, which were out of stock, Salamat assured him with,

a 'Sorry Mr Fernandes, but you can get those tarts at 4 pm tomorrow 

evening. They will be waiting for you.’
  

In the mean time a lady at the counter asked him for a bill, ‘That will be 
only fifty dollars, Mrs. Sharma, why don’t you buy some more?’

To a customer who was peering down the glass counter at the trays of 
biscuits, Salamat said naughtily, ‘who are you looking for Mrs. Andrews, 
have you found him yet?’ ‘Oh! Just biscuits, is it? I thought it was 
somebody else!’ To every one of his customers, Salamat seemed to have 

something to say which would make them smile – and of course buy more 

than what they originally intended to buy!!
  

Quite apart from the great goodwill and customer satisfaction generated 
by Salamat, what struck me was the way he seemed to 
actually enjoy what he did.

Salamat, the baker and graduate in law seemed to have a great  time 

doing his work! And his highly infectious joy in what he did clearly
rubbed off on his customers, who seemed to keep coming in for more 
– keeping his cash register clicking merrily!

Mohammad of Khandala

When the boundaries between work and fun blur, you are fully immersed 

in a feeling of energized focus,full involvement, and success in the process 

of the activity. What Prof. Mihaly Csikszentmhalyi might call being in flow. 

And some years ago I had the opportunity to witness one such soul 

operating in "flow".

Mohammad Hussein was a dark short and stocky, had grey short hair and a 
clipped ‘Zodiac man’ beard and worked a waiter at the restaurant of a resort 

in Khandala. This resort is where I was conducting a meeting for
one of my client companies. Sharp at six on the first morning of my stay, 

there was a soft knock on my door and on and on opening it, 

I was greeted with a smiling ‘Good Morning’ by Hussein who bustled in with 

his tray of what P.G. Wodehouse would call ‘the cup that cheers’. He then 

proceeded to place the tray smartly on the table with a ‘Yeh lo sir, badhiya, 

garam, garam chai!’ Apart from the tea, his warmth and cheerfulness itself 

was a great start to the day! At breakfast, Hussein welcomed my entry into 

the restaurant with a welcoming smile and my inquiry about the spread for 

the day was heralded by the lifting of the lid of each of the chaffing dishes, 

followed by descriptions like, ‘Yeh lo sir, badhiya corn flakes, aur yeh garma 

garam aloo parathe, aur yahan sir, first class omelet and toast!’  At every 

break for lunch or tea, Hussein would be the first one to greet and welcome 

the group and serve us attentively. 

By now, all these ministrations by Hussein had impressed me so much that 

I called up my family to invite them to join me at the resort after the 

conference was over. Seeing my family with me seemed to send Hussein into 

a service overdrive! Even though the restaurant had enough empty tables at 

meal times, he would put up a hand written sign on a tent saying ‘Reserved 

for V1’ and on being seated at the table, he would first ask my wife,  

’Madam, aaj kya lengi, chai ya coffee?’ next he would enquire with my 

daughter, my son and finally me (the gallant old soul!). The best part was 

when I gave him a tip on the last day of our stay, he thanked me profusely 

and said that he wanted to sing a ‘Mohammad Rafi saab ka gana’ specially 

for me. Then in a mellifluous voice, and a few furtive looks over his shoulders 

to see if the manager was watching, he proceeded to sing ‘Woh jab yaad 

aaye, bahut yaad aaye’ from the film Parasmani! A warm and sentimental 

touch don’t you think?

It's been now more than six years since I witnessed Mohammad Hussein 

in action but I have warm memories of him. That's what being in "flow" does 

to you. You perform at your best, have fun doing it, please the recipient of 

your actions.

And most important - stay in his memory. Forever. 

"I am Anna Hazare" True or False?

A recent survey  of India's youth conducted by by MTV, showed that over 50% of them were OK with paying bribes to succeed in life. Surprisingly, Anna Hazare's recent campaign against corruption had struck a cord with the very same youth, and they had come out on to the streets in large numbers! So what explains this strange contradiction?

Maybe some kind of an answer may be found in yesterday's Economic Times. In the issue's Blinkers off cartoon by Salam, one executive is telling another, "I can't say for sure what is important...self-respect, integrity or being on the right side of the boss...?" The cartoon aptly sums up the dilemmas and the challenges  of  the youth viz., if self-respect and integrity be part of one's values set, to what extent would one be of willing to sacrifice them at the altar of career success?

 These were also the kind of dilemmas expressed by the young participants at my recent workshop on Goal setting. One of the activities required participants to identify their personal values and the importance of  identifying and living our values in our life. After my presentation one of them asked, "If the value of my time to my company is Rs 3000.00 per day, and I have the option to pay a tout Rs 1000.00 and get a ticket (or a form etc.) delivered at home instead of waiting in a queue to buy one, what should I choose to do? And that's the dilemma most of us face - should I forgo my value of not paying a bribe  and settle for the 'efficient' and 'cost-effective' option of saving my time and pay a bribe? Or do I stick by my values and principles no matter what it costs?

In reply to the participant's question, I cited the example of how Narayana Murthy of Infosys handled such a situation.There were several incidents when Infosys was asked to grease palms to get its work done. in 1996, the company refused to pay a bribe of Rs 4 lakh to buy the land where their Bangalore office was built. Instead, it paid Rs 40 lakh extra, about 40% more than the amount other companies had paid to build offices in that locality. Over the years, Infosys' clean image became a benchmark in India Inc.

So if one chooses to strictly  live by one's values then no price would be too high to protect them. The choice of course is a difficult one for most of us. But for those who choose to tread the difficult path - it can be life of fulfillment.

And success?

The Secret to Long-term Personal Success

The most powerful way to achieve long-term personal and business success, is to redefine success as something internal rather than external. It has been my experience time and time again that success begins with defining values, and then consciously creating a life where those values play a central role. And this is true as much of people as it is of organizations.Using this 'inside-out' approach, I have discovered in my experience as a Business coach and consultant, gives gratifying results. Success I have realized, begins with defining values, and then consciously creating a life where those values play a central role. So what exactly do we mean by values, and how can we plan a values-driven life?

What are Values?
Roy Posner, on his highly informative website, describes values as “a belief, a mission, or a philosophy that is meaningful.” Whether we are consciously aware of them or not, every one of us has a core set of personal values. Values can range from the commonplace, such as the belief in hard work and punctuality, to the more psychological, such as self-reliance, concern for others, and harmony of purpose.

When we examine the lives of famous people, we often see how personal values guided them, propelling them to the top of their fields. In the book, Leadership@Infosys (Penguin India), the editor Matthew Barney describes the time the company had imported its first computer to the office. A customs official indirectly asked for a bribe. Narayana Murthy pretended he did not understand the request. As pay back, the official refused to recognise the a government certificate that entitled Infosys to a concessionary import duty of Rs. 1 lakh instead of Rs 10 lakh. Murhty did not budge. The company paid the higher duty and went through a long process of six years to reclaim the extra money it had paid.

It is this personal as well as business commitment to his values that has brought Murthy such glory - personally as well as to Infosys, the company he created. On a personal front, his commitment to his values brought respect to businessmen as a class. Kiran Karnik1, the former NASSCOM chief explains the reason thus,”For the first time, the middle class had an icon who came from an ordinary background and yet made money without doing something underhand and being upright.” On the business front Murthy’s commitment powered by his intellect, and driven by his values has brought Infosys to the forefront of a new India Inc. since 1981.

we can “create a life of our own making” and live our life with meaning and peace of mind, rather than “letting our life live us.”  An important learning from Murthy's example is that values drives our behavior and also our commitment.                                                   The most important advantage of identifying our values is that the exercise helps us to align and shape our behaviors in a way consistent with our goals in life.

Call to Action

To begin the unraveling of YOUR secret to long-term personal business success, begin by of identifying your values from the list on Roy Posner's site. Using your identified values as your decision making paradigm, you can now create a life of your own making and live your life with meaning and peace of mind, rather than letting your life live you.