The ecosystem today is fast paced, dynamic, challenging and evolving at all
times. The world which was once dominated by accountants, engineers, management
graduates is today adding new age skills such as data science, Robotics,
Coding, Ethical hacking, cyber security - with these skills the companies today
are adding a very unique mix of talent to their workforce : A mix of
GENX, Y, Z to Millennials and the recent addition of Gig economy which is all
set to move north in the coming years. Does this mean that the leaders will
have to adjust the way they lead this talent? Can the old school beliefs
continue to lead the new school think tanks who strive on challenges but at the
same time are vocal about their personal choices and expectations? How
difficult will it be for leaders of today to become heroes of tomorrow?
I have now spent more than two decades in the industry and consider myself privileged to work with some of the best leaders who taught me a lot about leading teams. And then there were some who taught me what should never be done when dealing with people to get performance. The learnings came from my seniors, peers and even young leaders who often came to me for advice. I believe all of us at that level are capable, competitive and are always willing to learn the art of leading in business and at the same time learn how to build the best teams to attain success. I am no different as I too face this dilemma of ensuring a balance between great business results and happy team members. At the same time ensure I am sane enough to stay healthy and spend some good time with my loved ones and not leave it to those 10 -15 days we all term as annual leave. It is always a compromise and a vicious circle which starts from sacrificing self-interest/ health, making loved ones unhappy, resulting in unhappy teams and at times also impacting the business results. Do we blame unrealistic targets or incapable team members or our loved ones who as per us do not understand our situation or do we blame ourselves for our inability to control situations around us. Why is it that we have never said no to that client call often very late in the evening, that mail from someone influential on a Saturday or just one meeting when we are on leave. We do say 'No' but to our 15 min exercise routine or to our long-forgotten hobby or to an expectation of giving undivided attention to our loved ones without getting distracted by machines. Is there something wrong here and if yes, is it our habits or the choices we make?
Of the many, I picked up top 10 sins which most often many leaders choose to
commit in spite of being aware of the negative impact on them or others around
them. It is like one being aware of the health condition which needs immediate
attention but the sufferer decides to ignore it till the day it becomes
completely irreversible. The irony is that we choose to live with this condition
for a very long time and take pride in spreading it to many more like a
deadly virus.
Decide for yourself if you are infected or not...
1. Taking
personal wellbeing for granted - Procrastinate at will:
Does well being need a time stamp or does it need an intent with some commitment. Is
well being limited to the biannual medical tests which gives us satisfaction
that all vitals are working well. Wellbeing needs to be practiced every day and
not at will. The return on this investment is lot more than the financial
investments we do for our future. I once got a response from a leader that he
will start focusing on wellbeing from a later date once his workload becomes
manageable. Do you think that day will ever come for this leader? I think
definition of 'being wealthy' needs to be redefined and wellbeing should be
added as #1 indicator. We are all born rich with a healthy mind, body and a
soul but staying rich depends on our actions today.
2. Not
able to say 'No' to their urge to do something new -
This urge to say 'Yes' impacts them as their plates are always full and the
same percolates down to their teams. All new initiatives sound exciting and
must be done but the bigger question is if it needs to be done today or can it
be added to a wish list for tomorrow. Leaders must be aware of the workload for
themselves and their entire team and discuss the priorities rather than adding
without removing. Not only does this hampers quality, it also results in an
emotional imbalance for all as the focus shifts to all those add-ons which were
never supposed to be added in the first place. Team members are often blamed
for not meeting the expectations, but the problem is not in their intent or the
skill but the time we create for our people to deliver.
3. Prioritizing
everything but the priority: this one is
like binge eating. I call it binge task listing or senseless working. Most
often a leader will choose to do things they do the best and ignore the tasks
they are supposed to deliver. As a result, they are often chased by superiors
leaving the leaders feel dejected thus blaming the seniors for not empathizing
with them. For team members it becomes a whirlpool as they find it difficult to
concentrate, deliver or manage time effectively. It is most often a self-inflicted
pain resulting in conflicts of emotions and leading to a low motivation
syndrome. The leads will have to master the art of aligning their
priorities to the priorities of their superiors or the firm. A fine balance
will build a lot of trust across levels and result in the right accolades for
the entire team.
4. Not
using TIME as a multiplier but a divisor (for self
and others) : The more you dwell, the more
you delay. A big sin adding more misery to saying 'Yes' to nearly
everything and prioritizing everything but the priority is the inability of
make TIME a multiplier to achieve the desired productivity. I often
use to wonder how some of the CEO's manage their time when so many people wait
to get their time, so many decisions are dependent on them. They deliberately
choose to spend time wisely on a person or an issue depending on the impact or return
on investment or just ignore it completely. It totally depends on a leader to
settle for inverse proportion between time and ROI or move towards at least a
direct proportion and in some rare cases exponential proportional gains. Subtle signs
of inverse proportion are an open door policy resulting in a calendar less
life, allowing intruders any time of the day, allow/ lead lengthy agenda less
meetings/ calls to endless deliberate, have a low to a no appetite for mistakes
and at times just not committing to close things on time. As a result, they put
in extra hours, their teams put in extra hours and their clients wait extra
hours because working hrs. are all used for our so called subtle inclusions.
5. Turn
into a Micro Managers- A common belief which amuses me
the most is that when leaders continue to believe that their teams will not be
able to manage anything without their expert intervention. This belief is
turning leaders into control freaks and their team members into mindless
followers. They forget that it is not just success which made them leaders but
the exposure to mistakes they committed and trust their leaders showed in them.
Most of the leaders are genius but the real fun is in becoming a genius maker.
For that they will have to give space to their teams and ensure they are
available for guidance and not hand hold them at every step. This mistrust will
hamper the learning process and the experience their teams will cherish for
life. It is one of the reasons for team member frustration resulting in low
morale and at times high attrition rate. The leaders need to step back and
evaluate this behavior and take corrective measures. Irony is that roles
continue to enhance, the teams continue to become big but this tendency to micromanage
continue to become stronger. It becomes difficult to change as by then it has
already transformed into an addiction and thus a bad habit. What leaders can do
is trust the intent of a doer, give clear instructions, agree on acceptable standards,
invest in skill gaps gradually, improve the review quality and have an appetite
for mistakes which have low relevance. Try restricting the meeting time to
minimum thus creating time for teams to deliver, give that personal space to
them, wisely accept the deliverables if it suits the purpose and not get stuck
with aesthetics and take gaps as learnings for next time. Very tough to master
but once done delivers 10X results for all future engagements.
6. When
being a Perfectionist becomes a disease: 'I
think something is still missing' - Have you heard or said this before.
Remember those mails which are written, erased and rewritten at least 5-10
times before pressing the send button, back and forth on some presentations to
be submitted to leadership or totally discarding the efforts put in by someone
and starting from scratch again. What is common here? The commonality here is
our tendency of wearing the critic hat and always seeing the half glass empty. This is a good trait when the
stakes are high but a dangerous trait when it comes to day to day situations.
It starts with mails, move to excel sheets, jump to presentations and strive on
stressful situations created because of scarcity of time or below par
submissions. These leaders are very much worried about the impression they
create on others and god forbid if anything is even one notch below the expectation,
they are ready to turn the world upside down. Some will argue that
quality is paramount and hence this is required. Let me quote the definition of
quality quoted on one of the online domains - 'Quality is a perceptual,
conditional, and somewhat subjective attribute and may be understood
differently by different people. the standard of something as measured
against other things of a similar kind; the degree of excellence of something.'
How can this change for everything we do around us? If it is changing, then it
is not quality but our lens which needs some adjustment to set some benchmarks
which are easily understood by people around us. Again, a tough trait to
master, but need of the hour.
7. Toxic
to No Feedback which kills the intent first - I
always believe that feedback should be given with the right intent. In 2003,
one of my mentors gave me an advice which got stuck with me. His words of
wisdom to me were to invest in people in a way that they further multiply the
growth and culture. Height of a building construction depends on how deep the
foundation is. This foundation is built on hiring the right talent, training
the right skills, giving the right experiences and giving feedback at the right
time to save/build and not to kill. Today we have several interventions which
trains leaders on how to give feedback but in my experience, they forget the learnings the
moment they step out. The art of giving good feedback is in questioning the
intent with which one gives a feedback. If the intent has even an iota of
negativity or doubt or mistrust, it should not be given as the intent shifts
from deliverable to personal emotions. I have come across leaders who take
pride in killing someone's morale but somewhere ignore the first six sins they
also committed which resulted in poor to subpar performance. Then there are
those who do not believe in giving feedback at all. A lot of attitude,
behavior, performance issues often result in becoming bad habits because
feedback was not given well in time. What is often given is a nudge to change
and not a non-negotiable feedback with repercussions. It becomes a norm of a
team to ignore the importance of giving the right feedback to juniors, peers or
seniors. That results in a culture of complacence in all the members and the
leader just wonders why people are not changing despite conversations been done
on regular basis. A leader needs to become fearless yet remain humble in giving
a feedback to people. That will create a transparent ecosystem which will help
talent grow without having a fear of getting battered by anyone.
8. When
Negativity in workplace becomes a norm and often is supported by leaders
(unknowingly but intentional) - Half glass full
is always better than half glass empty but it needs an eye to acknowledge and
intent to refrain from crossing the invisible line. I am sure we all have our
own share of good and some not so god experiences on daily basis. Remember that
meeting, a conversation, a mail trail, a training program, that review meet
which left an unpleasant experience in your mind. Do we take it as our own
experience or share it with someone we believe must know about it but cannot do
anything about it? Often what starts as an instance and as an urge to share the
heavy burden with someone, becomes a situation when repeated and a habit which
is tough to break if done again and again. What does it do? How does it help us
and this other person? Is it right to talk about our unpleasant experiences to
others? In my view it is good to share the learnings from an experience but
often damaging if the conversation shifts to talking about individuals,
judgements, perceptions, feelings and assumptions. Not only does it become
a habit, kills time but more importantly impacts the state of mind of all those
involved and is like diminishing the emotional bank account at will. A lot of
people will debate and insist that this is very human and is fine to indulge in,
but my experience says otherwise. Can we force ourselves to talk about what we
learned from an unpleasant experience as that truly is a sign of being mindful
of choices we make and the culture we build around us? If yes, it is definitely
healthy to share at will.
9. Not
able to deal with mediocrity - 'wish everyone in the team is a star' - This
one is probably the most common sin in the leadership journey and most leaders
don't even realize that they do it all the time. There are leaders who often want
to build a team comprising of only superstars. It is an ideal situation and am
sure will result in great results. The big question is if it is actually a good
situation to be in or is it actually possible for anyone to perform big results
every single day. Imagine a big bash cricket league and all 11 players are
expected to hit a century, take 1 wicket each, field every ball hit by the
opponent team and Infact do it for every single game. Often people are not
mediocre or poor performers or at least don't want to be labelled like that.
They have good and bad days and have a role to play in a team. They are in the
team because they are capable and can perform but will need the right set of
expectations, timely training, guidance and some room to make mistakes and
celebrate wins. Talent is like a bud and it is the job of the leader to nourish
this budding talent into something big they can depend on. It needs a very
strong belief, loads of patience, lot of investment, positive environment to
grow and a lot of care to sustain hardships. Leaders often create buckets in
their own mind, and they keep moving people around these buckets. These buckets
are of star performers, mediocre performers and poor performers. Often, they
neglect the fact that may be these buckets are a result of unfair, unrealistic
role expectations or something which needs an adjustment on their part in the
way they are dealing with this so called labelled mediocre talent. Am sure all
successful people do give a lot of credit to that one MENTOR who
changed their life....A thought worth considering.
10. Operating
at a level lower than their current role (Transactional vs transformational) - Everyone
wants to move up the ladder and get that fancy title, a raise in salary, more
people to delegate and a bigger portfolio to manage. But why is that a lot of
leaders change titles but not roles. They often blame the system, the
ecosystem, inability of their teams, workload and scarcity of resources. When
an individual moves up in career, they have to take a step forward and let go a
lot of things for others to pick up from where they left, let successors learn
from their own success and failures and actually carve a new path for everyone
involved. It is the attachment to their own creation and fear of losing their
stable ground which forces many leaders to not let go the fruits of their
previous role. Somewhere they become glorified seniors who are pushing themselves into a vicious spiral of underutilized potential and of
those around them. The old role is the transactional bubble and the new role is
the transformational roller coaster for which the first step is to hand over
the reins to someone capable and commence on the new journey. Another reason I
think that is we often are so busy creating an impact on our seniors that we forget
to create our successors. That in fact is another sin which I will elaborate in
my next blog.
Over the last 2 decades, I have tried to be mindful
of these sins and have worked on my actions and reactions to ensure I create
positive virtuous spirals for myself and for people I care. The first step is to acknowledge if there is a concern. The path to recovery cannot start without this
realization. It is a journey and every small step will take leaders more closer
to their desire of becoming a successful leader.
This is just an attempt to summarize some of my top learnings from all these years. I am sure there are many more as we all learn on daily basis from our experience. Do share your learnings and enrich the list.
...the views here are solely based on my personal experience and observations...:-)
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