Post 'Some One' Era - The real test of leadership

When the dust settles and all is said and done about a person leaving an organization the real question will have to be asked,

How is his team performing during post 'that person' era?

This is important in many facets.

Firstly, the real mettle of an individual's leadership capabilities could be judged in this scenario only. This becomes even more important in the context of the stage of  the team the person has developed or s(he) is leaving behind. Some teams could be matured, others could be a mixture of new and old, while the third extreme could be a relatively young team.

Judgement too should come down contextually.

Is the team allowed to perform independently or is there conflicting peer pressures from other elements in the organization?

Level of influence of the new leadership for the degree of the current team performance?

The real judgement will come in the form of what each individual and collectively as a team they bring on to the table. Most likely the key decision making power will lie elsewhere (meaning with a another senior executive who looks in to the affairs or with the new leader). The ultimate results the team produces will and shall be determined and influenced heavily by the decisions made.

As a leader there are those who achieve results through sheer individual brilliance where the team becomes mere executors of orders. Others choose a different path of providing opportunity for the team to develop even at the expense of short term drawbacks. There is notihng right or wrong here. It depends on the stage of the organization and also it's immediate requirement. I've seen many during my corporate life who belong to both types. Most of them do belong to the 'individual brilliance' types. Their achievements are conceptualised, strategised and lead by the person him/herself only. (There are those who do not belong to either of these as well)

However there is only one sustainable approach to organization development. I think that is quite obvious.

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Go the Distance - An essay to my team

Yesterday, emotionally  would have been one of the toughest days in my corporate life. Last evening I told the team about my departure plans from the company. I knew it was tough to break the news to a team who've been bloody close with me and who gave 200%. I almost broke out, lost my voice and was lost for words. While understandably my team found it both shocking and sudden, in my mind I made this decision sometime back and I was fully prepared. However irrespective of all self mental conditioning, sitting in front of my team was lot tougher than I thought. I purposely chose Friday evening to break the news giving all of us couple of days of recuperating time. After the news they were all speechless. Dialogue was not an option.......

A person is judged by his deeds and in my case I've strive hard to groom a group of people who'd be self sufficient in their own right. I was a firm believer that as a leader you are as good as your team put together. In many fronts I think I was successful in this regard although I could have definitely done better. 

However for me the greatest test lies ahead. As a leader your efforts, your legacy is not determined only on what you did but rather what you've left behind. The capacity and capability of your team to continue at minimum and better if possible in their efforts at work that they have to do is the greatest tribute one can expect. In your aftermath if things fall or should effort dilute and does not stand up to the mark, you've failed as a leader!

Change is the only constant in life! You cannot run away from it, you cannot hide from it. You cannot avoid it nor neglect it. 

Adaptation is the only way forward! It's an universal truth. You cannot fight it! And you shouln't!

These can be confusing times for my team. I'm sure there'll be plenty of questions regarding this decision. However one needs to come to terms with realities in life pretty quickly. One needs to sum up the situation, take a stock of ground realities, be able to see the new opportunities and move on with life. Men are separated  from boys at these sort of junctures. 

There are times when one needs to do the complete opposite of what is generally expected in a given situation. That is the only way to move forward with life in a meaningful way. Change in leadership can be a situation (especially in this context ) where everyone around would naturally expect you to drop your shoulders, loose focus, loose sense of direction and above all expect you not to perform to your true potential. A person's character will be determined by how quickly they'll be able to move on with life. We all have a choice, we can worry about things that happened for along time or we can choose to act in a manner that is mature and realistic. Lets be wise with our choice. 

One needs to have inner strength, character and resolve to counter this. I believe my team constitutes of people who posses these qualities in abundance. Take the road less travelled. 

During the last several years we worked together to crystallize dreams and goals in corporate life. Individually were meant to be down the passage of time. However we are all travelling down an unknown road to embrace our fate. As in this case the road may wander but somehow you need to see it through. You cannot look back you need to stay on track.

As I've always said we can only be prepared to for the opportunities and evantiualities coming our way. Trust me this is one eventuality they've been groomed for, for a long time!   

Look beyond your current feelings, it is the hardest part, for a hero's strength is measured by his heart!

Go the distance! 

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Building Teams - Part 2 - Approach and Results

Yesterday I was having a lengthy chat with a colleague of mine regarding some soft issues that individual was facing at work and dealing with people in general. It's the kind of chat I enjoy most and reflection of the same made me write this entry.

Let me quote the last para of a previous blog entry....(http://www.dassaonline.com/2009/12/building-teams-part-1-assuming.html)

"One of the greatest reward capacities that you have at your disposal as a departmental head is your ability to give them opportunities to perform tasks. Do not undermine this. It is a major tool you have, provided you use it right. Check for their aspirations and also try to identify personal gaps, meaning personal developmental needs of your team members. Some companies have a policy of only developing 'requisite' technical skills. This is not a smart move at all. As much as possible develop them for their full potential. It pays for the company and adds value for the team as well. Speak to them regularly about their gaps and more importantly about the progress they are making if any. Give them assignments and projects, allow them to make certain mistakes. Seek their feedback regarding important tasks and acknowledge good suggestions and reward such initiatives through public praise. People do respond to this and it creates a want to be part of a team."

I just cannot reiterate how true this has been and it's wonderful to see this approach being successful on two others as well. It's a great feeling.....

As a leader one needs to work on his or her people. That's probably the most important job at your hand. Some feel insecure in doing this thinking that their apprentices might outshine them or out perform them. Guess what you should be the happiest if that happens! You've been successful in what your suppose to do!

While tasks or projects provide new colleagues with the opportunity to learn and grow, on most occasions the growth predominantly revolve around technical areas relevant to the job. While that has become a given, in today's context the requisite soft skills have become paramount to the success of the individual. It's not just the traditional soft skills such as presentation or negotiation skills. One needs to groom them on handling people, situations and even yes corporate politics!

Importantly it is not about trying to mold the person to your way of thinking. Dialogue has to be regular and contextual. While invariably you need to share with them your take on the matter it is also important you explain the rationale behind your judgement. Further you should also highlight the other options you considered and highlight as to why you preferred what you thought in this context over the others.This allows them to make their own judgment regarding the situation without being forced to do so. Be open to their questions and create and encourage a culture of candor where they ask questions regarding 'silly' soft issues. That's the speedy way to groom them.

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Life is always about choices

Life's choices are certainly not the easiest. Wish they were more straight forward. But then again they'll never be.

Situation becomes even more complicated when the entire world perspective becomes the complete opposite of yours. Ultimately one needs to back your instincts because ultimately you own your decisions. It's much harder when some of those you respect most on continuous basis tend to logically see why you should not make that decision.

There are always options. You are a fool not to consider them. But what if the options are plenty. Do you wait for the ideal? After going through life for a meaningful time, I've come to realize that there are times you need to make a call, with given information at hand. At times you might have all odds stacked against your belief. But if you see things differently with facts (obviously based on certain assumptions that the others do not agree) and something inside you strongly tells that you need to just go ahead and do it. If it is successful its great. If you fail at  least the decision is yours and you are more prepared to face the consequences.


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Good to be back

I've been fairly quiet for almost 5 weeks. It's been 5 weeks of tremendous experiences on the move. There are many project's I'm involved and I'm loving every minute of it. Lot to be written being a student of life! Stay tuned

What vegetable growers can teach you about risk management and stock market

Recently I made a trip to Nuwara Eliya in Sri Lanka to meet some of the farmers who are growing vegetables to supply to our chain of supermarkets. Speaking to all of them and also the office bearers of a farmer cooperative society made me realize one thing.


Depending on the price they fetch for a certain type of vegetable, the farmer communities tends to grow that vegetable during the next season. You know what? At the time of harvesting the particular vegetable is in abundance in the market thus driving down prices resulting some farmers making losses. 


According to the co-operative officials month after month it is a similar trend and a result they see irrespective of the farmers being educated about the trend. So what drives them? It is their emotions. When confronted with this question one farmer said irrespective of any logic when the potential to earn higher is available to you they tend to take the risk. When confronted with a subsequent question on why repeat the same mistake he just shook his head. Isn't this all too common in everyday life too and specially when you are dealing in the stock market?   


Another method of managing such a risk on perishable items is to grow the same vegetable but segregate the area of growing and grow it at different intervals with slight delays. For example instead of growing the identified vegetables across your entire land extent you could divide it into several blocks (number depends on the size of the land) and then grow the veggie in each land plot with fortnightly gaps in between. This would result in harvesting being spaced out and mitigating  whatever the sudden price drops in the market because vegetable prices fluctuate on a daily basis in the local market. However, I was told that even this method is difficult to practice among the farmers. They tend to maximise profits and nine times out of ten face detrimental price situations due to over supply. Food for thought indeed.


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Apprentice Update

Happy to note that the candidate chosen did start work and thus far turning out to be a very good member of the team. Given our foray in to several hectic projects in the last couple of weeks the person concerned was tried under real life circumstances.

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