The Mahabharat of Modern Leadership

When a MBA student becomes manager and goes to their respective companies, their administration skills looks pathetic at the start of the career. Most of the employees working under a manager don’t have impulse to achieve aim. They want that pay check to get credited before time in their bank accounts but they don’t want to meet the deadlines of the targets within specified duration.

This is the point where a manager has to prove his proficiency as a leader. But those old school methods of B-Schools are highly ineffective. Also, we need to consider the qualification of employees as most of them are graduates. They will question your decision and they are no more blind followers of your orders as it used to happen in few decades back.

In this article, I am going to explain a simple and tested method of turning a group into an efficient team. It has been tried and tested by several business companies and my following ideas are highly influenced by few business models taught in business schools.

1.       Orientation: Men are not aware that why they are selected for a particular task. For any given task as a manager orient your men.

(a)    Define the purpose of the task and justify why they are here.

(b)   Make every single individual to identify his position in the team.

(c)    Give him sense of membership. ‘Naam, namak, nishan’.

2.       Trust Building: Lack of trust among team members can cost you heavy losses.

(a)    Every individual should have mutual understanding with each other which will only come through extra-curricular activities. For example, on a rotation basis give task to an individual to organize a team lunch or on weekends hangout together.

(b)   Trust will bring reliability. If an individual is facing problem in trust building then remove him from the team. But keep him exercising the above drills and interview him time to time. Never leave a weak link unattended. That is true fundamental of brother in arms.

3.       Goal Clarification: It is a common thing among individuals that during any task they will make certain assumptions which can affect the final objective. Clear the assumptions by sharing your vision. Tell the individuals that how you are planning to achieve the objective.

4.       Commitment: Bring commitment in the team. Each individual should be highly committed towards the task. Commitment can be generated among the individuals by assigning specific roles, allocate the necessary resources related to the task and then they will follow your decisions. At this point as a leader you have reduced the individuals to the followers.

5.       Implementation. Once they are completely influenced by you, it is time for implementing theory on the ground. Here the detailed briefing comes into play which explains every individual that what they will do, at what time they will do that specific task and where they have to implement the planning. It overcomes confusion and avoids missing deadlines.

6.       High Performance. I am sure you must be thinking that maybe I am overloading the individuals with my high expectations of efficiency and it may bring disharmony among the team. Let us resolve these issues.

(a)    There should be spontaneous interaction between the leader/manager of the team and the individuals. Motivate them with your skills and push them extra mile for high performance.

(b)   Establish new energy within the team. You may give them breaks when required so that they don’t lose motivation. Best example is never making them miss their meals. My experience proves that; our individual can defeat anyone if they keep getting food. These small things will bring out high performance of the individuals.

7.       Renewal: This is the most important challenge. When the finish line comes closer, even best of athletes become lethargic. The issues such as boredom and burnout are common in our corporate. Especially in services where the higher body is expecting results and the pressure falls on our individuals. Renew them by following methods.

(a)    Recognize good work. Give a pat on his back and tell him that he has done a wonderful job. Even if somebody has done OK and you feel that he was not capable of doing it or he is tired of doing it, celebrate his deed. Make him feel that it is an accomplishment which may not be done by everyone.

(b)   You can also switch the role of individuals which is one of the logical ways to kill the boredom. New role will bring new energy in them and your team will keep on going to achieve the objective. Keep the individual domain in mind before switching the roles.

Leadership is not inherited, it is a skill and with each modern advancement we need new techniques. Even our politicians had to accept the new technology to motivate people to vote for them. If to be a leader was so easy then everybody would be a leader and we will never find a follower. The education brings sense of responsibility and decision making capability and these days even our individuals are becoming capable to question your decision. As a CEO/manager/team leader we are paid to make them work and for that it is not a bad idea to learn from our own armed forces.