Just a name. Just a designation. Just a title. Just a nobody. Imagine being in the highest seat and being powerless. Imagine being at the top and being looked down upon. Imagine being the head of a state/company and being headless. These are the imageries that are live and upclose in the country.
A country that is bankrupt and suffering from high inflation, disinvestment, unemployment, lawlessness has a Prime minister, a Deputy PM and ministers but no leaders. Nothing can be more belittling for a leader than to make a decision that is dismissed by his junior.
Nothing can be more humiliating that the junior makes a decision contrary to your decision and gets it implemented without any repercussions.
Nothing can be more shocking than the fact that this humiliation is met with a smile by the leader as if nothing has happened. In the last petrol price change announcement, the state-run PTV on social media platform carried Prime Minister’s directives to the finance ministry to reduce the prices of petrol and HSD by Rs15.40 and Rs7.90 per liter, respectively. The directives were dismissed by finance ministry that issued a notification of reducing it by hardly Rs 4.
This malaise of sitting in high offices and acting low is widespread in the corporate and institutional world. More often than not we see potential being crushed by people in teams, in divisions, and in departments. Many times it may not even be intentional. It is just the way things are being done there.
The problem is that the higher you go, the lower you give importance to feedback. The issue is that as you rise in rank you fall in self-analysis. Thus knowingly or unknowingly you keep on doing what you keep on doing. And as a result, the results keep on becoming unstable and uncertain. These are not easy times.
These are not simple issues. These are extraordinary times. These need extraordinary measures. These need leaders who can spearhead, inspire, uplift the morale of the team by leading by example and igniting passion in others. When you are looking at your leadership cadres watch out for the following:
1- What is the leader’s own engagement level? When adversity strikes, the non -leader hides. The non -leader points fingers. These are the first signs to watch out for companies to differentiate mere titles from leaders. The non-leader will have an avoidance/annoyance demeanor.
He will be insecure and will take his insecurity out on easy targets. Such non-leaders will be spending little time on motivation and execution and most of their time on finding scapegoats. Thus it is imperative for the organisation to look out for such NLS, i.e., non-leader symptoms. If left untreated these symptoms spread in the team, causing a downward spiral in morale and performance.
2- Does the leader know what are this team’s personal and professional aspirations? Another type of the non-leader is the one who is a hard working professional and expects the same from others. His connect with the team is on getting the work done. His expectations are high and that result in micro-management that keeps the team underdeveloped.
Such bosses feel nobody is good enough and treat them as such. To identify such non-leaders just ask them about their team members and whether they know what their passions are. A blank look on his face will tell you why people are not putting in their best or leaving his organization.
3- How open is he to receiving feedback and new ideas? This is a key leader finder question. Is he or she just giving feedback on others or are they also seeking feedback on themselves.
Only real leaders have the courage to ask for feedback on themselves and take it seriously. Similarly, are new ideas encouraged and valued or dismissed? This will reveal the openness of the culture that encourages innovation and creativity from all quarters. Look out for non-leaders who are great speakers but poor listeners.
The question is what to do about such false leadership. May be at the country level it will take time. But at the organizational level more can be done. Firstly, identify all the NLS carriers (Non-leader symptom) and put them through one-to-one executive coaching with timelines.
Secondly, if any department is leaderless at the top some restructuring needs to be done below them to get some performance momentum going. Some of the team building options are:
1- Team solution committee— Develop a TSC (Team Solution Committee). This committee has a revolving convenership where every team member gets to head it monthly. This committee will meet weekly to bring together all issues and get solutions on them. The consensus decisions will then be honoured at all levels. This will encourage team collaboration, ownership and improve results.
2- Develop an IDC— To encourage ideas develop an IDC (Idea Development Cell) where people can come in or send in their ideas of innovations. A certain criterion needs to be developed to short list ideas. To encourage participation the job descriptions need to include specific jobs requiring teams to develop a certain number of new ideas every month. The best ideas need to be rewarded and the people behind these ideas need to be recognized and celebrated.
3- Feedback authenticity— The organization needs to ensure that feedback is 2-way and frequent. Do not wait for the end of the year to tell people where they are. Try having a monthly one-on-one where the employees feel safe to speak up. Training on giving factual, constructive feedback should be done rather than just giving general and personal feedback.
The world has already changed more than we can imagine. Artificial intelligence is real. World disorder is real. Workplace distress is real. We need real leadership to cope with this world of change, chaos, stress and disruption. What is really real is the alarming increase in non-leaders and the distressing decrease in leaders. This is a struggle at all levels, all across the world.
Just imagine the choices people in US have for leading the superpower- Biden Vs Trump. Where have all the leaders gone? Our hopes are tied with the millennials and Gen Zee. The good news is that they are very vocal about the non-leaders.
The not so good news is that most of them are not ready to make changes in themselves in order to lead by example. Time for organizations to shift their early hiring practices from talent acquisition to leadership identification and development.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
The writer is a columnist, consultant, coach, and an analyst and can be reached at [email protected]
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