All entries for February 2012

Properties of a good leader

According to me some of the important properties of a Leader are as follows:

1.Empathy

2. Power to listen

3. Communiation skills

4. Control over personnel emotions / anger

5. Not afraid to admit a mistake

6. Ready to take responsibility of any mistake or failure by the team

7. Gives credit to the team for the team acheivements.

8. Leads from the front - walks the talk

9. Trains and helps team members to overcome their weakness

10. Motivator

11. Has a Plan

Well its time to board the plane ( I am at the airport). All are requested to add to the above list and make sure that all properties required to be a good leader are captured.

: 18 Feb 2012 05:32 |  Tags: A Leader Leader Of Properties |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Me as a follower in the last exercise

IT was the last day of the LE module and we had another learning game. I held my self back from being the leader as I wanted to play the role of the follwer and see how I would perform.

Things were at a stage were the team had almost hit a dead end. Everybody was giving suggestion (including me) and the leader was feeling the strees. I found myself doing nothing and thought of helping the team by going to the co-ordinator and getting some doubts clarified. During the breifing (after the exercise), the team informed me that I should have asked the leader before I went to the co-ordinator. BUt I was acting (in my mind) in the benifit of the team. While the team was aprissing me, I was thinking how do I feel when one of my subordinates goes direct to my senior and does not inform me about it - I feel bad. May be that subordinate is acting for the benifit of the team.

I think by not being the leader I did the right thing as I learnt what I wanted to.

Leasons learnt:

1. Always take care that your actions do not hurt (unknowingly) anyone's feelings - even if you think you are acting in the benifit of that person or team.

2. I should not feel bad if any of my subordinates goes direct to my senior - he may be acting in the intrests of the team.

3. For a team to be successful there should be free communication and Synergy between the leader and team members.

: 18 Feb 2012 05:27 |  Tags: Leader Follower Subordinate |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Treasure hunt

The treasure hunt was the game we played today. Our team won, what helped us win? Well i think there were a couple of things. Firstly the commmon goal of all to win. Secondly we all were having fun. Third - not blaming any one for any mistake made. Fourth - having milestones and then celebrating the achievement of each milestone by congratulating each other and last and in no way any bit less important was the enthusiasm and energy of our Leader.

: 16 Feb 2012 19:03 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Lets do our bit

Corporate Social Responsibility was the topic for discussion today. This is a burning topic all over the world. A company has to be really devoted to the concept if it wants to make a real difference. But we have to be careful and be able to distinguish between the companies that are doing it from the core of their values and those that are doing it as a cosmetic thing just to look good. Strategic CSR or CSR from core values? But companies following CSR practices for strategic reasons are better off than those not doing any thing at all.

But the real difference can be made by each one of us. If we do our bit, we can certainly make this world a better place to live in. Switch off the lights when you leave the room, use recycable goods, switch off your car at trafic lights....etc. etc. what ever light bit we can do , we should do. Any body got suggestions that we all could do, please write.

GO GREEN !!

: 16 Feb 2012 18:39 |  Tags: Csr |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Do we carry dead wood or do we get rid of them?

A good leader will have a regular interaction with his team (at all levels). He will be well aware of the performance level of almost everyone in his team. He should not have to wait till the end of the year or till the situation becomes very bad, before he talks to the person whose performance is below par. A leader has to work on the principle of continuous performance Management.

The person with the low performance should always be given to improve. Give him the training he needs to improve. Try and understand the reasons behind his poor performance - does he have the skills for the work given to him, is he interested in the work given to him, is he having some personnel problems that are disturbing him..........etc. There could be various reasons - try to find them and remove them.

However there are certain people who will not improve how much every you try to help them improve. There is a limit to how much you can do. These people you have to remove or shift them over to the least important.

My personnel take on this is:I think firing any one is the worst thing i have to ever to do in my professional life. Because by firing a person it is not only that person who is effected, but also his family and all those who are dependent upon him (financially and emotional) are effected tremendously. Having said that being a leader I also have to keep the overall performance of the team in mind. I am going to try Continous Performance management more sincerely.

: 15 Feb 2012 15:20 |  Tags: Leadership |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Leaders – The strength within.

What is leadership?

Is it influencing people? Is it giving directions? Is it supporting people?

I think to be a true leader one has first to be strong inside, i.e., within himself. I came to the LE module knowing there are certain people who don't want me in the team. Initially I was thinking that I should get my team changed (it would have been very easy). But then when at the end of the day I sat down with myself and asked myself, would that really help me? Am I not strong enough within to be able to stand up to people who do not like me. Because not everyone in this world is going to be found of you and then you can not run away from everyone or every situation.

The values that a person caries are the foundation of a good leader. I think a good leader should never hold any malice or bad feeling regarding any one within himself as this would certainly influence his reasonable thinking. Is it the Urban terorrist within your team to be blamed or then have you really put in the effort to make him a star?

: 14 Feb 2012 23:43 |  Tags: Leaders |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Types of leaders

A leader displays different types of leaderships depending upon the type of members that comprise his team

1. He is Autocrative.........if the team consists of people who are looking for direction

2. He is Democratise.......if the team is looking to contributing

3. He follows the lassies fair style ........if the team is highly creative and not wanting interference.

4. He follows the Chirismatic (inspiring) style.......if the team is enthusiastic and looking for praise.

A leader will have to adopt to one of the styles and may have to change from one style to another depending upon the situation.It is so true that a leader is a function of : leader, group and situation

: 14 Feb 2012 23:03 |  Tags: Leaders |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Are leaders born or made

Leaders are they born or they made.....well lot of discussion has been done on this topic (Mr. Paul also put up a link on the same point of discussion).

Well I think there are certain qualities that a leader should have, which can not be taught but a person has to be born with. Few that come to my mind are - integrety, honesty, hard working, always striving for perfection, ability to motivate people (this can be obtained with practice), to serve without any or minimum self intrest...... Leaders like Abraham Lincon, Mahatma Ghandi, Nelson Mendella can only be made by God. I think no training can give such leaders.

Well there comes the anouncemnet for boarding the flight, shall continue latter

: 05 Feb 2012 10:36 |  Tags: Leaders Leaders Qualities Of |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem