Monday, September 5, 2011

Leadership - A position / action?

Its been the long accepted reality in India that Leadership is about a position and not about action. Let us consider a CEO of a company who merely talks and talks for months and years doing nothing......do you still consider him as a leader?
on the otherhand let us consider a office housekeeping supervisor to whom 5 persons reports and he ensures each and every activity is completed well before the time and every sub-ordinate complete the tasks in time and keeps them with high morale always- do you feel this supervisor is not a leader?
so its not about holding a designation and talking and talking hours together in a closed meeting rooms which makes a person a Leader, it is the extent to which a person drives the organisational goals down the floor level making each and every employee realising that if the goals of the organisation are achieved then by default individuals goals and needs will be achieved. This brings a sence of belongingness in the organisation and each and every employees strives hard to achieve the common goal. Once this situation prevails in the organisation due to the efforts of the leader....sales improves, margins improves and customers feel quite happy with the way the organisation is responding towards them. This leads to what is known as "Collective Leadership driven organisation".
Unfrotunately we can see in most organisations where so called leaders who became leaders by holding a position develop coterie around them and tries to run the show through them. Over a period of time all the employees out of this coterie start feeling frustrated with the actions of the so called leader and coterie and start loosing interest in the organisation. Such disstressed employees leave the organisation the sooner they find a alternative job. As most employees leave the jobs due to this scenario....sales crumbles, margins disappears.....finally organisation vanishes.
Where as another set of action oriented leaders drivers the organisation with less lectures and with more actions involving most of the performance and capability driven employees towards building long term successful organisation. This sect of leaders normally don't talk much but listens a lot to people around them in the organisation and tries to understand the ground reality. Here each and every move have the organisational success as a prime motto rather than individual / coterie goals.
So it is important to understnad what type of organisation in which one is working and what type of leader under whom one is working...Because a Worker under a leader who assumed the title by position than the action will only lead you in the short run. So if you want a career driven by skills and capabilities in the long run ...then search and work for a leader who is a leader by action and not a leader by position.


No comments:

Post a Comment