Showing posts with label Leadership. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leadership. Show all posts

Saturday 29 July 2023

Empowering others

  Empowering others  

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)
 


We discussed some of the mindsets of highly influential people in the workplace to get things done. We mentioned win-win, how they look at work, and clarity of what they need.

Regarding practices, influential people work on themselves to build their credibility through relationships and expertise. The second practice is giving others their time, energy, and knowledge. The third practice is displaying respect by listening.

The next practice the people do is 
Empowering others.
 
What is meant by Empowering Others?
 
Empowering is giving power to someone to do something, which makes them feel elated and confident once they have done it.

It consists of Giving macro level direction and guidance when required and backing up when in trouble.

Most of us do not like to be managed with micromanagement. When we experience micromanagement with anyone, we do not like that person much.

One of the surveys tries to discover the qualities of the best-ever bosses in the workplace. The findings reveal that people do not like micro-managing and rate the person as the best boss who empowers them with direction and guidance at an appropriate time.
 
For example, consider the situation. Your boss is asking to send a mail to a customer about recent development in a product.

He gives the overall purpose of email communication, outlines what needs to be included, allows you to draft the mail independently, and backs you on the consequences; then, it is empowerment. In this experience, you feel that you are learning something new and like your boss, and he will easily influence you.
 
Alternatively, if he asks you to send a mail, dictates what needs to be included, and spends time checking line by line, then it is not empowerment; it is just micro-management.In this experience, you may feel undervalued and not like your boss much; in turn, you may not be influenced by him so easily.
 
The point is, by nature, we all want freedom with boundary conditions. 
When we provide an empowering environment and experience to our people, they like us more, and as a reciprocation, they can be influenced relatively easily.
 
Sometimes, due to our anxiety about doing everything perfectly and of losing our reputation due to the mistakes of others, we tend to be more micro-managing, and, in this process, we lose the advantage of the influencing edge.
 
This needs awareness and practicing to balance micro-management and monitoring the progress at a high level. The art of delegation with empowerment is one of the skills every manager and leader has to learn.
 
Have a great week ahead!

Sunday 15 January 2023

Being focused-How do effective people display?

 Being focused-How do effective people display?  

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)


As part of "managing self" to get things done, one of the self-development areas is being focused. Last week, we discussed how the leaders demonstrate the focus in the organization and make the team also focus.

In continuation of it one more example in the Indian automobile industry is Bajaj auto's transformation from being a domestic scooter manufacturing organization to one of the world's largest exporters of motorcycle organizations in a decade.

Before 2000, Bajaj auto was widely known as a scooter manufacturing company with a decent presence in motorcycles. They focused more on the Indian market, with a sizable market share in the two-wheeler industry. That is the legacy created by Rahul Bajaj as a founder. In 2005, the next generation Rajiv Bajaj took the managing director role and decided to focus only on motorcycles to take the company globally and dropped the scooter business completely. At that time, there was skepticism about his decision to leave the scooter legacy even at the family and industry levels.
Despite all the concerns and noises, he single-mindedly focussed only on motorcycles, developed new products in all the ranges, tied up with many international companies as partners, and exported to many countries apart from the domestic market.

To cut short the story, today, Bajaj is exporting to more than 70 countries, and the export sales are around 53 % of its overall sales. No other Indian company achieved this sales performance. The other achievements are company is globalized and cash rich.
 
Now having achieved significant results in motorcycles, he is again entering into the  EV scooter segment with the old brand of Chetak.


That is the focus till achieving the result.

Scholars and Business consultants may define the above achievement as strategy or specialization, but i  see it as a demonstration of the focus of the business head to get things done without distraction. Most of us are good at planning and need to be more disciplined in execution. That calls for focus as a behavior.

In this way, only the leader demonstrates to others what is priority or focus, and the team or organization is also focused.

Let us discuss how effective people demonstrate the focus on a day-to-day basis next week
.
Have a great week ahead.

Saturday 3 September 2022

Leadership patterns for a positive decision-making environment (contd..)



 
Last week we discussed some of the leadership patterns effective managers/ leaders display to create a positive environment for problem-solving and decision-making in the organization.
 

Some of the patterns listed as i observed from many outstanding managers/leaders. 
 
  • Clarity on the problem & delegation level
  • Communication & expectation setting on solving the problem
  • Switching between micro & macro management of detailing 
  • Space for risk-taking & learning attitude to deal with failure 
 
 Having discussed the three patterns, let us understand how leaders create space for risk-taking and failure. 
 
Space for risk-taking & learning attitude to deal with failure :
 
Some managers and leaders, as i  observed, insist people take new initiatives apart from routine activities even though any new initiatives have the probability of 50 % success.
 
My first manager in my career always engaged himself in new initiatives, and half of it turned into failure only. Despite he did experiments and also encouraged others to do something new. More than that, when the initiatives failed and cost the organization, he always defended the team's intent and effort than the results. Hence, he was among the outstanding managers regarded by peers, and people loved working with him.
 
Also, some leaders encourage the team to learn from the failure and perceive it as experience. My friend, an entrepreneur, always uses the phrase " it is part of learning" whenever his effort fails in any new initiatives, and he moves on to the next.

When the leader always insists on learning and encourages the people to experiment, the people would show interest in solving the problem and dare to make decisions without fear.
 

Nowadays, large-size organizations encourage innovation projects by rewarding people for daring to do new experiments. A classic example is the TATA Group's initiative promoting innovations through the "Tata Innovista " program. Through this program, teams are recognized and rewarded every year for success and failure in innovative projects. The Management believes in experimentation and risk-taking.

To sum up,
  • It is the leaders/managers who create a conducive environment through their behavior, communication, and process for the people to take the lead on the problem-solving and decision-making enhancement.
  • Creating such a conducive environment is what leadership is all about and expected from managers and leaders.
Let us analyze ourselves and become a better version of ourselves as managers/leaders in the organization.
 
Have a great week ahead.

Leadership patterns for a positive decision-making environment (contd..)


 
Last week we discussed some of the leadership patterns effective managers/ leaders display to create a positive environment for problem-solving and decision-making in the organization.
 
Some of the patterns listed as i observed from many outstanding managers/leaders. 
 
  • Clarity on the problem & delegation level
  • Communication & expectation setting on solving the problem
  • Switching between micro & macro management of detailing 
  • Space for risk-taking & learning attitude to deal with risk and failure 
 
 Having discussed the first two patterns, let us understand the ability to switch in and out on the management of details. 
 
Switching between micro & macro management :
 
Influential managers/ leaders are aware of the management process and can converge and diverge on the problem-solving process.

                     
 
Some people take an extreme stand on macro management and leave the execution of tasks to others, assuming they empower others. Some people try to get into all the nitty-gritty of the job, thinking they help others get things done. Each stand affects the problem-solving and decision-making capabilities of people reporting to them.
 
Consider the case, as i  observed,

One of the business heads is balancing the micro and macro level of management. His style of leadership makes his team get things done with little effort.
 
For example, when he wants to conduct an event, he calls his team, explains his end objective, and leaves it to the team on execution details (Macro management). He is disciplined enough to review the progress. When the team raises some concerns, say cross-functional conflict, he gets into detailing (micromanagement) and clears the path (macro). It looks like he is nowhere connected to the team, and at the same time, he is available for guidance when required. His style is a standard management process, but there is a subtle difference between being in and out of the task and empowering the people. It is an art.

Because of his switching between macro and micro-management styles, the team feels comfortable working with him and problem-solving, and decision-making capabilities are enhanced among the group, as i witnessed.
 
Balancing macro and micro-management calls for introspection of our thought process towards work and people. However, the ability can be learned.
 
 Have a great week ahead.
 

Leadership patterns for a positive decision-making environment

 


Last week we discussed some of the leadership patterns effective managers/ leaders display to create a positive environment for problem-solving and decision-making in the organization.
 
Some of the patterns listed as i observed from many outstanding managers/leaders. 
 
  • Clarity on the problem & delegation level
  • Communication & expectation setting on solving the problem
  • Switching between micro & macro management of detailing 
  • Space for risk-taking  & learning attitude to deal with risk and failure 
 
 Having discussed the "clarity and delegation level" last week, let us understand more about communication 
 
Communication and expectation setting on solving problems:
 
Effective managers are good at setting their expectations from others on solving problems and decision-making through their communication process.
 
One of my colleagues always asks his team members "what can be done "and "what else can be done" when someone approaches him with a problem. He is good at his functional domain and intends to solve the problem; however, instead of giving brief instructions, he prompts others with his communication style and encourages people to think and generate alternative options for solving the problem.
 
No surprise that everyone regards him as one of the best managers as everyone is comfortable working with him, and most of the time, the problems are getting resolved quickly.
 
My observation of his communication style and the impact are as follows  
  • The team  is aware of  approaching him with options than merely elevating the problem
  • When the team thinks and generates the options, they conclude the suitable options most of the time, and issues are not elevated to his level
  • Since the team approaches him with multiple options and when he endorses some options, that behavior reinforces the team's confidence in solving the problem and decision-making capability
This way of expectation setting is far better than taking an extreme stand of solving problems self or expecting the team to come out with the solutions.

The effective manager creates a "positive  and  inclusive problem-solving and decision-making environment through this communication process."
 
Let us discuss other patterns of "Micro vs. Macro detailing" next week.
 
Have a great week ahead!

Leadership patterns in a decision-making environment

 Leadership patterns in a decision-making environment

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)
 
In continuation of last week's discussion on how different types of managerial styles affect the people's capability in problem-solving and decision-making in the organization, let us understand some leadership patterns in creating a positive environment for problem-solving and decision-making.
 
Managers/Leaders create an environment by their functioning and style, which determines the organization's decision-making capability.
 
Let me summarise some of the patterns i have observed in many outstanding managers/leaders.
 
  • Clarity on the problem and delegation level
  • Communication and expectation setting on solving the problem
  • Switching between micro  &  macro management of detailing 
  • Space for risk-taking and  learning attitude to deal with risk and failure 
 
Clarity on the problem and delegation level :
 
Effective manager/ leader is good at developing clarity on what needs to be delegated and what must be solved by themselves. They create clarity based on the intensity of the problem and its impact, timeline pressure, and the team's competency level.
                                                            
 
 For example,
 
In a good case, in one of the organizations, a manager makes the decision every day on what needs to be produced and how much needs to be produced and just delegates the team to comply. He is not delegating the production planning. Since he is only aware of the big picture of change in customer preference, internal capacity, team's influence on each other, and the impact of the delayed decision on business deliverables, he makes decisions himself.No more complexity in the system on decision making.
 
Whereas in another case, one organization always runs with a crisis on the working capital issues, and the business head expects the production head and finance head to take decisions on priority. Since the impact of the decisions would affect the deliveries, the functional heads either delays the decision or are indecisive most of the time. The environment becomes chaotic as each one points out others for their problem-solving and decision-making speed and quality. The cause of the problem is over delegation of critical issues to inappropriate people and expecting fast decision-making and problem-solving.
 
In both cases, the underlying factor is getting clarity on which problem we need to delegate and setting the expectation on problem-solving and decision-making at the team's level. 

 
When we do not have the clarity to distinguish, as a manager/leader we create an environment with unrealistic expectations.
 
Some effective managers/ leaders are good at differentiating the problem, the impact of the problem, and the level of delegation by which they set the right environment for timely decision-making and problem-solving.
 
Let us discuss other leadership patterns next week. 
 
Have a great week ahead.

Thursday 5 May 2022

How to prioritize problems?

 How to prioritize problems? 

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)
                              

 As we discussed the steps in structured problem solving, in this series, let us discuss some of the insights in each step as this helps the Managers/ Leaders to get a perspective on the practical dilemma in problem-solving.
 
One of the challenges for most managers and business leaders is "How to prioritize the problems in the organization ?"

The question arises as there are many problems in the organization, and almost all work on one or other problems. Still, in the end, the quantum of the problem remains the same, or the organizational objectives are not met consistently. This scenario is most common in an organization where people are busy managing a day-to-day crisis.

Some leaders are good at prioritizing the problems, channeling all the resources in solving that problem, and finally making an impact on business, thereby creating a pleasant work environment.This competency is required for every leader and can be learned as well.

One method of prioritizing the problems in the organization is through  Impact Vs. Complexity.

Impact vs Complexity:

Impact means if the problem is resolved, it will improve business performance like delivery, revenue, customer retention, morale etc.

Complexity means the solution calls for many stakeholders or cross-functional teams and the problem arises due to a variety of reasons like people, equipment, money, communication issues etc. Generally, a day-to-day crisis management methodology cannot solve the complexity.



For example, 

As a leader, if you choose a "customer delivery problem" as a priority for solving through a structured approach, it will significantly impact the organization. The delivery problems also call for involving cross-functional stakeholders and addressing many areas.

when you choose the high impact vs high complexity problem and involve many stakeholders as part of the structured problem solving and delegate in submodules, eventually, the solutions will make the organization make a high impact on business performance and morale of the people.

alternatively, when we choose low impact and less or more complex problems, neither the organization will realize many benefits nor the problems deserve much attention from many .

As Managers / Leaders, we need to have clarity on where to focus for higher impact!

Have a great week ahead!

Thursday 17 March 2022

Steps in the structured problem-solving process

 Steps in the structured problem-solving process 

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)
Having discussed the definition and type of problem (Adhoc or chronic) one needs to solve at the workplace, we need to learn the structured way of solving the chronic problems.
 
What is a structured way of solving chronic problems?
 
Unlike emergency or firefighting situations, all chronic problems can be solved step by step logical process. We are sure to move towards permanent or practical solutions to the problem in each step of the logical process.

What does it call for?

The structured approach calls for data analytical skills, the ability to look at the big picture and micro-detail, the ability to get the insight and narrow down to the causes, decision-making skills, and more than above the ability to get the collaboration from all the stakeholders to implement the solutions.

Since structured problem-solving competency is a combination of multi-skills, only a few people take effort to learn and become masters in applying the holistic approach.

Steps in a structured problem-solving approach?

Since there are many problem-solving processes available in the market like Six sigma, QC approach, A3,8D, all the approaches lead to solving the chronic problem in a structured way. The tools and formats may be different, and it is up to the individual to learn and master any approach.
 
Ultimately all the approaches consist of the following step.
 
  • Prioritizing the problem
  • Defining the objective
  • Collecting the data/ facts
  • Understanding the insights from data /removal of noises
  • Converging to causes
  • Articulating the actions -short / medium / long term perspective
  • Taking action and checking the effectiveness
Developing a comprehensive understanding of the problem-solving process as a capability will enhance your managerial skill to get things done and career growth.

Let us discuss some of the insights in each step next week.

Have a great week ahead!

Tuesday 16 November 2021

Developing Decision Making Skill @ workplace

 Developing Decision Making Skill @ workplace 

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)


One of the competencies a professional should develop is making decisions in personal and professional life.

Generally, some of the decisions we take quickly without much thinking and effort like which dress to wear, what to eat, etc. Because those decisions are routine and no risk. Some decisions are difficult to make as it calls for more thought-process and effort. For example, should i switch careers from one industry to another?  should i diversify my business now or later? Should we buy petrol or an electric vehicle?

We are stuck in making decisions when there is ambiguity in the facts/assumptions and unsure about the future consequences. Most of the decisions in a professional environment are complex and uncertain; how to develop decision-making competency as a leader?

Why do we need to develop decision-making competency?

From a personal perspective, we are getting confidence only through our actions. When we decide and take actions, that will boost our confidence to take higher decisions and actions. we are growing only through our choices and actions

From a professional perspective, when we are growing up, we are being paid to make the right decisions based on the set of data or assumptions. Managers and Leaders are meant for making decisions, either right or wrong.

"decisions followed by action leads to results either good or bad."

Whatever we are today due to the combination of various decisions we took in life in many instances.

 
For example,

i decided to attend one training programme in 2008 despite time and high cost, which transformed my career.
i took an impulsive decision in one of the investments, which affected me heavily on the financial front
i took a decision to reject a career change opportunity from manufacturing to IT consulting, which helped me in the long term with high returns 


Whether the outcome is right or wrong, we make some decisions, which shape us into what we are today.
 
You may relate your life and the decisions you have taken in many instances that positively or negatively impact your quality of life.
 
 In a professional setup, given any circumstances, how we develop decision-making skills depends on how we process the information and counter the consequences. It needs some awareness of ourselves and the decision-making process.
 
 Let us discuss some of the insights in the following weeks to get more awareness of the decision-making process.
 

  • Misconceptions on decision making
  • Why do we have decision dilemmas or hesitate to take decisions in a professional environment?
  • How to overcome the decision dilemma or hesitation?
  • Skills to develop on solving problems
  • Tools and Techniques that help you to make decisions easily
  • How to inculcate the culture of decision-making in the organization?

Have a great week ahead!

Friday 8 October 2021

Key learnings on developing conflict management competency

 Key learnings on developing conflict management competency 

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)

As we have discussed the various aspects of developing conflict management competency in a professional environment for the last 12 weeks, let us summarize the key learnings before moving to a new topic.
 
  • When you are growing up on a career ladder, one of the key competencies you need to develop is conflict management competency. Competency is all about how you are getting things done from a diverse group of people and at the same time maintaining a cordial relationship.
  • The diverse group would be your boss, your customer, your colleagues, or your direct reportees.
  • The conflict or difference arises on thought process, values, looking at the problems and solutions methodologies. Sometimes due to misinterpretation of communication and the tone itself.
  • The difference arises in the workplace since others come from different backgrounds, look at the problems from different perspectives, have different priorities, and inherent issues like fear of facing challenges, failures, and personal securities. Once you understand the causes of differences, you tend to accept them as part of your professional activities rather than personal differences.
  •  We have discussed the three dynamics of conflicts—Power, Goal, and Relationship. The effective way we manage the power, goal, and relationship, we become better in managing the conflicts. Awareness of that combination and its effect determine the right approach to deal with the difference. 
  • When you are growing up, your power also goes up. Power means the ability to get things done. Effective people look at power as an opportunity to guide, help, facilitate others when they encounter conflicts.
  • When you have a conflict with juniors, you can use a compassionate approach in which you educate, guide, and convince them to get things done and earn respect from others. Alternatively, you can choose a constructive dominant approach when you feel others cannot learn or go against organizational objectives.
  • When you have a conflict with equal power, say with your colleagues, you can think of a higher purpose that makes you more powerful than others.
  • Generally, effective people listen to others to understand other’s perspectives, give the third dimension to the problem, and try to settle third angle solution, flexible to change the views if it serves the higher or organizational purpose. They take Parent-child, Teacher-student relationship patterns to solve the conflict with anyone.
When we look at our life journey as success or failure, that will have a strong relationship with how we deal with the conflict WITHIN ourselves or WITH OTHERS at some point in time.

That awareness and striving to learn the conflict management competency will help manage any conflict.

The key focus for any manager or leader is to get things done and maintain the emotional balance with self and others.

Let us discuss a new topic next week, and have a great week ahead till then!

Monday 14 June 2021

Developing People Management Skill

 Developing People Management Skill 

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)
 

As you recall that when we initiated this series on managing emotions for personal and professional growth, we discussed broadly three parts of emotional intelligence
  1. Managing self
  2. Achievement orientation
  3. Managing others
Having discussed the first two parts, let us discuss some of the insights related to Managing Others.

In a professional or organizational context, "managing others" means managing the people to balance both the result and the relationship. The people could be your boss, colleagues, and your junior colleagues.

Some of the questions or dilemma most of the business head and manager  have 

 “How to keep the people motivated to get most despite the challenges and uncertainties”?

"Am I a good leader or manager?"
 
"Am I focussing more on task and compromising soft aspects or more lenient on people and losing focus on the task?"

"Am I balancing task/ result and people/ relationship well?"

 
For all the questions above, the answer lies in our ability to manage emotions regarding people management. People management skill is all about that ability.

Why is people management skill important?

We might have come across some very competent managers in technical or functional expertise but still struggling to cope with relating people and relationship management. Their career growth also slows after some time.

Even with moderate technical or functional expertise, some people are pretty successful in achievement by leveraging people around them. They are liked by all and perceived by others as influencers.

When you are moving up in career ladder, people's skills play a significant role along with functional expertise.
 
Where the gap exists?

The gap is mainly on managing emotions when dealing with people. It is the ability to relate with the people, motivate, tap the potential, manage conflicts, solve complex problems, and influence anyone beyond the functional boundaries.

                                       

 
Let us discuss those aspects in the coming weeks and solicit your personal experiences or challenges on people management.

Stay safe until then!

Friday 14 May 2021

Winning Mindset to deal with challenges

 Winning Mindset to deal with challenges 

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)
 

As we conclude the topic “Achievement Orientation,” the last aspect is how an individual or effective leader deals with the challenges during the execution of any task.

 
Despite the planning process, clarity on values, purpose, being in conducive envelopment, self-commitment, and clarity on the roadmap, the reality is that the execution journey may not be rosy. The execution may not go as per plan.

Sometimes, we ended up with a different result than what we planned at the beginning of the journey. Dealing with reality needs a mindset that looks at everything as a winning opportunity in the journey. We can develop the mindset with awareness and practice.

Some of my observations from the effective leaders on dealing with the challenges
 
Embracing the challenges with excitement:

Effective leaders embrace the challenges when they initiate. I know one of the managing directors of an organization always starts with “I am excited to initiate some actions."Whenever he begins a difficult task, he began with that vocabulary. He demonstrated his energy and enthusiasm towards facing difficult task challenges, and he succeeded in most of the tasks. The key is how you look at the challenges at the beginning of the journey. That will give you the power to navigate.

Being adaptable during navigation

Effective people are good at being adaptive to the challenges or changes during the journey. Adaptability is the ability to accept the changes at the given moment and accordingly change the plan considering the task's holistic view. This emotional aspect is essential as, in reality, the plan may not go as expected. The person who has adaptability is happier than the person being rigid.
 
Learn from the experience

Another mindset the effective people demonstrate is that they take the outcome, whether favorable or unfavorable, as a learning experience. They always look at challenges in an optimistic way as "what I have learned from this experience." When you look at every outcome as a learning experience, you will not get much disappointment.

Taking a step back and self-introspect

Some people take a step back and reflect the things that went wrong from the planning. This mindset is the most effective way to deal with challenges and avoids mistakes in the future. The strong person can only admit the mistakes, and self-introspection makes the individual further emotionally stronger.
 
Our mindset in dealing with reality is essential than the celebration of the successful outcome as life is an experience than an event. The mindset to deal with each experience matters on emotional wellness!
 

Commitment -Nature or Nurture?

 Commitment -Nature or Nurture? 

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)


Last week, we ended up with one question, 
whether the personal commitment is an inborn quality or can be nurtured to any person?

 
For quite a long time, i use to observe and wonder how some people are committed to their work, being consistent. Also, i use to hear from business heads/managers that some people are not committed to the work or towards achievement. One question i always seek answers to is whether the commitment is naturally existed as inborn quality or being nurtured by the environment. 
 
I found some research studies on personality traits and the impact of genetics and the environment.

The finding summarised below for quick reference.
 

  • People develop a strong identity as they age, and maturity brings a more significant commitment to whatever task they take. At a young age, people are exploring their identity. In this process, there is a perceived gap in the commitment of others.
  • Even though some of the personality traits are inborn, those are not stable. Those are subject to environmental factors like those with whom they are associating and get influenced.
  • Role clarity and continuity in the role bring more commitment than consistency in the environment.


The key learning for me is that both inborn and environmental matters in cultivating the commitment among the people in the workplace.

How can the leader interpret the above findings and apply them in the workplace?
 

  • People are at different levels of evolution. Each one requires TIME to change. Let us give it.
  • Leaders / Managers are role models in demonstrating commitment consistently. When people work under a committed person, eventually he/ she becomes, which I have witnessed in many places. For example, when the leader is committed to responding to customer complaints within 24 hrs, people under them also committed the same pace as i have witnessed in one of the organizations.
  • Since people are struggling with their identity, role clarity, distractions, overnight success pressure, and dilemma,  the leader’s time in spending time with people brings change towards achievement commitment.
  • People development is a nurturing process, and it is the role of the people manager.

We need to ask ourselves whether we are committed to people's development in the workplace!

How to be positive in a non-conducive workplace environment?

 How to be positive in a non-conducive workplace environment? 

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)

 
In response to our last week's discussion on "Creating a conducive workplace environment for achievement orientation," one of the queries asked was " When the workplace environment is not conducive for achievement, how can we perform?"

As said, creating a conducive environment for achievement orientation is the primary responsibility of the leaders in the workplace. In the absence of it, it is challenging to perform and even manage the survival itself a challenge for most people. However, depends on our positions and the level of influential skill, anyone can initiate or bring some level of conduciveness for achievement orientation.

The answer could vary from person to person as it is purely from the perspective of how we wired our thought process towards work and self in the workplace.

As I fortunate to work with some bosses/colleagues who turnaround the toxic environment into a high-performance workplace. I observed some of the patterns or qualities they demonstrated. That may be the basis for reflecting your management style.
 
They focus more on their job and the contribution than to whom they are working for. They believe in the hard work and continue to strive for DOING. They believe that they stand out through their contribution.

They always incline to positively impact others through their behaviors, communication process or adding value to others whenever an opportunity arises.

They accept the situation and try to make a difference through their personal skill rather than blaming complaining about someone or past decisions.

They leverage the personal skill more than the position that makes them go beyond their boundary or levels to make things happen.

When they do it consistently, the negative bias people also turned to listen to them eventually.


I have been with some people who have turnaround the workplace environment from firefighting, blaming, excuse culture to the performance-oriented workplace only through their positive orientation and friendly, firm behavior.

The idea is irrespective of your power or position when we demonstrate the above qualities, there are possibilities of turning the situation favorable. Also, there is a high probability that we would be seen as lead or influential personalities.

It all depends on your energy level, your perspective on work and people, persistence in working in a non-conducive environment, and converting to your advantage as well as to organizational benefits.


When the possibility of turning into conducive is very low, we always choose to move out. That is the ultimate option available to anyone.

How leaders create a conducive environment for achievement orientation among people?

 How leaders create a conducive environment for achievement orientation among people? 

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)
 

 
Last week, we discussed how an environment affects the individual in terms of his/ her thought process towards achievement orientation like “to be successful” or “not to be failed.”

Now, in an organizational setup, let us understand how influential managers/leaders create a conducive environment for his/her team towards achievement orientation.

As I observed, some of the effective managers/leaders have some typical working style patterns. They ensured that they are pushing the team towards achievement orientation by inculcating some of the following habits at the self-level or the organizational level.

                                           
 
Making the expectation clear:

First, leader/manager BRINGS CLARITY what they want and from whom they want it. They set the expectation clear among the team. When they are certain about what they want, from whom they expect, they become much focussed. When they communicate the expectation to other people, the other people are also working without any ambiguity. Only when the people have a dilemma about the direction, they slow down the execution speed, decision-making capability. When people know what is expected out of them, it puts them in the right direction.
 
Leaders ensure this first step by bringing role clarity, setting the targets and deployment to the right people,

Establishing a communication forum:

Once the expectation is set, the next thing an effective manager/ leader ensures that establishing communication forums for two-way communication. The communication forum is mainly for being in reality by everyone on the task. The communication forum could be exchanging information through various electronic channels on a fixed time interval or meeting face to face to review the progress. The advantage of establishing a communication forum is to get convinced about progress and ensure that all are on the same page.

Facilitation and feedback:

The next step is the leader believes more in facilitation than commanding to help the people arrive at the right solutions approach or right decisions as facilitation helps the people think and move confidently than in giving instruction mode. The advantage of facilitation is that the leader/manager's presence is not required when the people face a similar challenge. People learned to think from the leader/ manager's perspective.

Recognizing: 

This is one of the steps most people ignore or not giving much importance due to various reasons. That is, to recognize or appreciate the people for the effort and the result. Recognizing the work will reinforce the positiveness in the people's minds, which will help them replicate next time.

In a corporate environment, it is always a debate whether to appreciate the effort or the result. As I observed, most effective leaders recognize the people’s effort first, and then they concern about the result. They believe that eventually, the result would come once the effort is put in the right direction.
 
When we create an ecosystem, as mentioned above, with varying intensity levels depending on the task or complication of the task, people also orient themselves to achieve.

Environment triggers the behavior, and it is the primary responsibility of the manager /leader to create a conducive environment.!

Friday 9 April 2021

How environment affects achievement orientation?

 How environment affects achievement orientation?

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)


As we discussed the first two factors on achievement orientation viz Values and Purpose, the third factor which impacts achievement orientation is the Environment.


The environment is where and with whom we spend most of our time, that could be our internal family members, colleagues, friends, and externally to some extent, the society.

How the internal environment impacts us towards achievement orientation?

Since we spend more time with family, friends, and professional networks, they influence our thought process towards achievement orientation. That thought process triggers our ability to take risks, confidence, and courage to manage the challenges during the execution of any tasks.
 
For example,
Imagine that you are proposing a new venture to your internal environmental members. The next step in your venture is predominately determined by the kind of response or reactions you receive from your close circles. That could be an encouraging response or show stopper kind of response.

The environment is primarily influencing your thought process in the following aspects.

Should i focus more on " to be successful " or " not to be failed"?

Even though both focus approaches seem to be the same, there is a subtle difference in how we deal with the achievement task.

When we have a "success" orientation, most of the time, we look for LEARNING  in each step and always look at the experience (either pass or fail) as a learning opportunity. That approach would put us at a high energy level.

When we orient towards “not to fail,” our inclination would be more rigid, always try to be smarter than others, and that approach leads us to a high anxiety level.
 
The environment predominately determines our approach.

Practically, as an individual, we have limited choice on selecting the environment circle, however, we can be conscious about our responses and our thought process towards achievement orientation.

How can a leader in the organization build a conducive environment for achievement orientations among people?

Let us discuss it next week!