The Leadership Pipeline

This post is inspired by Ram Charan’s - 'The Leadership Pipeline’. Ram Charan talks about different passages of growth which an individual goes through in an organization or the many organizations he/ she works through..

I particularly got glued to the chapter where he talks about the passage from ‘Managing Self' to 'Managing Others’. I completely identify and agree when he says that individuals ‘recognize this transition intellectually but reject it psychologically…’

For a detailed and enlightening information, I would suggest that this is a must read for all professionals… for the ones who might forget to buy a copy of this book… here’s a bird’s eye view of the shift in value system required for the above Level 1 transition...

How do you define Level 1 transition?
When you are recognized as a successful individual contributor in the organization who produces profitable results, you are promoted to the 1st line manager…now you get a team to work with you..More than half of your time is dedicated to ‘managing’ rather than ‘doing’

Key Value Shift
From getting results through personal efficiency to getting results through others… It’s easy to fall in the temptation of doing things yourself. It sure is faster, but pause… is it the most effective… would you be able to manage larger roles and responsibilities alone… Absolutely not… Trust and train your team.

Team success over personal success… As a manager, a value shift of team over self is absolutely essential. Remember, your appraisal would depend upon your team’s success story rather than your individual performance.

From relationship building for personal results to relationship building for team’s success … Indulge in workplace socialization. You should engage in relationship building with your boss, direct reports, peers, customers, cross function employees for the team’s benefit. This exercise would build trust and would keep the communication transparent and flowing.

Avoid overpowering direct reports with your expertise… Coach and guide your team.. assess the situation and chose the role of a coach, a mentor, a guide, a boss or a peer. Allow them a certain amount of latitude in the way they carry out their assignment… your role is to observe, monitor and provide feedback.

Be available… both physically and emotionally… Remember, being approachable is crucial to your leadership role. Your body language, attitude, speech should exuberate positive vibe… a feeling that you are not just present but actively present for them.

True it is the responsibility of the Human Resource or the L&D function to train the 1st line managers, but I feel that the responsibility also lies with the individual to absorb and adapt the change in behavioural values. If individuals are not made aware about the importance of shift in value systems required with each leadership role, it definitely would result in, as Ram Charan puts succinctly, ‘clogged leadership pipeline’.

This is the first in the series and I intend to share all the six passages of leadership mentioned by Ram Charan in this fabulous book. Stay tuned:-)

Are you afraid to let go?

Attended a conference on ‘Coaching for Organization Development‘ in Delhi recently….my idea was also to get a chance to visit the charming India Habitat centre:-)

One of the speakers there, Pramath Raj Sinha,(Founding Dean ISB) talked about the failure of professionals in family owned businesses. He quizzed the audience for reasons. The white board soon flooded with answers which I felt could be bucketed under two heads...

1. Transparency or rather lack of it
2. Control or rather too much of it

Coincidentally, the same day Corporate Dossier carried an article on ‘Learn to let go’. And surprisingly the day ended with a meeting where the client was battling over transparency and control issues….!

Not that being amidst corporate professionals for past 15 years, I am unaware of “How much is too much control”, but its one of those mornings that I just spent some time reflecting on it…

Lack of transparency leads to a control freaky culture in organizations. It requires not good but great leadership to steer clear of it.

Kavil Ramachandran in his article says, “Leaders have to identify talent and groom them to share responsibilities so that they themselves can move on to take greater responsibilities.’

They have to feel confident about two things - 1.letting someone do what they have always been doing and 2. feeling comfortable about doing new things.

Being a mother, I always draw analogies from my parenting experience. This battle of control starts pretty much from childhood. The lack of trust or over protectiveness or the first time perfection mania holds us from passing control to our children.

This often leads to power struggle between a parent and child. Most parents consider their grown-ups as children which causes friction. Similarly most control freak leaders if they may be called so consider their managers to be still learning.

Do what is good for your child but remember a parent is not the only one to value-add forever. Children learn to overcome challenges successfully. In organizations too, there are new challenges but the premise remains the same – A CEO or CXO may not be the only one to add value to the strategy and governance of the organization.

Let go...You and your company will go farther!

Welcome

Hello everyone,

We are an enthusiastic and dynamic lot aiming to inspire and motivate people around us to achieve the best out of life. We at Purple Tree(a young training and coaching organisation) have had varied training/ coaching experience and conversations around HR with executives across leading MNCs.

And in our short journey, we have experienced organizations struggling to manage employees and vice versa, confused executives, bright individuals getting stuck on the way, leaders looking for help, entrepreneurs wanting to brain storm….. The list goes on…..

What do I want to do? Is this what I really want to do? How did I land in this job? Why is it so difficult to get work-life balance? Is there such a thing as work-life balance?

Life is challenging! How would I handle my new role? I want to be the most successful CEO of this organization! The new job sucks as much as the old one! I never knew this is what I actually wanted.

What happens when a star employee steps up the ladder to a leadership role? How does he or she handle this leap? How does this move affect them and their work? More questions, few answers...

Being an HR professional, I was privy to some of the biggest and toughest challenges executives faced in their personal and professional life. I would always think how best I could help them….

Was I able to help them? Sometimes, sometimes not. Were they able to help themselves?...sometimes…sometimes not. Was the organization able to help them?... ????????. Was the family able to help them? ????? Did they seek help? Do we seek help easily and comfortably?

‘What separates those who achieve from those who don’t, is in direct proportion to ones ability to ask for help’ – says Donald Keough, Dir. Coca Cola Company

I nurtured my passion and ability to connect with people and decided to be a Coach. It’s been a year of an exciting journey as an Executive coach.

Executive Coaching is a development tool which helps executives to introspect and question themselves. It leads to success by Design and not by Accident. Today, Executive coaching is becoming a virtual prerequisite for anyone who aspires to be anyone.

Why? Because under the right circumstances, one-on-one interaction with an objective third party can provide a focus that other forms of organizational support simply cannot.

Watch out for the next posts…..we have a lot to share!