Spirit of a Leader...

A Manager works with left brain, while a Leader works with his right

I must confess that I have had this struggle to make out the differences, if they existed between a Leader and a Manager for a long time.

I have had a belief that every manager should be a leader and only then can his\her team succeed, I have lived many years searching one such manager @ work who can otherwise be termed a leader.

Not before I spent 5 years at work and not before I put my soul into the study of the International history for an year long that I could realize I was looking at two fundamentally different ideologies.

I was trying to invent both these qualities in a same person and am ending up most often then never in disappointment !

“A Manager works with left brain, while a Leader works with his right”, well I could conclude my struggle with this statement, while each of us could have both of these brains, only few and very few would end up being a champion in putting both to work and become INVICTUS

If I were to be pulling together a balance sheet of a leader’s accomplishments, people would be astonished to look at one such piece of paper as that would be explaining things which would not be making any sense to “A perfectly normal person”

Yes, I mean it, for a perfectly normal person someone cannot be very famous, someone cannot be very special, someone would not be applauded world over for his/her deeds if they end up losing consistently and pull out one single Success in their life.

What is it that then makes these people distinct and why is it that mankind accept these people the way they are accepted as Leaders?

Ladies and Gentlemen let me unleash that profound force that all these people have possessed CONVICTION. Yes, conviction it is that makes these people INVICTUS.

For that one single time these people win, they prove to the world that it’s their CONVICTION that is winning today !

It’s for this conviction for which these leaders lived their life out. However, the day they succeed they change the way Thoughts are perceived on this planet for centuries to come and they prevent the Failure of Billions of mankind for the centuries to come.

I salute all our leaders on behalf of mankind, for having held the perseverance they have had in their CONVICTIONS

Companies with yelling bosses prosper more?

Yelling, yes it definitely would produce results, if the boss is yelling at himself/herself to set the right expectations and provide right support to their teams :)

Well, as most of us already understand Yelling(-Ve side of it) is no solution to drive for better productivity, on the same note we need to understand that Yelling still helps but need to be perceived in the positive sense.

My Mom always Yells at me if I fail to keep my room neat, My dad has always been aggressive and demanded better performance from me while at school and he expected this year after year, if this has not caused any ill effects and have resulted in success.

Why blame our bosses when they Yell, its only perception Yelling is completely different from Cornering\Targeting\Blaming and doing it time and again would leave long term breakdowns while definitely promising excellent short term gains(Are these gains worth aspiring, well give a thought).

I have yelled at my teams many times, but having done that I have always ensured that my team knew its absolutely ok if they occasionally fail to deliver but unacceptable if they failed to give in their 100% to achieve and I have had Fantastic results doing so, so may be its worth Yelling :)

“Over Communication and Under Expectation” both tend to dilute our focus to achieve organizational objective, so leaders need to strike the right balance and use appropriate compositions of Compassion and Aggression to handle the platter of situations that “A Corporate” have to offer and work towards “Producing Synergy and not Energy” from teams

Production Defects' ownership.....

Who should take the blame for defects in production software ?

That's a question on an active thread posted on Linked In and following are my views on this...

I would say blame is not the right word to be used instead who is to be responsible?

If I were to take that question, “Cost of Freedom is Responsibility”: I stand by my conviction that says every production defect is a byproduct of a trade off that was done at some earlier stage in the SDLC so the person who has taken the liberty to signoff for the tradeoff is accountable for the defect.

Having said this, any organization which is aspirant of growth should own a independent process enforcement body whose goal is to collect these metrics from all failures drill down to the actual cause using the RCA techniques.

Establish a trend line, if one exists(my experience says it would 7 in 10 times) communicate back to the delivery teams on what actually is causing these production(for that matter any) defects and educate if needed on how to avoid these defects from repeating.

Here we are looking at 2 crucial advantages
As an organization ensure quality is institutionalized on the long run and OpeX costs are within the defined limits
Promote the organization’s contribution to its core asset appreciation, and what’s that it’s the work force by following this process we in fact promote the Phase containment capability of each resource who has been involved in this whole episode

Well, if someone still wants to play the Blame game, I think it’s high time to look for some change to one’s profession :)

What it takes to be a Team.......

Time and Again I come across people with a notion that a leader is someone with MORE\EXTRA\SPECIAL features\ abilities\ knowledge than himself\herself………..

I have been a part of a work shop some time back this was as old as 2006 and we have seen many of the participants including myself shared similar perception and views about a leader……….

If I were to pictorial represent the perception that commonly prevailed in that workshop until the person who conducted the workshop helped us break the perception

I would let the following picture narrate the story

The Person who conducted the workshop then explained us
that Leader is not someone who is BIG,he or she is as
small/big as we all are

It’s been a while since I attended this workshop and recently I happened to see this picture again which reminded me of this particular episode of that work shop

Well today I thought of sharing my thoughts on what it takes to be a leader and what it takes to follow a leader and conclude with What the team gets when it has a great leader….

I am sure most of you would have seen this picture if not many
times at least once in your life time all I am trying to do is
to empower your visions with a untouched/unexplored dimension
of this picture

Well that’s what I call as a team, the leader is hiding somewhere inside the team without making much noise subtly but certainly enjoying the success of his team and feeling the pride to have lead this team to this successful accomplishment

That’s all what it takes to be a Leader just look at the thread that runs through all these flowers to bind them together this thread rips each of the flowers through its hearts but still keeps them alive, fresh and fragrant let the leader rip through the hearts of his team to win their hearts and motivate them to be Bang on Target…

Unless you keenly observe the thread its difficult to realise whats the thread has achieved it has not just united the flowers but it has made a beautiful garland out of these flowers by running through them in that sequence that gives beauty to the garland likewise a Leader is a person who knows “ Who should be Delegated what responsibilities and extract these tasks from his team by structuring the work items”

While a garland is formed successfully the flowers spread the fragrance around and are visible to everyone at the very first glance what if the garland breaks……

The only thing anyone gets to see at the first glance would be the thread that has been binding these flowers while each of these flowers slip aside it’s the bare thread that remains out to be visible to the world…….Now that’s what it takes to be a leader.

Give the credit of Success to your team and own the Failure boldly it is he who can produce Synergy from a group of individuals and drives them towards a common goal by converging the personal and organizational objectives who will be accepted as Leader…..

Well that’s one side of the coin let us now focus on the other side of it what takes to be a team player……

Well each of us would have certainly experienced this during some phase of our lives an so would definitely be able to correlate to this situation. However, purpose of this analogy is beyond correlation it is to imbibe this behavior to grow as a team player….

As a kid I fail to remember even one such month when I didn’t hurt at least of my legs but I still remember there was not a single instance where the other leg rejected to take the load of my body “I know it was painful, I know it was tiring but I will never gave up till my counterpart is bouncing back”, if I were to hear what my soul says this is what the leg that’s doing well speaks to itself during this turmoil but never will it dream of asking the question “Why the hell on earth am I taking the extra load to make this body walk?”

That’s precisely what it takes to be a Team player to be admired by your team well the leg here demonstrates beyond the willingness to help his counterpart, its showcasing the caliber to outperform unaided in a turmoil that’s the secret of Individual growth by delivering as a Team Player

Well now what is it that a Team gains when it accepts someone as its Leader and works with him\her???

• Will it gain Laurels?
• Will it gain Success?
• Will it gain Knowledge?

Not really all the above are vital and key contributors for a successful professional however no leader leaves these traits to their team……

A leader transforms a bunch of people into a group of passionate souls who are undeterred to pursue their aspirations….

On that note before i conclude it would be prety unfair if i dont thank my leaders who have moulded me to what ever I am today....

Thanks you KP, Nalini and Gauri you all have been instrumental in my growth as a professional.

Pavan.

My Reccomendations to KP, Nalini and Gauri on Linked in
KP:
KP is one of the finest boss one can ever get, he keeps his cool in the toughest of situations and motivates the team to go the extra mile....

He is one of the pioneers for the innovative thinking in our group and always shared the tit-bits from his IIM classes which spur introspection
in the team and instilled the zeal to know & learn more….

He is the toughest guy when it comes to observing processes and policies devised, I owe all my learning on process front to KP, overall one of the best Project Managers an organization can ever gift a team would be KP
Nalini:
Nalini has been my best coach who derived extra value out of me at work without making me sprint, he is a manager who can make his team work smart.

I am proud to be the flag bearer for Team Nalini at Wipro which had and in fact still has the distinction of being a fantastic team known for its: Dynamism, Proactive Participation, Team Culture, Commit To Deliver attitude.

Nalini is a master of building relationships which would be crucial for building accounts and startups to nullify the initial friction that might arouse out of diverse interest of teams within an organization.

I see Nalini as not just a manager but a Leader who has the knack to build the second layer of delegators in a team not just to handle routines but also to handle crisis and containment in turbulence.

I would cherish each moment we worked together which were all tough but had highest value proposition in my career, thanks for all the guidance Kumar Sir(As you would love to be called), all the very best for your future endeavors given a chance I would love to work with you again

Gauri:

Gauri is a person who is always enthusiast to lend a ear to detail of any topic, his correlation and forecast capabilities are beyond anybody's imagination which earns him a distinction over his counterparts to be the spearhead of any team that he becomes a part of.

5 Years of my association with Gauri would put me at an advantage to realize the fact that his correlation and forecasts are fueled by his untiring market analysis that he engages himself in, day-in and day-out.

He is a brilliant people manager, he owns people, process and product responsibility and invests macho confidence into his team that instills a sense of responsibility into team which drives them an extra mile of commitment to deliver.

While my inability to articulate limits me to share a few of the umpteen qualities of Gauri, thanks a jillion to all the experiences I had under his leadership which in their immaculate condition today guide me at all major junctures of decision making

It’s always been fun to work with him, wishing him all the very best in future assignments...