What makes an Emotionally Intelligent leader?

1. Someone who doesn’t crave power. Whilst an EI leader needs to be able to exercise power and be comfortable with it, he must be free of the ‘power for the sake of it’ aspect of many who become leaders.

2. He must be capable of doing what needs to be done ‘for the greater good’. This follows on from the above: an EI leader will be willing and able to see the bigger picture, recognise the true needs of those he or she is leading and act for them . . . not pursuing some ego desire.

3. Be prepared to make sacrifices. Again, a necessary corollary to the above. High EQ in a leader is perhaps demonstrated by the ability to ‘give of themselves’. OK, maybe not go on hunger strike like Gandhi, but to be prepared to suffer a few personal hardships and humiliations.

4. Be willing to admit mistakes; to acknowledge when a change of direction or approach is needed. This means being willing to change himself, to be open to personal growth.

5. Someone with a 6th sense, an ability to just KNOW what needs to be done. Such an intuitive ability can be developed by anyone who is willing to rise above logical argument and emotional reaction. It’s about being deeply connected (some would say at a soul level) to not just those he or she is leader of, but to the surrounding energies, moods, needs etc. An EI leader can put their position into the perspective of global trends, environmental needs, etc.

6. Be brave and courageous: to be willing to face and work through their own inner fears. Not only does this give them the ability to ‘go into the lions den’ but also to understand the fear in others . . . and to allow for it. An EI leader does not use fear as a weapon or tool: they help and encourage others to look at the underlying issues and to rise above the fear mentality.

7. Be inspiring to others . . . which probably means to be inspired. Not just by a particular goal or cause but by life itself; to have an inner conviction, an infectious zest . . . for joy and truth, for example. This is something that comes from being at peace with one-self: so an Emotionally Intelligent leader needs to be free of (or at least aware of) their own ‘issues’ . . . and to not take themselves too seriously.

Other than the likes of Mohandas Gandhi or Nelson Mandela, I’m not sure we have many leaders of present or recent past who display more than one or two of these traits. But that doesn’t mean we can’t aspire to them. Those of us in the EQ educators’ role can do much to enable these characteristics . . . once we commit to the process ourselves.

Look at the annual report and balance sheet of your competitor who is doing well and try to find out market rate of their products, the technology they have adopted, product design, machine drawings, the manufacturing cost, the method of supply chain management, overseas operations, distribution network, number of distributors, the commission offered to the distributors, their workforce, their R&D set-up and the relief offered by the government, the advertising budget, the workforce, the final selling cost of their products and the goodwill enjoyed by them in the market and compare with yours. Difficult? If no, then what are you waiting for? See in which area you excel than your rival and which are the areas where you can improve and go ahead. Do it. Let your rival compare his final product with yours and benchmark YOU for all your efforts and products development. Well, you are not interested?Are you indifferent? Then prepare for a slow downfall and being eaten by your rival as did happen to Xerox,the American conglomerate in the photocopy business.

Xerox Corporation USA was the King of the photocopy business and it’s monopoly was unchallenged. The only hitch was the exorbitant cost of the machine. The Japanese came forward and began to put excellent quality photocopy machines in a price less than the manufacturing cost of Xerox machines. Not only they captured American market but proved to be tough competitors overseas as well. The bosses of Xerox were jittery and they sent their team consisting of product head to Japan in order to get complete details of their manufacturing process. As much as 67 tasks were unwanted in the manufacturing process, Xerox realised. And thus started the downfall of Xerox.

The downfall was a result of technological change and management failure. The rapid change of the technology sector makes most of the technological companies suffer. However, the biggest problem of Xerox was Internal. The failure includes all of the following: failure of protecting market share from competition; having been lagged in developing products with digital technology; board responsibility; traumatic sales-force reorganization; inefficient service-force reorganization; serious financial problems such as heavy short term debts, built up working capital and accumulated account receivables; ineffective transition from selling high-tech products to selling high-tech solutions and services which resulted in losing the direction of the company.

Fujifilm is all set to acquire Xerox. Who will acquire your company?

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(1) Know Yourself : Being more self-aware, open and transparent means you are more human to the people you manage.

(2) Take Perspective: This allows you to understand the root cause of any problems and enable you to work with for a solution.

(3) Develop Trust: Building trust is one way of winning hearts and minds of those you work alongside.

(4) Self Reliance : Effective people managers are self-reliant as they know that whilst they cannot change other people or the circumstances they can always change their own response to a situation.

(5) People skills : Influencing skills that will enable you to be personally effective and influence others in a positive way.

(6) Authenticity : Authentic managers are those who demonstrate beliefs in action. They have a reputation for keeping their promises and for being trustworthy.

(7) Empowerment : Empowering and supporting your employee to take ownership and responsibility for the job they perform. They may make different decisions or choices but you will achieve the end result.

(8) Aligning own agenda: It takes a lot of confidence to change your mind in the face of conflict and align with the greater good of the organisation.

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A negative mindset about millennial generation is apparently visible when veterans deal with them. If veterans change their myopic view and keep an open mind and willingness to welcome their ideas and suggestions we realize they are exceptionally talented workforce.

Here are five exceptional qualities I have seen when dealing with them.

(1) The millennial generation is inquisitive and curious and wish to have answers to all their queries. Unless their hunger for answers to their questions and their doubts isn’t satisfied they will leave no stones unturned. They will not follow your rules and policies unless they are satisfied with the logic of it. They believe in following everything with eyes wide open. This sets millennials apart from other generations.

(2) Millennial employees take larger strides in their projects and improve the work culture. They appreciate feedback on their work and performances. Make sure to highlight what you like about them.

(3) They believe in modern work system and easily adopt to landscape which keeps changing continuously with companies going up and down constantly . It may seem very difficult to someone who is just fresh out of college to get adjusted in this environment but they do it with ease. This is helpful in maintaining a positive work relationship.

(4) They give extreme importance for work life balance. They’ve learned from previous generations that a life relentless only of work is no life at all They know the peril of burn out and becoming dejected. Helping your employees balance their lives will eventually improve their efficiency and encourage them to put more effort because they have the vigor to do so.

(5) Devious practices and deception are not tolerated by this generation. So be clear and lucid and if any wrong is going on they need to know.Keep things as comprehensible, sincere, and open as feasible.

A negative reputation that the millennial workforce has acquired is that they are lazy, are not committed and aren’t willing to put extra efforts and aren’t loyal is absolutely wrong because the style and manner of their work is different than the past generation, therefore once one gets acquainted with their style, one realises that they give best return on your investment on them.

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HR is a strategic managerial function that is concerned with increasing the level of satisfaction of the internal customers. This will motivate him maintain services such that the external customer is delighted and the economic objectives of the organisation are achieved. In the process, the values and ethics of the manager and the business are not jeopardised and the quality of work life is improved.

(1) The HR specialist is a functional expert who operates on the basis of derived authority. He can only perform if the infrastructure and the CEO permits him to do so. The condition is the CEO is serious about HR. If not, he has to start working on the mindset of the CEO, convert it and only then turn his attention to the rest of the organisation. If not, he will surely fail as many have.

(2) The HR specialist must start respecting himself before he expects the CEO to respect him. Many times the HR expert is afraid to walk his talk and confront the CEO He must begin by defining his position vis-à-vis the CEO and the organisation before he proceeds further. For that, he must learn to take a principled stand and defend it.

(3) The HR specialist may come across a CEO who does not not distinguish HR as a serious subject because it does not produce a product. So the CEO must be de-schooled. The processes of unlearning must preceed re-learning. When CEO is not serious about HRM or blissfully ignorant about it, we find that the personnel and administrative function is divorced from HR and mostly public relations role and Training & Development is given to HR and told to make sure that the organisation looks progressive. The HR specialist has to debunk this myth and provide a holistic picture of his specialisation.

(4) The HR specialist needs to set objectives for himself, prove his worth and show that he adds value to the organisation before he is accepted. Only after he is accepted as an expert can he make a difference.

(5) The HR specialist must know that the organisation develops by keeping satisfied employees on its rolls. This means that you pay generously for performance. Also, training is an investment in the future and cutting costs on HR may lead to disabilities in the long term. The pressure to watch the bottom line will be there but the HR expert has to communicate this to the CEO.

(6) The HR specialist should know that although it is very easy to advise change in the larger interest of the company, the rank and file seldom has a clue about that larger interest. If the corporate culture is anything which is not progressive, it will have a retrograde effect as a result. Hence, organisational diagnosis must become the stock in trade for the HR specialist before he recommends any change.

Since any HR intervention, in order to be meaningful, has to be empowered by top management and it is assumed that the HR specialist is duly empowered.

Since this empowerment would be fruitless without accountability, it is assumed that the HR Specialist is accountable. If the HR specialist is both empowered and accountable he has to act as the corporate watchdog and assist the CEO in preempting problems which will enable him to administer the appropriate intervention at the level of the Person, Process and the Product.

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Leader believes in and dies for his conviction irrespective of outcomes. On the other hand a manager is understood to be the one who give results irrespective of conviction and beliefs. From a commonsensical view point, a rational choice is made when both the subjective and the objective conditions are fulfilled. The subjective condition pertains to the willingness condition (to make a choice) and the objective condition relates to the ability condition (to make the correct choice). In other words, whether an incumbent both willing and able to take up managerial responsibility. We can then start with examining the conventional way in which managers are made.

The making of a manager (post selection) usually starts with induction and training. This enablement is transformed via imparting skills, imbibing knowledge and providing technical support till he becomes Proficient ( Professional and Efficient ).

Proficient managers are gold dust for the organisation, and like gold need to be conserved polished and preserved. They are envied and are the cynosure of all eyes. They are prospected by the head hunting fraternity and therefore are difficult to retain. The internal environment can contribute significantly to their acquiring their polish and glitter in their own eyes. Hence, retention of the individual (bullet-proofing) is the main strategic theme for human resource management. This involves rewarding such managers in four dimensions:

(1) Economic: Their remuneration must be comparable to the best in industry and must give them sufficient cushion and comfort to concentrate on their job. The organisation looks to maximise return on effort for such managers. This could entail giving stewardship of challenging and high risk projects and tasks.

(2) Sociological: They must be given due recognition and status both within the organisation and projected as stars outside it. This could also entail giving stewardship of high visibility and impact projects within the organisation.

(3) Political: They must be given sufficient independence authority and leeway to envision, construct and pursue their designs.

(4) Psychological: Their self-esteem, pride and belongingness needs must be suitably addressed so that their level of satisfaction and indeed delight with the job must be of a high order.

Beware! These types of managers can become a subject of envy and adoration at the same time by their peers and therefore they may become, from an organisations long term perspective, a volatile genre since:

(1) They are prone to seek fresh pastures and continuity of long term actions through them are in jeopardy.

(2) They may tend to over value their skill sets, since this is what made them proficient in the first place, and may quickly fall out of synch in emerging demands.

(3) As a corollary to (2) above, these managers may tend to plateau the organisational performance at sub-optimal level.

(4) They require more than a fair share of organisational protection e.g. fast tracking, closeness to power centers and mentoring.

In terms of HR interventions, the organisation needs to consciously search, develop and nurture such potential as long as they last. This could take the shape of well laid career plans, duly backed by job rotation, and formal training outside the organisation, even back to academics, for knowledge enhancement.

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HR is a people oriented subject. The success of an organisation will depend on how competent is HR in getting people to work with the company and retaining them. The following characteristics would define HR executive.

The Talent Hunter – The company’s prosperity is directly proportionate to the people recruited. Sometimes it is very arduous for the bellwethers to hunt outside their area, for thetalent when growth is visible. And here the HR role as a recruiter becomes crucial. They act as a brand ambassador for the company, while advocating the company and selling it to the best aptitude available. Company may have a great product but as an employer you may not be that venerated. The HR comes to the rescue by composing policies which are rewarding and fair place to work while designing fascinating and achievable jobs.

The Strategist – HR people design the operation of the company at the employee level so that results are distributed the way you opiate.. If your competitors are investing in technology and going ahead with the price and product quality, HR strategy will avail the company to bring in the aptitudes required to beat the competition. Not only bringing incipient aptitude but retaining them by proving their staunchness and exuberance as you shift for more preponderant automation. HR will incentivize employees to embrace technology and make it work for them by designing incipient reward strategies. This ascertains that business is not dented by the loss of Aptitude.

The Guardian of Reputation. – HR defends your business’ reputation in the market and facilitates evading the licit overheads when unsatisfied employees start suing the company. HR is best advisor in this issue to managers as to how to solve the disputes and bring both the parties to amicable solutions while resorting to licit angles and policies, as well as preserving the sanctity and dignity of the company. A disunited employee who is gratified while breaking up will accolade the company rather than deplorable mouthing it on sundry platforms and tarnish the image of the company. HR is authentically the savior and preserves time,money and reputation of the organization.

There are three essential requirements the HRD specialist has and they are: (1) He/ she has a vision and is able to strategize. (2) He/she has certain core values and ethics. (3) He/she is prepared to stand up and be counted.

In addition , the essential qualities the HRD specialist has are, he or she is/has:

(1) A positive person with a positive attitude towards people in general. That means good listening, being optimistic, having faith in others and approaching issues with an open mind.

2) A high desire to learn. Someone who thinks he has all the answers is an inveterate bore and an incompetent fool or both. He thus cuts off all feedback.

(3) Has a genuine interest in people. The surest way to go up the ladder is to create his/her own replacement and this comes from competence and confidence. This comes if one is genuinely interested in helping people to grow.

(4) Has the willingness to sacrifice personal goals for larger organizational goals. This means having a high extension motivation.

(5) Willing to take risks, be proactive and take initiatives. A ship that fears going out to sea tend to rot on the shore and not fulfill the task it was built for!

(6) Able to persevere and have patience. She/he must not mistake stability for inertia and embrace the latter. There must be an innate restlessness to make things happen.

(7) A communication expert. This does not mean having an Oxbridge accent but being able to listen, understand and carry one’s views across with conviction. If he/she cannot communicate all his other skills will fall by the wayside. Hence all managers must be good communicators. He /she knows that an n HRD person who cannot communicate is dead weight.

(8) Has a degree of self-respect and self-confidence, which will enable him/her to be objective in approach and professional in conduct. One who does not respect others cannot have respect for him.

(9) Able to lead by example and lead from the front. This means walking your talk and putting your money where your moth is. Believer in discipline and self-sacrifice.

He/she knows that he/she has a clear mission and is committed to it. This function assumes even more importance in the knowledge-based industries in this new age of the intellect.

If the HR executive has to add value to the organization he serves, the client he services, his own profession and his self respect, he has no option but to learn with zeal and inculcate the qualities.

Dr Satish.

12 Symptoms Of Organizational Sickness And Its Remedie

Organizational Diagnosis deals with the health of the organization.  It looks for danger signs as below:

Danger Signals.

(1)  For an economist, the most crippling symptom for any company exists when the expense of running the company eats into the profit.

(2) When the Company or a Business Unit is losing money from an operating profit standpoint.

 (3) When the Company has a Profit  Sharing Incentive Scheme for Business Heads which does not account for Business Development is so concerned with maintaining the bottom line that it is thinking of nothing but short-term actual costs.

 (4)When quality level managers start leaving the Company with rapidity. It is well known that rats are the first to leave a sinking ship and when senior and top class managers start handing in their papers, trouble is surely afoot.

 (5)When the market share has steadily depleted over a period of anything between 12 months to 36 months.

(6) The above five symptoms will invariably lead to this sixth one. When the sense of belonging is depleted and individual, as well as organizational pride, is greatly diminished, idea generation ceases and information flow is impaired. Morale is a great achiever and for this participative management is called for.

(7) The standards of quality are run down and manufacturing equipment is repaired only after it has broken down. Periodic maintenance and planned shutdowns are not known to occur and equipment is purchased only after the project has been bagged.

(8)  This symptom is a spin-off from the former one. When systems and procedures do not exist so that quality is inbuilt into the process but rather inspected at the end of the value chain and the rejection levels are high. This will mean two things at once: (a) the absence of systems points to the lack of managerial capability and foresight. (b) The rise of rejection rates points to wasted resources and revenues.

(9)   When Business Heads are evaluated on contribution, gross profit delivery, revenue goals and not held accountable for cash flow delivery. Hence project reprioritizing, changing in stock and inventory levels, modification of processes and learning to practice value engineering are sidestepped.

(10)  When on-hand levels of inventory do not adequately reflect the mix of the product line at retail level.

(11)   When a product is no longer a brand of choice but may still be a part of the purchaser’s basket of demand, its usage as well as its market appeal would have been sharply reduced.

(12)  When it is seen consistently that decisions are being made autocratically and the managers are asked to implement them democratically.

Remedies:

(A) Changing the corporate mindset through sensitivity training and culture building.

(B) Giving Business heads some hard lessons on developmental growth. making sure that long run aims are not jeopardized for short-run gains. Instilling Total Quality Management as a way of corporate behaviour.

(C) Building teams that consist of divergent skills but convergent aims. One very good way of using HR for bringing about each of these four strategic interventions is through one-day senior level executive development programs which can be run within the Company using available expert faculty with relative ease. For this one should look for senior academics with a proven track record in research as well as industry. Mere management trainers will just not do nor will those without adequate action research fit the bill. The first choice is the man from within.  Only if internal faculty is not available then professional help should be sought and preferably from specialists who have an academic and analytical bent of mind. Targets must be set and the impact of intervention monitored against them. And that is the task of the HRM expert within the company to ensure. An ideal situation, of course, would be if the internal expert would work with the external expert to jointly facilitate organizational change preceded by a proper diagnosis. That is the absolute bottom line of this argument.

(D) If you are thinking of employing external HR consultant make sure he is not working as a placement agent in which case attrition levels of your organizations will rise or he may run independent programs which he will promote and develop at the organizations’ cost, in which case internal programs will fail. In both cases, the HR facilitator will have to take the blame.

There is no means to measure the success or failure of these HR interventions in which case critics will find it to be an easy target to shoot down. Therefore the benefits must be ascertained, calculated and the benefits communicated widely across the organization through formal information networks like the Newsletter or Special Circulars.

Today we are living in a boundary-less universe where markets have been internationalized and the corporation has to either thrive on the cutting edge of competition or go under. Hence it needs to develop on its core competencies and also keep abreast of the environmental changes both nationally and globally. HRM is no longer seen by progressive companies as window dressing or a fancy buzzword to be mouthed as convenience may demand. The CEO increasingly looks upon the HRM expert to provide that much-desired change to retain the competitive edge. He is then forced to deliver or perish.

 If the HR facilitator has to add value to the organization he serves, the client he services, his own profession and his self-respect, he has no option but to take Organizational Diagnosis very seriously. For this, he must develop skills and if need be go back to the basics. Therein alone lays his occupational salvation.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton