Leadership ‘Leadership is not domination, but the art of persuading people to work toward a common goal.’ —aniel Goleman tn this unit, you will earn * about the qualities of a true leader © about assertiveness as @ behavioural trait ‘© the importance of problem-solving and decision-making skills. people along with you, listen to their ideas and voices and creatively channel the energies around you towards meaningful objectives. Leaders today do not exactly lead from the front as it was the norm in the past. Leadership, in the contemporary context, means ‘walking along with people’, and, in some cases, prodding them to do better. The invisible hand of leadership is the new mantra. Leaders don't project themselves as stars; rather they create a galaxy of stars i the organisation and hence drive superior results. @ Qualities of a leader How do we recognise a true modern-day leader when we see one? Here are some. of the qualities of a such a leader: a * Listenin skits: Leaders need to listen. Listening inspires confidence and breaks barriers of a superior-subordinate mindset. A leader who actively listens 60and responds, creates trust and commitment among employees. Trust makes the employees confident and_ self-motivated, and reduces the burden of supervision and low productivity. OPENNESS = TO —_LIFE-LONG LEARNING: Leaders should be willing to learn from situations and people around them. They should seek to learn and upgrade themselves in technology and other related fields, to inspire confidence among those they lead. This will enhance their own competencies and enable them to contribute more meaningfully to the growth of the organisation. ABILITY TO TAKE Risks: Leaders who experiment with new ideas and allow people to think creatively will succeed. Great leaders are those who think differently and don't always take the trodden path. They understand the environment in which they operate and encourage and implement new ideas. Sometimes, the ideas may fail, but a true leader takes responsibility for failures and does not get discouraged by them. SELF-AWARENESS: Good leaders are acutely aware of their own strengths and shortcomings. This enables them to humbly accept themselves and others, and create a cordial atmosphere in the organisation. Such leaders respect people better and are not filled with false pride. ‘SPIRIT OF COLLABORATION: Great leadership requires a spirit of collaboration, both with internal and external stakeholders. In an era of networked economies, leaders need to partner with various groups in society to help organisations understand how best they can be served. Profitability should not be the sole driving factor. EYE FOR SUSTAINABILITY: An eye for sustainability will help the leader focus on how best the organisation can use the available resources efficiently, without undue waste, and contribute to a sustainable environment through products that are safe and efficient. Vision: Visionary leadership is the ability to visualise and articulate a new future for the organisation. Visionary leaders are creative and passionate about the future. They inspire the same quality in the people they work with. Visionary leadership encompasses three major abilities:2. Soft skills and Employability skills = the ability to understand people and their capabilities + theability tocteatea compelling future for the organisation and its emplo | «the ability to reward and recognise new initiatives, Understand people and their capabilities Create a compelling future for the organisation and its employees Reward and recognise new initiatives Leaders should understand that people form the core of an organisation, an need to be nurtured and inspired with challenging tasks that can unearth _ the real capabilities that lie hidden in each of them. Visionary leaders use empowering vocabulary and are an inspiration to be with. They are self- motivated, and ensure that people around them feel comfortable, confident and empowered, © EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION: This is the hallmark of great leaders. Effectiy communication involves an understanding of people and their aspirat Communication, in this context, requires a leader to move beyond rhetoric and focus on listening to people with an effort to understand both their verbal and non-verbal communication. Also, it is crucial for a leader to identify t different communication styles that people adopt. People can be asset aggressive or submissive. Each personality type comes with its own distinct characteristics and a capable leader should be able to identify and handle all three types. 6 Leadership and assertiveness Ofthe three styles of communication mentioned above, assertiveness is the most, desired. It is an honest and direct style, with a positive and non-offensive tot is the healthiest and the most effective communication style. Assertiveness i person is identified by an open posture and respect for the person that one i is communicating with. These qualities are crucial in a leader. A leader's 0 communication should always veer towards assertiveness. Besides this, he/s should also have the ability to tackle employees who come with varyi communication styles, No matter what the dominant communication style of anemployee be, a true leader should be able and willing to handle the situation with ease and equanimity. Let us understand the — main : characteristics of an assertive personality A leader should be not only assertive type. Assertive people have the following _himselfherself but also capable of behavioural characteristics: Fein al three personaly ypes = * They achieve goals without hurting assertive, aggressive and submissive— > others. with equal ease. i * They are protective of their OWN ssmeseesene rights and respectful of others’ rights. © They are socially and emotionally expressive. * They make their own choices and take responsibility for them. _ © They ask directly for their needs while being aware of the possibility of rejection. © They accept compliments graciously. They display the following non-verbal behaviours: * Voice: They use medium pitch, speed and volume while speaking. * Posture: They use an open posture, maintain a symmetrical balance, are relaxed and do not fidget. © Gestures: Their gestures are even, rounded and expansive. © FACIAL EXPRESSION: They are always poised and maintain good eye contact. * SPATIAL posiTion: Spatially, they position themselves in such a way that they are in control of situations and are yet respectful of others. A284 See oe “Think back on your behaviour in situations where you led a team in school/ college. Take this short leadership test to understand your leadership potential. F Frequently Sometimes.G6 Sof skillsand Employability skills A254 2 A. Imagine that you need to decide which elective course/s to opt for in your final year of graduation. How would you apply the process described in the flow chart on the previous page to arrive at this decision? (Ls B. List three advantages of following the above process of decision making. @ Approaches to problem-solving and decision-making problem surfaces when thereisagap between reality and expectations. Problem caning is the act of bridging this gap, using one’s logic. Problem-solving involves defining a problem and creating solutions for it. Not all decision-making involves oling a problem, but problem-solving involves decision-making. Often, one might have to. come up with imaginative or creative solutions, when none seem — to exist. Most innovations result from creative problem-solving, For example, the variety of apps one sees on app stores proves that the developers have come up with innovative solutions to existing problems. They did not have the luxury of picking from available solutions Create Evaluate Implement — Define the alternative alternatives and follow-up problem solutions and select one on the solution Involves decision makingemaey 7a Decision-making, on the other hand, is selecting a course of action from the alternatives available. To be a good decision-maker, one needs the ability to weigh the pros and cons of a situation objectively, using available evidence, and then arrive at a considered decision. There are numerous situations in our everyday lives when we need to use our problem-solving skills. For example: sorting out a problem with a gadget like a mobile phone or a computer ¢ sorting out an issue with a service provider such as a cable operator solving an issue that you are facing with a troublesome neighbour «getting errors in service bills, for example an electricity bill or telephone bill, corrected. «organising a picnic or a study trip for your classmates within a tight budget 0, when asked in a job interview to give evidence of your problem-solving skills, ‘ou need not panic. Problem-solving and decision-making need not necessarily ways happen at high levels. You can give several examples from your everyday life to prove that you possess the required problem-solving and decision-making skills. © 4254 imagine that, 25 a class leader, you have been asked to plan and arrange a picnic for your class. On the day of the outing, it starts raining heavily. What steps would you take to still make a success of the picnic?3. ice geealy sce more than one solution to a problem. aed Employability skills “assessment test to determine your attitude towards problems and 4, beqrrecagrise ag problem when arises, 7, dora get Gstrbed and svesed when a problem arses, A. People general ext for my achice to solve problems. 5, lidentty resources end crew pon them to solve problems. & teen sock ober peaple's advice to sobve a problem, 7. lndesard te ric imvched in solving a problem. £ [isen psuggestors and mate nets of them. 5 fear dso work ct soltions for myseté é 30, ty pardoned te reasons my solution does not work. oesand the process end work out ways pace Frain nie ose be petal i poble-hng a ae eeGroup thinking sessions are arranged in which each member of the group is encouraged to think freely and contribute ideas to solve the problem under consideration. The ideas generated are recorded non- judgmentally. There are some unique thoughts behind the concept of brainstorming that make it effective as a problem- solving technique. They are: QUANTITY BREEDS QUALITY: The basic assumption behind is that the greater the number of ideas generated, the bigger the ct producing effective solutions. Hence, participants are encouraged to and profusely contribute to the discussion. All ideas are duly recorded as they are expressed. SUSPENSION/WITHHOLDING OF JUDGMENT: It is human tender to strike In brain storming, immediate criticism of the ideas generated is disco’ Participants are encouraged to think freely, add to the nuz generated and extend the ideas generated by others. Criticisr reserved for a later stage in the problem-solving process. This s judgment encourages participants to feel free to generate ideas. WELCOMING OUT-OF-THE-BOX IDEAS: To generate a long list of ideas, wild ideas are also accepted and, in fact, even encouraged. New perspectives are appreciated. These new ways of thinking give rise to better and more creative solutions. COMBINING AND BUILDING UP ON IDEAS: The ideas generated in brainstorming sessions are _Breinstorming provides later combined and built upon to lead to better —_a free end open i solutions. Unworkable ideas are eliminated by consensus. Thus, many heads are put together to generate creative solutions. This ensures that the participants’ competencies are pooled in particpate. effectively for problem-solving. Also, since the ideas are generated collectively, members of the team will be more forthcoming in accepting and owning the solutions. environment which encourages everyone 10we Employability skills KOSH Work in groups of five. Each group must pick a product and create a print 5 advertisement for it. Use the brainstorming technique to generate ideas. Present the advertisement to the class. ‘Material requited: Chart paper, sketch pens, pencils, erasers etc. Duration: 50 minutes (discussion + execution + presentation) A254 (6) Attempt the following task in groups of five. imagine that one of you is the team lead and the others are team members. Your team resolves customer complaints. Of late you have been receiving mails stating that your team members are very rude, impolite, and never fully resolve th issues brought up by customers, How can you creatively use the brainstorming technique to generate creative solutions to resolve the issue? @ Cause-and-effect analysis ‘This was devised by Professor Kaoru Ishikawa, a pioneer of quality management, in the 1960s. Although it was originally developed as a quality control tool, you can use the technique, just as well, in other ways for problem-solving. For instance, you can use it to: «discover the root cause of a problem * uncover bottlenecks that come in the way of a process + identify where and why a process does not work as expected. Let us understand how cause-and-effect analysis works, using an example. ProsteM: High rate of absenteeism in an organisation TECHNIQUE APPLIED: Cause-and-effect analysis ‘TECHNIQUE APPLIED BY: The Human Resources Manager of the organisation. Step 1: Identify the problem Step 2: Determine the effect ‘The rampant and frequent absenteeism is adversely affecting the efficien productivity of the organisation.step 3: Discover the root cause/s of the problem ‘The manager identifies the following factors that seem to be leading to absenteeism. © NATURE OF WORK AND DELEGATION OF Tasks: Most of the employees find work very exhausting. There is no clarity of roles. Delegation of work is not organised well. «Employee attitudes: There are conflicts among the employees. There is lack 4 of proper team work. On-job training is inadequate. «Flaws in leadership: The leadership is very authoritative and biased. The : workers find this demotivating. «Personal problems faced by employees: The workers face financial problems, challenges with child care and experience bouts of ill-health due to long hours of work. = - Cause-Effect Diagram Eine eWeeeercwen = “ade ELutietns Se ee absenteeism fon Petes peel pescaEE skills St ‘Address each cause and try and resolve the issues Once the cause-effect diagram is clearly laid down, it is easy to use thisagay for decision making and solving the problem. too S a a + Identify a problem that the student community around : you faces, Use the | Cause-Effect approach to find solutions to it. Answer these questions. | 1. What are the qualities of a true modern-day leader? 2. Why is assertiveness an important behavioural trait for aleader? 3. In what way are problem solving and decision-making skills useful to you as a student? In what way will they be important to you as an employee? 4, What is a win-win solution? Explain with an example. | 5. What is brainstorming? What is it used for? 6 How would you use the Cause-Eff fect technique to analyse a problem? Explain with an example,EE skills St ‘Address each cause and try and resolve the issues Once the cause-effect diagram is clearly laid down, it is easy to use thisagay for decision making and solving the problem. too S a a + Identify a problem that the student community around : you faces, Use the | Cause-Effect approach to find solutions to it. Answer these questions. | 1. What are the qualities of a true modern-day leader? 2. Why is assertiveness an important behavioural trait for aleader? 3. In what way are problem solving and decision-making skills useful to you as a student? In what way will they be important to you as an employee? 4, What is a win-win solution? Explain with an example. | 5. What is brainstorming? What is it used for? 6 How would you use the Cause-Eff fect technique to analyse a problem? Explain with an example,