EPGP-13 LSO Assignment 1 (By – GROUP 1) DATE-27 APR 2022

OUR LEADERSHIP
EMERGENCE STORIES
We are EPGP 13 Batch Group 1 for LSO, consisting below group members …

Roll Number Student Name Student Email Classroom Centre

EPGP-12A-037 G SRIDHAR gsridhar12a@iimk.edu.in TSW - Bangalore - Whitefield
EPGP-12A-125 VINIT VIJAY vinit12a@iimk.edu.in TSW - Mumbai - Goregaon
SANKHE
EPGP-13A-006 ABILASH UTTAM abilash13a@iimk.edu.in TSW-Hyderabad-Banjara Hills
EPGP-13A-015 ANEES K M anees13a@iimk.edu.in TSW-Calicut-Mankavu
EPGP-13A-021 ANTESH KUMAR antesh13a@iimk.edu.in TSW-Jamshedpur -Sakchi
EPGP-13A-024 ARCHANA S archana13a@iimk.edu.in TSW-Bangalore -Marathahalli
EPGP-13A-026 ARNAV arnav13a@iimk.edu.in TSW-Jamshedpur -Sakchi
AKHOURY
EPGP-13A-036 CHRISTOPHER christopher13a@iimk.edu.in TSW-Mumbai-Bandra East
CRONING (Tentative)

Our group consists of experienced professionals from FMCG, SPORTS and IT sectors with professional
experience as young as 8 years to 20 years of practice. Discussing the examples and stories about emergence
of leadership was really fascinating and each had its own allegories, aspirations, and arcs. Each one was
filled with exemplary leadership work. It was surely difficult to choose just two examples from such richest
of experiences. Still, we went ahead and chose two of the stories that covered the spectrum of emergence of
leadership from an individual contributor to an experienced coach, mentor and influencer.

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 EPGP-13 LSO Assignment 1 (By – GROUP 1) DATE-27 APR 2022

Example 1. Leadership Emergence of An Individual

Contributor
Narrator - Vinit Vijay Sankhe (EPGP-12A-125)

About Me
I work as Vice President in an investment bank in application software development. Prior
to that I worked as a Senior Software Lead, a role which was equivalent to a team lead in IT
companies but for most part, it was an Individual Contributor role.

Individual Contributor (IC)

An IC is a professional who has development and management responsibilities both but helps the organization
achieve its goals and mission independently. ICs typically operate within a silo and report to someone senior,
usually the head of the silo, but they're not responsible for managing anyone except for themselves. So
essentially, nobody reports under them and they are team less.

In my case I had a goal - OKR (an acronym for Objective and Key Result) which is a management framework
that streamlines employee focus under all type of leadership forms like IC or traditional Team Lead or Agile
roles, towards unified goals for growth so they can receive and act on feedback on how their roles relate to
the success of the business unit and corporate strategy.

My OKR was to develop and deliver a stock trading module for a cross silo application. The module was
catered to Regulatory and Compliance requirements that needed to be adhered by the firm asap. The
completion timeline was short and the design phase even more so. I was expected to perform on all phases
and cycles of software development.

A month into the requirement gathering and design phase, the regulatory requirements got changed by the
HKMA (Hong Kong Monetary Authority). It became complex and challenging. There was a concern that my
solution architecture and design was mostly the way the trading business understood it. But we needed a nod
of approval from the Regulatory and Compliance Group. Hence a decision was taken by the business to
appoint a BA (Business Analyst) for the same.

The Two Paths

The BA (whose name was Joey) was a Chinese professional located in HK, who had worked in my silo on the
business side for quite some time. Soon after joining my group, he proposed an exhaustive BRD (Business
Requirement Document) with important considerations and needs gathered from the legal and compliance
group. I, on the other hand, had my TSD (Technical Specification Document) already signed off by the Traders
and Operations Users. I had understood the new HKMA requirements in my own way and thought that my
technical specifications had covered them correctly.
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 EPGP-13 LSO Assignment 1 (By – GROUP 1) DATE-27 APR 2022

Joey disagreed with that assumption.

So, the business (Traders, Operations versus the Regulatory, Risk and Compliance groups) was split on which
approach was most suited to the job. Joey and I were asked to present our POCs in 2 weeks’ time. Joey was
given a software development consultant named Harish, from the same office as mine, to get the POC
developed in 2 weeks. I was supposed to develop my POC on my own because I was an IC.

Leadership Situation Emerges

Right after handing over the BRD to the software consultant, Joey went on a planned holiday for two weeks.
He had mentioned so earlier in a group-wide email that he had complete confidence that Harish, the software
consultant, will be able to implement the POC, as long as he follows the BRD to the tee.

On the fourth day into the POC development while I was busy getting my work done, I got tapped on my back
by a worried looking, stressed out man. It was Harish. He wanted to talk urgently.

In a brief but concerning chat, Harish told me that in the absence of Joey, he had no one to turn to for guidance.
He was lost. He was confused with the BRD because it looked like the regulatory requirements needed him to
create 24 different screens (non-functioning ones for the POC) in 10 days. He had created a few simple ones
first, but as the process flows became more complex, the more variations he came across for implementation.
This was causing him to go beyond the simple screens, difficult and bewildering.

I tried to console him but knew it was not my place to tell him what to do. So, I brought this in to the
attention of my reporting manager who for some reason, assumed that Harish, was incompetent and needed
to be replaced. My manager suggested moving the POC demo ahead by a couple of weeks and when Joey
would be back, he would be appointed with a new consultant as needed. I was advised to ignore the situation
and continue on the individual development for my TSD based POC.

But somewhere within me, I felt it was not the right thing to do. Harish looked like a competent and
responsible individual, the fact that he decided to seek my guidance showed that he cared for his task and
wanted to perform well.

Although I didn’t wish for it, I was presented with a choice...

Whether to help Harish or to only continue with my task…

I chose both!

Embarking on Situational Leadership

At first, I asked my manager to allow me to help Harish, who if left unguided would not be adding any value
to the firm anyways. On the other hand, if he does get help from me, he may try to bring the task to a logical
state where, if not complete, it could be at least in a state of useful handover to whoever we appoint as a new

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 EPGP-13 LSO Assignment 1 (By – GROUP 1) DATE-27 APR 2022

consultant. This would also save time for Joey. I assured my silo head that I will not falter in my own task and
that the guidance and help given to Harish would be completely discretionary to my work.

To Harish, I formally asked for his consent for my governance. It was imperative that he accepted my
guidance and directions for the next few days. He wholeheartedly agreed. His zone of indifference for
accepting my leadership was pretty clear in the next few days where he followed my directions with
operational consonance.

1. We, at first, went back to the BRD and looked at the complex workflows that Harish had trouble
understanding. They were indeed complex but fortunately easy to reorient. We turned them upside
down and suddenly each screen was merely a collection of process requisites within its respective path
of requirements.
2. Wherever the paths met (flows branched out), the screen regressed to a basic form thus creating a
reusable entry point for complex flows to build upon. This commonality helped reduce the overall task
from 24 screens to 14 screens!
3. The screens where no user action was needed were built using mock-up software instead of UI coding
framework to save time.

The point about screen mock-ups was Harish’s input. I was particularly happy about it and praised him by
keeping my manager in loop through our regular email communications. This inspired Harish and helped
improve his focus and confidence. He was now producing 3-4 screens a day!

At the end of two weeks, Harish and I both completed our respective tasks. Upon the return of Joey, on the
day of the POC demonstration, Business and IT heads saw both our POC offerings and found the solution
offered by Joey to be much more comprehensive and compliant to the regulatory requirements as desired
by the HKMA. Joey’s BRD was accepted for final implementation. During the actual development Harish
started reporting under me.

Traits and Behaviours during my leadership enactment

1. Opportunity Detection – I am usually an optimistic person, so even in the situation of initial 4 days
of effort being lost, I felt the task was doable because of my knowledge in the field of Institutional
Trading. I was highly familiar with the regulatory aspects, which obviously imparted my confidence
on Harish. Plus, I also realized going through Joey’s BRD will help me in my own task as well (in case
there are gaps in my own understanding of the project).
2. Self-Efficacy – I knew the task was doable due to two reasons. Although Harish was worried, it was
mainly due to the pressure of a short time for him to perform. Nobody expected POCs to be perfect
(where even mock-ups can help convey the same idea). Secondly, in the first few days when Harish
approached me, he seemed to have understood some process paths clearly well which gave me the
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confidence that if we simplified the BRD enough, it would result in flows that can be quick wins from
implementation perspective.
3. Mapping Value to Synergy – I always saw value in Business Units (BU) & IT to be on the same
page. Among the BUs also Stock Traders and Trade Operations would not be usually aligned with
Risk, Regulatory and Compliance. In my IC role, I prioritized only the Trader and Ops concerns and
Joey’s BRD was mostly Regulatory oriented. However, once I found the value in the process flows
that Joey had proposed, using my sense of Trading and Ops IT, I could bridge the gaps through the
POC proposal, which catered to all the 5 BUs. This created a synergy where BUs for them to
unanimously choose a solution that had both intrinsic (Joey’s comprehensive process flows) and
extrinsic (Harish’s and my process simplification) value.
4. Focus on BRD (not the POC) – As said earlier Harish faltered in the initial days because he focused
on the end result that was time bound. I made sure that Harish understood that even if the POC is not
completed, it can certainly be a learning to simplify the processes and can be brought to a state of
handover where Joey can choose to continue with Harish towards completing the job or may choose
to go ahead with a new consultant if he wished so. Thus, the fear of eventuality was replaced by
confidence of outcome. The leadership experience became more process oriented rather than goal
oriented.

My Leadership Ever Since …

Of 7 action logics of leadership, I believe I exhibited an Individualistic model of leadership. I was able to
associate my own approach and method of doing my task with Harish to his specific requirement. My vision
and flexibility enabled Harish to develop and invent solutions to the challenging BRD situation. We were
able to develop innovative frameworks because I motivated Harish towards the same, to bridge the gap
between the strategy for regulatory implementation and quick execution.

This example of owning and leading this situation helped me secure a promotion as a VP for the Institutional
Trading Business … and I was glad that I took it.

Post my VP promotion, I deliberately asked my Silo head to provide me with more leadership opportunities
with teams. I wanted to move away from the IC role. I have been executing projects, from design and R&D
phase to pure Support phase in order to taste the various flavours of the leadership challenges. My appetite
for leadership challenges has only grown ever since.

I feel leadership is like parenting… kindness, compassion, a lot of patience,

communication and common sense.

It is very human!

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 EPGP-13 LSO Assignment 1 (By – GROUP 1) DATE-27 APR 2022

Example 2. Leadership Emergence Through Coaching,

Mentoring and Influencing.
Narrator – Anees K M

About Me
I joined iD Fresh Food India Pvt. Ltd. as CTO four years ago (2018) and now I hold additional
responsibility of global CHRO for a company with around 2000 workers globally. Prior to
this, I spent 19 years working for core software firms.

My Leadership Emergence
Your capacity to influence people, not your overall years of experience, determines whether or not you are a
leader. With 1 and ½ years of experience, I joined HP ISO (Hewlett Packard India Software Operations) in
2000 as a core software development engineer. With roughly 800 people in India at the time, HP was a dream
company to work for. I considered myself fortunate to be part of a core tech team of 18 people with an average
experience of roughly 15 years. HP was not interested in quality certifications because it was a product-based
organization. This got changed and HP ISO chose to obtain CMMI Level 5 certified in 2002-2003.

It was a difficult challenge to adopt it since the tech team, which had around 15 years of expertise, had never
felt the need to document the process/project specifics. Project managers were told to execute this and
designate someone to be in charge of it. They were given the SQA designation (Software Quality Assurance).
Currently, the term SQA is associated with testing, but it was not at the time.

My boss contacted me (a junior most employee with roughly 4 years of experience) and asked if I would want
to take on this additional task. It had been around three years since I had joined HP ISO, and I had formed a
relationship with the team members, who were seldom doing anything outside of work nor communicating
with one another. By that time, I had a good understanding of each person's personality, strengths, and how to
get them to connect with me. I took advantage of this and went to each of them, established communication,
and began working on documentation and collecting matrices for the weekly meetings. Slowly, the team began
to grasp the process, and as a result of their relationship with me, they began to follow it by updating
documents and providing me progress updates. I had no idea this was called situational leadership until 18
years later, when I mentioned it in an interview for a magazine and received a remark on the books that
referenced Situational Leadership.

During this period, HP merged with Compaq, bringing the total number of employees to tens of thousands.
There were no salary revisions and few benefits were lost as part of creating fairness across the teams in terms
of incentives and benefits, which caused several employees to become unsatisfied and leave the firm, including
myself.
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I changed jobs a few times before joining VeriFone, where I worked for almost 12 years. I was hired as a
Project Leader with technical requirements and was responsible for developing code as well as directing a
team of four. The team increased in size and geographical scope, eventually reaching a size of 50 people. I
applied what I've learned about situational leadership to create a win-win situation. As a result, I was able to
build a highly motivated workforce with low attrition and excellent productivity.

A few success stories under my leadership

Mentoring and Coaching:
Every member of my first four-person team grew as the team grew. I was their mentor and coach in
their journey. They are now Architect, Senior project manager, Project manager, and Technical
Manager. The member who rose to the position of senior management was a timid individual with
poor communication skills. I coached him, instilled confidence in him, sent him to a contact centre
training programme to strengthen his communication skills, and forced him to attend meetings and do
small presentations. He is presently in charge of a large team at another MNC. Similarly, all of the
others have prominent roles in various MNCs.

Creating a change:
In my organisation, I had several teams like Product management, testing (QA), documentation, Dev
Ops and development teams. In the documentation team, there was a new employee who was hired as
a tech writer. This employee was extroverted and had some leadership qualities. I delegated more
responsibilities to this employee like employee engagement, which was executed flawlessly. When we
opted to implement a Kanban-based agile lifecycle, the same resource was offered the option of
becoming a scrum master and leading the process alongside the consultant we hired. This was
accomplished with remarkable success, and the resource currently receives 5 times the salary that the
employee received when hired.

Being an influencer:
There was a strong bond between each and every member of the organisation, and team members
regarded me as if I were a family member, consulting me on personal concerns. They had faith in me,
and the link has survived four years of absence from the organisation. I am welcomed to all of their
family's events, and it provides an opportunity for all of us to reconnect with old teammates.
As the leader leaves the organisation, one negative result is that the team disintegrates. After I left the
group, roughly 40 members (out of a total of 50) quit.

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Traits of My Leadership
Acceptance/Inclusion/Empowerment
Being a situational leader and forming a personal relationship with the team is not easy. You'll need a lot of
patience, a kind and accessible disposition, solid social and technical understanding, the ability to let go of
your ego, and so on. However, this will undoubtedly assist you in dealing with any other challenges that may
occur in the team. The team treats the job as if it were their own family company, and they work with utmost
sincerity and devotion. When a team is established on trust, they are less likely to engage in negative politics
and are more focused on getting their task done. They understand that they will be compensated based on their
real contributions, not on how well they dazzle the boss.

Evolving as an ethical Leader

When you're a good leader, the growth comes your way. Because I already held the position of CTO at my
current organisation, I couldn't see any opportunities for advancement. However, when the CHRO left to start
his own company, the CEO thought of me and asked if I would be interested in taking over the position since
he believed I had the potential to lead a team of 2000 people. He was OK with me learning HR principles
under any trainer's mentorship. I'm enjoying myself in that capacity as well...