5 Rules for Leadership to get the best from your employees, agencies and teams
Leadership is often mistaken with power. It has nothing to do with power, in fact, leadership is about taking accountability, ownership for your decisions, professionalism, ethics and so on.
5 signs you already are a great LEADER:
1. Accountability and Responsibility: You don’t cower behind someone when something goes wrong. You don’t ask your team members to respond to the situation, rather take charge and most important of all, take accountability. Like the old quote goes, “If you really want to test a man’s virtue, give him power”. Every time something goes wrong, you don’t stand behind calling yourself a leader, rather, accept what went wrong and take or make amends to make it right. It’s not about getting defensive, it’s simply about doing what’s right.
2. Praise others: A leader always finds ways to praise good work done. This does not mean, you choose which time you praise someone or who to praise, no, it’s every single time for every professional. When you find team members or agencies or consultants doing a good task, every single time, do you take time out to officially acknowledge the same or do you only write or complain if something goes wrong? It goes a long way to show that you care. It’s not just limited to your team, peers or colleagues, it extends to all those around you who have worked with you one way or another.
Want to know the SECRET:
Ask yourself, ‘how many people, other than those whose salaries you are directly accountable for, will give great feedback about you as a professional or even as an individual?’ This will let you in on the secret of how the world outside really perceives you.
3. Learn & Unlearn: “I know it all” Four words which will crucially showcase that you have LOST as a leader even before you have begun. As a leader, it’s crucial to learn and more important to unlearn the old ways to empower and integrate the new.
4. Discipline: Unless you have a discipline to observe and follow your agreements, your commitments, your contracts, towards your employees, team members, consultants, agencies, you can never call yourself a true leader. There are no ‘if’s and but’s’ when it comes to contracts, agreements, commitments and moral obligations at work. You either do it or you have failed and faltered as a Leader. On similar lines, do you take initiatives to make something better, do you take steps and put the necessary efforts to deliver something beyond what is expected? It takes tremendous discipline to build a form that has a timeless class on it’s own.
5. How You treat someone: Do you only treat people well when they are doing something for you or if they can do something for you? I have a simple policy that helps me decide who I work with in the long run, be it team members or clients and it goes something like this: “I will treat you 10 times the way you treat me” and this works every single time. It helps you clearly decide who would be the right team member, client, customer, consultant etc to work with in the long run. Remember, at the end of the day, people work with people.
As of date, I have a total of 14 years of professional work experience. Of which, 7 years I worked as an employee, wherein few of those were with some of the best brands in the world and now, it has been 7 years since I started my own Digital agency, Techdivine Creative Services, back in March 2010.
As a digital agency, we are grateful and thankful to have 4 Global recognition’s with 3 Internationally acclaimed awards including winning the first place in the prestigious Global Peter Drucker Challenge in the Entrepreneur category across 35+ countries, winning the titles of Best digital marketing professional in India 2014 and the most influential digital marketing leaders of 2016 by CMO ASIA and World Marketing Congress and we are sincerely humbled to have got an opportunity to cater to clients across 6 countries (India, USA, UK, UAE, AUS, SPAIN) across 23 industries in the past 7 years as on May 2017.
So when clients, consultants, friends or peers ask me, how do I, as an entrepreneur manage my time, travel, schedules round the clock and end up with amazing teams across clients… well, honestly, it’s a daily learning curve and I truly know that I am just getting started. My focus has been from day one, to BUILD A BRAND and not just increase the clients list, which is why I am very picky on who I work with. I strongly believe, ‘Businesses are built dime a dozen, but organizations are seldom created.’
But, tips, guides, quotes, etc from the Masters have helped a lot over the years.
In other words, I read a lot of books. Books which are essentially the culmination of industry leaders decades of experiences and learning.
One of the greatest inspirations for me to read, learn, keep learning, implement by asking the right questions etc has come from the Father of Modern Management, Peter F Drucker. His books, research, case studies are truly timeless, because they don’t focus on tools, sites, technology etc but instead on people.
Here are some of his quotes that will give you a glimpse into the great icon’s legacy and teachings:
Few quotes from Peter Drucker:
- “Performing, responsible management is the alternative to tyranny and our only protection against it”
- “Teaching has … always been my avocation,” Peter Drucker once said. “I never looked upon it as my occupation. It’s my self-indulgence.”
- People who don’t take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.”
I loved this one which has been said about Drucker: Harvard’s Rosabeth Moss Kanter once remarked that “Peter Drucker’s eyeglasses must contain crystal balls because he anticipated so many trends.”
His teachings on MBO i.e. Management By Objectives has been such an integral part of my working right from the beginning, that prioritizing my routine has actually been fun.
His works have simplified decision making by focusing on objectives that are crucial and will serve well, to both, employees and the organization alike.
Management By Objectives (MBO) is a performance management approach wherein a strategic focus enables you, whether you are a Leader and employee of an organization or an entrepreneur or a consultant etc.
In fact, his teaching can be embedded into our daily lives too. For eg. I read it in one of his books, in which he mentions (Paraphrasing it here) : “I will not give you the answers, because, you can get answers from anywhere or anyone. Rather, I will give you the right questions that you need to ask“.
This coupled with MBO has been one of the greatest learning for me as an entrepreneur catering to clients globally as a Digital Agency or as a Digital Consultant or even as a Corporate Trainer over the years.
Of course, in addition to the books, case studies and principles from the Father of Modern Management, I do read a lot of books, case studies and articles from industry leaders like, Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Dhirubhai Ambani, Narayana Moorthy, Walt Disney, Henry Ford, J.P.Morgan Chase, Warren Buffett, Howard Schultz, Jeff Bezos, James E Burke, Charles Schwab and the list goes on…..
Here are five Rules for Leadership to get the best from your employees, agencies and teams
1) First things first, second things not at all ~ Peter Drucker
Priority – Time management and accountability:
Priority, time management are core aspects of Leadership. If you have a list of things to do every day, unless you are able to deliver it every single time, you seriously need to question your thinking in the process.
Sometimes we end up prioritizing things that are actually not at all crucial or relevant to the goals we are planning. Instead,you might as well, not have done it at all.
Leadership today many a times is viewed as being about authority and power. Leadership has nothing to do with power. It’s about Responsibilities. It’s about ensuring that there is someone accountable at the top in case something goes wrong.
One of the most important things I learnt is that, if you want to take a position of power, you need to have the ability, skill and responsibility to take onus of actions within your organization.
2) “I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles, but today it means getting along with people ~ Mahatma Gandhi”
You are your team: Brands and organizations as a name wouldn’t have survived in the long run if not for their team members. Why? Because today, whether you like to agree or not, Your team members define how you are seen to the world outside to your prospects, customers, stakeholders etc.
What sustains in the long run is how you as a brand or business are discussed among your employees and or those associated with your business delivering services to prospects and clients on your behalf. They could be your employees, agencies, consultants and so on.
Which is why, today, employee engagement, employee advocacy, employee skill development etc have taken such a strong focus.
A true leader, knows the value of an employee today.
Which is why it is core to ensure that you do justice to their time, skills and ensure that they keep growing as both, professionals and individuals.
Did you know the most discussed reason of why an employee leaves an organization today is not salary or perks but because of his or her immediate supervisor or boss.
A real leader ensures consistent growth and learning for his or her team members based on mutual trust and respect.
3) “A leader is the one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way ~ John C Maxwell”
Meaningful: Organizations are truly the organs of a society wherein the focus is not just towards maximizing shareholder value or getting a customer or making a profit, but equally core is to ensure that you as a brand or business or organization, make a meaningful contribution to the world.
A true leader needs to always ensure that the work they do is meaningful and adds real value by solving actual problems. Most important of all, he or she knows that they do not simply involve a leader telling others what to do, rather doing it and setting an example.
4) “The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible no matter whether it is a section gang, a football field, in an army or in an office ~ Dwight D Eisenhower”
Integrity is core:
In today’s world, a business that has leaders who do not focus on ethics, values, integrity, do not adhere to guidelines, agreements, contracts for others but treat them as important when it comes to dealing with their own business are the worst representatives of their organization.
The problem, in the long run is that, they destroy the name of the brand, the quality of employees in the organization and yes, the reputation the brand has in the industry.
5) “The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves ~ Ray Kroc”
You set your own standards: I have met and seen leaders who are very particular of who they work with. Such leaders not only redefine their standards, but also create a set of high quality process in place which in the coming decades helps to restructure and create a team of high quality professionals with exceptionally high standards. An important quality of a powerful, intelligent, efficient and successful leader is also defined by his or her ability to say NO.
“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected ~ Steve Jobs”
It’s simple, treat others the same way you wish to be treated.
These are some of the core aspects that have always ensured that I end up with the best organizations, amazing set of professional clients and get to work on innovative ideas, strategies with a wonderful team with some of my best clients. It’s simple, I will treat you 10 times the way you treat me!
Who are the leaders who have inspired you over the years?
Do share your responses, would love to hear from all of you.
Have an amazing day ahead.
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Be Well
Ananth V
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