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“Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do”

(नैतिकता यह नहीं है कि आपके पास क्या करने का अधिकार है बल्कि क्या करना सही है)

The golden rule has been referred to as that philosophy for leading one's life that suggests that other people should be treated fairly and with respect. We must introspect whether the decision will make us feel proud because a leader must be at peace with him or herself before taking any decision. That resolve can be related to a company policy. The leader will have to weigh the pros and cons, ethics and non-ethics, feasibility and practicality, and check for any violations of laws. And most importantly will it be fair to all the team members both, in the long term and short term. A leader without ethics is like that empty bag that cannot stand up straight.

WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND/WHAT YOU SOW SHALL YOU REAP

(जैसा बोओगे वैसा पाओगे)

In order to create that perfect dish, you need to add all the ingredients in perfect ratio and order. Else the outcome can be disastrous. In a similar way, we ought to create a concoction of all the essential characteristics in an appropriate degree in order to emerge as individuals/leaders that we always aspired to be. Goodness reaps goodness just how malice shall reap malice. Your team will be a reflection of the decisions and contributions you make. Your actions will reap equal and opposite reactions. A happy content and satisfied team is the outcome of that leader who has the ability to carve the statues with precision, respect, and love. All this will come back to you if there is consistency in the purity of your thoughts, words, and actions.

HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY (ईमानदारी सर्वोत्तम नीति है )

When we say that honesty is the best policy, then it is in relation to aspects pertaining to being honest to yourself first. Truthfulness, morality, and righteousness are of extreme importance when we make honesty not just as a tool but as the main attribute that defines our core characteristic. An honest individual will have immense gratitude and the ability to be courteous towards others. He/she will always be able to create rather than destroy. This creation will comprise of those set of people who will have honesty towards their work and towards their organization. When there is so much righteousness in people, it is impossible that they would ever fail as individuals/leaders.

• THE MIND GAME

When Mind is weak, a situation becomes a Problem.

When Mind is balanced, the situation becomes a challenge

When Mind is strong, the situation becomes an Opportunity

When Mind is strong, the situation becomes an Opportunity When you focus on problems, you will have more problems. But when you focus on possibilities, you will have more opportunities. (It is a rather very simple game and as Dr.Wayne Dyer says, “What you think, you become!” In order to be able to create something extraordinary for yourself or for people around you, all it takes is your “thoughts”. Always think good, powerful, and positive things and the outcome will be so magical that you would be pleasantly surprised by its spell

Opportunities come in all shapes, sizes, and shades of life. An otherwise seemingly normal incident may prove disastrous to someone or beneficial and a blessing to the other. It can turn into a beautiful proposition only if we know how and what to make of it. There is no dearth of opportunities for the one who has a progressive mindset because only that individual can turn stone into gold. The ability to find the diamond in the midst of millions of coal rests with that mind that can perceive and steer the darkness away into a ray of bright new sunshine.

• BE PASSIONATE ABOUT YOUR GOALS

The consistency and determination depend on whether or not you will ever be able to live up to your expectations! And that is when the degree of your desire either creates or deteriorates the energy that will lead to its final outcome. The conviction and certainty in your thoughts, actions, and plan will make you or break you. Because at the end of the day, you ought to feel genuine respect and adulation in your own eyes first! If that happens, you are sure to make an impact on whosoever you relate it with. People will be able to identify themselves with your victory and maybe even learn from your wisdom.

Remember few rules for building consistency and determination:

• 1) लड़ाई मर के नहीं मार के जीती जाती है: You have to ensure that you kill all small / big hurdles you get on the way of your success. Killing yourself (depression etc) is not going to help you winning the game
• 2) देश के लिए मरना आसान है, देश के लिए जीना सीखे: this quote inspire us that to achieve something, onetime sacrifice will not work, we have to put continuous efforts, we have to live for the goal. Living for goal means killing yourself on daily basis.

• POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING

We can achieve something only if we believe in that. In order to attain a conscious and permanent state of perfect equilibrium, whether mental, psychological, emotional, physical, or moral we ought to understand the concept of “positive thinking.”

• दवा असर तभी करती है जब हम उस में विश्वास खोल देते हैं

When you further move ahead to meet your goals, you will find many hurdles, may be multiple failure. Understand in all battles, whether someone wins or loose, both loose something and building this loosing attribute into positive makes you successful . you have to take calculated risks. So to win any battle, you have to be ready to face the failure and keep moving. This can only happen if you are positive about your goal(s).

• 3) लड़ने के लिए मारने की नहीं मार खाने की हिम्मत चाहिए You may reach to a stage where you feel, there is no further path to meet your goal, all paths are closed. At this stage the following philoshy works the best.
• 4) किसी को इतना मत डराओ कि डर खत्म हो जाए. जब डर लग रहा हो तो खुद को इतना डराओ कि डर खत्म हो जाए क्योंकि डर के आगे जीत है

Understand, in order to achieve your goal, you have to be confidently positive that you can and you will win it. This will motivate you for keep moving and remember the story of Rabbit & Tortoise, where tortoise wins the race because of being consistent.

When a child is born, there are only a very few ways he/she expresses happiness, sadness, discomfort, or even love. Some cry softly, while others wail as if all hell has broken loose!! When their tummies are full/when they have had a good night’s sleep their eyes radiate a gleam of utter satisfaction and absolute, untainted affection to whomsoever looks at them. So apparently, there are only a few actions, that we can literally count on our fingertips, that define a child’s need for expression. But slowly and steadily they begin to pick up and adapt various other actions, sounds, expressions that they were completely oblivious of in the first few months of their lives. This goes on to indicate rather significantly that we are predominantly programmed by society. Therefore, in order to thoroughly understand human/individual behavior, we need to “Decode the programming done by society!”

The many layers that an individual is covered with, are actually the gift of society.

What comes to light is that there is a set pattern in each and everything we do, new/old people that we meet, and so on. In India, respect is a jewel that we carry with immense pride, respect, and care. Our elders receive utmost adulation and are cherished members in typical Indian homes. So whenever we meet a distant relative, who is old and fragile, we pay tremendous respect to them. Now, coming back to Drill Down philosophy, the moment we see an elderly person, the Flowchart, that has been set up by family, society, religious values etcetera, begins to get into action. Our minds, whether consciously or subconsciously, start to follow the commands that have been fed and engraved.

Or, if we are to meet a newborn baby, our program skilfully jumps to that design, and our actions merge beautifully with our choice of words!

It is difficult to read second person mind, this philosophy helps you to read second person mind. This is based on the concept that in a given situation, everyone works the same way. You might says here that people behaves differently, I agree with you, they behaves differently because the situation (current / past) is different for different people. Coming back to the concept here, in order to understand others, lets first decode your mind, how it behaves in different situations

The Drill-Down concept prophesies the ability of an individual to break his/her behavioral attributes into smaller fragments. This design will enrich us with transformative experiences that will enable us to become the best possible version of ourselves. Flow-Chart is a term that is often used in the programming language. It is the breakage of activity to various levels/stages. Or in simpler words, it is a step-by-step progression towards completing the task at hand.

Lets take the example of listing down the steps needed to make a cup of tea

1. 1) Take a pan and put half cup of water
2. 2) Put the pan on the gas and ignition on the gas
3. 3) Put half teaspoon sugar, half teaspoon tea leaves and half cup of milk
4. 4) Wait till you see bubbles coming out from pan.
5. 5) Boil the tea for 1 minutes (boil it till come top, then slow down the gas to get it settle. Do it 10 times)
6. 6) Now filter it out in the cup.

When you further move ahead to meet your goals, you will find many hurdles, may be multiple failure. Understand in all battles, whether someone wins or loose, both loose something and building this loosing attribute into positive makes you successful . you have to take calculated risks. So to win any battle, you have to be ready to face the failure and keep moving. This can only happen if you are positive about your goal(s).

Now it depends on our sets of skills and abilities, how minutely we can conceive a detailed breakage in our minds. It automatically becomes relevant and clear that with this potential of breaking the flowchart into tiny fragments, we are definitely in a better situation to understand human behavior, in general. We are equipped with the understanding of how far, wide and intricately, can the human mind function.

HOW DOES IT HELP?

Not only can we understand our own minds and our emotions but we discharge a unique potential that enables us to be all the more empathetic towards others too.

Many interesting aspects begin to come to light once we are able to decode this flowchart which is different with each and every individual. One of them being, that we are able to understand and reflect upon the many scenarios and varied backgrounds, for that particular outcome or end-product. This would lead us to the position of being able to identify with that specific individual, in all areas. Because the final outcome is a reflection of the inner personality of that one particular and peculiar human being. We also get to know:

1. Is the action intentional?
2. Is there a lethargy or a laid-back approach?
3. Is there an element of procrastination?
4. Is it that the individual has put in a100% effort, yet the results are not up to the mark?

If we explore Pt.4, we will find that there can be innumerable reasons for such an outcome. These reasons will determine our course of action, or, our approach towards the individual. We would have to contemplate, after studying the flowchart, whether he/she needs to be reprimanded or a totally opposite strategy will have to be applied, in order to come to the bottom of the situation.

Here are ate attributes of manager and leaders.

MANAGER	LEADER
Output oriented	People-Oriented
Delegates responsibilities	Delegates Authorities
Shows ‘Who’s Wrong’	Shows What's Wrong
Drives Team Members	Coaches Team Members
Presumes	Explores
Seeks Control	Seeks Commitment
Orders	Challenges
Creates Fear	Creates Confidence
Positional Power	Personal Power
Keeps Distance	Makes Contacts
Says What To Do	Shows How To Do
Demands Respect	Commands Respect
Works In The System	Works on the System
Gets Best Out Of Resources	Organizes Best Resources
System-Centric	People-Centric
Professional (IQ)	Emotional (EQ)
Directional	Inspirational
Systematic	Charismatic

If we take a closer look at the table, we will be able to understand the fine line that divides a leader and a manager.

नेतृत्व का उद्देश्य लोगों को सही रास्ता बताना है हुकूमत करना नहीं.

You might feels here that how choosing words make the difference. Let me take one simple example here. If some lady is not working and taking care of the home, people introduce them as House Wife / Home maker. Try to feel the difference in these 2 different words, when you say House Wife, it gives you the feeling of the liability and when you call the same person as Home Maker, she seems to be an asset. So if you can measure depth of words, you can change the behaviour accordingly.

So what I want here that you can go thru the above table of differences on how manager works vs how leader works and if you can bring the feelings in your mind, you will be a different leader…

We have leaders who have emotional intelligence are more likely to realize when pride and emotions are influencing their thinking, allowing them to make more rational, impartial choices. In addition to reigning in your own feelings, emotional intelligence makes it easier to anticipate and respond to others' sentiments.

When talking about a leader, we have to understand that in order to build a happy, and consistent, result-oriented team, he/she will have to work on the practice of EI at a very significant level. It may seem tricky, but the sailing will get smooth if the empathy and concern factor remains intact at all times. We have leaders who have emotional intelligence are more likely to realize when pride and emotions are influencing their thinking, allowing them to make more rational, impartial choices. In addition to reigning in your own feelings, emotional intelligence makes it easier to anticipate and respond to others' sentiments.

EQ is an attribute that masks the big difference between the good performers and the significantly outstanding and great ones. It pertains to the evaluation and final outcome of managing the behaviour, the ability to steer through social complexities, and the choices that one picks that bring about fiercely positive results. End number of studies have been carried out and numerous studies have been exhausted in order to understand EI. But the one psychologist that I would like to speak about here is Daniel Goleman

He is an internationally known psychologist who lectures frequently to professional groups, business audiences, and on college campuses.

According to Goleman, EI is a cluster of skills and competencies, which are focused on four capabilities: self-awareness, relationship management, and social awareness. This American psychologist who helped to popularize emotional intelligence, says that there are five key elements of emotional intelligence:

1. Self-awareness.
2. Self-regulation.
3. Motivation.
4. Empathy.
5. Social skills.

The above-mentioned points are, in some way or the other, related. But let us first take them one by one.

Self-awareness is all about knowing your personal strengths and weaknesses and having a strong sense of your own worth. In order to be able to bring out the strengths of others, we ought to be in absolute awareness of ours first. We all have weaknesses in us, but they can be overcome if we are able to identify them in the first place. We take medicine for an ailment only after we get the diagnosis. No diagnosis or missed diagnosis will only give rise to bigger issues.

Self-regulation too speaks about managing emotions.

Goleman found that self-regulated people can calm themselves down when they're angry or upset, and cheer themselves up when they're down. They are also flexible, and adapt their styles to work with their colleagues (no matter who they are), and take charge of situations when necessary.

Whether a leader or a team member, it is imperative for every human being to be able to access their bouts of situational feelings, under tabs. If one is able to do that, more than half the battle is won.

Motivation is that feather you wear in your hat when your drive for life is on an all high. An individual who understands the importance of self-love can forever remain motivated. There should always be scope for self-improvement because that is what will aid you in constant growth in life. Life is a combination of the good and bad. Not everything happens the way we want it to. To be able to forge ahead with rejuvenated spirits is the true mark of a successful human being. Goleman’s Motivation states as having an interest in learning and self-improvement. It is having the strength to keep going when there are obstacles in life. It is setting goals and following through with them.

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. In today’s world, people have become very practical in life. They always want to find a logical and reasonable understanding of things, situations. They want a scientifically substantiated outlook on practically everything that surrounds them. We are all turning into machines. Simply working, meeting deadlines, and going crazy in this mad world, we forget the biggest yet simplest point, being empathetic!

For how long will we find true happiness in machines and gadgets. At the end of the day, we need someone who genuinely cares for us. And this care turns millionfold if we have the ability to love them back. To be able to understand the feelings of people around you, be it home, workplace, or a whole community. If you are cold enough to never be able to touch their hearts, you have essentially failed in life.

Goleman says Empathy is generally defined as the extent to which one has the ability to understand and accept another's feelings and emotions. He adds, empathy—one of the basic components of emotional intelligence—is a critical part of social awareness, and, as such, key to success in life.

Social skills are the emotional intelligence skills to properly manage one's and others' emotions, to connect, interact and work with others. If empathy is outward-driven to the others, social skills are inward-driven and focus on how to interact with and leverage others to reach our goals, Goleman says.

As I had mentioned earlier, Emotional Intelligence encompasses a list of selected traits that are interdependent and interrelated. The absence of even one of them will yield temporary, and weak results. Even if they look positive, they will be short-lived. A mix of all the points enhances the growth of an individual. And it is apparently clear that we can grow, only if we have the ability to bring growth in others.

THE BENEFITS OF EI. Increasingly we are working in organizations with different cultures, genders, generations, geographical locations, work pressures. The following points will benefit you tremendously if you follow EI

• Think before you speak
• Develop meaningful long-lasting relationships
• Understand others
• Enable others to become more productive
• Improve your communication style
• Be proactive with situations that create conflict

Something not right does not mean it is wrong. It may be right for some other person

The above-mentioned quote is very close to my heart and all these years I, as a professional, have built my core and my success rests on the foundation of being empathetic.

So in order to procure the highest level of output, in terms of results, all a leader needs to do is connect with his/her team on an emotional level first. If you are able to do that, you have won the better part of the battle. Empathy is a tool that is of extreme significance because an individual who has empathy, truly respects the emotions of people around, is equipped with the trait of a winner. It also speaks volumes of that individual’s self-esteem and pride.

Empathy is a rather noteworthy aspect when integrated with leadership. There has been an end number of extensive studies on the subject.

Following are the 5 traits that define an empathetic leader:

• Approachable
• Makes employees feel taken care of.
• Involve others in the conversation.
• Flexible.
• Motivates and empowers their team.

When empathy is understood intricately by a leader, the stress factor in the boss-worker relationship gets released. What emerges is sincere faith, respect, and trust towards the leader. Once this stage is attained, no assignment/task will ever seem impossible to achieve. An empathetic leader has the ability to keep their team motivated, and march ahead with confidence, only to achieve immeasurable heights.

So, what is empathy? It’s the ability to understand another person’s thoughts and feelings in a situation from their point of view, rather than your own. It differs from sympathy, where one is moved by the thoughts and feelings of another but maintains an emotional distance.

Empathy, you might not agree with the situation but in sympathy you agreed with situation

How to build it?

Empathy doesn’t just happen naturally for a lot of people. Our fast-paced society does not often encourage us to take a moment to connect with others. It is therefore a conscious choice we have to make, but the more we practice empathy, the more intuitive it becomes. Follow this quote, if you have to choose what is right Vs what is kind, always choose what is kind because that will be always right.

Empathy is also keeping the balance of decision making thru mind Vs with heart. So you need to learn to listen both and make the balance of it.

How it helps in managing people

My philosophy says that in a given scenario, everyone behaves the same way, so if we can drill down the background of someone behaviour (for which you have to put yourself in second person show), you can exactly understand the cause and hence can identify the solution.

Empathic leader goes more in to background of outcome of any task. Say if any task is not completed then he will try to drill down the cause of it

1. Is the action intentional?
2. Is there a lethargy or a laid-back approach?
3. Is it that the individual has put in a100% effort, yet the results are not up to the mark?

And once as a leader if you reprimand in case of point 3, it will be wrong, as if you consider team member emotion, he himself would have been in bad emotion and scolding him will demoralize him and empathic action would be to handhold that person.

• “Hard Liners” – dedicated to bottom line gain, usually at the expense of employee morale.
• “Soft Manager” – those who get their greatest satisfaction from the happiness of their staff, although often at the expense of the company’s financial well-being.

Or

• A different kind of manager – a manager who produces some of the best results in his field, while maintaining an extremely positive work environment and appears to have more free time than any of his counterparts.

Communication is one of the most effective tools that a leader ought to have. Leaders need a communication path between them and their employees. What is of extreme importance is that what should be the mode and frequency of the communication pattern. A lot depends on theories related to the same. A leader will have to weigh the pros and cons of the pattern that he/she plans to use. Now the mode of deciding upon the strategy should largely focus on the eventual growth of yourself, the growth of each and every member of your team, and of course, the organization’s overall expansion.

Starting from setting the goals to the sharing the feedbacks, this communication skill plays an important role. In this topic we are going to cover regarding Goal Setting and Feedback sharing.

When we talk about the feedback system, I would like to share that most of the organizations follow period feedback (fortnightly/monthly/quarterly) system. With my experience I feel that instant feedback makes a difference. I strongly believe with the concept of the book “One Minute Manager” (Authors: Ken Blanchard; Spencer Johnson) which talks about 3 Secrets:

1. One Minute Goal Setting
2. One Minute Praising
3. One Minute Reprimands

First Secret is One Minute Goal Setting, which is like expectation setting. The goals should be short and crispy (around 5 in numbers) with 50 words each so that team member understand it easily and he should read the goals on daily basis in order to ensure that his behaviour matches with the goals

Second secret is One Minute Praising:

HELP PEOPLE REACH THEIR FULL POTENTIAL, CATCH THEM DOING SOMETHING RIGHT

Whenever you find someone did a good job, praise him immediately. While sharing feedback, tell them what they did right-be specific and tell them how good you feel about what they did right,& how it helps the organization & other people who work there. Stop for a moment of silence to let them ‘feel’ how good you feel. Encourage them to do more of the same and Shake hands or touch people in a way that makes it clear that you support their success in the organization.

Third Secret is One Minute Reprimand:

FEEDBACK IS BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS

Whenever you find someone did something wrong, share it with people immediately. Tell people what they did wrong - be specific and tell them how you feel about what they did wrong & in no uncertain terms. Stop for a few seconds of uncomfortable silence to let them feel how you feel.

Continuing to it, Shake hands, or touch them in a way that lets them know you are honestly on their side. Remind them how much you value them and Reaffirm that you think well of them but not of their performance in this situation. Realize them that when the reprimand is over, it’s over .

We need to understand that sharing feedback is very important. It is easy to share good feedback rather than negative feedback. We need to learn how to give negative feedback.

बात करने से बात बनती है

One of the way of giving negative feedback is to convert into coaching. Instead of focusing who went wrong, focus on what went wrong and focus on how we can ensure this will not be repeated in future. While giving negative feedback, don’t do following 2 common mistakes

1. Never make feedback generic: Be specific what went wrong and don’t make statement, you always do like this as generic statement
2. Never talk sarcastically: People sometimes share the feedback in sarcastic way and believes that feedback is shared without directly saying anything to the receiver. He believes in the statement “सांप भी मर गया और लाठी भी नहीं टूटी” but it happens to be opposite “सांप भी नहीं मरता और लाठी भी टूट जाती है”

In order to motivate team members perpetually, a lot of time-tested theories and principles have been adapted. It is not only challenging but also requires an intricate and sharp mind, along with a burning desire for team upliftment.

First of all, we need to understand that “fear” can never be a motivating factor. Despite the fact that it may work as a driving force in order to keep people moving towards the fulfillment of the task at hand. But in the longer run, it simply ceases to get the desired end result. In the days gone by, the fear of getting kicked out/terminated from the job would make people work alright, but with the changing times, philosophies and theories have seen radical changes.

By rewarding team members via cash incentives is not always considered a motivating technique, because of the fact that when cash rewards are planned, it is the leader that is motivated and not the teammates. The only difference between a fear factor and incentive factor motivation is that the first one is pretty much like pulling your team from the front, while the second one pertains to pushing them back.

So, what is it exactly that will keep the team aligned to motivation at all times?

Is it a good pay package, or a good infrastructure? Well, the fact of the matter is that these 2 factors will only keep them satisfied, but certainly not motivated. Therefore it is quite simple to understand that satisfaction factors and motivation factors are totally different. In order to understand the differentiation, I would like us to discuss the theory that has become quite popular.

Herzberg’s Motivation Theory:

It is based on TWO different needs of human beings. One set of needs can be thought of as stemming from humankind's animal nature. For example: hunger, a basic biological drive, makes it necessary to earn money, and then money becomes a specific drive. This leads to the hygiene factors shared below

The other set of needs relates to that unique human characteristic, the ability to achieve and, through achievement, to experience psychological growth. This leads to the motivating factors.

Motivating factors include:

Achievement: A job must give an employee a sense of achievement. This will provide a proud feeling of having done something difficult but worthwhile.

Recognition: A job must provide an employee with praise and recognition of their successes. This recognition should come from both their superiors and their peers.

The work itself: The job itself must be interesting, varied, and provide enough of a challenge to keep employees motivated.

Responsibility: Employees should “own” their work. They should hold themselves responsible for this completion and not feel as though they are being micromanaged.

Advancement: Promotion opportunities should exist for the employee.

Growth: The job should give employees the opportunity to learn new skills. This can happen either on the job or through more formal training.

Hygiene factors include:

Company policies: These should be fair and clear to every employee. They must also be equivalent to those of competitors.

Supervision: Supervision must be fair and appropriate. The employee should be given as much autonomy as is reasonable.

Relationships: There should be no tolerance for bullying or cliques. A healthy, amiable, and appropriate relationship should exist between peers, superiors, and subordinates.

Work conditions: Equipment and the working environment should be safe, fit for purpose, and hygienic.

Salary: The pay structure should be fair and reasonable. It should also be competitive with other organizations in the same industry.

Status: The organization should maintain the status of all employees within the organization. Performing meaningful work can provide a sense of status.

Security: It is important that employees feel that their job is secure and they are not under the constant threat of being laid-off.

1. Coercive Leaders demand immediate compliance
2. Authoritative leaders mobilize people toward a vision.
3. Affiliative Leaders create emotional bonds and harmony
4. Democratic Leaders build consensus through participation
5. Pacesetting leaders expect excellence and self-direction
6. Coaching leaders develop people for future

Coercive Leadership is a kind of commanding leadership where leaders makes the key decision with very limited input from the team. Team members are told what to do and how to do. In this, fear is the key motivation. As involvement of employee is low and hence it has low employee satisfaction/motivation.

Authoritative Leaders is also known as Transformational” / “Visionary” leadership where leader delegates the tasks with proper authority and empowerment to achieve the task. He Sets forth an inspiring vision of the future and also helps staff see how their work will contribute to a better world. This style motivates, excites the employee.

Affiliative Leaders focus on doing things which is good for all. He takes care of employee and receives strong loyalty in back. Leaders builds teams to ensure followers connected to each other and hence employees feel like part of the family. It helps in healing organizations with serious divisions, conflicts or broken trust and it produces happier workers

Democratic Leaders creates participation through consensus and seeks input from key people on important decisions. He listens carefully to concerns. The collective decision strengthened by buy-in, commitment across organization

Pacesetting Leaders holds high standards – for self & organization. They are useful to get quick results from a highly motivated team and always demanding faster, better performance. It creates pressure for immediate results may restrict creativity, innovation and micromanagement erodes trust, stunts development.

Coaching Leaders invests in personal development of staff and helps staff set long-term goals. They identify strengths/weaknesses, and the leader aims to bring out best in key staff. He delegates challenging assignments that will let them grow.

In order to understand which style is more suitable / useful. Please read my next topic on Situational Leadership.

1. How will you define the responsibilities of a leader
2. Which leadership style is the best

So here is what I have to say: When I have to define the role of a leader, I always say that the main KRA is to ensure that your team is working the same way, the way you would have worked on that task. This generic definition works at levels of leadership roles. So in order to achieve this definition, You should have the exposure of working at ground level and if needed you should show that as an example. This is the base to lead by example.

To answer this question, which leadership role is important, first I will suggest you read the article on different leadership styles (Coercive , Authoritative, Affiliative, Democratic, Pacesetting, Coaching).

So when I tried to see what others say. One of the common answers, I found, is that adopting which leadership style, depends on the basic nature/behaviour of the leader. And THIS IS WRONG.

It depends on what situation demands not on the basic nature. Which style is easy to adopt depends on the basic nature of leader. whatever the leader adopts or proclaims most effective at that given point in time, is followed by the team members. His/her chosen strategy will speak of their most inert of characteristics, in simpler words, the true nature gets revealed.

Situational leadership is about adapting the style of leadership to employees involved, with an eye to the environment within which they operate. It is therefore more about a leader’s ability to adjust to the situation in front of her, than about personal leadership skills.

Let me take a simple example here: For instance, you are caught in a fire. You have no choice other than being a coercive leader, dictating exactly what to do.

Here you will have to understand the delicateness of the situation and therefore adopt SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP.

I would now like to draw your focus to the 4 main stages of SL(Situational Leadership)

• Stage 1: TELLING, DIRECTING, or GUIDING
• Stage 2: SELLING, COACHING, or EXPLAINING
• Stage 3 – PARTICIPATING, FACILITATING, or COLLABORATING
• Stage 4 – DELEGATING, EMPOWERING, or MONITORING

By adhering to the above stages at the appropriate times, the result/the outcome will be fulfilling to the team and the leader. The true potential of the leader, along with each and every team member will get highlighted.

So how it works, if your team is in stage 1, you are acting as pacesetting leader, in case of Stage 2, you will act as coaching leader. In stage 3, you act as democratic /affiliative leader whereas in stage 4, you will act as authoritative leader

No leadership style is to be viewed as better than the other. It is about matching leadership style with employees’ Maturity Levels – to ensure success. To the question: Which leadership style is best? The answer is: that depends!