Rohit Gopakumar

"I've always found that the speed of the boss is the speed of the team." - Lee Iacocca

This has been one of my favourite quote’s, which captures the essence of leadership. If one were to look around at our workplace, you would invariable find teams / people working at different levels of pace. Some are quick and energetic, some are process driven, some rebellious and so on and so forth. This would clearly give you an indication of their boss’s workstyle and how the team is expected to work. But to an external party, be it a client, vendor or partner, the only visible pace is the result an organization offers at set timelines. The earlier the better being the ideal scenario.

Catching deadlines is usually the responsibility of dedicated teams within companies, having leaders who lead / guide the teams. Some professionals who grow into managerial or team lead roles invariably fall prey to the ‘importance syndrome’ ie. I am important, and I will prove it. This ends up having a cascading effect on efficiencies. Team members realize, nothing moves without their boss’ approval or consent, resulting in decisions being bottle necked.

So how should a true leader overcome this..? A few thoughts...

 By Risk Planning – Managers should spell out the decision making tree. Assign clear decision making powers at various levelswhich is not risky to the business but helps remove red-tape. This in turn helps motivate teams with a sense of ownership and belonging to the project.

By Encouraging Freedom of Speech – Ideas and solutions can come from anyone and a leader who keeps his mind and his cabin open for subordinates to walk-in without fear and discuss their ideas will always earn respect and command.

By Example - Bosses should lead by example from time to time. Get into the rink and face the challenges your team members would face and showcase how they can be handled or executed better. This will help the teams reduce their learning curve which in turn reduces delays.

Be Insecure in the Right Spirit – Leaders should be insecure of losing their leadership position to knowledge. Learn everyday and push the envelope of knowledge. You are good leader till they learn what you know and do, but you are better than the team if they look up to you for learnings and evolve.

Team mates on their part should keep pushing themselves and their bosses to move out of comfort zones. This brings energy in the team and quick results.