Strong leaders not only need to have a vision and the ability to
initiate change, they must model the values, actions, and behaviours necessary
to make the vision reality. How do you do define and implement leader ship? Is
leadership associated with seniority or one’s position in the hierarchy of
the organisation? Let us hear thoughts from various voices from the social
sector.
We asked one doctor, an educationist and a CSR Head, who
have ties with the social sector. What the essentials of a good leader are and
the one that inspires them.
Dr. Vispi Jokhi is
an orthopaedic doctor and Trustee of Ahura Support – a non-profit
support group for the disabled. According to him, “A good leader is a visionary
innovator capable of taking calculated risks and staying the course
in case of failure. A great communicator, listener,
team builder, ready to give credit for success to the team and
take blame for failures on himself. One can be a dreamer and out-of-the-box
thinker but practical and with sound domain knowledge of the industry. The
person who inspires - Without a shadow of a doubt, Mahatma Gandhi. A classic
Karmayogi, capable of loftiest idealism combined with the shrewdness of a
skilled negotiator. He was imbued and immersed in his visionary ideas and yet
detached. He would never compromise on the means adopted in his work, even for
the loftiest of goals. Above all he practiced what he preached.” 
Diana
Marfatia has been associated with various leadership
roles within the education sector for over 20 years. Currently,
Headmistress of a leading International School of Mumbai, she also has been a
mentor of an educational cum leadership development programme called the
Holiday Programme for Youth (HPY). Her five essentials of a leader - “ one who
manages to: align the team in line with the task at hand, synchronises the team
harmony to be able to create a harmonious 'symphony', defines the purpose and
sets appropriate goals, helps to energise the group to undertake the activities
to achieve the goals and achieve success, allows others to lead, without losing
control and continuously learns.”
Foram Nagori, from Taj Hotels,
Resorts & Palaces works for social responsibility strategy, deployment
& monitoring & United Nations Global Compact/triple bottom line
reporting – among various other CSR-linked expertise. She feels, “Genuineness,
ability to inspire people, collaborate with multiple stakeholders/experts &
catalyze innovation.” Undoubtedly she is inspired by, “Abdul Kalam – for his
connectedness with motivating the masses & driving policy/strategy with
equal flair!”
Manager and leader are two completely different
roles, although we often use the terms interchangeably. An ongoing debate in academic circles over the past 50-odd years relates
to the correlation between leadership
and management. Does a manager have to be a great leader? Does a leader
need to have good management skills?
Diana feels it is distinct, “A MANAGER is a person who
through his work experience learned the process of doing things according to
the ethos of his institution. A manager is just that person who will make the
engine move and keep the company/institution going. He may not need to be
compassionate or may not need to have emotional intelligence, which are vital
ingredients of being a good leader. A LEADER on the other hand is the one who
irrespective of his position, influences inspires and builds people up to
perform that are aligned to his and the team’s goals. Difficult-to-achieve as
these goals may be, but he stays in the front line and leads by example –
guiding, provide logistical & emotional support to ensure team success.
She highlights, “A manager does
not often make a great leader but a good leader needs to have good management
skills and much more.”
Vispi feels “Actually this debate about leadership and
management is more about nature vs. nurture. While there is an element of
natural leader, this alone cannot compensate for trained managerial skills. So
effectively, both are essential in almost equal measure.”
Foram echoes similarly, “Leadership and management
are both like two intersecting venn diagrams. Some components do overlap but
obviously they are not the same! For some situations you need management, for
some others leadership and for most – both management & leadership.”
Thus it would be fair to conclude - Leadership and
management must go hand in hand be and complementary. Any effort to separate
the two is likely to cause more problems than it resolves.
Different types of leadership styles exist in work
environments. Advantages and disadvantages exist within each leadership style.
The culture and goals of an organization determine which leadership style fits
the firm best. Here are some -
A laissez-faire leader lacks direct supervision of employees and fails to provide
regular feedback to those under his direction. This leadership style deters
the production of employees needing supervision.
The autocratic leadership style allows managers to make decisions
alone without the input of others. This leadership style benefits employees who work
without close supervision. Creative employees who thrive in-group functions
dislike this leadership style.
Also known as the democratic leadership style, participative leadership values the input of team members and
peers, but the responsibility of making the final decision rests with the
participative leader. This style may boost employee morale because employees
contribute to the decision-making process. This style meets challenges when
decisions need to be taken within a short period.
Managers using the transactional leadership
style generally implement the ‘carrot & stick’ method, providing
rewards and reprimands. Those rewarded with performance based increments of
promotions generally feel enthralled but those who do not make the mark begin
to feel insecure and get restless, sometimes destructively
The transformational leadership
style leaders focus on the big picture within the organization and delegate
smaller tasks to the team to accomplish goals. This style depends on high
levels of communication from management to meet goals.
Whatever the style, all leaders need indispensable leadership
qualities or skills. Among many there have been some popular ones – Looking forward, Empowering others, Accomplishment,
Decision making, Engaged, Risk-taker
Having said that it does not matter if you are entry level or senior
level; there are certain traits that all leaders share. Everyone at some point or the other encounters and manages a
leadership situation or gets motivated by one.
Vispi cites a sporting one, “I think that the moment
which comes to my mind is M.S. Dhoni captain of the world cup winning team in
2011, leading from the front in the finals, walking into a pressure situation
and taking the team to a win. At the end his ability to give credit to his team
seen on numerous occasions is truly etched in my memory as an example worth emulating.”
Diana recollects an incident that made her aware of
her leadership potential. “When I was the Principal in a previous school, we
happened to be working closely with the then Education Inspector of that zone,
a very upright and ethical lady. In addition, she had a clear vision and made
us all work hard towards making her vision a reality for the students under our
care. She wanted a group of Principals to come together and work closely on
writing a Manual, which she thought, would benefit all Principals. We team
members were leaders in our own right and in a sense all at the same hierarchy.
However, as we started working it just so happened that I saw myself leading
discussions, making strategies to break the big task in to small achievable
parts, and then moving on in a logical and sequential manner. This helped us
achieve our goal and complete the task successfully. I was pleasantly surprised
to find that my team mates let me take the lead and in fact often voiced that I
made a good leader and one that understood the task at hand very clearly and
got the work done in a congenial and healthy work environment. This situation
has left a lasting impression on my mind, as I too learnt so much from it.”
Foram concludes, “As a first recruit in Ladakh Autonomous
Hill Development Council support project of TISS & SDTT Trust, I was
required to work like a young leader & social entrepreneur to partner with
multiple stakeholders there and setup processes for participatory planning
& plan for capacity building of the development partners and Government
functionaries. This role of catalyst & facilitator is very early years of
my career brought out various leadership skills in me “
Leadership is not a one-size-fits-all definition. We all
have our own philosophies; some people think leadership means guiding others to
complete a particular task, while others believe it means inspiring and
empowering other members of your team to deliver their best. While the
definitions may vary, the general sentiments remain the same: leaders are
people who know how to achieve goals and motivate people along the way.
