Tag: Leadership

‘Leadership’ in the times of epidemic

Let’s take up any project in an organization, especially Multinational Corporations, and try to understand the hierarchy levels in a team. Usually at the top, there is the delivery manager followed by project manager and then there is the team lead with all the assistant team members at the base of the hierarchy. On any normal day, the delivery manager is the one who is answerable to the client during the time of project going live or at the times of crisis. The project manager is answerable to the clients on a weekly basis with the team lead reporting to the project manager with all the milestones and progress reports. So to sum up, the work was usually into two fonts, managers who manages the entire group and is answerable to the client and the team lead who lead the team and reports to the managers. So this traditional way of doing business was going on until the pandemic hit the business.

For the past four months, we are working from home. We have forgotten what the boundary exactly looks like between office and home, with a little concern for privacy and social life. We are always trying to do ‘more’ and in a ‘better’ way and there are times, when we feel helpless, if and when we do not get the same amount of cooperation and assistance from our team lead or managers. Numerous articles are being published everywhere on how to improve effective communication in remote work but there is always a bit of communication gap, especially when we are unable to apprehend the non-verbal cues. It is at this time, when the managers should step down from being a manager to being a leader.

A leader is someone who acts a ring-bearer to a team member. He does not just say what to do, rather he works with him, side by side, to sail through the problem. Whenever a team member expresses a concern or some problem, instead of just providing a solution, he listens to it and deals with the situation with empathy. In fact, a team leader gives a solution by being a part of the solution. Having done a part time internship in such a culture, I have observed that the managers, even in remote scenario, tend to be stoic and still behaves in a very formal way. It is high time that the managers step down into the shoes of the leaders and lead the team through such a mind-wrecking situation, instead of just managing it.

As per my observation, a few ways by which the managers can put on a leadership cap are:

  1. A team huddle in the morning, discussing about the team progress and also providing a platform open for suggestions.
  2. Listen to pertinent problems of team members and deal with empathy, thus going over the notion of manager.
  3. Arrange for coffee break, once every half-month, and the discussions should be on the recent advancements and not just on news.
  4. Managers should be bit more personal rather than being formal.

Remote work calls for different measures and from the organizational perspective, managers putting on leadership cap will go a long way in building a sustainable and resilient organizational culture. If we take this as a parameter and compute the cost-benefit analysis, this approach will definitely improve the productivity and thus will create multi-fold productivity.

Be a leader.

Source: Self

Concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

 

Corporate engagement with society, also termed corporate social responsibility (CSR), has become a commonly used term in contemporary society and refers to one process by which an organization expresses and develops its ‘corporate culture’ and social consciousness.

CSR has been receiving lots of attention from various backgrounds of researchers worldwide, it has attracted a great deal of attention over the past decade and according to some researchers, has gathered great momentum over the past number of years and is now regarded to be at its most prevalent. Therefore business leaders, government officials, and academics are focusing more and more attention on the concept of “corporate social responsibility”.

Almost all corporate websites/ policies/reports talk about their endeavors for CSR, which has become a way of ensuring that the organization is fulfilling all the obligations towards society and thus is eligible for the license to operate. It assures that the organization can grow on sustainable basis. There are also societal pressures with respect to social issues such as human rights and the environment on the corporations and CSR is widely regarded as the response of corporations to this pressure and according to Bénabou & Tirole (2009), responding to such pressure, business leaders, governments and academics are now also emphasizing the notion of CSR.

In CSR, the central issue is the appropriate role of business that overlaps, almost completely, with its reference area and now business organizations have waked up to the need for being committed towards CSR because the role of businesses in society is no longer focused on creating wealth alone but is also focused on acting responsibly towards stakeholders.

Everyone agrees that firms should obey the law. But beyond full compliance with environmental regulations do firms have additional moral or social responsibilities to voluntarily commit resources to environmental protection. To be specific, why companies do CSR? For this, it is answered that CSR is situations where the firm goes beyond compliance and engages in “actions that appear to further some social good, beyond the interests of the firm and that which is required by law” and it is also due to various reasons such as to attract new investors, part of branding strategy, an obligation from the government and the lists go on. However, CSR does not mean just taking part in charitable activities and events; it means holding the responsibility to develop the society by envisioning future plans for socio-economic justice and be conscious about their responsibility for the welfare of society around them. Therefore, according to Zu & Song (2008), a large number of companies appear increasingly engaged in a serious effort to define and integrate CSR into all aspects of their businesses.

Corporate executives have also encountered demands from multiple stakeholder groups to devote resources to CSR. This may be partially due to the pressure generated by a union of ethics-oriented campaigners including NGOs, anti-capitalism activists, labor unions, and news media; and partially due to the demand for doing so by their customers, employees, suppliers, communities, governments, and even stockholders. Ismail (2011) stated that CSR is supported by the case whereby the government alone is definitely cannot afford to have a sole responsibility in improving the lives of their people as it exceeds their capabilities. If the government is unable to fulfill the increasing demand of their people thus this is where the corporations should support the government. However, those who opposed this statement saw the situation as unfair to the business corporations, such as Friedman’s (1970) famous statement that ‘the only responsibility of a business is to maximize shareholders’ wealth’. But according to Krishnan & Balachandran, companies are beginning to realize the fact that in order to gain strategic initiative and to ensure continued existence, business practices may have to be molded from the normal practice of solely focusing on profits to factor in public goodwill and responsible business etiquettes.

An examination of some of the factors, which have led to the development of the concept of CSR, would be ideal starting ground for the conceptual development of suitable corporate business practices for emerging markets. Krishnan & Balachandran also expressed that in the last twenty years, there has been a sea change in the nature of the triangular relationship between companies, the state and the society.

No longer can firms continue to act as independent entities regardless of the interest of the general public. The evolution of the relationship between companies and society has been one of slow transformation from a philanthropic coexistence to one where the mutual interest of all the stakeholders is gaining paramount importance. Bénabou & Tirole (2009) asserted that CSR is somewhat of a “catch-all” phrase for an array of different concepts.

The Influence of Advertisement: Changing people's way of life

“Taste the Thunder!” A popular beverage slogan of ‘Thumbs Up’ promotes what they call “Fearlessness”.  Advertisement like this is often a persuasion for action, an action to get alongside with what the advertisement display. The advertising industry revolves around creating commercial messages urging the purchase of new or improved products or services in a variety of media i.e. print, online, digital, television, radio, and outdoor. 

Advertisement is impacting the society in many ways especially inducing a factor of not required materialism. The world is now moving fast, and the people don’t have enough time to think on their own, and is where these advertisements are more strongly playing its role in bringing the materialism to society. Now people cannot live without smartphones or cars etc., they are more attracted to new models or new styles. Advertisement display how these products bring life to them and happiness is only possible with the possession of a product fading out the image of real happiness and satisfaction which comes from inner self and not by involving in this material world and its contents.

What is also important is the way in which these advertisements are operating to the mindset of people to be attracted towards these advertisements. The answers to these questions lie in the fact that these advertisements are suggesting material possession will add to the social life of an individual and they will be more accepted in society. There are some of the most talented people, in the advertising industry, who are experts in reading the mind of common people, and thus what they do is simply providing the people what they want to see by understanding the intricacies of their life and thus manage to sell the things which are nothing but a part of a materialistic world. We now don’t go for things that are cheap and can satisfy our needs, rather we go for things better advertised. We now go for the brand over quality and other parameters. We should not be amazed that what we call as brands are those who claim them to be one is advertisements. Living in a society filled with these advertisements those people made, our thinking power has been totally debarred.

Although advertisements have always created a false image of the world in front of us, to reverse the condition we must make the utmost of the advertisements to make good impacts on the society since we have understands completely how they work on us. By advertising, we must be repeatedly reminded how the world is on brotherhood rather than excelling over brothers. By advertising, we must be constantly put in mind the importance of thinking of the environment rather than having fasting moving cars, expensive watches, and the latest fashion. By advertising, we must be continually alerted that satisfaction and happiness come from the inner heart not from the material world.

In a word, we are living in an age of advertisement perpetually disillusioning us and spreading perfect life before us every day, but what we can do is keeping in mind what really matters to us, and take advantage of the advertisements.

Effective Leadership


Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. Leaders help their team and organization make progress and act in the right way. They can be found at many levels in our communities, businesses, organizations, and in homes across the world. Good leaders should build a vision, set clear goals and directions, and map a dynamic path forward for their team or group. True leadership can be determined, observed and measured by others desire to follow. Leadership means that leaders work with their followers to achieve objectives that they all share. Establishing shared objectives that leaders and followers can consolidate is difficult but worth the effort. Leaders who are willing to expend time and effort in determining appropriate goals will find these goals achieved more effectively and easily if followers and leaders work together. Leader-imposed goals are generally harder and less effectively achieved than goals developed together. Also leadership tends to operate in groups. It is about influencing a group of people who are engaged in a common goal or purpose and works towards achieving their goals. Therefore, leadership is about directing a group of people toward the accomplishment of a task by working skillfully.

Leaders exert influence on the environment through the goals and performance standards they establish, the values they establish for the organization and the business and people concepts they establish. People want to be guided by leaders they respect and who have a clear sense of direction. Hence effective leadership requires certain important characteristics. These include:

1.To be an effective leader, you need to roll up your sleeves and take charge. They must have strong self-confidence and must be confident enough to ensure others follow him. This includes being confident enough to lead, knowing that your plans and vision are not only viable for the team but the absolute best decision possible.

2.If you’re in a leadership role, good communication skills are absolutely crucial. Being able to express yourself openly and build empathy with other people is the foundation of effective leadership. Good communication will increase the rate of work.

3.Integrity is a set of values about which we must never compromise, no matter the circumstances. \We must have a strong handle on those values is critical to the basis of trust and loyalty, and allows people to identify whether or not we are someone they want to follow. An honest leader succeeds when they stick to their word, live by their core values, lead by example, and follow-through. Without integrity, no real success if possible.

4.A good leader must be an excellent innovator. He must display a creative attitude in his work. Most noteworthy, innovation is a guarantee of survival of a group or innovation. Without creative thinking, progress is not possible.

5.Great leadership styles focus on problem-solving and team dynamics much more than self-promotion. A great leader will never be effective if they’re more concerned with themselves than with the well-being of their team. Being humble and vulnerable with their team members will make a leader much more relatable and effective.

Good leaders are made not born. If we have the desire and willpower, we can become an effective leader.

Leading from the front-3

Thank you so much for reading so far! I hope you enjoy this segment of self-improvement and leadership.

There are a lot of things you can do if you really decide to change yourself. But the most important out of all is to take the initiative.

1. Listen to others

There is nothing more frustrating to anyone than someone who doesn’t listen, moreover, someone who does not pay attention and interrupt while speaking. When you are in the path of being a good leader, you have to be as open as possible. Being a leader means, you have to be dependable. Being a leader is very overwhelming, but I assure you that being able to communicate can really make your work go smoothly and openly. Successful leadership is for your members to trust you. And as humans are social beings, strong communication can really help. 

Any job, whatever it may be, may come with a lot of stress and sacrifices. As an employee what he/she would appreciate is someone who they can depend on and also know that the person leading or representing is steady and would understand them.

2.Respect

When you want respect from your employees you would have to respect them. Like the saying give respect take respect.respect is something conveys a sense of admiration for good or valuable qualities. And it is also the process of honouring someone by exhibiting care, concern, or consideration for their needs or feelings, that’s what Wikipedia says. It can be anything to you but most importantly is to see the person as one of you.you and your employees or even any stranger on the street are human and deserve respect. Everyone deserves respect.no matter if you are a joke or not you deserve respect and should respect others.you should never make someone feel that they are less than you so they do not deserve respect when you are a leader. You should really be able to be with your colleagues and friends not follow them or make them follow. like the first point,’Listen’

3.Confidence

Being a leader, makes you take some decisions you don’t want to take or sometimes are forced to take. It might be a gamble occasionally, and you would really feel you have let everyone around you down. Sometimes you would feel like you really don’t know what to do when everyone is looking at you. You feel like you are so alone in this world and you feel like everything is going against you. No matter how alone you feel, or how you feel the world has turned against you, you have to be able to remind yourself that you will always have yourself to depend on. No matter what happens, no matter how scared you feel, even if you are shivering down to your bones, you have to be able to act brave and confident. But trust me, depending on yourself and being able to believe in yourself will take you a long way. Way ahead than you would have, if you were crawled up because you were scared.

I know these are the most obvious points to improve yourself. but these are the most challenging points to get over. I myself have a long way to go. I really hope you would keep in mind all these things. Let both You and me make a journey to self-improvement.”Let us be the best us, because no one but us would and will help us.”.   

GO SELF! 


Leading from the front-2

The idea of being able to succeed in your field is always one’s dream. There is nothing wrong in dreaming one’s own dreams. But you must be willing to put in effort in things you are not aware of. There are a lot of qualities needed when you are striving for success. That requires more than just hard work and studying. Sure they do have a vital role when you are trying to be a good employee and chasing your dreams but when you are actually trying to last in the field for a long time you should be able to adapt and learn things earlier and faster than your colleagues because time is an important factor. And time is a harder criterion to overcome. But you have to remember that no matter if you are in your 20’s,30’s,40’s or 50’s you never are too late. Simply remember, when you decide to change your life around, always start today itself. Tomorrow is too late for anything in your life. If you decide to be a better person or a better leader, take the initiative and decide today itself. And you will neither doubt your decision nor regret it. If you ever see a good result in your actions, do not regret that you didn’t start earlier, just be grateful that you did start before that tomorrow you procrastinate about.

There are some traits you could use both as a person, employer or as a leader. And that includes many of the basic things you already know about or even have. Nonetheless, evaluate yourself when you read on…

As a person who is looking to improve yourself, the first thing you have to remember is that you should have the ability to question yourself. Be honest as possible is the way to go. When improving yourself you should self evaluate what your shortcomings are. Where do you lack? If you really don’t know how to do that, taking an example would really help. We all have role models. Pick a person you look up to and ask yourself, why this particular person is my role model? What are the things that make them a good person and really liked by people? What are the things that make them unique from the other 7 billion in this world? Once you get the answer to these questions, ask yourself whether you have these values that you aspire to have? If so, how can you improve that skill? If not, how can you better them. When you are trying to change, do not forget you don’t really have to be like your aspiration.No human is perfect. Everyone is flawed and so are you. So be the best you, you can be.No one is ideal. The main person you have to impress is not your loved ones, friends or family, it is yourself. No matter what you do, you should be able to be happy with who you are. Being successful and unhappy with who you are would only put your hard work to waste. So be someone you are proud to be. 

Leading from the front-1

Being a true leader isn’t the easiest thing in the world, nor should it be the hardest. People can be born as a leader or made one. Irrespective of how you became a leader, the work you put in is important. 

Do you often feel that you are not the leader you aspire to be? If so, that can always be changed.


You are a leader. First of all, what does being a leader mean to you? As there are millions of leaders out there, having their own meaning for leadership, you have to come in terms with your own meaning. You really don’t have to have the same meaning as someone you dream to be. For example, most people would take in what someone who is successful believes in, like Bill Gates. Swallowing his or anyone else’s point of view will surely lead you to a good path but not the best. You have to remember what you believe in has a great impact on your life. Standing on your beliefs no matter how absurd others think it might be, is one of the most powerful things. (unless it is absolutely blundered you are good to go.) Do not forget that, before even Bill Gates became who he is today, he had to believe in things that people back then thought were reckless but later turned out to be inspiring. As a person or greater, as a leader, you always should have yourself to back you up. Our designer while creating us made sure no two humans are the same. So put that to use, Be unique.

    Having the power to stand on your beliefs and decisions is one of the most important things that you have to build when you are a leader because being a leader means you have a lot of people following you. You should be able to believe in yourself so that others can believe in you. Running a jurisdiction of your speciality or not, you should always be able to stand on your perspectives and respect others views too. As humans, we are prone to making mistakes, and it is obvious that what we believe in might not always be completely right, so we should keep in mind that we are obliged to be open to others’ comments and be able to separate the right from the pessimistic-wrong ones. Our motos could be updated, but it should never be changed due to ill-selfish needs. Leadership is something to be honoured. Being selfish and looking for only your benefit will only bite you back. Trust me when I say, being honest will only bring you good. No matter how good the other side looks, always know that you would never be true to yourself if you are dishonest.

The significance of myself stressing on the fact of being able to stand in your belief is that it is the backbone of being a true leader. Being apt to stand on your own, under any circumstance.