The Invisible You !

I would like to narrate a story of a young guy who had graduated from a place where people believe that irrespective of what he chooses to study, he should be doing a software job. He got placed in one of the reputed IT company and was able to manage the show for few years. He also joined the part time MBA course to add the extra degree to his back pack so that it can help him in the Management roles. Eventually, things were not falling in place for him with the company which had made him to take the decision.

He had moved to one of his dream companies, where he was aspiring to work from past 2 years. But the initial days of the company kick started with tremendous pressure. He was going through daily deliverables, last minute validations, late night calls, overnight stay etc. After completing 30–45 days within the company he was something like…

Not getting enough help required from life !

No idea of what the future is, he implemented the first rule of Management i.e. Vision and Prioritization and started prioritizing the tasks as below:

1. MBA Semester exams — Low Risk

2. Project Deliverables — Medium Risk

3. Family— High Risk

He also enforced the second rule of Management i.e. Managing Time on the above priorities for the next 45 days in the project. Comparatively, he was able to manage the things better but however due to the immense pressure in the project, there are major delivery misses which made the whole thing a bit expensive. As it was a whole new environment, he was waiting to get the feedback from his Manager. He learnt the importance of the third rule of Management i.e. Feedback.

Feedback shows a huge impact on the work that we do regularly. Especially if you are handling a Consultant or Manager role, Feedback helps a lot. However, it depends on individual on how to receive the feedback as below:

1. Considering the Feedback in a Positive way — Require more Hard work

2. Considering the Feedback in a Negative way — Project / Company change

In the feedback discussed, it was about the misses and the areas of improvement for the better delivery. The guy had gone with option 1 and started implementing the points discussed in the feedback session (Also the next rule of Management i.e. Succession Planning). In the chaos of daily events and in the effort to keep up with the business, he had always been as an individual contributor. He had made a list of potential stars within the team and next to each name, he had written the career and responsibility game plan. “When you are challenging and testing people, you delegate more often, which frees you to focus on most critical strategic matters facing the business.” This had made him more successful and things started falling in his way.

While he was able to get the expected results, he was something like…

Not at the right place !

Later he understood that the world is constantly changing, Customers needs the change, Business evolves, new product launches and distribution methods emerge as threats and he might get out of alignment if he doesn’t change. As a result, he started the fifth rule of Management i.e. Evaluation and Alignment where he started evolving himself according to the company.

In the process of implementing the above Management rules and enhancing himself, he was able to release the project deliverables on time. However due to stringent deadlines, he was unable to handle the pressure and he was something like…

He had taken this as an opportunity to implement the sixth rule of Management i.e. Leading Under Pressure. He took all his Managers that he had worked till date as the examples on how they were able to handle the things (Especially the high-risk factor). As a leader, one would be watched closely. During the crisis, people watch us with a microscope, noting every move we make. In such things, subordinates learn a great deal about us and what we really believe. Part of the process of maturing as a leader is learning to step back and think about what creates pressure, being self-aware in the situations and disciplining the behavior to ensure that we act in a manner consistent with the core values.

Reading the story about the young guy who joined the IT world as a fresher and the way he modulated himself according to the situations by implementing the Management rules made him a different guy all together. However, irrespective of the change he had made himself externally, he remains the same internally which implies the last rule of Management i.e. Staying True to Yourself. As a leader, we must ask our self whether we are expressing our views or holding back and being too politic. At the same time, leaders must encourage their own subordinates to express their unvarnished opinions, make waves as appropriate and stop tiptoeing around significant issues.