Simple straightforward lesson in leadership

Gandhi said - identify the poorest of the poor and evaluate how your decision's going to affect him/her. Leadership is similar if not same. Identify the weakest member in your team especially the one you hate the most. Now, take up the challenge to transform this guy until you start loving him. Give it your best shot, try-fail-try-fail-try harder and harder till you succeed. Help him achieve his goals, bond with him, show him by actually doing 80% of his work even if you are the boss and get 20% done from him. Keep decreasing this ratio till you reverse it 20:80. And I am a strong believer of Pareto rule in leadership - you as a leader have to meet 20% of your full team target personally. You cannot outsource your whole target to your team. Simply like you cannot outsource passion. Thats how your team respects you and learns from you. When you have transformed the weakest members in your team, you have succeeded as a leader and you also have a great team bond for life.

PS: this can be only done with team members who have a strong value system, just that they don't perform well for XYZ reasons. Someone who is a bad influence on the team because of lack of values should be removed immediately.

Transform an individual, get transformed yourself...

There is some truth to - Behind every successful man there is a woman. Actually behind every successful man or woman there is a coach. A coach who is patient in approach, adjusts to the maturity level of the one being coached, pushes and keeps pushing - never relents. New Horlicks TV ad captures the essence - mother pushing child to run faster day-in day-out. Its not easy. At times child gets frustrated with mommy simply because what is being tried to achieve is not an easy goal. But coach can never give up. In the end mommy sums up by saying - the day he will beat me I win. Coach has to adapt. To start with, coach needs to micro manage and develop the necessary skill set. Later he needs to hold back and help only in strategy and tactics and motivate. In the end of a cycle, he needs to help the one being coached, reflect on learnings and get back into the game even stronger. Coach can work wonders for you and you can wonders for someone you coach. Find a coach now - who does not give up on you and brings the best out of you. Coach someone now and bring out the best in someone. Transform someone and get transformed.