Ravi Pratap Singh

No Player Is Bigger Than The Team!

The third and final test match between England and South Africa is currently underway at Lord's. Having lost the first test of the series and drawn the second one, England have to win this game to avoid abdicating their number one test ranking to the South Africans.

Given this background, it would be normal for any team to come out with all guns blazing and ensure that they select their best players for this must-win game. But the eleven England players that walked onto the park at the beginning of the match yesterday did not include the charismatic Kevin Pietersen, their premier batsman by a long margin!

The reason?

Well, he was DROPPED!!!

And that too, after he had scored a breathtaking century less than a fortnight ago in the second test of the current series!

During that game, Kevin Pietersen had allegedly sent some derogatory text messages about his captain and team members to players from the opposing camp. Since this was not the first time that Kevin had got into disciplinary issues, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) decided to axe him irrespective of the fact that dropping him at this stage of the series could cost England their numero uno throne!

Hats off to the England selectors and captain for their brave decision. For no matter how big a player is, he can never ever be bigger than the team!

 

Don't Keep A Dog & Bark Yourself

Successful managers have one common trait... and that is, effective delegation skills!

Many a time one sees outstanding team players fail miserably as team leaders primarily because they are unable to delegate tasks appropriately.

There could be two major reasons behind a manager's "fear of delegation":

Quality Would Suffer: Firstly, the manager feels that he is best qualified to do the task. Therefore, if he delegates the same to a team member, the quality of work is bound to suffer and finally the task would have to be redone by him... so he prefers to do the job himself.

Pressed For Time: Secondly, the manager feels that the time taken to train others on a particular task would eat into the already challenging delivery timeline of the project... so it makes more sense for him to do the work himself and not risk missing the deadline.

In both the above cases, the manager feels that he is actually being "responsible" by taking the onus upon himself to save the organisation from any blushes. Though the intentions of the manager cannot be doubted, he doesn't understand that by not delegating tasks to his team members, he is actually doing more harm than good to the organisation.

An effective manager:

- Recruits the right team.

- Trains team members with the relevant job skills.

- Delegates work to the team members, and then... ALLOWS THEM TO FAIL a few times before they can work with minimal or no supervision!

By providing opportunities to sub-ordinates to develop new skills and take up more responsibilities, the manager helps build a strong and motivated team. This, in turn, paves the way for all stakeholders (team members, manager and the organisation) to grow and flourish.

The Art of Uncovering Hidden Talents

Debutante bowler, Ravichandran Ashwin, spun India to victory in the first test match against the West Indies this week. Can you believe that the off-spinner who turned in the second best match figures by an Indian cricketer on debut actually wanted to be a batsman? And that too, an opener???

Yes, you heard that right. Ashwin was a wannabe opening batsman who could also bowl a bit of off-spin. At one of the trials for junior cricketers, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan had a look at the youngster and adviced him to focus on his bowling skills rather than his batting. And the rest, as they say, is history.

This is what the art of uncovering hidden talents is all about. A good leader/coach can see in his protégé what s/he cannot see in herself/himself. And then help the protégé discover and develop the talent within.

By the way, there is another example of a cricketer who wanted to be a fast bowler but was adviced by the coach to take up batting instead. The coach was Dennis Lillee. And the batsman... any guesses???

Well, it was Sachin Tendulkar!!! :)

Making The Impossible, Possible...

It wasn't impossible, but it sure was challenging... to find a name for the new awards we planned to initiate at C2. The whole process of creating a brand is nerve-wracking... but at the same time, exhilarating! 

It was in 2006 that C2 launched its annual Redwood Awards to honour individual employees who shone with the "right attitude". Now we wanted to introduce an award that would recognise teams who stuck together to not only successfully complete projects that seemed to be ridden with insurmountable obstacles (in terms of technologies, timelines, resources, etc), but also managed to deliver the WOW factor to the clients!

So what could we call the awards? It had to be something special, 'coz ít was meant for special people!

These were guys who walked the extra mile - day in and day out. Remained focussed even when the target was becoming a blur. Didn't give up pursuit even when the trail was cooling off. Believed that it was possible even when the world drummed into their ears that the task was IMPOSSIBLE.

Bingo!!! We got the name!!! It would be called...

"THE I'M POSSIBLE AWARDS"!!!

Because nothing is impossible... for the word itself says...

"I'm Possible". 

Leadership & Horse Sense!

I’ve always been enamoured by horse racing. The prize money is humongous, no doubt, but the most fascinating part of the sport for me has always been the horses themselves!

A lot of planning, preparation, care, commitment and passion go into the making of a champion horse.

The process starts right at the time of selecting the horse… the idea is to pick a thoroughbred with the best possible genetic lineage to ensure inheritance of superior capabilities. The next step is to offer a comfortable accommodation for the horse… this includes the preparation and maintenance of a hygienic stable. Then one needs to monitor the health and well-being of the horse by providing a balanced nutrition and diet. Cleaning and grooming also form an integral part of this process. Last but not the least, comes the training… exercise routines and training schedules are tailor-made to suit the physical condition of the horse so that it can perform to its fullest potential and become a CHAMPION!

As leaders, it is not only our responsibility to identify and select thoroughbreds in our teams… but also to put in all the planning, preparation, care, commitment and passion to make them Champions!

Leading From Behind

Close your eyes and visualise a king leading his troops, a politician leading his partymen, a priest leading his congregation, or a CEO leading his team. More often than not, you would conjure up images of the leader leading from front and the followers following from behind.

Now think of a shepherd leading his flock. Well, for those of you who haven't ever seen a shepherd in your lives, here's help...
As you can see, he actually leads the sheep from behind!!!

Nelson Mandela talks about this interesting concept of "leading from behind" in his autobiography, "Long Walk to Freedom". In the book, Mandela likened a leader guiding his people to a shepherd leading his flock. According to Mandela, the shepherd "...stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind".

"Leading from behind" is a perfect model to adopt when a situation demands "collective leadership". Here the leader empowers different team members to take charge of the team (flock) at different stages, based on their individual strengths (nimbleness). In this style of leadership, the leader sets the vision and then finds appropriate people to lead the team towards that vision.

On the other hand, the traditional style of "leading from front" leadership works perfectly in cases where there is no need for collaborative decision making. Here the leader sets directions, delegates work and gives orders.

A good leader is one who can shift between leading from front and behind as the situation may warrant.

Your Attitude Determines Your Altitude

The Redwood Tree - A true marvel of nature!!!

Native to coastal California, the redwood is the tallest tree on earth, reaching up to 379 feet in height (equal to a 35-storey building!) and 26 feet in diameter. It has been around since the Jurassic era (160 million years) and lives for 2,500-3,000 years or more.

What's the secret behind the redwood's growth and longevity? Well, over the millions of years of it's evolution, the tree has slowly but surely developed built-in features that help it fight against its natural enemies such as insects and fire. While the high tannin content in its wood keeps it away from diseases and pests, its foliage protects itself from forest fires by resting high above the ground. The species being monoecious also gives the tree its unique ability to regenerate by itself - which means that new sprouts can grow directly from a stump or a downed tree's root system rather than rely solely on sexual reproduction.

But what is most inspiring about the Redwood Tree is that the tallest tree in the world starts its life from a seed which is the same size as that of a tomato seed!!! Only proves that where one starts in life has no bearing whatsoever on where one can ultimately reach!

The Redwood Tree is a giant not only in terms of size, but also in terms of character and spirit. It epitomises all that a winner stands for - passion to survive and grow, ability to adapt and innovate, capability to maximize potential, and the propensity to conquer weaknesses by focussing on core strengths!

C2 Workshop's annual "Redwood Awards" is inspired and named after the indefatigable Redwood Tree. The award recognizes employees who stand tall in terms of their ATTITUDE. This year's awards were presented on 18th June 2010, and the winners were Thanigaivel, Vijay Anand, Thamizh Selvi, Jayaprakash and Devendran. Congrats, guys! And thanks for inspiring the rest of us!!!

Sharing Success – Secret of a Winning Team!

On Christmas eve, the Indian cricket team scripted one of the most fascinating victories in One Day International (ODI) history to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in its series against Sri Lanka.

The cool manner in which two young turks of the Indian team went about the run chase was both clinical as well as entertaining. But the standout moment for me was what happened after the game… at the post match presentation ceremony! Declared “Man of the Match” for his heroic 150 not out, Gautam Gambhir magnanimously handed over the award to his young partner, Virat Kohli, who cracked his maiden ODI century and shared in a record 224-run stand with him. Truly inspirational stuff!

Have you ever noticed that members of a winning team, be it in sport or corporate, always share and celebrate each others’ success? This means, the members:

• Demonstrate no sense of insecurity, jealousy or one-upmanship towards each other.
• Give precedence to team goals over individual goals.
• Are willing to “do or die” for the team’s cause.
• Remain positive and united!

No wonder the Indian cricket team is currently ranked # 1 in Tests and # 2 in ODIs.

Welcome Aboard !!!

 

A couple of days back we celebrated my son’s birthday. It seemed not too long ago when my wife and I were picking up a pram to welcome our newborn home… and here we were now buying a 6-gear bicycle for his sixth birthday! Amazing how time had flown by in a jiffy!

 

As my wife was checking off items on the to-do list for his birthday party, my thoughts went back to the day we were making the shopping list for the soon-to-be-born baby. We had meticulously broken down the items into various categories – stuff required for the baby’s clothing, feeding, bath, nursery, transportation, etc. We wanted to be completely prepared to receive the new member in the family and ensure that the baby was comfortable right from the moment it stepped into our lives.

 

Is this situation not uncannily similar to a new employee joining our organization? So are we always as well prepared to receive a new employee and ensure that the new entrant feels comfortable right from day one?

 

Here are five simple things that an organization of any size could do to help make its new employee feel welcome on his/her first day at work:

 

1. Ensure existing staff are aware of the new employee coming onboard so that the new person doesn't feel like a stranger on arrival.

 

2. Have the new employee's workspace ready - including furniture, computer hardware/software, phone, email, business cards, office supplies, login id, access key/card to office, etc.

 

3. Assign a person to introduce the new employee to co-workers and give a brief tour of the department/office (washroom, pantry/kitchen, vending machine, meeting room, etc).

 

4. Identify a coach/mentor to help the new employee with work-related processes and procedures.

 

5. Arrange a welcome lunch for the new employee.

 

A new employee is like a new member of our family. And as leaders, it is our duty to go the extra mile to make the person feel that s/he belongs!