Ravi Pratap Singh

POSITIONAL POWER and PERSONAL POWER

"...if you want to test a man’s character, give him power."

When he uttered those profound words, I guess Abraham Lincoln was hinting at a person's Positional Power, which can be given as well as snatched. As the name suggests, Positional Power is the authority which comes from the 'office' or 'position' to which the leader is appointed or elected. Since it is derived from external sources, this type of power is not permanent, and can quickly evaporate with the loss of the leader's office or position. Politics and military are lines of work where Positional Power plays a significant role in getting a job or task executed.

Personal Power on the other hand comes from within an individual… it is the authority which is derived from the personal traits of the leader - like character, knowledge, skill, eloquence and charisma. Since these attributes are internal to the person, this type of power cannot be taken away by extraneous factors like the leader's position or job title. Sports persons and movie stars fall under the category of people who wield an enormous degree of Personal Power over their followers.

Neither type of power is “better” than the other… an effective leader uses both Positional Power and Personal Power judiciously and wisely to acquire and influence followers as well as earn their respect, admiration and loyalty.

Positional Power is used in situations where the leader does not want to encourage a discussion with the followers to arrive at a decision… they are simply “told” what needs to be done. No questions asked! On the other hand, there are also situations where followers have to be “sold” an idea… here the leader uses the charm of his/her Personal Power to accomplish the goal.

It's not surprising, then, that most successful leaders have the decisiveness of an army general as well as the magnetism of a rockstar!

 

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!

 

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". 

Kerr's Folly & Indian Hockey

On 28th February, the Indian Hockey Team started it's "FIH World Cup 2010" campaign in spectacular fashion by decimating arch-rivals Pakistan 4-1. As is the wont when these two nations take on each other in any sporting event, the hundreds of millions of fans on either side of the simmering border consider a victory over the neighbour to be bigger than winning the tournament itself, be it a World Cup or a school-level competition. This time was no different - infact, the win was sweeter than what the Indians have tasted in a long, long time because it was not only our first win in a World Cup match over Pakistan in 35 years, but the margin of victory was also our biggest over Pakistan in World Cup competition!

A billion people erupted in celebration and accolades poured in from all quarters for the "champion" team. This was followed by announcements of cash incentives for the team by Hockey India and various state governments and corporate houses. The money showered on the players was more than welcome considering that these guys who represent India in its "national game" are grossly underpaid. However, there was one thing about the incentives which was jarring - apart from a fixed amount for the entire team, most government and corporate bodies also offered additional cash bonuses for individual goal scorers!

Now this, i thought, was a classic case of "Kerr's Folly" where "...the types of behavior rewarded are those which the rewarder is trying to discourage". In this case, individual efforts were being rewarded in a team sport! The incentive scheme encouraged players to be selfish and retain the ball with themselves and attempt to score goals individually rather than pass it on to team mates and further the team's cause. So was this not a flawed and counter-productive reward system? 

Well, after the win against Pakistan, India lost their third straight game of the tournament last evening... and slipped out of contention for a semi-final berth. Is this the effect of the "Kerr's Folly" committed by our sport/political/corporate leaders or is it just that the team was beaten by better opponents? I guess, we will never know...

P.S.: Here is an earlier post of mine on "Reward Systems - Is Kerr's Foly Alive?"

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!