55 died, almost 25 got severely injured, felt defeated, massive
loss, and no more hope to fight back. Contribution from the last decades, accumulation
of all the valuables, the lost life and their family members and existed relationship
perhaps a new found one, everything gone within a fraction of second. A loss
that is something never get recover. Just one question remain should I still
fight till my last breath or move away with an anticipation that something
great has been stored in my future. The answer is pretty tough to riposte. Allegations,
accusation and blame game is a part and parcel of mediocre mind set, be it an individual,
organization, military, or political institution. I never knew where I was
wrong, better equipped, highly experienced and the most celebrated team I had. Loss
of them is not a good sign to predict their credential, neither their potential
and intellect. Mr. Khatun a militant leader reminisces his defeat during his
interview with one of the fortune 500 company.
The judges panel could not figure out what made his unwavering team to
face the biggest defeat ever.
A new leader without any organizational experience, he
was at military, was a team leader. So what? this is two different situations,
organization must be smart enough in hiring people. Militant leading smart team!
Isn’t possible. What he knew about how organization function and even team
performs. I knew that militant people are very authoritarian, autocracy in
nature. I believe it’s horrible working with someone alike. I am sure the
situation is going to be even worse from now on. A gossip among the managers
across the department of the organization ever since Mr. Khatun was recruited
as a General Manager.
The first day of Mr. Khatun, one
of the youngest General manager in the company’s history, a big bet for the
company. The board called out for the meeting invited all the heads, top
management and the project leaders. Announced for its first ever step
appointing Mr. Khatun as a general manager, who had numerous leadership
experience at military organization, linking those value with the company’s
mission is what board members expect. A new style of leadership is what most
expect from Mr. Khatun. Leadership from the front, consultative coaching, servant
style is what the company values the most. Mr. Khatun opposed some values
amidst the meeting. We believe, we have always led our organization from the
front and we expect the same from you, one of the board member said to Mr. Khatun,
during the meeting. He then asked to Mr. Khatun, if you have something to say
then, you can proceed. Mr. Khatun statement on his plan and leadership style
was some no one at the company was willing to accept.
Nobody was happy with Mr.Khatun
appointment. He once saw a huge chunk of managers at the company led the
project from the front. Which he thinks will destroy the performance in the
long run. Most managers set the examples and spend lots of time trying to demonstrate
as to how smart they are, the amount of knowledge and dexirity they possess, on
the other hand employees were highly dependent on their boss, they were even expecting
the boss to march ahead for any mission to accomplish. Which Mr. Khatun doesn’t
want, he believes more on giving more space to the employee and set the
examples to the boss. His big failure
during his operation at armed had made him understand the boss needed to lead
from behind philosophy.
Mr. Kuber one of the manager from
sales department approached to Mr. Khatun as his all-time highest performing
team now struggling and in need of guidance to train his sales team. I don’t
understand what went wrong with the number, sales have been drastically plummet
this quarter, never at this level of sales before, the sales manager touted at
the Mr. Khatun to look out some way to uplift the sales figure. Mr Khatun in
return request 2 days of time to figure out the issue. After his rigorous
analysis and study about the sale team and their performance, he came to the
point that the members of team were highly dependent on each other, they were
even in believe that without the boss initiation members were not able to
deliver the result. More than 70% of the team members were demotivated due to
the company’s leadership style.
Your team didn’t do anything erroneous
neither they under performed, I see the issue with the style you choose to be a
leader, leading entirely from the front is not so good for people that you are
working with, the style has created a sense of high level dependency among
the team, they are demotivated due to sitting always back because the very
popular philosophy among the corporate world “leading from the front” has some
issue across the smart workforce during our time today. Today generation want
their boos to sit back and watch, and allow them the freedom to be at the front
and do their job. Khatun ended.
How much do you know about how corporate
leadership need to be functioned? I had a decade of experience working in this
area. Sales manager showing his frustration to Mr. Khatun. The manager
continued, I was expecting a strategy, if anything you can add on to. Mr.
Khatun at his reply, everything you did to the team looks beautiful, I have
noticed most of the managers here are good at delegation and functioning the management
task is so brilliant, but unless you change the credo, nothing going to change.
When I led my 55 members, I thought I would be the one who will deal with the
situation being at the front, but never knew the actual problem my team faced
behind me. Or what right or wrong they are doing, a complete leadership from
the front will never let you know who is doing what at your back, I could only
notice what is going to happen next, I could notice what is happening in front
of me. I never knew what’s the real story behind me, what pain do my team had. That’s the biggest mistake todays corporate has
been making, and you are no exception. Mr. Khatun wrapped up. The managers looked
at Mr. Khatun for a while. It was as if
something contrary to how the managers of the company functions in terms of
their management style.
Mr. Khatun had first time dealt
with the corporate issues in terms of how leadership style may varies from
institution to institution, but he still doesn’t figure out how things are
organized within the organization. As the General Manager he was expected to
deal and support all the front line managers and department head. Every day one
or the other manager came up with unique concerns which Mr. Khatun had never experienced
in his military expedition, and he found the team management at the corporate and
at the militant institution differs to the vast extent. Still he wanted to
prove that he is the best bet for the company for the leadership position. He
wanted to turn out his failure at the militant to be one of the biggest learning
lesson at his new found leadership position at the tenured company.
8 months later, The company
witnessed the highest turnover rate within its sales and marketing division, no
one figured out what indeed has had occurred with the marketing and sales
department, everyone at the company blame the board decision to hire someone
from the entirely different leadership proficiency, management across the board
struggle to spot who is more responsible, is it the tenured GM or the decision
taken by the top level. Astonishingly the company’s revenue at the point was
elevated by 260%. Soon after, the board made the decision to appoint Mr. Khatun
as the CEO of the company.
No employees from all levels reckoned
out who was right and who was wrong. The newly appointed CEO, Mr. Khatun writes
a letter to all the top executives which simply states “You all have more
proficiency than I do, you all are institutionalized, you know your clients
better, which I think is not sufficient to lead an organization, I would rather
step back and follow you all.”
Author: Mr. Rajesh Bhandari
Program Director: Brixton College, BBA Program, Mahendranagar
President: PVP Nepal Province No. 7, Nepal
Cell: 9805422784
Mail: tfabodoc@gmail.com
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