Tag: Leadership development

Leading and succeeding in a downturn – Best Guide
A downturn is the time where the true leaders are identified. One of the main things that a leader should focus on during leading in a downturn is that the leader should never look like he or she is worried. It makes your employees worried also. You have to stay confident.

WHAT’S IN IT

Major Mistakes While Leading in the Downturn

Focusing only on one Problem

Mostly whenever a problem comes into any person’s life, it is observed that most of the people just focus on the problem and complain to god, blaming someone else for their conditions.

Leaders are also human. If a downturn comes in the company, the leader focuses on fixing one thing and the rest of the things are also ruined because they lack focus on those things. Great leaders should continue the operations which are running in the company while leading in a downturn.

Behaviour with the employees

Another mistake while leading in a downturn is not focusing on our employees. This is one of the main mistakes that almost every leader makes while leading in a downturn. Employees also know there is a downturn coming in the company.

So, they are trying to work hard. In such cases, the leaders should not increase their work too much. Maybe in the initial days it brings you good results but eventually, the employees will start burning out. Employees understand if some day you give them extra work but, it should not be the routine for them.

Otherwise, they will leave the company and manpower will also start decreasing. And remember that you are leading in a downturn, so the companies will not be able to find equally skilled employees immediately.

You should not increase employees’ work too much. If you will stop paying the bonus to them while leading in a downturn, then it is ok. They can understand this. Just be nice to your employees. They will stand by you in the crises.

Not taking experts to advise

You must know how expensive business consultancy charges are. Still, most of the businessmen are ok with spending that much money on that. Why? Because a true leader knows the value of the expert’s advice. Every single coin you spend on the experts’ advice will help you for leading in a downturn.

I would recommend that the leader must hire an expert business consultant, no matter you are leading in a downturn or upturn. And if you are not okay with it, then you should read books and articles on the internet which have explained how the leader should act in the crises.

Read about some famous businessmen, and notice how they lead their company in crises. And if you’re reading this article that means you have done the right things.

Becoming problem-oriented

You must have heard the terms problem-oriented and solution-oriented. Problem-oriented are those people who just keep complaining to god about their problem, always thinking why this problem came into my life.

Being problem-oriented is a bad habit that you should just leave. No matter there is a downturn or an upturn in your organisation but being problem-oriented is always a problem.

A leader should always be solution-oriented no matter you are leading in a downturn or upturn. This means, instead of complaining about the thing crying and asking why me, you should focus on how you can solve the problem.

Leaders’ attitude while leading in the downturn

The leader is the role model of the team members. So, he should focus on his attitude while leading in a downturn, which is inspiring his or her team members.
- First of all, leaders should stay positive and confident, so your team will not panic and feel safe.
- Leaders should make more effective strategic plans and send them to their team. Thus, your team will have a proper direction to work. And they will also notice that the leader is confident that we will overcome this.
- According to your company, you should know when to slow down and when to speed up. But still, i will suggest that not try to speed up too much during a downturn.
- Leaders should re-analyze the operation and projects are running in their company. Find out the flows in the strategy and try to fix it.
- Not only high authorities have good ideas and strategy. If you will ask the employees then they can also suggest a great plan, then it’s on to you whether you want to execute it or not.
Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerburg has allowed the people working under him that they can stop him in between if they are thinking there is something wrong or they want to suggest something.
- Analyze your competition, what they are doing. Find out the good strategy they are applying and try to take out something great from them. And apply this thing to your strategy.
- Filter the employees who are not working properly and also break the team’s motivation. After you will start firing the lazy people, the rest of your employees will start working sincerely.
Points to remember while leading in a downturn as well as an upturn
1. As mentioned in the above passage, leaders should always be solution-oriented.
2. Try to understand everyone’s point of view and respect your employees’ suggestions. At Least listen to them, and if it is not appropriate then the leader should explain to the employee why his idea is not considerable.
3. A leader should have the skill to identify the talent, Giving a person the work in what he is good at, then the person will work with his heart. And a leader can get maximum output from his employee this way.
4. The leader should work harder than the employees. This way the employees will also keep motivated and most importantly, they will respect you and obey your orders.
5. There should be common dreams between the team to achieve the goals. If employees are not treating the goal of the team as their own goal, there will be a gap between your team. So, make sure that your team has a common goal.
6. Be polite with everyone and accept their way of living. Don’t suggest them every small thing. otherwise, they will be frustrated. Give a little bit of freedom to them.
7. A leader should not blame anyone else for his own mistake. He or she should accept their own mistake. Everyone can understand that if you are a human you can make mistakes. If you will blame your team for the failure they will start hating you.
8. Maintain a good relationship with your employees. So, whenever a downturn will come they will support you.
9. A leader has been given a great responsibility. Always keep in your mind that your team is influenced by you. So, keep working hard so your team will also understand the value of the goal.
Conclusion

In this blog post, we discussed how to lead and succeed in a downturn? using some point like Major mistakes while leading in the downturn, Leaders’ attitude while leading in the downturn and another thing.

This is the responsibility of a leader that he should take care of the team members and train them to face all the ups and downs. Real leaders always look forward and keep walking irrespective of the adverse conditions.

They also inspire others and appreciate everybody for their genuine efforts, no matter if the results are not promising. They give them a chance to improve. If you like this post so shear and read our other blog post.

Also, you can read our blog on Albrecht’s four types of stress-managing common pressures

FAQ’s

1) Which is one most important thing to remember while leading in a downturn?
I have mentioned so many things, which a leader should do or don’t do while leading in a downturn. But, if you are asking one of the most important things, that is Will.
You may have seen some people with great skill but they have done nothing in their life because of lack of will. I have seen some professors in my college, who have done PhD but, still, they are doing nothing worthwhile in their life. I am not saying that they are just a professor. They can create a big impact by working as a teacher also. But they are not doing that also.
On the other side, there are also some professors in my college which have not done PhD in any field but still, They are working hard and teaching us as best as they can.
The only difference between them is Will!

2) Who is a great leader?
Leadership is not positional power, it is personal power. Imagine you are the son of a businessman. After your father retires, he is making you the new boss of the company. Now, if you don’t have the skill to run the company. So, in this case, you have positional power but don’t have personal power. Therefore, the employees will not accept you as a leader.

3) Should we have plan B for a downturn in business?
Yes, That will help you in bad times. If you are thinking that plan A is what we want to do and plan B is a complete second plan which we will execute if plan A doesn’t work. Then you have not understood it clearly.
We are not developing plan B so that we can execute it when plan A completely fails. We have to develop plan B to lower the chances of plan A failing. This means, if anyone or two or three tasks of plan A fails, then how can we continue plan A by using the alternatives from plan B.
That means we are not changing the destination, we are just changing the path..

4) Does having a co-founder help you while leading in a downturn?
Yes, Here are the words of two successful CEOs;
“ I don’t think I would have made it a single day if I didn’t have Rohit there.”
This is what Kunal Bahl (co-founder and CEO of snapdeal) think about Rohit Bansal (co-founder of snapdeal)
“It is important to have a co-founder. If I were alone, I would have shut Zomato a long time ago.”
This is what Deepinder Goyal (co-founder and CEO of Zomato) think about Pankaj Chaddah (co-founder of Zomato)

5) Which are the three best books to learn Leadership?
i) Primal Leadership by Daniel Goleman
ii) The Seasons of Life by Jim Rohn
iii) On Becoming a Leader by Warren Bennis
April 24, 2021
Action Centred Leadership Development Qualities – Everything You Should Know
As a team leader, you will face many difficulties. Either it will be your team members’ problem or your work problems. At every level, nature will test your leadership development qualities.

Sometimes it is difficult to think about your responsibilities and to take specific action to achieve your goal.

WHAT’S IN IT

What is Action Centered Leadership Qualities

People also called action centred leadership a three-circle model. And it was first published by John Adair in 1973. Also, action centred leadership focus on three core areas. That you need to focus on for your maximum team efficiency and productivity.

These 3 core areas are

Individual: Your action that targets your team individuals according to conditions and needs.

Team: Your action should be done at the team level. This ensures team productivity and team cohesion.

Task: Those actions that you have to take at your level to achieve your goal.

Additionally, in action centred leadership making balance is not easy every time. Sometimes many problems arise in balancing the above areas. For example, sometimes in the pressure to achieve a sales goal. You will prioritize the task at the expense of the individual and team. And this unbalanced condition might cause some problems in future.

Additionally, now let’s take another example in which you have the world’s best team. But your leadership qualities lack goal setting. Then how can your team know what they have to achieve?

Also, in this example, individual and team areas are focused but the task core area lacks.

Action Centered leadership in Real Life

In real life too, action-centred leadership is easy to practise. But sometimes some problems arise. And these problems make people think that action-centred leadership is trash.

Additionally, in action-centred, you have to focus on three core areas prior to developing your leadership skills. And adapt the leadership model according to your conditions and situation.

Here are detailed three steps that will help you to practise action-centred leadership.

Focus on Leadership Development Qualities

Although action-centred leadership can be practised in any organization no matter how big or short it is. However, Adair and his colleague believe that to achieve the goal in action-centred leadership you have to develop certain leadership qualities.

Team Leaders: Team leaders need to practise and briefing the skills. They have to take control and define the task to team members. They should motivate and inspire the team members and should evaluate their performance to achieve mutual goals. It is very important that team leaders should be led by example not by motivating them.

Operational Leaders: Operational leaders need to influence and inform the team members. They should also interpret results and goals and start the project and plans according to them.

Operational leaders should have the skills that need to be implemented in order to interpret the result.

Now Focus on Three Core Areas

In this area, you have to think and apply all three responsibilities. Imagine your responsibility according to your actions and goals. And you have to also think about which areas need which responsibilities.

Additionally, after this, you have to separate equal time and spend equal time in all areas.

Use the below guide as a to-do list according to your conditions.

Building the team

These steps help you and your team to achieve your goal faster and efficiently.
- Set performance standards and group behaviour.
- Please ensure every team member has skills, abilities and confidence to perform a given task.
- Also, manage any team conflict and help your team members to make a comfortable environment.
- Encourage Intra and inter-team communication.
- Additionally, motivate and inspire the group.
- Also, build a team and generate team spirit.
- Don’t forget to give necessary feedback and instruction to your team members according to their performance.
- Also, identify the work culture of your team and promote their work culture. Doing this will build a comfortable environment in team members.
- And don’t forget to alter group composition. Doing this will help you to develop your leadership qualities.
Achieving the task

As a leader, your uttermost responsibility should be guiding your team members. These steps help you and your team to achieve your goal faster and efficiently.
- As a leader, define and identify the task that your team members should do.
- After the above step, communicate with your team members, prioritise the task and make the suitable and comfortable environment.
- Also, create strategies that include the deadline, deliverables and measures that your team should do.
- Help your team to define success.
- Use tools and process the task and ensure that each team member can understand this.
- Control the speed of work.
- Also, evaluate and discuss the current condition of the team project and performance.
- Decide quality, time measures and reporting standards and make sure your team follows all these.
- Report and review the progress.
Focus on Individuals

It is very important to understand the fear, needs, condition, skills, talents of your team members and here are some tips to do this. These steps help you and your team to achieve your goal faster and efficiently.
- Clearly and concisely define your team members responsibility and task.
- Support individuals and never force them to do anything.
- Spend some time with your team members and focus on their leadership development. And know more about them not as a leader but as a good friend.
- Also, spend some little time to know their passion, actions, behavioural styles, personality, cognitive skills, needs and aims.
- It is very important to control more enthusiastic individuals or team members. Also, you should promote introverted team members. But don’t forget to force them to do this.
- Offer your support and coaching.
- Give regular feedback. And don’t promote negativity.
- Give reward, praise or a shoutout to an individual who contributes towards your goal.
- Adapt the Model According to Your Situation.
More About Real leadership development

Real leadership development is not only to balance the three core values that we mentioned above. But real leadership development is to balance three core values according to your conditions and situation.

For a case when a new team member joins you, then most of the time should be spent in new team member coaching instead of a task.

And for a situation in which you have to achieve your sales goal within a short time period then your first priority should be a task rather than your team value.

When your all three core values compete with each other to get your attention. Then you should prioritise your attention according to your situation and goals.

Sometimes your team and task both need you. Let’s take an example if your teammate met with an accident. And you have a near deadline for your work. Then you have to choose one from two.

Always remember to use your judgement ability wisely. Maybe wrong judgement will hamper your team and goal activities.

Things to Remember

Leaders have many other responsibilities too other than these three core values. And it’s not an easy task to handle these three values with other important tasks.

Unfortunately focusing on another task may cause team upset, the cohesion of the team, unhappy clients and team members. Action centred leadership is one of the best leadership qualities that help to balance the environment in your personal and professional life too.

You can apply action centred leadership to balance your professional life by three stages.
- Develop after identifying the core skills for your business and your team.
- Identify and focus on your responsibilities that your business needs from you and take action to fulfil all your responsibilities.
- Accept your business needs and modify your decision according to these. The correct balance of work and responsibility always depends upon your situation and conditions. You have to figure out what your business needs and follow a good work culture by changing your leadership development and prioritizing your work needs.
Conclusion

An action centred leadership can solve your problems. And it ensures that you achieve your goals without or fewer problems. Unlike other leadership ways, action centred leadership helps you to focus on three areas, Individual, Team and task. And it can help you to balance those three areas.

Also read our blog on Using Affirmation Harnessing Power of Positive Thinking

FAQ’s

What is action centred leadership development?
The action centred leadership focus on three core areas that you need to focus on for your maximum team efficiency and productivity.

When to use Action centred leadership?
Sometimes it is difficult to think about your responsibilities and to take certain action to achieve your goal.

What should I pay attention most to when building a team?
Set performance standards and group behaviour.
Please ensure every team member has skills, abilities and confidence to perform a given task.
Also, manage any team conflict and help your team members to make a comfortable environment.
Encourage Intra and inter-team communication.
Additionally, motivate and inspire the group.
Build a team and generate team spirit.
Don’t forget to give necessary feedback and instruction to your team members according to their performance.
Also, identify the work culture of your team and promote their work culture. Doing this will build a comfortable environment in team members.
And don’t forget to alter group composition. Doing this will help you to develop your leadership qualities.

What should be the leadership qualities of leaders in action-centred leadership?
Team leaders need to practise and briefing their skills and should focus on leadership development. Also, they have to take control and define the task to team members. Additionally, you should motivate and inspire team members and should evaluate their performance to achieve mutual goals. It is very important that the team.
April 13, 2021