Even so-called semi-professional or progressive owners pin their hopes on those proclaimed loyalist of their ethnic or clannish background with the lower management calibre at the maximum.
While this may work in smooth sailing time it can push down the drain even otherwise a viable organization or turn them quickly into sick units.
Neither local companies’ owners spare enough funds to enlist the services of good headhunters to find the right kind of business leaders who are capable of ensuring successful operations during odd time, nor they have a bent of mind to undertake such an exercise.
The least which can be done in such a situation is an attempt to provide the basic orientation to such owners to develop clarity of vision for finding the right kind of people to run their operations successfully even unsupportive business environment to the extent possible. So they need to find an answer to the question, what it takes to be a leader in a broader sense as provided through this brief.
The most pivotal factor for the success of any business enterprise is the competent, effective and charismatic leadership capable of optimizing the output of all the resources of an institution, organization or the entity they are heading.
This brings us to the next vital question what it takes to be a really successful chief executive? Is it a plethora of academic laurels, demagoguery, high-level specialization in a particular field, long years of routine experience in a specific field or a missionary zeal? My clear answer will be none of these to be specific.
A truly successful executive has to possess a set of basic traits inherited, acquired and cultivated as listed below which enable him or her to ensure optimization of the yield of all the resources under objective conditions of the body he/she is heading:
* a good peep in human psychology; effective communication skills; initiative and drive; analytical approach; good judgment; decision-making; team work skills; motivational capacity; self- confidence.
Human psychology: a successful executive needs to have a good enough peep in human psychology to understand how the human mind acts and reacts to different stimuli. As per Peter Drucker, one of the most respected management ‘gurus’, “a successful manager or leader does not need to acquire so much knowledge of human psychology as to put up a consultancy chamber but one does need to understand why do the people behave the way they behave in a particular situation at a specific time”.
Communication skills: Communication takes place when two or more than two minds act in some measure reciprocally to each other. One does not have to be a great orator or demagogue to be an effective communicator. Effective communication takes place if and when a source encodes the message in such a manner and transmits it through such a channel that enables receiver to decode and imbibe the same sense and the context what the source intended to pass on.
This is not of course an easy job, as it will happen only if the source and receiver are in the same mental condition or wavelength and share the code of language or symbols. It also calls for a proper grasp of dynamics of interpersonal relationship. Thus through skill of effective communication a leader can ensure to get optimum return on inputs in all the productive activities out of all the people of his team, organization or nation at large.
Initiative: An executive cannot lead until he has initiative and drive. A prototype routine follower cannot look for the dark and gray areas in any field of operation on his own and have an urge to identify the lacking problems, complications in any framework and work out corrective measurers with the involvement and enlistment of relevant people for the necessary turnaround. Initiative and drive triggers curiosity as well as voice verse so vital for all kind of progress and development.
Approach: An executive cannot successfully lead without an analytical approach in evaluating all the issues and people he has to deal with. The degree of analytical evaluation is the criteria for coming to correct conclusions and making good judgment, which in turn ensures the successful implementation of any team assignment and necessary addressal of the people’s problem.
Judgment: No human being can claim to make 100 per cent correct judgment on all the issues but for the successful leadership role, the good judgment has to be exercised in 60 per cent plus cases. The degree of success corresponds to the higher percentage of good judgment.
Decision-making: The success of an executive depends on his ability for making correct, timely and well-defined decisions on all the issues. The inordinate delay, dilly-dallying in decision- making or the messy confused decisions are reflective of an ineffective and failing leader. The success of an executive is directly related to the percentage of correct decision-making under the objectives conditions.
Team work: An executive can’t achieve optimum success in any endeavour if he acts solo or as autocrat without motivating his team for enlisting their optimum input for the collective success. It calls for sharing power, delegation of both authority and responsibility candid exchange of views and continuous grooming and development.
Motivation: A truly successful leader possesses what is generally known as charisma for motivating his team and his followers through the practical application of all above traits displayed by his precedent settings. While precedent settings is the most effective way of motivation, addressing the hierarchal needs as per the psyche and placement of people particularly critical appreciation and recognition with an individual touch to optimize the motivational impact yielding the corresponding results.
Self-confidence: The sum total of the application of above traits is instrumental in the cultivation of self-confidence while self-confidence in a successful leader itself triggers the application of these traits to enable him / her galvanize all the resource of man, money material and machinery at his / her command for optimizing their output. Thus it is the set of these nine basic traits, which determines the success level of a leader in any walk of life. In turn an institution, organization, country or a nation need to look for a person possessing the highest level of these basic traits who can ensure resounding and long lasting success. He/she could be one out of near or dear ones, class or creed or any background that can steer the ship successfully through stormy waters.