Leadership assignment: Example of good leadership

Ankit Hegde

Example of Good Leadership

EMPLOYEES FIRST, CUSTOMERS SECOND

SUBMITTED BY ANKIT HEGDE On July 15th 2010 the book Employees First, Customers Second written by Vineet Nayar, CEO, HCL Technologies was launched, based on a unique management theory that turned conventional thought completely upside down. Mr. Nayar illustrated the journey that he and his employees at HCL took to change the conventional methods of management. The philosophy of Employees First, Customers Second was to bring about a drastic change of corporate culture, to empower employees, open up to transparency, reducing the power of managers and to ensure the value zone (employees) were equipped to make their magic happen (to build the business). He sought for a lot of transparency and empowerment in the company and stressed that decisions would be made at the points where the decisions should be madethat is, by employees, where the company meets the client. Ideally, he said, the organization would be inverted, where the top is accountable to the bottom, and therefore the CEOs office will become irrelevant. The results HCL growth story has been remarkable. It has been able to grow at 25% year on year basis even during the recession period. HCL was predominantly into BFSI sector, but they were able to diversify into various other domains. They had employees coming up with new measures. They shifted into volume based growth which increased the revenues. They even did a geographical shift in terms of identifying business opportunities across the globe instead of concentrating on a few regions. He outlined three steps which an organization can take to transform itselfthe first, to look at itself in the mirror and be extremely uncomfortable with it. By looking at the present situation and understanding the ground realities and knowing that they can be better. Secondly by creating a Vision for tomorrow, outlining where the organization wants to be and working towards it. Third, starting small catalyst actions which help to move in the direction of the goal. Mr. Vineet Nayar has been a transformational leader. He was able to change the status quo by appealing to followers values and have vision of a new phase of the organization. He has been able to understand the situation and influence his followers towards achieving group goals.

Leadership assignment: Example of good leadership

Ankit Hegde

Four qualities of leadership were very evident in his style of leadership: Vision Empathy Consistency Integrity

He followed the Theory Y style of understanding human behavior - Optimistic view of others This makes a great deal in determining about the organizational culture and gives rise to organizational creativity. Workers who share the leaders goals and values will be more motivated to do their work. Four categories of leadership behavior that are related to effective group performance: Leader support Interaction facilitation Goal emphasis Work facilitation

And through his policies for manager responsibilities and feedback policies, the above mention traits have been one of the main reasons for HCLs success. Empowerment HCL follows the case of servant leadership, HCL have a policy where its the obligation of managers to ensure their subordinated have all the tools they need required to create value. It is all about the manager helping, supporting, coaching and mentoring the staff as opposed to simply telling them what to do and following up on a weekly basis. At HCL, employees evaluate

Leadership assignment: Example of good leadership

Ankit Hegde

the managers and vice versa. Subordinates are constantly asked whether enough is being done to help them in their job, what additional training they require and what other ideas they might have to improve the business. Two key components of empowerment: Delegate leadership and decision making down to the lowest level possible. Equip followers with the resources, knowledge, and the skills necessary to make good decisions.

Transparency HCL decided to make a great deal of previously select information open to all employees. This included how the company was performing in sales and delivery, what internal concerns have been raised and how they have been dealt with and what career plans people have. Even 360 degree assessments of all staff (including the CEO) have been made public. The CEO also would share his problems mentioning about the challenges he has in his job. By involving everyone in the business, he was able to get buy-in from the organization at the grass root level. And once a positive outcome has been achieved, the employees would own the results as they helped bring this about themselves. Mr. Nayar has been successful in creating an organization citizenship behavior among employees, behaviors that go beyond job descriptions and role requirements and help reduce the workload or stress of others in the organization.

Leadership assignment: Example of good leadership

Ankit Hegde

Leadership grid figure Being a peoples man and a result oriented person he stands high on the leadership grid. He has been able to demonstrate that the change was possible keeping employees happy and satisfied and showing the results in term of HCLs growth in revenues and profits. 9,1 7,7 Concern for people 9,9

1,1 Concern for results References: Text Book: Leadership Enhancing the lessons of experience

1,9

http://jorgensundberg.net/content/success-tip-put-employees-first-customers-second http://www.inflectionmethods.com/2011/03/02/employees-first/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vineet_Nayar http://hbr.org/2010/03/leadership-lessons-from-india/ar/1