Q. Who is a global corporate leader? What is your take on the styles that leaders adopt?
A. A global corporate leader is one who is able to deal with a large number of decisions across nations. It is a challenge for most leaders to manage large workforce in different nations. Good leaders know what styles of leadership to use. But, to get the most out of their teams, leaders need to have understanding of what drives them towards those styles.
The important factor in determining why leaders behave in certain ways is the set of characteristics or competencies they have; understanding their inner drives that allow them to predict, monitor, and manage their behaviour. Developing their conscious ability to manage what may come naturally to them, and choosing the appropriate leadership style, allow them to deal effectively with different situations.
Effective leaders analyse the objective requirements of the job at hand, and choose the leadership styles. Understanding what the job requires from them versus what they find naturally satisfying, explains why they may perform well in some aspects of the job while finding other parts frustrating. This frustration, if not managed, may inhibit their ability to perform at a high level across the whole role.
Q. Tell us about Hay Group’s recnet study on leadership styles?
A. We have identified six distinct styles of leadership. By understanding more about these styles, leaders will be able to put their own predominant style into perspective. They will be more flexible in the way they lead their team and will get more out of them by using the most appropriate style.
1 Visionary: The visionary leader inspires and is able to explain how and why people’s efforts contribute to the dream. Through empathy and clarity they are able to move people towards shared dreams.
2 Affiliative: The affiliative leader creates harmony that boosts morale and solves conflicts. It is a useful style for healing rifts in a team and motivating during stressful times.
3 Participative: This type of leader is a superb listener, team worker, collaborator and an influencer.
4 Coaching: Through listening and helping people identify their own strengths and weaknesses the coaching leader encourages, delegates and improves performance by building long-term capabilities.
5 Pacesetting: With a strong drive to achieve high personal standards and initiative pacesetters get results from a competent team.
6 Directive: It is a style that demands compliance and is most effective in a crisis situation when you need an urgent turnaround.
Q. Not all leaders are managers and not all managers are leaders. How would you substantiate it?
A. What distinguishes a leader from a manager is the ability to articulate a compelling vision. For instance, a visionary leader will be able to galvanise employees to work together through crisis and can even attract top candidates to join them in tough times. A good manager is one who is able to decode the vision into action and hence is necessary for the smooth running of a company. One is not necessarily better than the other, but the combination is powerful. Imagine leaders who are capable of selling a vision and managers who are able to ensure that vision is achieved. Leaders focus on change and innovation but managers focus on meeting the budget.
Q. How does leadership style create an impact on the climate of an organisation? In what case is there a risk of employees losing sight of the right direction and how the situation can be dealt with?
A. Today, we live in a chaotic environment. This fact requires different types of leadership styles to apply to lead people effectively. Our research shows that leaders may often need to play directive style of leadership in order to ensure sustainability of the organisation.
Q. What are the strengths and areas of improvement for Indian leaders when compared to their western counterparts?
A. 1 Socially responsible business acumen: Indian leaders show an unusually persistent and pervasive concern for their nation, backed by adoption of innovative technology and methods. As a result they focus strongly on goods and services that benefit everyone and enhance India’s global status.
2 Team leadership: A great leader not only realises the importance of directing the team’s activities but also of building their capabilities for the future. Indian CEOs demonstrate a clear understanding of this.
3 Inner strength: Indian leaders excel in showing a striking level of focus on the greater good of the country and its population as a motivation for difficult or risky decisions.
4 Managing external stakeholders: Indian leaders network in a bold and targeted way, yet their organisational awareness skills are focused mainly on coping with external politics.
5 Many times, Indian leaders are characterised by great thinking but little execution. Their views reflect the experiences of organisations doing business in India that find their investments take longer than expected to pay back.
