Q. In the health care sector, what kind of leadership style do we generally see?
A. Leadership is an art and the kind of leadership needed for various circumstances could vary like in any other industry. In health care, however, the important aspect of leadership is to have compassion and ability to understand the distress a disease can potentially cause. Without this basic humane understanding no leader in health care can be successful.
Q. From strategising to building a team and meeting the organisational goals and vision, a lot depends on how a leader does it. How do you do it?
A. I believe in the idiom, make-it-happen. I like to carry this attitude and motivate my team to follow the same. This kind of attitude has a potential to hasten work and prevent it from stalling, it finds its way through hierarchy. Apart from this, having the compassionate and considerate edge for our patients allows our people to reach out to them at a personal level, especially if there is any distress or complaint. This human edge with the right attitude makes the job more fulfilling, which at other times could have become too mundane.
Q. How often do you meet your employees to find out the need and how do you keep them afloat in difficult times?
A. We have regular general meetings and get-together. We make efforts to always have an informal dinner or lunch session post the formal meetings, so that people can talk freely. In difficult times, it is important to show confidence in them and their potential, while continuously guiding them.
At a CEO’s position it might be difficult to spend too much time, but a quick mail or message would elevate their spirits and make you come across as an affable leader.
Q. Adams and Yoder noted that ‘evidence from contemporary studies on sex-roles and leadership indicates that men and women, with similar education, career aspirations and training, have basically identical scores on measures of psychological masculinity and femininity.’ Do you agree?
A. Certainly! The innate potential of sensitivity and sensibility that women possess and the distinct cultural role they have been playing for centuries could work to their advantage. They need to believe that the locus of control is within them. Being in leadership position depends on internal psyche
