discovering behavior - empathy way

Historically, our workforce has had its fair share of what I call "text-book leaders" someone good in reading out content than being a "laboratory-leader" - one who's practices and also takes pride in experimenting...!!!

being today's leaders is all about -

being there
being transparent
being vulnerable
being the change, that need to be changed

I am fortunate to come across one true practitioner, who is willing to experiment & by virtue of it displays immense leadership qualities...meet "pba"

Sometimes all it needs is one accident/incident to define the persona. Here's one from "pba" -

Global teams are a reality and biggest challenge we are facing is to keep all as a "TEAM". This is possible only when "empathy" is a behavior on the ground than a dictionary entity. 

"pba" during one of his visits to other side of the globe, got a first hand feel of the challenges people face with time-zone, late evening meetings, impact to their personal life etc

A genuine practitioner, he asks himself 

"how he can be there for others" ,

"how he can be the change he is asking others to be"

"how he can be vulnerable and try stuff" 

He doesn't stop there, he evens discovers the answer. 

Once he is back to his home-land, he decides to wake up early, take calls more earlier than before so that his counterparts on the other side of the globe can leave home early

He advocates more video calls, as the human connect is what defines a relationship than audio connects and that is core of everything

Does the above behavior ring a bell, yes you are right , one of the most abused word "empathy"

A practitioner silently graduates without much fuss , another trait of being a leader.

Way to go "pba"

Professional Friction v/s Personal Differences

Few days back, one of my very good friend , raised a point on why there are dysfunctions in team ?

Why can't the team understand they are here for a professional purpose, keep aside their differences and strive for better performance....!!!

An interesting thought, one that provoked some thought in all us....

If at all professionals can accept personal differences, still agree to disagree but then work for greater cause...what an awesome world it would be..

Why do they get converted into personal issues ?

Why should someone build and carry personal issues in a professional environment ?

At the end we agreed that a good percentage of our workforce is unable to differentiate between the two and hence this big thriving opportunity of getting them together....

We all are humans and drawing boundaries are nearly impossible, which means this behavior is here to stay....!!!

And thats the reality.....

Leadership Decoded - Happy to Grow up with Sachin and Age with MS

A controversy in making , but the more I think about it , it doesn't seem to be one

Growing up loving our informal national game (in Indian context).

Sachin taught about , Impeccable Integrity , For the TEAM , Being Flag-bearer and pseudo leader of billion heads , possessing the power of making us dream , persona , charm , controlled aggression and many many more...

Aging with MS has also taught me a lot about circumstantial leadership  , Able to think on the feet , Being humble , A servant leader (I cannot recall once, when MS has stood at the center of any team photograph after a victory, he is mostly hiding) , Respect for TEAM , Leading by example - taking it head-on (when more than 2011 world up final) , epitome of confidence ....gosh the list goes on....!!!

In-fact a dream nursed by Sachin (world cup victory) and finally fulfilled by MS...what a story....

Fast forward to our industry , only make me wonder if the above two persona's gave us more than enough qualities to carry it forward . Its just to easy to be stuck with their game, but they lived beyond it.

The challenges faced with our work-force, all the transformation values, means we may not have to look beyond the two greats who stood for different values.

MS , the leader of a team and knows how to steer the ship - Sachin , the emotional king of a billion dreams, one who took it himself to balance it.....Leadership exhibited....!!!

What better note to end than just saying -
"Happy to Grow up with Sachin and Age with MS" .....

Coach - The "tag" to hide behind ....!!!

Evolution of industry is imminent and with that we evolve.

Onshore and offshore project leads/co-ordinators/managers was the flavor of 90s (more so from services standpoint)

Managers and Pseudo-Technical leads were the flavor of 2000s and early this decade...

To discover the trend for next few years, need not go far - Welcome coaching and coaches.

Its ironic how "All of a sudden" there are tons of coaches, maybe very soon the # of coaches may outnumber the resources to be coached.

The point is not about abundant coaches, but coaches for causes and not coaches driven by passion.

There is no wrong in coaching seen as a pure career option , but to truly succeed as a coach, a state of mind beyond professional role is important.

An interesting story to share - In an interview asked a candidate "why are there so many coaches in the industry" and I loved the answer - "Thats the logical transition from being a resource manager of a technical team" Wow...!!! Appreciate the openness of the candidate.

Ever since, I started wondering - "Is coach the tag, many will hide behind now".....!!!

Ask - Earn - Deserve

Product - The baby that was crying is now shaping our industry.

In a product conclave recently, there was a curious product owner in the audience, who was wanted to garner attention.

Loud comes a question - "I am proxy P.O for a highly technical team and they do not seem to give importance to me, as I am not technically sound. How to work around that issue" ?

Any sane Engineer would say, empathize with me by trying to understand my work.

Any sane P.O would say, How do I learn to talk their language ?

Any sane Manager would say , One great idea would be to spend time more often together and have all ears for them.

It seemed rather a case where the proxy P.O was looking for a shortcut and justify her stand.

All the P.O was looking for "How do I ask(demand) for respect" ?

This left me wondering about three magical words - "Ask - Earn - Deserve"

• 'Asking' respect is the best way to nurture disrespect for yourself

• 'Earning' respect is not easy, but asks for significant personal transformation. Empathy to others is a prime quality that needs to be focussed on.

• 'Deserving" respect is all about being in the most exclusive club. You do not need to do much, but being yourself gets you all that you deserve.

Ask, the easiest excuse, but Deserve the right approach.

Left me wondering, will that P.O ever graduate to "Earn", best wishes....

"Ask - Earn - Deserve".......!!!

PPT

No, we are not talking about Presentation.

Instead, many of us also have another representation to it - People - Process - Tools (PPT)

PPT has been the logical framework to force-fit any new idea. Conveniently call out three dimensions that need to be focussed upon.

I was recently reviewing a paper on DevSecOps and by default there were references to PPT. For a moment, seemed like a oxymoron....

The essence of Devops is Automation and here I have a speaker who is proposing something a tad opposite.

TDC - Technology Driven Culture
CDE - Culture Driven Engineers , form a core part of todays IT revolution.

Extreme Automation , TDC and CDE have made the PPT legacy now.

The next time I meet the speaker, rest assured this point of view shall be shared with them and who knows they may choose to remove PPT from their next discussion.

Automation Taking Over....!!!