We all aspire to be part of great teams and to lead great teams. But great teams are also made up of individuals who would be brilliant at something but would also be very difficult to handle in something else.
The other day I was watching a video of VVS Lakshman’s book launch which also had Saurav Ganguly and Zaheer Khan in the panel. One of the points that VVS brought out about was that it was this Indian Cricket team that turned around expectations and made everyone believe that winning across formats and across geographies as something the Indian team could achieve. There were several members in that team who went on to play more than 100 tests. There was Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Lakshman, Kumble, Zaheer and Harbhajan all of whom were individually brilliant players.
Some of my earlier articles on what makes great performers and teams are also listed below ready reference which will also enable to get a wider perspective about this topic.
Various researches conducted a list of about 20 key characteristics were identified which were there with the most successful leaders. But the 2 key characteristics which differentiated the great from the good were mainly the below two.
- Bringing multiple teams and high performing individuals together
Coming back to our earlier example about the Indian cricket team in the early part of the century which under Ganguly for the first time went on to become the top ranked test team. Ganguly had taken over captaincy after Indian team had reached a low from the betting scandal and he was able to rebuild this team of high performing individuals. Am recollecting Ganguly sharing how each of these brilliant individuals acted as leaders in their own capacity and would also freely share their thoughts and suggestions which they felt would help the team’s cause. And since each of them were individuals with brilliant cricketing brains it helped the team cause. Ganguly was also reflecting on a particular incidence when Harbhajan would insist on a particular field placing and from a hopeless situation India went on to win that test match because Ganguly listened to what Harbhajan had to say and trusted his instincts as a bowler.
A few weeks back was seeing the movie Oppenheimer and was seeing how Oppenheimer was able to create a new township hidden in the hills with all facilities and get so many established and talented scientists to join him at this faraway place in their quest to create the nuclear bomb.
In today’s world where people operate globally and virtually teams tend to work in their silos, it’s not easy for any leader to get these teams of highly efficient people to combine together and work with a common goal in mind. It is because of this that this skill is rated by almost all studies as one which differentiates great leaders from good ones.
2. Run the decision-making factories most efficiently.
There are hundreds of decisions which get taken across any organization at various levels. That’s why it’s right to call them decision making factories. It’s not practically possible nor is it efficient to centralize and control all these decisions. What differentiates great leaders is their ability to keep improving this decision-making process across the organization. Maybe make a continuous Kaizen on all decision-making processes at all levels.
Some of the common mistakes which such leaders avoid are.
- Not surround themselves with only people who think like themselves and have similar backgrounds.
- Not surround themselves with only people who consciously or unconsciously only try to agree to what the leader says and not point out the issues which they foresee in the chosen path.
As per Jeff Bezos the advantage when using an analytical method to arrive at decisions is that the analysis does away with hierarchy, and it also overrides a lot of politics and bias.
Every decision cannot be taken just by data. Sometimes your instincts or gut feel which you have gained by years of experience in a particular field helps you arrive at decisions which look contrary to the data when taken but works out very well in the end.
Below is the link to an earlier article of mine of such decision making for ready reference
Have had the privilege to work under about a dozen different bosses and each one of them had a skill set which was unique and probably the reason for their success. While working with them we also pick up several of these skills very often unconsciously. The skills that make you successful at one level of leadership would not be what’s needed at the next level and maybe the next level. The starting point of understanding and learning these skills is in being truthful to ourselves and understand the gap areas which we need to develop on.
Sometimes these leadership needs change due to changes in technology or regulations or market competition or sometimes even the direction that the company is taking. Hence reviewing and understanding the needed skills and the gaps is a continuous ongoing process. To continue getting information on such leadership skills do subscribe to my new LinkedIn newsletter Rejo’s Biz Bytes and visit my website www.rejofrancis.com
