Some of you may be
surprised at the heading. The reason for using this term is because I had the
opportunity of working with some excellent bosses in the Navy who were great in
taking quick decisions and I used to love that. And I also came across
some bosses in the Navy as well as in the corporate world who moved at the
snail’s speed. They either never took any decision or took abnormally long
time, got into too many deliberations before taking even a simple decision.
Obviously, they were considered as lousy leaders.
I have been somehow
very fast in taking decisions in my life. The credit for this goes to my
college days, where my grooming took place as a student leader. And then I
joined the Indian Navy. By and large, defence officers are considered to be
quick in decision making. (Exceptions are always there). When the cannon shells
and rockets are flying all around you in the battlefield, you don’t have the
luxury of calling a meeting and then taking a decision as to how to retaliate.
When a torpedo is detected by your Sonar approaching your ship, a quick
decision by the Commanding Officer can make the difference between sinking or
survival of your ship.
Leadership at the
Lightning Speed in the corporate world becomes even more relevant in the age of
smart phones and internet. You may be travelling on business tour in Germany
and still taking decisions based on a brief chat or an e-mail for a deal with a
Chinese company. The employees love a leader or a manager who takes quick
decisions. Such leaders command the respect of their subordinates and
appreciation from all the stake holders of the company and their management
styles are used as case studies in B-schools.
Leadership @ the
Lightning Speed doesn’t mean hasty decisions or reactions to some events. It
means immediate attention to the problem based on its importance and urgency,
quick analysis based on thorough understanding and then the remedial action.
Such leaders use their immense experience, wisdom and even gut feeling at times
to come to a conclusion. Such leaders have the risk taking capability too. They
are highly confident in their approach, their thinking and about their actions.
They are men of integrity. They do what they say and they say what they think.
There is absolute synchronization in their thinking, their words and their
deeds.
A leader who
believes in the concept of Leadership @ the Lightning Speed believes and trusts
his people. They delegate responsibility and accountability along with
authority. They are quick in their feedback to their managers and employees.
They believe in rewards and recognition and that too in public. Such
leaders have a great tolerance for occasional mistakes but definitely not for
the stupid ones. They are full of enthusiasm and energy and cultivate the ownership
mentality in the minds their employees. They believe in empowering their teams
and trusting them. Simplicity, Agility and Speed of Execution are their
Mantras. They don’t clutter their mind with the unnecessary and unimportant
while they are fully alert and aware about what matters for the growth of the
organization. They don’t consume their energy and time on trivial issues.
The Lightning Speed
Leaders expect their managers to be motivators and trainers and definitely not
controllers. They have great aversion to too much of analysis that many times
causes paralysis of the projects in hand. The words like fear and
procrastination are not there in their dictionary. These leaders are great
absorbers of the best practices pursued around the globe. And they are
great communicators of these best practices to their people. They follow the
fundamental ABC of all communications i.e. Accuracy, Brevity and Clarity. Their
comments are crisp and to the point. They are not prisoners of existing rules
and use them as guidelines for the growth of the organization and are ever
willing to change them if it is required in the journey from good to a great
company.
They are a
reservoir of abundant energy and they know the knack of transmitting this
energy to their people. The one leader, I admire a lot is Jack Welch, the
ex GE boss who transformed GE to number one global organization in the 80s and
90s He used to say, ”Put the right people in the right jobs, give them the
resources they need, give them the freedom to operate and in fact get out of
their way”. He practiced ‘Leadership @ the Lightning Speed’ in the true sense.
(There are many more in the
world and in India too who can come in this category. Who are those great
leaders according to you? They could be from any discipline? I would be
grateful if you can share at least one name with me and why do you put him/her
in this category.)