The Hindu Business Line : <I>Leaders are like magicians </I>

Small changes, at precisely the right place and time, can `turn big organisational ships and keep them headed on the right course,' says Tom Barker in `Leadership for Results,' from Pearson (www.pearsoned.co.in) .

It is the leader's job to produce these changes, by working like magicians, says the author. "Magicians make things change without appearing to touch them." So too, leaders make projects successful without appearing to directly work on them, explains Barker. However, success doesn't come easily to any leader, because he has to contend with three barriers. `Passive conformity' is the first hurdle; this occurs when your people `abdicate their responsibility to think about the future' and leave it to their boss, that is, you! The second barrier is `adversarial competitiveness', which leads to destruction of projects `because people at senior levels could not or did not wish to talk to each other'. This barrier arises owing to `an underlying belief that others are certain to take advantage if they get the chance, so I must take advantage first'.

The third barrier is `arrogant complacency', common to organisations with a long history, which are paralysed by an entrenched resistance to change. An organisation firmly gripped by complacency will not see any risks on the horizon, not because they are not there, but because those in the organisation collectively `choose not to see' the risks.

Look around, therefore, to check if `Sick Sigma thinking' has replaced `six sigma thinking' in your company! "Six Sigma thinking involves a disciplined approach to improving organisational performance through collecting, analysing and learning from independent samples of data on aspects of performance important to stakeholders. In contrast, Sick Sigma thinking involves a disciplined approach to the creation of data that conforms to predetermined positions on certain aspects of performance announced by a few influential stakeholders."

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