The Hindu Business Line : Leading by empowering

Encouraging entrepreneurship is the cornerstone to successful leadership. Entrepreneurship is first and foremost a mindset. It is the art of finding profitable solutions to problems. Most leaders exhibit entrepreneurial abilities.

There is a clear distinction between a leader and a manager. Leaders have the ability to take responsibility beyond what is stated. Usually, managers function within boundaries, leaders do not. They exhibit boundary-less behaviour. Leaders have the ability to operate in grey areas or with incomplete information. Managers find it difficult to overcome that. Leaders are flexible without compromising the underlying values of the company.

Leaders have the natural ability to rally people around them. They are able to rise above hierarchy and build a culture of trust and passion within their organisation. They can enthuse and communicate with others; they also exhibit a sharper understanding of situations. Leaders are intuitive.

Leadership can be nurtured in a climate that empowers people to take decisions. For organisations pursuing an aggressive growth strategy, there is need for depth and breadth of leadership. And this is possible only by empowering. Empowering, in fact, is the most critical factor in developing or encouraging leadership.

At TAKE Solutions, we have built a similar environment, through the systematic delegation of responsibility and authority at the individual level. At each level, employees are given decision-making powers to help inculcate a sense of leadership in them.

Inculcating leadership in an organisation calls for enormous tolerance allowing them the leeway to make mistakes, to allow mature handling of inter-personal issues and the time for matters to resolve. To create an environment where there is a shared goal, willingness to try and reach that goal and there is no fear of failure.

I personally do not believe in leadership development programmes because I believe leaders possess certain innate traits, which exhibit themselves, and that can be sharpened. Leadership has to be a culture rather than a system.

H. R. Srinivasan, Vice-Chairman, TAKE Solutions

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