A good leader is one who can listen to and appreciate others and yet maintain objectivity, writes Naveen Khajanchi in Evolutionary Leadership: A holistic perspective (EastWest). This, in his view, is often the secret of successful team action, because when people feel they have been listened to before the action is taken, they are more aligned to it.

The author cautions against meetings that focus on what cannot be done or achieved, where the entire discussion is about pitfalls. “Later, we smirk when it goes wrong since that is all we were hoping for all along. This is nothing to be proud of.”

The healthy alternative is to have objective discussions that can solve issues, where feedback is shared, and participants agree to disagree. “But once a decision has been taken we should work towards it as team-players…”

The glue that keeps teams together is gratitude, notes the author. He describes it as a credit to your account which automatically comes up whenever you meet the team members.

“After our work is done and when there is no agenda to be pursued then it is a unique skill to go out of one's way to thank and remember the benefactor. People when not in powerful positions need to be given this comfort by us as often as we can.”

Good thoughts: It may seem old-fashioned to have a chapter titled ‘good thoughts,' but it has important insights such as that while it is important to be objective in life, it is far more important to not run people down. The trick is to train your mind to be able to stop, rather pre-empt, negativity, and gradually you will begin to see positive results, guides Khajanchi.

He rues that we often erroneously only acknowledge people with position and public image as being successful. “Look around and you will see so many people making a difference in their chosen fields. Each person doing his/ her role well is vital, as without their contribution the wheel will not turn.”

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