lllllliHl

How does ' matt’

if you are a CEO?
Should organisation be full of people or full of CEOs? Is leadership confined to
position or title? Is it about power and authority? Definitely not. Then why only
the CEO in an organisation is entrusted with the task of maximising profits,
ensuring growth, designing vision, mission and strategies of the organisation,
setting goals and targets, developing cultures, resolving conflicts and solving
problems? Why it is just CEOs responsibility to bring effectiveness in the
organisation? Why can’t employees at all levels take this responsibility in an
organisation? Employees in the organisations are just seen assisting the CEO.
Also, the strategies, vision and mission framed at the top, get diluted when
one moves down the line. In the present knowledge economy era, CEO should
consider himself/herself as a primus inter pares-first among equals and not
the one who directs and instructs other employees

By Dr. Shalini Wadhwa and Prof. Ramanan Balakrishnan

CEO - A Primus inter Paras be the Excellence in Organisation.

Whenbeingresult orientedisthebyword foran CEO thus becomes a person creating excel-
organisation the CEO might do well to collate lence in organisations. As mentioned. each in-
ideas from the lowest level. so that each worker dividual who is hired in an organisation comes
can feel recognised and accepted as an import- with some skillset. Right environment coupled Flexible: A leader not only should be agile but
ant part ofan organisation. Since all individuals with an opportunity to demonstrate one’s skills should also enthuse agility in the organisation.
working in an organisation have some skill set, properly leads to excel]ence at all levels. An indi- He should foster an environment of change in
every worker irrespective of the hierarchy, must vidual who creates excellence in his/herarea of the organisation, for the organisation which will
know—What is the given job? When to work action in an organisation becomes a CEO (Cre- not be in a learning mode will perish in today‘s
on it? How to carry out the job? While with ob- ating Excellence in Organisation)- A LEADER. VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Am-
servation experience and involvement one can Leadership is not about being a Chief Executive biguous) environment. Being agile is to establish
know what is to be done and what will be the Officer, it’s about relationships. about credibility a culture for innovation and creativity. A leader
time factor involved but how to carry out such a and about what you do (Kouzes, James and Pos- should allow experimentation in the organisa-
job depends upon the workers' industrious and ner, Barry, 2017). tion and accordingly align all its policies towards
illustrious instincts. this strategy. An organisation should Lead the
As is stressed in Gita, a balanced mind and CEO - The FARMER Change and not just react or respond to the
withanunselfish attadimeruwhenhedoes the A CEO should consider himselfas a farmer. The changes in order to be successful. According to
job it is verily Yoga way a farmer gets fertilisers and resources to Peter Drucker, “Culture eats strategy for break-
. create fertile soil for the seeds to grow. the same fast”. So, it should be ensured that an organisa-
WWEs waya CEO has employees in his organisation. He tion's culture is kept flexible, agile and adaptable
Wmmmmfl 50" should create an environment where these em- all the time so that the organisation not just re-
ployees can grow and attain their full potential. sponds to change but leads the change.
buddlii-yukto jahritiha ubhe sukrita-dushkrite The business environment today is verycomplex Aetive Listener: A person managing a team
tosmfidmgfiya yigfyasva yoga}; kannasu kaus‘halam and poses several threats to the organisation. should know what the likes and dislikes of his
One who prudently practices the science of However, ifthe soil is fertile and plants are root- employees are. Listening to them, asking rele-
work without attachment can get rid of both ed firmlyin the ground. it can face and surviveall vant questions will help in creating a rapport
good and bad reactions in this life itselfi There- the challenges ofan environment. Be it a digital with the employees which in turn will help in
fore, strive for Yog, which is the art of working age or knowledge age all leaders should have at- giving constructive feedback to the employees
skillfully (in proper consciousness). tributes ofa farmer. We call it - FARMER Model and that is taken positively by the employees be-
This philosophy is required to be inculcated F- Flexible cause of the relationships created. A congenial
by the CEO by interacting at all levels. Essentially A-Active Listener environment also helps employees in raising
a CEO should strive to be illustrious not simply R- Respeq their concerns freely. Knowledge workers don’t
satisfy himselflherselfby being industrious. This M- Motivator like to be led. A leader should act as a facilita-
sort of approach by the CEO will inculcate a E- Ethical tor and provide them with all the resources to
Sense ofpositive participation and the result will R-Responsible function effectively. A leader has to listen. in-
all I l'l__..-_.._A- fl!g!__ _ r l- I - d I“ fli‘ll‘n

valve and co-create with the employees (Ellyn
Shook. 2019).
Organisations should have a circular struc-
ture rather than a hierarchical pyramid just like
a sports team. In sports, there is a captain of the
team but before the start of the game the whole
team comes together (as equals) stands in acircle
and designs strategy for the game. There is the
equal say of all the team members in designing
the winning strategy. This eliminates confusion
or dilution. This also ensures the commitment of
all the members towards the strategy.
Respectful: lncivility is on the rise in organisa-
tions these days. Rude and disrespectful behav-
ior is rampant at workplaces It adversely impacts
the productivity of the employees, creates stress
among employees and results in high employee
turnover which proves very costly to the organ-
isations. When employees feel respected and
valued, they display organisational citizenship
behaviours and are found to be more commit-
ted to the organisation Respect has been rated
as one of the prime contributors to employees’
job satisfaction (SHRM, 2014). Companies that
have performed better in terms of productivity
and job satisfaction have developed respectful
ucommunication systems (Johnny Duncan,
2018). Leaders at all levels should model good
behaviour and adopt zero tolerance to disre-
spectful behavior. Bad behaviour should be pe-
nalised and good behaviour rewarded so that
Leaders at ev
tarot should?
as catalysts in the ,
organisation. Tlféi
should remove the
roadblocks before
the employees
and ensure that
the efficiency and
effectiveness of
employees increase
respect can be maintained at all levels in the or-
ganisation (HBR. 2013)
Motivator: in the knowledge era, the human
resource gives cutting edge to an organisation
over its competitors. However. organisations
today are finding it difficult to retain talent. The
aspirations and needs of young employees join-
ing the workforce now are different from em-
ployees of previous generations. It is, therefore,
important to design motivation strategies as per
employees' requirement. It’s seen that when a
team fails, the leader blames the employees for
failure. Instead, employees should be encouraged
so that they can forget the pain of failure and get
the courage to try afresh with the new insights
which the failures have given them. The need for
motivation is more when employees fail in their
endeavours. Great leaders stand by their employ-
ees during times ofcrisis and failures.
Ethical: An ethical leader should have integrity.
Doing the right thing when no one is watching
you is integrity. A person who does not compro-
mise on his principles even when he has an op-
portunity to gain from the situation is known as
ethical. When leaders do what they say (Walk the
talk) they become trustworthy Employees follow
leaders who are authentic. An authentic leader is
self-aware, transparent, ethical and trustworthy
Such leaders create an environment of trust in
an organisation which brings about era-operation
and collaboration among employmes.
Responsible: Lenders should make their team
members are responsive and accountable. They
have to empower the leaders by sharing their re-
sponsibility and delegating their authority. Em-
ployees should have the autonomy to work. They
should be allowed to take risks and experiment
in their jobs. A problem-solving culture where
employees are encouraged to identify the root
cause ofthe problem and come up with solutions
and implement these solutions fearlessly should
be developed, instead of a defensive culture
where employees concentrate on sailing through
and creation ofrecords to save themselves from
the oondemnations that follow when the decision
fails. For that, it is important that all without ex-
ception should be able to do something innova-
tive, it should not become a confluence ofpeople
who can individually do nothing but collectively
decide that nothing can be done. The CEO will
do well to collate all such ideas and delve deep
into the efficacy ofimplementing. leading to the
attainment of excellence. There can be no two
different opinions that it would lead to the lead-
ers emanating leaders
FARMER model is a people-centric model and
it should be followed at each and every designat-
ed level in an organisation. Further. a CEO in the
digital age should follow the F A R approach. He
should give his team members Freedom to “work
so that they become Accountable and start be-
having Responsibly. Leaders at every level should
act as catalysts in the organisation. They should
remove the roadblocks before the employees and
ensure that the efficiency and effectiveness of
employees increase by creating a fertile, fair and
level playing field for each and every employee in
an organisation. Bill Gates has envisaged “As we
look ahead into the next century, leaders will be
those who empower others.” This empowerment
is a crucial obligation ofan effective leader.
References
> Kouzes, i. M., 8r Posner, B. Z. (2017). The
Leadership Challenge. San Francisco, CA:
lossey-Bass.
D Grossman, I. H., 8:: Parkinson, I. R. (2002). Be-
coming a Successful Manager: How to Make
a Smooth Transition from Managing Yourself
to Managing Others. New York: McGraw-Hill.
D Zhuo, l. (2019). The Making of a Manager:
What to Do When Everyone looks to you.
New York: Portfolio]Penguin.
> Arora, Ramesh.l(. (2016). Art of Leadership.
IaipunParagon.
F The Price of Incivility. (2013). Harvard Busi-
ness Review.
I The Digital Leader. (2019, September). People
Matters. X(9), 22—25.
(The outlier Dr. Shalini Wndlrwa. is Assistant
Professor; at MPSTME, Mumbrri and ctr-author
Prqf Romanian anlcrislman, is Professor; at
MPSTME. Mumbm‘)