Leading with trust In a world where a changing business ecosystem is fast evolving business practices, it's important to ensure that employees are engaged and motivated – and leaders play a major role here
C OVER
STORY
By Biswaroop Mukherjee
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s we grow from individual contributors to managers and then to leaders of organisations in our respective domains of expertise, the expectations of the people who work with us – the shareholders, the customers, essentially all stakeholders – grow by leaps and bounds. Every stakeholder looks up to a leader to deliver the margins, deliver the returns, and deliver the bonus for them higher year on year amidst market uncertainties, volatile economic environment, rising global competition, and increasing cost pressures. One leader is entrusted with beating the competition by a margin unheard of; one | may 2022
leader is entrusted with the task of reducing costs never seen before; one leader is entrusted with reducing the headcount by half as a part of the restructuring. All these seem daunting tasks and insurmountable too in the beginning. However, if the stakeholder expects that the leaders deliver on these seemingly unachievable targets, then the leaders have no choice but to roll up their sleeves and start strategising.
To achieve these seemingly impossible goals, the leader looks up to his team to drive the extra mile, go the extra distance, and push themselves harder in the plans. The leader consistently strategises with the team, reviews along with the team leaders, coaches the team leaders, and guides the team towards the goals planned. However, it requires the belief of each team member in the purpose, in the goal, in the leader to go the extra mile for the leader of the organisation and achieve the unachievable. As they say in corporate lingo: to 'dream big and deliver bigger'. Let's look into this phenomenon closely. First,
Most importantly, they trust that if they deliver the extra mile for the leader, they will accomplish their professional and personal goals in the long run