Corporate crawling: Winning hearts or whining hearts

Working through the people rationale and communicating this clearly to the stakeholders is what aligns expectations (Image: Shutterstock.com - For illustrative purposes only)

Managing demographic vibrations successfully, necessitates competencies in disseminating information across cultural, ethnic, and geographical boundaries. Thus to successfully lead in special times, the onus gets infallible bigger for divergent enterprises to rethink how they tend to hone executive leadership. Individuals who bring a wide set of capabilities and who can bring together an integrated, high-synthesized approach to anticipate and capitalize on the fluctuating dynamics in the business landscape – are the ones, who set out to oversee the subtle intellectual metaphors of human behaviour - and cultivate the positive revolution.

In a business leadership change, as predictably pronounced, words matter. The cognitive capabilities of the peers/co-workers – enhance dramatically to even to respond to slightest hint of assimilations of what is not conveyed. Be it the silence, the brood, the ubiquitous humming or the vociferous concurs – they become the key fulcrums around which the ‘C’ leaders are either happily conjoined into or happily relieved from the meandering minds.

One of the most proverbial euphemism in the business transformation is that the best leaders understand the need to “walk the talk” — that is, their behaviour and day-to-day actions have to match the aspirations they have set for their colleagues and organization, which is toddling away from a torrid growth, to a well acclaimed corporate culture. Behind all this, at the heart of the company’s approach to strategy, service, and culture - remains a language system that defines life inside the organization and reminds everyone what really drives success.

As Peter Drucker says: “To be effective in an organization, one’s own values must be compatible with the organization’s values. They do not need to be the same. But they must be close enough so that they can coexist.” – I overvalue following three tenets that 'C' suites can bring into their mojo and be looked upon as the go -getters to win:

Tolerance, Vocal, and Persistence As individuals in organisations may be subjected to tension between what is right and what they are asked to do or what they see others doing - nurtures a fundamental belief that the majority of the human behaviour is ‘good’ and want to ‘do the right thing’.

The behaviour of leaders and what they Tolerate is critical. Leaders must demonstrate the habits that they want to see prevalent in their organisation and must not ignore behaviour that they don’t. Equally there should be systems inside the organisation encouraging individuals to ask questions - ‘does this make sense? Is this the right thing to do?’ – thus make it euphoric to raise a concern even if no-one else feels concerned. This is called Diffusion of Responsibilities that harnesses a Speak-Up culture and eliminates the symptoms of relegation into crowded corners.

Beyond Product and Process Innovation, people innovation ingrained into operating model remains a top notch agenda to be seen by the knowledge workers. And this where the reality of sensing the actions and decision making at the top drives to the genesis of Momentum Continued or Momentum Halted – across the value chain of stakeholders ecosystem, be it – employees, partners, suppliers or support members. So what 'C' suites can do to propel this effect in organisations? Cultivating an environment where there is clarity around acceptable and unacceptable behaviours. Combining this with an act of Persistence leads to assurance wherein mind says that everything is right.

This shifts the focus into crafting effective Culture Strategy against business strategy. Designing a culture strategy then becomes the most important journey for 'C' suites as it invokes important questions to ponder for them such as:
• Have you developed a vocabulary of openness that helps everyone understand what makes you affable to the stakeholders?
• How prim your expressions are in your best likeable conversations with your stakeholders?
• What separates you from the pack and why do your stakeholders expect you to win their hearts?

“The strongest leaders are those who have experienced or personally witnessed the negative effects of the status quo and thus are amenable to subsequent transformative power of change.” Therefore to deliver authentic and engaging communication with impact, the process demands a willingness to listen and change. It requires a sustained camaraderie of “Let’s Do It” so that people can say, “Why Not, Let’s Do It.” It entails identifying the feelings that matter, and then marshalling the whole enterprise ecosystem—from suppliers and partners, to customers and employees—to support that vision. It demands systems that ensure that the supply of people’ ideas get aligned with enterprise direction.

In the right communication context, working through the people rationale and communicating this clearly to the stakeholders is what aligns expectations, drives decision criteria and establishes important messages right from the beginning. Policies and practices of the company signal clearly what is valued and important. And this stems from the burning desire to look up to the leader who has built an aura of liking because respect can always be earned but it takes something out of that for likeability to be churned.

- By Rahul Goswami, a Certified Consultant in Sales & Marketing Advisory services; currently working in the areas of Global Sales and Solution Support

The thoughts and opinions shared here are of the author.