Leaders! Grow your followers to replace you, says Dr Sridhar

Participants of Viessmann-UWO Leadership Development Program

Dr B. S. Sridhar, Director, Global Leadership Development Program, and a Management Professor (Emeritus) at University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh, has taught Corporate Strategy, International Business, and Leadership for over 30 years. He is the principal designer and director of the Viessmann-UWO Leadership Development Program for the past 6 years. 

Dr Sridhar, a TISS alum (1972 PMIR), is a consultant and trainer for several Fortune 500 companies and has 8 years of experience as a senior human resources executive. He spoke with Team TISSAA on challenges faced by industry leaders.    

TISSAA: How would you define transformational leadership?

Dr Sridhar: Transformational leadership is a process by which leaders transform people and organizations by collaboratively creating and sharing a compelling and inspiring vision, and empowering followers to succeed through intellectual stimulation, and individualized attention.

TISSAA: It is often cited as one of the most important ideas in business leadership, do you think so?

Dr Sridhar: The idea of transformational leadership originated in the works of McGregor Burns, a political scientist and was seized upon by Bernard Bass, a thought leader in organizational leadership. Their greatest contribution was to move the field beyond the traditional transactional leadership approach where interactions among the leaders, followers and organization were viewed as a host of transactions to maintain balance, equilibrium or status quo.

Having said that it is important to recognize that one has to optimize the emphasis on transactional and transformational approaches to leadership in order to achieve both efficiency and effectiveness.

TISSAA: How difficult is it to encourage and motivate people to work in a team?

Dr Sridhar: Motivating and encouraging people was never easy, and continues to be the prime task of a leader. Broadly speaking, the leader has to assess both motivation (what energizes) and ability of the followers to perform.

In order to motivate effectively, leaders have to take time and understand what motivates her/his followers. One has to pay attention to both intrinsic and extrinsic needs of the followers, and design roles and responsibilities in which intrinsic and extrinsic factors are embedded in them.

With most important tasks requiring interdependencies, individuals have to learn how to work in teams. As Stephen Covey pointed out our effectiveness depends on our ability to progress along the maturity continuum: from dependence to independence, and from independence to interdependence.

It is also the leaders’ responsibility to work with the followers to strengthen their individual and team skills and abilities, and provide requisite resources needed to be both efficient and effective in their jobs.

In essence a compelling vision and empowerment through intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration need to motivate the followers. Leaders and organizations have to invest in developing followers so that gradually leaders work themselves out of job! The goal is self-abnegation.

Participants of Viessmann-UWO Leadership Development Program

TISSAA: How important is effective project management and sensitive change management? How important is to set a smart goal?

Dr Sridhar: Most grand ideas flounder because of a lack of disciplined implementation. It is not sufficient to generate a grand vision without translating them into SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound), and deploying them throughout the organization.

Further the Goal Setting theory has shown that specific, challenging goals that are set collaboratively, can be very motivating to the employees.

Accountability, follow up, mid-course corrections are made possible by adopting project management tools.

Dr Sridhar

TISSAA: Is there anything specific which leaders in the Indian Corporate sector needs to change in terms of their outlook, perception, especially towards their outlook towards their employees?

Dr Sridhar: Arriving on the global stage of competition has presented Indian leaders both opportunities and challenges.

Since Independence organizations and leaders have benefitted by borrowing modern management concepts and techniques, predominantly originating in the United States. Only those who have successfully adapted these concepts to Indian context have profited. One can learn a lot from Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Hindustan Lever, Larsen & Toubro, Infosys…. to name a few.

Whether at the national or organizational level, “culture eats strategy for breakfast, lunch and dinner”! Changes not rooted in the local context are bound to produce suboptimal results.

Indian leaders are best served when they take time to understand their own cultural ethos. Empirically, Indian culture and civilization have produced really valuable ideas and practices. One does not have to yield to the siren calls of false nostalgia of imagined glorious past. There are many proven, real gems of wisdom one can benefit from.

Respect toward others, irrespective of their socio-cultural background, and an informed appreciation of our heritage are key to effective leadership. These key factors should guide our quest for the best of concepts and techniques, whether they originate in the East or the West or wherever good ideas germinate. Engaging in “informed opportunism” implies that leaders know how to adopt and adapt.

TISSAA: Tell us about your Global Leadership Development Program 

Dr Sridhar: The objective of the program is to transform managers into leaders prepared to tackle the challenges of the 21st century. The program is designed for high potential managers who have (a) Proven competence and credibility through a record of sustained high performance, and (b) Potential to identify and transform opportunities for growth into organizational excellence.

The program employs a research-based curriculum paired with a rich mix of comprehensive assessment of leadership skills, experiential learning, corporate site visits, social and cultural activities, networking and sightseeing trips. Courses are presented by a select group of internationally reputed, award-winning faculty and industry professionals with rich experience in academics, work experience, consulting and training. Few leadership development programs in the market offer such comparable comprehensive, in-depth experience.

Participants in the program develop greater self-awareness and stronger self-confidence to redefine their role and contribution in the organization. They emerge with a mission-driven, value-rooted comprehensive personal and professional development plan translated into specific goals. We also offer to follow up online coaching to ensure timely implementation of their plans.

We are proud of our track record. Over the past six years over 60 per cent of the participants from over a dozen countries have been promoted to assume leadership responsibilities.