Column: Leadership Secrets

LEADERSHIP SECRETS
Leaders Are Like Conductors

By Deepak Ghaisas, CEO (India Operations), i-flex Solutions

Good leadership does not exist in vacuum. Leaders imbibe learning from their environment and constantly evolve through experience, introspection and self-study. And leaders with exemplary capabilities don't stop at this. Instead, they go a step further and inspire others to pursue a similar course towards individual excellence.

Cohesive teams working in sync play an integral role in creating any company. A good leader knows what it takes to create and lead such teams. He articulates a vision that is inspiring and dynamic, and guides his team towards the goal.

As an organisation spreads its reach across geographical boundaries, leadership takes on an additional dimension, inter-cultural communication. Leading teams that are bound by the same socio-cultural characteristics is difficult in itself. But leading teams across geographies is even tougher. The art of negotiation plays a vital role here.

Another important aspect of leadership that's often overlooked, is a leader's ability to lead individuals and not just groups. Team leaders don't actually lead teams. They lead individuals who make up a team. The only way a leader can get his or her team to work together is to learn how to work with each person as an individual.

A leader must also have the ability to delegate intelligently. Learning to delegate responsibility and to step aside confident in the knowledge that the task will be completed is an art. In the words of Blaine Lee, ''Great leaders are like the best conductors-they reach beyond the notes to the magic in the players.''

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