Managing knowledge workers in today's highly competitive scenario is indeed an exciting challenge for leaders of organisations. This is so because knowledge workers are intelligent, have high expectations as well as the desire to succeed in the shortest possible time. Unlike machines, they respond to the same stimulus in different ways at different times. A successful leader, therefore, is one who has the ability to interpret employee reactions to different situations and ensure that they remain motivated not only when they ride high on the sinusoidal curve (the lateral S that depicts high and low phases occurring in the course of a business) but also when they hit the trough.

As a good leader, one must know at what phase of the sine curve a team member is at a given point in time. This helps him to choose the right stimulus that would bring the employee to the desired level of motivation. An appropriate two-way communication system serves as a useful tool in achieving this.

Given the ever-changing business situation today, it is indeed a herculean task for leaders to keep realigning services, products, methods and practices to match needs. They can, however, do it best by empowering their team members to take calculated decisions as and when the need arises, and providing them with space for innovation at every touch point. This, apart from motivating employees to continuously strive for the better, makes them feel a part of each success story that the company can boast of.

To conclude, a company that creates a customer-oriented culture where it sees every problem as an opportunity to serve the customer better, is the one that will survive the toughest competition today.