Monday, July 15, 2002		Guest Speak

Qualities of a leader
Rajesh Tuli

Rajesh Tuli, Managing Director, Coral Telecom Pvt. Ltd.

LEADERSHIP all about understanding the full potential of the intellectual capital in an organisation. Simply defining intellectual is what human capital plus structural capital is. Human capital consists of competencies, relationships and values that basically cover the HR aspect whereas structural capital refers to customer capital base and the organisational capital (process, culture and innovation).

As a leader, one should be able to attract the best talents and ensure that they continue to grow with the organisation. Driven by a result- oriented and performance-based approach, delegation of responsibility and assessment of the same is another important job of the leader. Churning out the best possible output from a pool of talent is the real challenge.

As a leader, one should realise the drawback of the hierarchy system of management and he or she should be able to invite suggestions from every one in the ladder. The leader should understand that an organisation will function effectively only when it has the right mix or combination of people, from different background and experience, because leaders lead individuals who work as a team and a team excels only when it believes in a common goal. Reward at the right time and in the right context, go a long way in maintaining high level of enthusiasm and motivation of the team members.

Incorporating the suggestions and the ideas from the hierarchy and thereby coordinating with the sales & marketing, production and R & D team are another important aspect of good leadership.

Another vital aspect of leader is to provide inspiration in terms of true belief and passion for doing the job. He or she should inculcate the sense of belonging, responsibility and team effort. If a leader has this, it passes through the organisation and multiples exponentially.

As a leader one should continuously nurture the attitude of learning by providing open opportunities for learning through the organisation with a focus on the core competencies in terms of providing services and product to the customer. Customer loyalty cannot be won by offering superior technology solutions or products alone. The role of a leader is to harness the power of technology as a means to build and accordingly deliver consistently superior experience to the customer.

Based on the mission statement of the organisation, once the growth vision is defined, the next step is to communicate this across the length and breadth of the organisation. A leader has to be effective in whatever he communicates to his team. He has to follow whatever he preaches, thereby setting an example and standard for others to follow.

A leader should always search for a common platform whereby an alignment between the company's goals and the goals of individual employees are addressed and accordingly ensured. Leader should also act as a crisis manager, and step into other's shoes whenever there is any problem related to the organisation.

Last but not the least, as a leader, one is always watched closely and needs to demonstrate business ethics, fairness and integrity.