[MUSIC] In this video, we will hear from Mr. Prabir Jha on the team of Leader as Relationship Builder. Prabir Jha is an outstanding management practitioner and a recognized leader. He is presently the Global Chief People Officer at Cipla, a leading global pharma company in India. He has already rich academic and professional regard. As part of the prestigious civil service in India, he has worked in the government. Then, he moved to successfully lead people initiatives in reputed multi-national companies. As head of the human resources function, in large and progressive organizations, he has led global human resources strategy, organization development interventions, leadership capability development, and a host of other people initiatives. Prabir is also a visiting faculty at leading business schools, a leadership coach, and a prolific writer. >> It's true that knowledge is what drives a lot of the world today. But let's also remind ourselves knowledge is not everything that is an individual has. We live in a world where we have a lot to learn from others. Many get together to actually create value out of shared knowledge. And that's why relationship becomes very integral part of any leaders repertoire. How do you access people with knowledge? How do you overcome the sense of nonchalance, about reaching out to people who may be peculiar to you, but could be adding a source of knowledge? How do you look at people within your organization, beyond your organization, beyond your industry? To get to access knowledge. Knowledge which becomes meaningful, purposeful, and maybe even commercially rewarding. It makes it even more complex because the world is as we say a VUCA world. Volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. So lot of this makes relationship a center piece of knowledge access. Otherwise, you may have the best idea but you don't know what to drill that idea because we did not access knowledge of another kind. We never understood, counter stood that pieces that we may had. So I very strongly believed that today, it is all about a world of networks. The world of networks expands access to knowledge. And that is what makes the difference. So relationships, the art of understanding, managing nuances of relationships becomes very central to knowledge. Actually become value creative, and not being knowledge for the sake of knowledge. In your relationship, whether it's for a front line manager, or for anyone else, it's fundamentally about trust, it's about fairness and firmness, it is about integrity of intent, it's about integrity in the execution of that intent. And therefore, if you were a frontline manager, you have to remind yourself, you by yourself cannot create impact. You need to work with people to create impact. Of course, it's a difficult job being a manager. You cannot ensure that everything that you think, say, and do is what will create magic. It is two people, and that is why you're a manager. So therefore what builds credibility? One, it is about clarity of intent. Are you seen as honest? Are you seen as credible? Are you seen as someone who is absolutely sure about what you want the team to do? Do you say that and say that equally to everyone who matters or do you tell this differently to different people? Second, it's about being honest in terms of your feedback. Are you able to be able to look people in the eye and say, this is what I liked. This is where we are struggling. Many managers struggle, many managers struggle to give honest critical feedback. You can say it well, but you must say what needs to be said. And in time, very important to remember. Third, a lot of it is really about firmness. A manager's job is not about appeasing people. It's not about playing one against the other. Relationships are created when people see you as firm in your resolute, but fair in your action. And it is about therefore listening. It's about emphasizing. It's about absorbing different points of view and then finally distilling it to make what is a fair call, not a call which pleases X or not a call which pleases Y. It will well happen that it will please someone and may not please others, but you don't make a decision for that. And when you see this consistently being played out in your relationships with anyone and everyone around you, people trust you. And when you trust people, people have a relationship, and when you have won the relationship of people around you, you will be a successful manager. It is tough, but it is not complex. It needs honesty. It needs true intent. And that's what I would suggest a front line manager to focus on. Many people have an impression that you need to have a high-end pedigree to be a great relationship manager, and therefore to be great manager. It is useful to have a good degree. It's useful to have good education, because it gives you the hard skills that from the backdrop of a good career. But if that were all, every guy who went to a Previa school would have turned out to be a great manager and a brilliant leader. The reality is not quite that. And therefore, if I were to be asked for advice, my advice is pedigree, hang it on your peg in your room, outside your room may be even better. But focus very, very seriously about certain things which can help you, skills that will ensure that you succeed as a leader. One, work with different managers, especially in your first ten years. Rotate your assignments, rotate your roles. Get to understand different contexts. See how different managers respond to different situations. There's so much to learn when you work with different people. And this is important to reinforce, because working with a manager you like could be a trap. You start cloning anything and everything that you see in a manager, howsoever good he or she may be. The reality is there's something else to be learned from someone else. And maybe there's something not quite to learn from this particular manager. So rotate your experiences, rotate your exposure. I think you'll learn maximum about that. The second which is very important to do, ask for feedback, be hungry for feedback. Ask feedback from your manager. Ask feedback from your clients. Ask feedback from your peers. And if you have reports ask feedback from your reports. I believe it is all about exposing yourself to the reality of the blind spot that each one of us has, and done early. You get to have the time to remedy those blind spots. So that's the second thing that is very, very important. The third thing which I would encourage any new manager, any young professional to do is, please remind yourself, no one expects you to be a superstar. You cannot be the virtue of all strengths. It's okay not to be a big, big guy. But at least can you play on your strengths. So make sure your weaknesses don't derail you. But you must play on your strengths. Help identify your early years. What are those signature strengths that you have? You have one, you have two, you have three, beyond that you are god. So if you got a couple, you're a lucky guy but make sure you leverage those friends so well that you're able to build a reputation of impact, of empathy, of relationship, of influence while making sure that any obvious derailers, to at least try and steer clear of that. That would be my advice to young professionals. I have a lot of experience of looking at people who've done well. But I think I have learned a lot by seeing some career derailers. Let me give you a few examples. I know of someone who is the CEO of a fairly well known big company in India today. A guy who was a fast track in his career. Of course, he was functionally very good, but couple of things that worked well for him. He was very hungry to rotate his experiences. He never stayed in the same role, same job, even though he was doing very well, and was very well regarded by his immediate manager. The ability to pull yourself out of your comfort zone, how so ever alluring it may be, is a great strength to build. The second, while you rotate, strike. It is equally important to reach out to different constituencies of stakeholders. You work with different people, different clients, different situations. And I think you learn from each experience. Third, I thought this person was very hungry for feedback. With cultures, with HR, with his own managers, with his larger team, I saw this person seek feedback and admit that his work on some feedback succeeded somewhere, not succeeded yet somewhere else. All these adds to credibility. It adds to his appeal of it being an authentic leader and I think no surprises that between of sharp mind, great impact, great people skills, great communication skills, a person reach their level that he has in very quick time. I'll also give you an example of someone I remember very clearly who derailed, and this is something very important for young professionals to keep in mind. You must be an honest critic, having good relationship skills is not to become a sycophant because it comes through. Don't be a flatterer, don't be a sycophant, don't be just a yes man. But equally be clear, you should not be seen as a cynic, as a skeptic, as an eternal cribber. Cribbing is a shortcut here to derail. You must be critical of a system, of a practice, of an episode, of an experience, but add therefore what do you think could be done about it. The way you articulate your criticism is even more important than the criticism itself, because if you're not cautious about it and you are seen as someone who is really cribbing in the corridors, endlessly and ceaselessly, careers are possibly going to derail. In this particular case, I saw that guy slip, a very, very hyper degreed guy, but I don't know where he is today. It's a shame. Be very careful of how you are seen. It is very important for you to be careful not to be seen as a very negative person. No one wants to work with negative people. They want to work with positive critics but not with bright sceptics so be careful. Frontline managers have two very difficult tasks to manage. One of delivering the here and now but they equally have to be seen as agents of change. Company after company irrespective of levels is going through a lot of change and transformation. And I think a good frontline manager has to be able to do both the here and now while preparing for the there and then. And some things to me are very very important when I look at a frontline manager is, it's all about relationship skills It's all about your ability to influence the world around you. And to be a good guy at relationships, to be a good guy to influence. A couple of things come to mind. One, listen well. It is not good enough to hear people. It's important to listen to points of view. It is important to listen to varying points of view. Suspect immediate judgment. Many time you would like to say no, domestic dogs have been selectively bred for millennia for various behaviors, sensory capabilities, and physical attributes. Modern dog breeds show more variation in size, appearance, and behavior than any other domestic animal. Every point of view is a point of view. You may choose to adopt a point of view, but let your point of view also not be seen to be the point of view. I think a lot of it is to do with the tone, with the informality of style. I think many front line managers get to start behaving like true, old world managers. But the world has changed. The best managers are great conversationalists. Whether they set goals, whether they review, whether they give feedback. It does not have to see you being the high chair. Learn the art of conversation. Learn the art of small talk. Learn to soften the style while being firm around the substance. I think a lot of it is also to do with envisioning. People want to see their manager envision a positive state, a new state. To inspire them, to be credible. What you promise, you must deliver. Because a promise is a promise. People are wanting feedback. Give feedback in time, but give them data points. Don't share your perception. That does not put you in good light. At the end of the day, remember, the world of business is typically a world of people. Whether it's your team, it's your client, it's your stakeholders, you're living in a world of people. And people, because they are people, are living in a web of relationships, in a complex web of relationships. Understand that if you've got to work on someone, understand what's the relationship that he or she wants. What is the communication style that he or she is comfortable with? And are you able to flex your own style to adopt and adapt to the circumstance of the people that you are at that time engaged with? Inflexibility is a problem. So small small things create big big impact. I want to add on a very small thing that I keep telling a lot of people you are very good at all the hard stuff but what will eventually help you succeed what will possibly prevent you from derailing, is your mastery of the soft things. Please remember, your past experience, your education, your pedigree is only a ticket to ride. You will finally get onto the train and cruise is you remember, soft is hard. Very hard. Let softer elements become part of your management style. I wish you all the luck. [MUSIC]
