Bring out the Be-You-tiful

Published in Skillzy Digital Magazine: https://www.skillzy.in/3d-flip-book/october-2021/

Marvin Joseph sat staring at his laptop in despair. A complicated excel sheet with a plethora of calculations was open before him. No matter how hard he tried, he was unable to make any sense of it.

His mind wandered back to the days when Raghav Adhikari used to be his boss. A faint smile appeared on Marvin’s face.

Under Raghav’s leadership, everything was effortless; it was like working with a best friend. Marvin felt so empowered that he could conquer the world. Going to work was a celebration and every day, was better than the previous…more joyful and with profound sense of accomplishment.

Marvin had almost lost himself in these memories when he got startled by the simultaneous buzzing of Outlook tasks reminders on his phone and laptop together. He looked at the watch. It was 1:00 AM. His stomach was grumbling and every fiber of his body was protesting.

Marvin was mentally exhausted and dejected.

He walked towards the kitchen and realized there was nothing to eat in the refrigerator. He cursed under his breath. As he stood in the small balcony, eating stale biscuits as the only meal of the day, he felt his life was falling apart. Marvin questioned himself, “Is this really worth it?”

He had finally reached the tipping point of desperation, where he didn't care anymore. He carelessly shut his laptop, turned off his phone and lay down on the bed. He was expecting to fall asleep immediately, but sleep eluded him.

Never could Marvin think, in his wildest imagination, that a new supervisor would wreck so much havoc in his life. When the new supervisor, Jaikumar Shrivastava, took over the team, many of his colleagues put down their paper and moved on but not Marvin.

Marvin loved his job. He loved to go to work, and he was determined to make this change work in his favour. That was precisely four and a half months ago. Tonight, trying to sleep on a hungry stomach, he was evaluating options.

Finally, he came to an agreement with himself, “I don't want to do this anymore.” He reached for his phone and switched it on. He wrote a two-line email to his boss and sent a WhatsApp message to his friend who had been pestering him to join his new company so that he could earn the referral money. Once done, he promptly switched off his phone to avoid any conversation with Jaikumar. A massive weight shifted from his mind instantaneously. Suddenly, he felt light and liberated. He closed his eyes and gave himself permission to drift into the much-needed sleep.

…….

Jaikumar Shrivastava, was busy working on his laptop chasing three different deadlines. The team members had waited till the last moment to submit the work. The quality of the work was sub-standard to say the least. He was reworking most of the stuff.

At 1:35am, an email popped up from Marvin Joseph; Subject: Important update.

Jaikumar sighed in relief, finally some help had arrived. He had been waiting on the financial impact numbers for the last three days. He opened the email eagerly and realized there was no attachment. Once he read the email, his heart sank.

Dear Sir,

Emergency at home, leaving for hometown immediately. Will keep you posted.

Can’t come to work for a few days.

With Regards,

Marvin Joseph

Jaikumar had been with the company for close to nine years. Taking over this team was a big accomplishment in his career. Many colleagues and seniors had advised him, “You have very big shoes to fill.” Honestly, he didn’t care. He made significant changes hoping that the team performance will get even better. He realigned priorities of employees and assigned steep goals.

Unfortunately, things didn’t get any better. In this team of 11 people, three of them had quit, one had gone on a sabbatical and two had requested team change and threatened to look for jobs outside. Now, Marvin, his top performer just became unavailable.

Jaikumar made his fifth cup of coffee and got ready for another all-nighter. He would now calculate the financial impact himself and make the presentation at 10:30am.

Interestingly, Raghav, his predecessor, managed everything seamlessly with the same set of people and not a single person had even thought of leaving the team. Jaikumar made a mental note of calling Raghav once the presentation got over. This torture had to end.

……….

As usual, Raghav was delighted to take Jaikumar’s call. After exchanging initial pleasantries. Raghav keenly inquired about each and every team member by name. To Jaikumar’s surprise, he asked questions about their personal life that he had no clue about.

After listening to Jaikumar, Raghav took a deep breath and went silent.

Jaikumar, for the first time, in all sincerity asked, “How did you manage them? What did you do differently that I'm not getting?

In the next two hours, Raghav went on to explain one of the most profound and relevant leadership philosophies that he had been following. Robert Greenleaf referred to this philosophy as “Servant Leadership”.

Raghav began by saying: Bring out the Be-YOU-tiful!

A servant leader focuses first on growth, and well-being of the employees as a means of achieving success for the organization, for the customer, for the shareholders, and for themselves. It is the art of recognizing the inherent talent and potential in people and inspiring them to bring out the best in them.

It is all about encouraging people to be themselves and get better every day. When a leader encourages an employee by saying “Just Be You”; the demand is simple and it is easy for the employee to unleash all they can bring to the table.

The encouragement is not only through lip-service. On one hand, it means that the leader makes an effort to celebrate successes and milestones; on the other hand, the leader also demands the employees to challenge the status quo and bring forward new possibilities.

An effective servant leader recognizes the skills and competencies in people and assigns goals to them in such a way that the sum total results in exceeding the organizational goals.

Unlike traditional leaders, a servant leader uses their power to Empower, Coach, Involve, Ask and Listen.

• They empower more and micromanage less
• They coach more and prescribe less
• They involve more and exclude less
• They ask more questions and assume less
• They listen more and talk less

This does not mean that the employees can do whatever they want, or every decision is made by consensus. It means that every employee has the space and the opportunity to bring out what they do best and utilize that for the organization’s success.

Raghav confessed that he only preached what he practiced as an example. He would spend time for Mindfulness and took care of his own health so show-up full of energy and enthusiasm every day to inspire the team to do the same. Another thing that he would do with team members is continuously coach them at regular intervals. During the process he would listen first and talk second.

A servant leader builds trust through meaningful relationships with the employees. Knowing about what bothers them and what inspires them is a very big part of this journey.

Becoming a servant leader requires letting go of Arrogance, Fear, Insecurities, Pride, Ego and excessive evaluation of Self-worth.?Once can achieve this to a large extent through Enhancing Self Awareness and Building Emotional Intelligence.

……….

At the end of two hours, for the first time in a very long time, Jaikumar was excited about exploring a new possibility. He is now on the journey of rediscovering himself and reinventing his leadership style by embracing servant leadership philosophy.

Are you willing to take the leap of faith?

?

References:

Servant Leadership in Action; Brené Brown

Leaders Eat Last; Simon Sinek?

Atomic Habits; James Clear