Open to Signals

Several years ago, during the formative years of my work life, I worked with a senior (both by his experience and wisdom) executive (let us call him Srini) who was tasked by executive management to address the issues in our account and build a sustainable operating model. Srini appeared in his demeanor like a strict disciplinarian, very crisp in his conversation, very mindful of everyone's time, and moving around very fast. I was a junior manager at the time, and used to watch him from a distance with awe and a high degree of curiosity. "What does it mean to fix issues, fix an account, and build a new model? and from where does this seemingly old person get so much energy!", I wondered :)

But as we spent more time with him, it slowly dawned on us, that beyond all the measures he was taking (which made some of us think, "oh! these are but fundamentals, he is not saying or doing anything out of the world!"), he was "available". This was not just the discipline of being punctual and definitely not sitting long hours, but a kind consistency with a visible intent (visible to us) to make a difference. He somehow had the knack of making time for what was really important, "from our perspective!" (however mature or immature that was at the time). As often as he could, he would be on the move, stepping out of his cabin, walking the floors interacting with associates, managers and even support staff, asking simple and humane questions. There was an unmistaken genuineness in his stride that evoked genuine responses too.

One day I joyfully recollect, me and my friend, another lead managing a small team, were called to his cabin. After he enquired us about the status of certain deliverables towards customer, we got into a casual conversation. Srini was sharing how he liked solving some math puzzles in his spare time, in his attempt to remain sharp to interact with "bright minds" like all of us. And I blurted out suddenly in my intrepid style, "don't you feel tired & drained Srini, with all this work, all the meetings, most of the time listening to escalations or what is broken, don't you get angry with the issues?", and my friend gave me a stern gaze that almost felt like a soft jab in my ribs 'what are you doing, he is a senior exec, keep your curiosity down...' (well he told me so after we came out of the room ;)

Srini smiled and said, "to me all conversations are priceless, how can I attempt to fix anything unless I know what is going on. I have two suggestions to give you both as you go forward in your roles - 1. never go into a conversation with a bias, 2. don't assume things are broken or otherwise without openly and neutrally understanding the perspectives first. Most of the time people are anxious or worried just because no one has listened to them, or someone fed them that everything is going bad, a lot of noise gets amplified too soon, and becomes perceived reality. In most cases, all you need to tell them is that they are doing fine, there is nothing wrong, and encourage them to keep going!. And when it comes from someone that they trust or admire, it gives them the fuel to go on. Well you do take corrective actions where they are due, of course...but be "available & present" for your team, and you would have solved half the problem, just by being there. If you can do so with an open mind, receiving all the inputs in an unbiased manner, you will not get drained. In fact, every time you have contributed to uplifting a co-worker or making progress, regardless of the magnitude, it energizes you".

Fast forward 15 years, recently I was in a conversation (the trigger for this post :) with another executive and a good friend of mine. We were discussing a similar topic of organizational leadership and driving a large transformation and she reflected, "...I am okay to be in situations at work which are not always pleasant, to feel emotions of being upset or to experience what people usually tend to term as 'negative emotions at work'. To me they are signals, they need to be objectively looked at for the messages that they are conveying, and necessary actions taken. Sometimes you need not do anything, but being open & aware of all the signals, being 'present' and being comfortable doing so, is very important". When you encounter such conversations, it strengthens your own belief system that some principles are indeed timeless.

Cheers to all individuals (in leadership roles or otherwise) who do not shun away from being "present", "available" and "open", not just to their own states of mind, but to others around them, with an "intent" to make a difference, even if it means tolerating discomfort.

As I have learnt from my personal experience too (and wrote in the first chapter (Beyond the mist: Importance of Context) of my book (The Conscientious Manager: Nurturing Workplace Ethics & Synergies), when one gets close to a situation to examine it's context with an open mind, it seldom remains to be a problem, and perhaps presents itself as an opportunity waiting to be explored. Thanks for taking the time to read this post and wish you good luck with your experiments of "awareness" & "opportunities" :)