Why a leader should be un-predictable

We human beings are creatures of habit. We want to be in a comfort zone and want things to be predictable, even our bosses ?? . When bosses act, write or talk like subordinates expect, the latter dismiss them with little effort. They do it on autopilot because they’re so experienced at it.

In career, as one moves from an individual contributor role to that of a team leader, he/she has to realise that one crucial key to success is that the leader ought to be unpredictable. In today’s rapidly evolving world, a leader who becomes akin to wallpaper i.e. predictable, eventually loses respect. It’s boring and uninspiring for the people that work for them.?Sounds counter-intuitive but its true.

As a leader, you got to deliver the unexpected and surprise people with something different each time. You got to get creative, go deep and think smart, planning your interventions in such a manner that there is an element of enigma surrounding the team reviews – what will be discuss in the upcoming meeting and how will the leader react emotionally (sawing emotions like anger, empathy etc are very important, more on that experience some other day ??). This obviously might become a bit stressful for the team, but it also ensures that they are on their toes. They prepare thoroughly and only then come to the meeting. That means, they cannot afford to remain in a comfort zone comprising of a series of ‘x’ PowerPoint slides. The leader could ask them anything from anywhere. The entire logistics operations of Flipkart East is their syllabus. And they had to be prepared for any question. This meant they would come to the reviews thoroughly prepared, anticipate what I would ask and in the process, the larger objective of control was automatically fulfilled. Upsetting the brains “prediction engine” steals the attention of your audience. It is like “She loves me/ she loves me not” dilemma that keeps the excitement of love life again.

What do you think?

#life #career #sundaythoughts #leadership