ability - HR Footprints

Leadership Effectiveness – Quality of Leader-Follower Relationship

It is always known that the leader’s competence has a bearing on the leadership effectiveness in delivering business results. The focus, drive and ability of the leader have a bearing on the overall result.However, at a deeper level, it is interesting to note the impact that a follower can have on a leader’s effectiveness. Yes, follower’s investment in to the relationship with the leader is crucial foundation for leadership effectiveness. What i mean to say is that leader follower relationship is important for leadership to be effective. Imagine a relationship between the leader and follower flowing smoothly; it will facilitate more trusting interactions, which will speed up the business functioning. On the contrary, if there is a rift or complexity in the relationship, then energy will be focused more on maintaining the relationship than on smooth and speedy performance. Who should take the onus in building the leader-follower relationship? The answer is an obvious one: BOTH. At the beginning of an association, leader can help the follower in understanding the expected behavior. Follower then have to make efforts to see how many of those expectations can be met. By placing right efforts, the follower is gaining the trust of the leader. The relationship will then stabilize; the follower will experience greater freedom and empowerment (while of course, some followers may fall out with the leader). The relationship will mature over a period; it will result in greater commitment, growth and mutual respect & concern. The whole spirit will be one of ‘winning together’! Article By: Dr. Raj; CEO, HR Footprints Management Services Pvt. Ltd. Follow Dr. Raj on Twitter @drraj29

Trust: The invisible oxygen in our lives!

Leave a Comment / Personal And Professional / HR Footprints / 12/10/2013

” I compare trust with oxygen which exists in our lives; but we may not be so conscious of its presence! The moment there is a short supply, we feel breathless!” Says Dr. Raj, CEO, HR Footprints. All of us have had our tryst with ‘trust’. I may not be wrong in saying that we thought about trust when we encountered a not so pleasant and negative experience with it. In other words, so long as there was trust, we would not have paid much attention. When there was a short supply of it, only then we discuss about it! I therefore compare it with oxygen, which exists, in our lives; but we may not be so conscious of its presence. The moment there is short supply, we feel breathless. Let us understand how it impacts our life. There are plenty of daily activities, which ride on the foundation of ‘trust’. Here are some examples: When we allow our son or daughter take the bike and go out, we trust their ability to drive properly; we believe in them for doing the ‘right’ things after going out. When we leave the car to the driver to drive, or leave it for valet parking, we trust the person and leave your valuable asset. When someone is crossing the road on signal, he or she trusts people to follow traffic rules. When we assign work to someone, we trust their competence and expect them to revert with some output. When someone calls you for a meeting, he or she trusts the seriousness of his or her intention to meet you and go there. When we offer some service to a client and raise the invoice later, we trust that organization to pay us later. When a vendor supplies material on credit, he or she trusts the organization to honor the agreement. When you offer some data to your boss and your boss goes to represent the data in some higher forum, your boss trusts what you had given for its correctness. Trust is fundamentally a pre-programmed image of others capability and character. Such image helps us to reduce our constant evaluation of others on every transaction. Can we think of some more such examples from our daily routines? It will reinforce my belief that trust is the oxygen in our lives – invisible yet impossible to live without!

Trust: The invisible oxygen in our lives! Read More »