A leader is someone who helps others understand what they want, and then helps them get what they want. Lucky followers! I want my leader! A bit of an oppsy should I turn out to be a leader, helping others at sizeable personal cost, for public domain leadership in the ultimate analysis is about sacrifice and the act of giving. Not so in the worlds of trade, commerce and industry where to the victor belong the spoils of war.

The corporate warriors of Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi were beneficiaries of a two-day practice based Workshop that provided learning and development solutions to busy managers. Led by Ethics Campaigner Ramiz Allawala, and facilitated by the new TCS division geared to providing hands-on learning to management cadres, the Workshop on Integral Leadership brought together a good cross-section of the corporate world that included senior functionaries of the Central Board of Revenue Mr. Zafar Aziz Osmani (Member CBR for Human Resource Management) and Mr. M. S. Lal (Member CBR for Personnel & Training). In an effort to become user-friendlier the CBR is leading from the front a stepped-up interaction with present and potential taxpayers.

Search For Missing Links

Identifying learning needs, establishing focus and sharing perspective were themes that Ramiz started with to probe the Workshop participants and get them started. Handling a large group of forty plus was a heroic undertaking that Ramiz undertook with a fair amount of dexterity, splitting the participants into six teams. Areas of concern were soon identified, and amongst them were negotiating with greater confidence, resource and time management, conflict resolution, how to carry a team and motivate without force, identifying and filling leadership gaps, managing change, grooming successors, evaluating people, becoming an ideal human being, gaining acceptance as a leader, managing bosses effectively, and how to inspire others.

Trust, The Heart Of Ethics; Ethics, The Heart Of Leadership

Trust is the central issue and major means for generating integral leadership, and it begins with trusting the process, and not getting ahead of the game. Trust is defined as believing that words mean what they appear to mean, and experiencing actions that are consistent with the verbal or written message. Well being and material growth is based on trust, with high trust cultures yielding prosperity and progress. Trust doe not build randomly. It requires the investment of time and energy. The absence of trust leads to fear, greed and polarisation, with the language of the human spirit replaced by the language of machines that can be manipulated.

Distrust yields needless wondering about negative outcomes and wandering in unproductive directions. Authentic trust is based upon engagement through closure, with US multinationals cited for tight closure that enables clockwork execution. Closure being defined as agreement between two or more parties on the way ahead.

The Trust Model

The Trust Model comprises Closure, True Promises, Non-violent Communication, Respect For All, and Authentic Responsibility. It is much better to under-promise and over-deliver than over-promise and under-deliver. Fear leads to over-promising and distrust, which leads to more fear. It feeds on itself and leads to destruction. Trustworthiness equals the sum of Credibility, Reliability and Intimacy divided by Self-Interest. When Self-Interest is zero Trustworthiness rises to infinity. Organizational Trust equals the sum of Aspirations, Abilities, Actions, Articulation and Alignment divided by Resistance.

The function of a team leader is to ensure maximum participation from team members and achieve consensus of opinion. An interesting exercise followed in which each team listed their perception of Pakistani and Non-Pakistani ways of motivating people effectively, dealing with poor performance, improving sense of urgency, handling conflicts between subordinates and staff, and persuading staff to accept change. The findings castigated the Pakistani way as inferior. We appear to know the right way, but the prevalent culture of scepticism and cynicism prevents us from doing it right, driving us to chose the easy way out. We need to be value driven, with the belief and practice of our values natural to our functioning. A value must be chosen freely, prize, and protected.

Considering The Other's Viewpoint

There is not enough empathy, and an absence of humanistic and rational approaches in Pakistan. The greatest gift that we can give another is our presence. There can be no correction without connection. Man is a natural problem solver, but we must first establish connection by understanding the issue before trying to solve the problem. The moment we start intellectualising and analysing we stop empathising. Empathy is emotional first aid. At funerals we find the Curiosity Cats, those who probe for details of the death and asset distribution; the Educators, who try and instil the new burden of responsibility upon the survivor(s); and the Connectors, who console with their presence and non-invasive inquiry about the needs and feelings of the aggrieved, wait for the shift when the burden of sorrow lightens, and then guess the post-emphatic request if any.

Patience And Compassion

Psychotherapy is nothing more than good, clear and honest communication that lies very much within the scope of leadership. 'Humdardi' requires a lot of patience and compassion. These findings came out while tackling four case studies that Ramiz had distributed on Integrated Leadership. Then there was Mr. Haroon the Marketing Manager's case study that dealt with climbing the ladder of inference and the jumping to conclusions. The advice here was not to assume or pre-judge people, and refrain from creating stereotypes that lead to adversarial relationships.

Less Is More

In yet another exercise crucial Western and Eastern concepts and skills were compared, and the initial reaction was of Capitalist versus Humanist. Upon re-examination it was found there existed striking similarities once the Eastern terminologies were rationalized.
However, the Western Model was found to be paying a heavy price in terms of environment, ecology and family ties.

Search For Self-Esteem

Threat and reward, stick and carrot are a universal approach to managing people. What differentiates us is our lack of subtlety. Pakistan lacks organizational structure, with the mindset playing an important role. The central issue is one of trust, and in Pakistan we don't trust our handlers. How we balance the ideal with ground reality determines the level of our self-esteem. The power of the context often prevails, with cultural forces more powerful than individual forces. People who have been colonized invariably suffer from low self-esteem. The search for silver linings must prevail with the positive sought out in every situation. Structures, policies and procedures are tools for dehumanisation and yield low trust cultures. Values can't be taught or changed. However, a willingness can be created to learn or change.

"Yanta Lagen"?

Self-esteem equals Success divided by Pretension. The higher the success and the lower the pretension, the higher the self-esteem. The people of Finland practice a concept called "Yanta Lagen" wherein they deliberately seek to have less than their neighbours. A case of keeping-up-with-the-Joneses in reverse. The Finnish took it to such an extreme that it resulted in clinical depression. Trying to emulate and live up to an image can become pretentious, so long as one refrains from pomposity. However, timeless and ageless power develops from within the individual, empowering through conviction, and is not dependant upon external sanction. Goals that are inconsistent with values are never achieved.

A Question Of Relativity

We need to move away from the concept of right and wrong to a concept that classifies actions as useful and less useful. 'Wrong' attracts retribution, and retribution retards relationships. Choosing between right and wrong is the easy part. The dilemma arises when we are confronted with a right versus right choice, between the individual and the community, long term versus short term, truth versus loyalty, and justice versus mercy.

When everyone's needs are met there is no aggression. The scarcity of resources has never been a problem; it is their inequitable distribution that makes for conflict. As long as wrongness exists the conflict will not be resolved. Moenjodaro was a superior and sophisticated civilization, one in which everyone's needs was met as testified to by a complete absence of weapons amongst the relics that have been excavated.

The No-No Of Presentations

Group One didn't quite meet the deadline for completing the exercise, and their penalty called for the singing of a song! Which they did, rather than miss tea. During the presentations Ramiz pointed out a few pitfalls that need to be avoided. Avoid the vocalized pause! Become conscious of when you say "eeeerr" while fishing for thoughts, and break the habit. Silent pauses are more dramatic. If you put your hands in your pocket, ensure that you don't have coins or keys in them! Or else you'll be tempted to jingle them and lose focus. Avoid apologies. Leaders don't apologize! They rationalize and learn while accepting responsibility. That's called micro-managing the route to integral leadership!

Summarizing Pre-lunch

Protect the dignity of yourself and others, protect the self-esteem of yourself and others, and don't sit judgement were the central learning of the pre-lunch session. It was noted with great alarm that the word dignity does not appear in the Constitution of Pakistan. The central purpose of life is to support life, and not destroy it. Reward and punishment will get mere compliance, lacking in enthusiasm. The choice is between aggression and assertion, competition and collaboration, militancy and non-violence. The modern US corporate structure has its roots in the military.

O Suzy Wong!

Suzy Wong was her usual hospitable self, and the fried prawns, chilli beef and exotic chicken were memorable indeed. The battle of the bulge continues, and I tried to balance the second helping of the main course by staying off the desert! Always works. Who wants the puddings anyway! Such is life, In the midst of strife, Talking of which, I gotta call the wife! Shouldn't sound too satiated when I do, Or the broom will descend, Even as I pretend, That the food was all wrong, At Suzy Wong! Suzy who?! She'll ask, Even as I the burp do mask, Who've you been making out with? In the middle of the day, She'll thunder! As I stutter and stammer, And wander and wonder! She's not a she at all! I'll profess lamely, Ready as ever to surrender tamely, Even as memory lingers, Of the exotic Suzy Wong!

Being Pushy!

Post-lunch, and the hunger pangs got substituted with slumber pangs, even as Ramiz turned up the juice with a discourse on assertive behaviour and the international business model. The hard sell, the sell or perish syndrome exemplified by the doctrine of conspicuous consumption. Assertive training goes on since childhood, and it is important to distinguish between assertion and aggression. The goal of self-leadership is diminished if we don't assert ourselves.

Family Affairs?

Nepotism came up for discussion next, with the 'talented cousin' under fire. Recruiting family members compromises organizational success. There is no example worldwide of an international brand built by family business. No three generations have succeeded each other in a successful business.

Day One of the Workshop came to a close with a discussion of varied protocols to handle Impasse, improve Advocacy and Inquiry, and situations where one is in disagreement. There was homework to be done overnight in the form of preparing a real life workplace presentation that one would be doing in the near future.

DAY TWO

The second day began with a recap of negotiation skills, with primary importance being given to the inquiry technique whereby the needs of the other party could be accurately ascertained. The rest of the day was dedicated to the preparing and making of presentation outlines.

Smart Objectives

The presentation objectives should be clearly outlined, and should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time Dependant. The title of a presentation should be shortened until it doesn't make sense! And then moved up one level where it makes sense, and that should be the length of the title, and no more. Presentations should have an Introduction, main Body, Recap and Closure.

Presentations Galore!

Thereafter followed forty-three presentation synopsises ranging from the cancellation of a channel contract to how to say no to a customer, how to be a good corporate citizen, case for three shifts, return on investment of training, gold the perfect investment, new system for implementing environment management, getting up in the morning, turning dreams into reality, and so on and so forth.

Recap & Closure Lacking

Overall Ramiz appeared impressed by the confidence with which the participants spoke, and he ventured to comment that we might have discovered a goldmine of orators here! However, a common failing was in the areas of recap and closure. Body language, decibel levels, and the enthusiasm with which the audience was approached and addressed were also commented upon under a system of peer evaluation. The participant got assessed separately by Ramiz as well, and was handed his or her assessment sheet at the end of his or her presentation.

The Delectable Suzy Wong Once More!

It's that time of day, When the appetite holds sway, That lady of the East, Will provide us a Feast, Yesterday she had me briefly in trouble, Buried under the rubble of misunderstanding, Today is another day, And this morning we have had enough food for thought! Thank you Ramiz for distinguishing between right and wrong, But for now, Onward to Suzy Wong!

Not Much Has Changed

No sooner had lunch ended and prayers offered that Ramiz was once again in full battle cry! Leadership skills required in the 21st century haven't changed much since the 3rd century. Build trust, and look after the morale of the troops is the mantra today, as indeed it was yesterday. Money does not motivate, and financial incentives are good for closure.

The Arithmetic Of Change

Multiplying Dis-satisfaction with Vision and Knowledge equals Change, and this should be greater than the Psychological, Political and Financial costs incurred in bringing about that change. Trade-offs can be End-based, Rule-based, or Care-based, with the rule of reciprocity applying.

Managing time is an important contributor to success, and important things that remain unattended for a period of time will assume an urgency. Planning, Training and Delegating are three ways to avoid things from becoming urgent.

Eliminating negative tactics through the appreciative inquiry technique, as propounded by Cooper and Sri Vastava, will solve problems without the need to solve problems.

BRAVO TCS!

Ramiz distributed Certificates of Participation at the end of it all, but not before he had reflected for a bit upon the significance of that day, the 31st of December, and the manner it had been deployed in the pursuit of Integral Leadership. The new year would bring ample opportunity to put theory into practice, and reap the rich harvest of good governance.

TCS, said Ramiz, has moved from the delivery of documents to the delivery of knowledge, moving from costly tangibles to priceless intangibles. He sensitised the participants to the TCS role of good corporate citizen, since the cost of organizing these Workshops far exceeded the price of participation. This brought forth a round of applause that developed into a standing ovation.