Anil Gajwani, CTO, Bharti Telesoft
A perfect leader is one who has:
- Respect for people
- Selfless attitude
- Strong work ethic and commitment to achieve desired results
- Capability to motivate and bring out the best in subordinates
- Assertive yet humble putting the organization before one’s ego
People who possess ‘shades’ of the aforementioned qualities are ready to take up the responsibility of leadership – I have used the word ‘shades’ because these qualities are part of one’s personality and cannot be infused.
Leaders in our organization are gradually groomed to take on roles and responsibilities. It is important that responsibilities are not enforced.
Training is the one of the most important activities within an organization and plays an important role in the development of its people. At Bharti Telesoft, we have frequent technology and product trainings for our teams as well as relevant functional trainings for team members. In addition to this, we have increasingly begun focusing on soft-skills which will be equally important as we grow as an organization. These could be training on leadership skills, communication and presentation skills, or even time management. As our global footprint continues to expand, we are also providing intensive language training for people interested in improving their knowledge of languages, especially in countries where we have a growing number of customers.
We are fortunate in that we are continuously developing new products and moving into new geographies, and this helps keep the motivation level up.
I have brought my own values into the company, which includes respect for the individual, listening first, involving a wider circle of individuals in decision making, and a strong desire to achieve excellence.
On the team management front, I regularly hold short team briefings so that my team members know their specific objectives for the next week, month, quarter, and so on. This brings a sense of belonging and engagement and also transparency which is critical to managing a team.
Another discipline which I try to abide by is giving immediate positive (or negative) feedback. If someone has done a great job, I openly congratulate them to encourage this behavior. Similarly, if someone hasn’t performed to my expectations, I tell them immediately and suggest ways in which their performance could be improved.
With IT becoming more critical to the overall performance, companies across India are taking IT more seriously. I suppose many people looked upon the IT department as simply the place to call if their laptop wouldn’t start up. Now it has taken on a more strategic importance in the organization, with a realization that right systems and software can dramatically enhance productivity across the organization.
The biggest challenge for IT industry is limited supply of skilled resources. India’s supply of graduates and technologists is not able to keep pace with industry demand. It is important for us find short, medium and long-term solutions for this issue so as to maintain India’s reputation as a leader in IT and technology services.
Top 5 management tips to peers
- Fix the problem, not the blame
- Manage the function, not the paperwork
- Learn from the mistakes of others
- Lead by example
- Doing it right costs less than doing it over… so do it right the first time
Sonal Desai
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