Month: November 2020

Victim, Villain or Hero

By now, you must have heard it a thousand times. We are living in unprecedented times. We are going through trials. We are preparing for the Future Shock or a new normal. The world is not going to be the same again etc etc. We cannot escape the reality of the pandemic that is still raging out there. But we are also encouraged by the fact that life is slowly limping back to normal. Most of us are learning to “live with” the pandemic.

In this blog,  I will ask us to turn the attention on us, on our responses, on how we respond to such trying times. And what can we do as leaders, to be a lot more effective in such situations.

Recently I had the privilege of listening to the author Don Phin, and then read his book, the 40-40 Solution. Don Phin talks about three roles generally all of us audition for viz;, Victim, Villain or Hero.  The book inspired me to think about these three categories in a different context.  My studies show that these three are the standard responses of people to troubles. Come to think of it, you will see these three roles in any Hollywood or Bollywood movie that you catch on Netflix or Amazon prime or Hot-star or wherever you see movies during the pandemic. Let us look at each one of these three and see which one fits us more.

The Victim response is probably the most familiar one to all of us. When faced with troubles the Victim will feel that it is unfair. The victim will feel singled out. The victim will think the entire world is conspiring against him/her. Their conversation with friends will be about how hard life is. They will strongly feel that others are more blessed than themselves. They truly believe that others do not know how difficult his/her situation really is. They will blame others and/or situations for their suffering and troubles. They think no matter how hard they try, their situation will not change. They find it difficult to get over the past mistakes and failures, and they perpetually live in guilt. You can add on to this list, but I am sure all of us have felt some of the above sometime or the other. Victims are people who feel some of these often.

Phycologists opine that Victims, as and when they can get out of the victim state, end up becoming either a Villain or a Hero.  The Victim to Villain transition is very natural..  When one gets fed up with staying in the victim stage, a victim will start planning actions that can hurt others. That is when the Villain is born. A Villain will take revenge. A villain will become aggressive, violent, and will hit back at others with whatever he/she can. A villain will not worry about public opinion. A villain will soon start enjoying the role so much that he/she will fall in love with themselves in that role to the detriment of others.  Many of us might not be explicitly getting into a villain role, but think again. We are taking the villain role, when we scream at someone, we are taking the villain role when anger gets the better of us, whether it is at home or outside. Sometimes we get into a villain role without even realizing it.

A more positive transition is the one from Victim to Hero. A Hero does not have to come out of a victim. Heroes emerge otherwise, too. A Hero wants to save. This is what psychologists call the Savior’s Complex.  Someone with a Hero Mentality will swoop down on a suffering victim and do all that is necessary to save him/her. At the outset, you may think there is nothing wrong with being a Hero. But think again. All that the Hero might care about is saving the Victim. A Hero might not seek the Victim’s permission or acceptance before getting into the saving act. He/ she might not enable the victim to get over the situation. The Hero might not bother about making the victim self-sufficient. The Hero might not bother about their own safety and/or well-being while doing the saviors act. The Hero will sometimes even endanger himself or herself and many around them, including their own families to perform the rescue act.

Let us pause for a moment and ask ourselves this question in the middle of the pandemic we are in. What role are we auditioning for? Do we feel like a victim of the situation around us? Are we tempted to take on the Villain role, so we can take revenge or we can “pay back” for the sufferings we have gone through? Or are we donning the cape and taking the role of a superhero, trying to save everyone who is suffering, not bothered about our own safety and the wellbeing of the ones who love us?

There is a fourth option, an option of being a Leader. We don’t have to be stuck inside the Victim-Villain-Hero Triangle. 

So what does the fourth option entail?  What does “Being a Leader” mean in this context?

Being a leader as the fourth option here means we demonstrate the behaviour of Emotional Healing that I wrote about in a previous blog. It means Leaders who practice  the four habits that I wrote about in another  blog. It means we seek to add value to ourselves with the explicit purpose of adding value to others, as described in yet another blog on significance. It means being a Servant Leader.

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This Article is written by Dr. Madana Kumar, PhD, UST’s own Servant Leadership Evangelist. You can contact him here, or connect with him here.

Servant Leadership and Individual Contributors

It is quite some time since the term “Individual Contributors” made an entry into the Corporate HR jargon. We assumed that almost everyone starts off as an individual contributor and then grows in the organisation to take up leadership roles and responsibilities. Thus, the term Individual Contributor came mostly to be associated with the bottom of the pyramid in the corporate hierarchy. Then companies started realizing that there might be value in encouraging Individual contributors to stay in that role, especially if they are experts in some field or technology. Companies like IBM even created curated career paths for them, so they don’t have to ever take up managerial positions to grow up the corporate ladder,  but can reach senior positions without taking up management positions at all.

Studies reveal that developmental efforts for Individual Contributors is focused more on their technical or task-oriented skills and might be for specific roles. Focused investment in “Leadership Development” of Individual contributors was not a focus. Jack Zenger in his article in the Forbes Magazine (way back in Feb 2014) claimed that Individual contributors are “Forgotten Leaders” in investment from organisations on Leadership development activities. Several Organisations ask, “What has leadership development got to do with Individual contributors?”

That led me to the question. How about Servant Leadership? Can an organisation really develop a Servant Leadership Culture by focusing only on who we traditionally call leaders? And the answer is “no”. A Servant Leadership culture requires that we focus on this group of “forgotten leaders” as much as we focus on traditional leaders. All individual contributors are “leaders” if we go by the definition “Leadership is Influence”. That is why I refer to Individual Contributors as Self-Leaders.

What do these Self-Leaders need to do so they can take the best advantage of a Servant Leadership culture in the organisation? What attributes or mindset changes or behavioural changes do they need to embrace so they thrive in a Servant Leadership Culture and make the organisation successful? My studies show that there are three areas where they need to develop. (Ken Blanchard and Susan Fowler articulate this better in their book “Self-Leadership and the One Minute Manager”)

1. Understand and overcome one’s Assumed Constraints: Susan Fowler speaks about the Elephant syndrome in several of her writings to explain Assumed constraints. The fact is that several of us end up assuming that there are several constraints that prevent us from becoming the best we can be. A significant Self-leader will strive to understand ones assumed constraints and look for ways of overcoming those.  They will break the “permission paradox”  (a felt need to have explicit approval of someone before taking any action) and climb up the Freedom Ladder/ Autonomy ladder to become empowered employees and team members.
2. Understand and use “Points of Power” the right way: Everyone, immaterial of any position or seniority, has some powers. As history proves repeatedly, it is not the absence of power that differentiates infamous leaders from the excellent ones. It is how they (choose to) use their powers. A Self-leader will understand his/her own points of power and the points of power of their team members. Once they have this understanding, they will then use this knowledge to bring fulfilment to self and success to the team. Self-leaders aware of their points of power will use such knowledge to collaborate rather than for conflict.
3. Understand what you “need” to be significant: Self-leaders need to understand that chasing success is not the right thing to do. Individual success might bring in some temporary happiness, but it is in adding value to others that we find fulfilment. This is what we call significance. Self-Leaders will know what they need to be significant and they will know the right way to ask for the same. This awareness of your own “significance needs” will help you understand the current development stage that one is in. This will help in prioritising your goals so you can focus on the most significant ones.

These are the building blocks for Self-Leadership. So let us not forget the “Individual Contributors”. Let us invest in them and make them significant Self-leaders. This will speed up the spread of Servant Leadership culture within the organisation.

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This Article is written by Dr. Madana Kumar, PhD, UST’s own Servant Leadership Evangelist. You can contact him here, or connect with him here.

Empowerment

In my previous blog I discussed the need for Servant Leaders to be able to dream big and keep boundaries while chasing such dreams. At Leadyne, we call it the behaviour of Demonstrating Conceptual Skills. This is the beginning of great organisations.

So, what is next? Is setting a higher purpose vision and goals enough by itself? The obvious answer is “No”. Visioning is one of the two key leadership roles. The second one is Implementation. During Implementation of the vision, mission, goals and values, Servant Leaders step aside and invert the pyramid. They create a culture where the employees feel they are fully responsible for the implementation of the vision, mission , values and goals. However the employees also know that the leaders have not gone anywhere. They know they can call upon the leaders as a resource when they need. The employees become responsible and the leaders become responsive to the employees’ needs. They serve the employees in fulfilling the organisation’s vision, mission, values and Goals. This concept is called the “Inverted Pyramid” and is an integral part of Servant Leadership Culture.

To make the Inverted Pyramid work, Servant Leaders rely on another of the DEEP BHC behaviours viz; Empowerment. It is a very commonly used word. But let us dig a little deep into it.

Is Empowerment something that you “give” to your followers? Have you heard some leaders claim “I have empowered my team fully.”  When Empowerment is something that the leader “gives” to their followers, the leader is implying that the power remains with me and I give you the part of that power. This is like claiming that you are most humble person in the whole wide world. Empowerment is not something given, but Empowerment is a climate that is felt by the followers. When they feel that they are Empowered to make decisions, even make mistakes, that is true empowerment.

Chris Croft talks about the Freedom Ladder. Servant Leaders need to make conscious efforts to bring their people up the ladder, not by mere words but by appropriate behaviour. Let us take this conversation for example.

Quote

John: Hi Vinod. I found a problem with the code that we were supposed to release for the client yesterday and I have solved it by making some adjustments. I have released it to the clients and met the timelines committed. Just wanted to let you know and see what you think

Vinod: Thanks John. You did well. May I suggest that in future, you pass such things through me before you release it to the clients?

Unquote

What do you think just happened here? John was at level 4 of the Freedom ladder and wanted to operate from there. Vinod’s reaction was a very clear message that Vinod wants John to be at level 3 of the Freedom ladder. What do you think John will do next time when faced with a situation like this? John is going to suggest and wait for Vinod’s approval before he does anything. In other words, knowingly or unknowingly Vinod has “pushed” John to Level 3 of the Freedom Ladder. This is what happens when the leader is not sensitive to the feelings of the team members while responding, even when the leader considers himself/ herself as am “empowering” leader.

Therefore, at Leadyne, we map the behaviour of Empowerment to the attribute of Empathy. Unless as a leader is able to put himself/herself in the shoes of the employee and understand how they feel, empowerment cannot happen. It is important for leaders to understand what the team members think and feel. That is why I said at the beginning that Empowerment is a climate that the team member feels.

True empowerment needs that you demonstrate behaviours that will help and encourage your team members to operate from Level 4 or level 5 of the Freedom ladder. Sure, there are risks in doing this. But in the long run, it will become a much stronger team and you as a leader will have a lot of time in your hands for doing higher purpose activities.

Come join the Servant Leadership Movement and learn how to make your teams feel empowered.

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This Article is written by Dr. Madana Kumar, PhD, UST’s own Servant Leadership Evangelist. You can contact him here, or connect with him here.