The readers’ guide

Mark Sanborn is an international bestselling author and noted authority on leadership and customer service. He has served as the president of the National Speakers Association and is one of the youngest speakers ever to be inducted into the Speaker Hall of Fame. Sanborn has authored eight books and nearly two dozen audio and video training programs including the bestselling books ‘The Fred Factor’, ‘You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader’ and ‘The Encore Effect’. In 2007, Sanborn was awarded the Ambassador of Free Enterprise Award by Sales & Marketing Executives International.

Q. You delivered your first speech at the age of 10 and failed. While most people give up after their first failure, you took it as a challenge and turned your failure in to a success story. What was the inspiration behind this?

A. How we frame what happens to us in life matters. The difference between opportunity and obligation is perspective. I hate to lose. In the case of the speech competition, I saw losing as a challenge to improve, rather than a discouragement to quit. Interestingly, some people hide their disappointment in a setback or failure by saying “it doesn’t matter”. They pretend they do not care when in reality they care deeply. I think it is important to be clear on what is important to us personally and professionally and to use mistakes and disappointments to make us better.

Q. Many are convinced that leaders are born, not made. How true is this? With time how has this idea changed?

A. Leadership is a skill, and any skill must be learned and developed. Some people are born with a greater disposition to learn certain skills, but there is no automatic or effortless achievement of mastery of a skill. Think about field hockey. Anyone can learn to play the game, but some are born with a greater physical potential than others to play well, and only a few become superstars. Anyone can learn to lead, whether or not they have a title. Some people may have genetics that make leadership an easier skill to learn and excel at and a few become leadership superstars through a combination of hard work and their natural predisposition. Read more...

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The people’s advocate

Bharti AXA General Insurance was undergoing a major change last year and there was a possibility of reshuffle in shareholders. Instead of being made aware by the company, the staff came to know about it through press reports. This could have raised quite a few challenges if not handled well. The first thing we did was to communicate openly about this to the staff, giving them all the details required. In addition, we set up regular communication and meetings with the staff on a pan-India basis to address any query from them and ensured normal execution of all operations. This had a positive impact on the staff and at the end of the year we had not just managed to meet all business targets but also saw an increase in employee satisfaction that we measure every year.

During economic slowdown or market turns, it is important that HR is involved during all boardroom discussions so that they are abreast of the situation and people become the integral part during the decision-making process. As a chief people’s officer, it is his or her responsibility to ensure and lead all employee communication for the organisation, be available 24/7 for answering queries and concerns, and to motivate during times of change.Communication is one important strategy during turnarounds and it should be transparent, factual and employee centric. This will ensure that there is no ambiguity and uncertainty in the minds of the employees. Also, the HR head needs to make sure the communication is factual and pragmatic – neither alarmist nor too optimistic for the organisation to maintain credibility in the eyes of its employees. Read more..

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