Utpal Writes - on a project called life...

Instead, Develop the Traits That Matter

by Utpal Vaishnav on February 2, 2012

She was managing one of the most important projects of the company for past 26 months.

One day, the junior most team member asked her if he was smart, she said, “No”. He asked him again if he thinks that he wanted to have him in her team, she said “No”. Then he asked him if there’ll be any loss to the team if he stops coming to the work, she said “No”. He thought he had heard enough and wanted to resign.

As he went back to his desk to prepare his resignation letter, she asked him to stay. She said, “You’re not smart, but you’re TRUSTWORTHY, I don’t want to have you in my team, I NEED to have you in my team. And there wouldn’t be any loss to the team if you move on, there would be NO TEAM.”

Some team members are indispensable. The are the ones who make the team. If there are no such players, there is no great team.

Smartness, wants and striving for acceptance are NOT the traits that make you a key team player but Trust, Being Remarkable and Being Indispensable are.

Was that confrontation essential?

January 28, 2012

That’s the question you need to ask post each confrontation. Sure, it’s a powerful tool in bringing your team members to the next level but pausing and measuring the progress is even more important. Confrontation is more of a cost v/s benefits issue so measurement is required. And, the thing about progress is that the [...]

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Distinguish the Distinctions of Your Business

January 23, 2012

…no matter what your business is. Leading a Business is unlike any other role of an organization, because it’s always dissimilar. Unstructured, unpredictable, atypical…a right brain activity. No predefined set of rules or guidelines are much of help because everyone leads their business differently, and what flourishing business leaders have in common is that they [...]

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The Inordinate Team Member

January 19, 2012

There are a few grounds to stand a team member who makes inordinate requests: You anticipated you would; His skills are peerless; He’s a great grapeviner – has good political influence that you think would help you one day; Consequences of informing the client that you’ve sacked him are much worse ; He’s indispensible… It’s [...]

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Oh Yes!

January 15, 2012

Oh yes, that’s also a part of our service offerings (although it’s not explicitly mentioned) Oh yes, we must open three of new branches in new geographies this year (although my main business is not doing well) Oh yes, we should alter some of our principles to fit the need (although this will essentially kill [...]

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