I have been a part of The Indian Association of Secretaries and Administrative Professionals for a decade now. IASAP encourages continuous learning and development of
secretaries and professionals through monthly meetings, networking and
educational trips. Recently, IASAP
offered its members to participate in an essay contest on the topic
"Supporting Leadership Responsibly" and I participated. Even though I
did not win the contest, here is what I submitted on the topic and now that
there is no constraint of word count... Well, I am adding a few words more here
and there too!!
The word leadership to me reads as two
words 'leader' and 'ship' which means to get a 'ship' to sail safely to the
shore there has to be some to 'lead" it there. Can a ship float on its own
without directions from the captain and support of the crew? Most definitely not and that got me thinking
back to my days of working at the bank. My portfolio of handling annual reports
(for over 12 years) was no mean task. It required me to co-ordinate between
content providers, agency, manage the flow of corrections between the content
providers and the agency with deadlines and standardisation thrown in with a lot
of stress. Even though I had my superior to support me and it was my project, I
wonder whether I could make a claim to fame and whether it could
have been effective by my efforts alone. Not at all, because it meant leaving the
"me" behind and working alongside each and everyone, at every level
of the bank to get the work done. I always believe that good leadership
and team work can far outweigh what an individual can achieve.
Uncanny but just
before this contest form dropped into my mailbox I had been surfing facebook. I
love listening to Steve Harvey, Ellen De Generes (who I prefer to call Ellen
the Generous) and Jay Shetty so when a
video by Richard Pimentel in a on The Daily Goalpost face book page dropped it
caught my attention. Richard Pimentel says,
"I learnt leadership by being a good follower. I had a leader who asked me
to risk my life in Vietnam. We were up this hill and trapped and Sergeant said
it is our responsibility to stay there. I said responsibility? He said 'do you
know what responsibility is Richard? It is a word make up of two words - the
word 'responsible' and the word 'ability'. Responsibility is not what one puts
on you. It isn't your job description or your job responsibility or a paper you
sign. We all find ourselves looking at situations and we all find ourselves
with abilities and what we have to ask is, given the situation what t to those abilities",
and at the end he added these poignant words "Leaders do not get people to
believe in them. Leaders find ways to get people believe in themselves".
Author Alan
Zimmerman says, "Employees were expected to park their brains, shut their
mouths and work their 40 hours a week. In the new world, employees are expected
to take responsibility to use all their talents and to perform with excellence".
So then how does a professional like you and me do that, I ask? Is it
just about responsibility, performance or consistently trying to stand
out for what you can bring to the table or is it more? I firmly believe that it
is not just about the willingness, commitment, completing tasks on time, motivation
or even the positive attitude. To me, most importantly, it is about being happy
with the work you do. It is a little more than that too. If you cannot align
yourself to the company's vision and mission and if you do not respect or believe
in your leader and in his leadership, then the bigger picture is going to be missed
altogether. Appreciate the fact that good leaders know when to lead and when to
step back because that is why they are leaders! ... and on your part be the
support who believe that leader is also concerned about them. After all as a
saying goes "a perfect employee is the one who inspires his boss as much
as his boss inspires him".
