The team must have a Why
Iccha Singh (IS) when he spoke to the team for the final assault, he did not want them to fight for the Englishmen, nor for the salary, nor for reward, he wanted them to fight for themselves, for their self worth, for a higher purpose. In all the high performers that we meet in the work that Transphorm do for organizations, we see this theme of working for something larger than the ordinary. In all our interventions we build a WIIFM (What’s in it for me) for all stakeholders and this is the North Star for the intervention
Lead from the front
When Akshay punishes them, he too is not eating food, and he is the first one to move on to help the villagers build the Mosque. In working with a large telecom major we figured out that the best Store Managers were the ones who were “Playing Captains”, they helped their people grow, they just not led and shouted from a pedestal, they worked in the trenches, dirtied their hands and feet and knew the business inside out, and were hence able to transphorm any lackadaisical Saragarhi fort, into a battle hardened team of warriors
Not just work hard, but work smart
The leader keeps his eyes and ears open, he is aware of the big picture, the changes happening around him every hour, he uses the moves of the competition to build advantage. IS captured the miscreants during the false peace mission and used them to blow up the enemy camp. If we can hold our heads when the competition has gone berserk, competition itself will give us an opportunity for a self goal
Disruption can be fought, one hour, one ritual at a time
An army of 10,000 is similar to the disruption caused in the Telecom and reality sector, the players who have survived and will eventually move to thrive are the ones that can focus on now, than can focus on “What is”. We can fight disruption only through rituals, in our experience with one of the organizations in Bangladesh, rituals helped us achieve in 45 days what was not done in six months. Just like IS gave the mantra Load, See and Fire, we created sharp daily Mantras. Soldiers and sales people are the same, very simple, they need to be told in simple words on what is expected from them and why is it needed.
Leaders brew healthy conflict and influence
Leaders are not averse to being challenged and they answer challenges not through words but actions. The leader when he lives by his values, the team aligns to the same, the leader rarely uses brute force, and he uses a different strategy for every individual. The leader realizes that not everyone would be a stellar warrior, but provides everyone an opportunity to be the best they can be whether it is the waterman or the young soldier who is afraid.
Tough Love
If there is one message that all leaders and managers should imbibe from the movie is that of Tough Love. What does tough love mean, it means punishing the behavior and not the person. It means to let people know the consequences, it means to be as strict as a father and as loving like a mother, and yet the child / employee / soldier (CES) not being confused, the CES to know that the leader is fair and any kind of drama wont work with him.
Communication, Connect, Humor
It is not relevant whether you are leading a ten member team, a unit of twenty one soldiers or a four hundred and fifty strong sales team, Communication and connect are the glues for holding a team together. Humor is the best way to build camaraderie, the team that laughs together, stays together, fights together and wins together
We talk about the VUCA world today, but what Iccha Singh and his band of twenty brave men have faced was 10X Vuca and these seven lessons can help us not just survive but thrive in the VUCA world by building an aligned, bonded, capable, amazing team which will help the raft of the organization navigate the tricky VUCA rapids successfully.
I look forward to your feedback and suggestions. Please feel free to write to us at connect@transphorm.in
Paritosh Shukla
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