Is your boss a LEADER or a MANAGER? How to identify whether your boss is inherent Leader Or not?

What is your boss a Leader or a Manager? It is very hard to differentiate who is manager/Leader, even recruiters fail to identify and end up in recruiting a manager for a Leadership position responsible for business growth, normally recruiters recruit somebody who has decades of managerial experience for a Leadership position.

We see executive search committees only for CXO positions, who search for the true Leaders, these committees take months of time and put lot of efforts in identifying the suitable Leaders for CXO positions, but there are many other positions in IT industry with equal importance where they require Leaders not Managers, these positions are normally filled up by Managers with 20+ years IT managerial experience considering them as Leaders. So what is the mistake here?

There is no mistake considering a manager for a leadership position, if that position does not demand business growth in terms of $, generating business Leads, and new business Opportunities!!!

There are two kinds of people in this world; LEADERS, who dreams and dares to perform, expands in all directions, take risks and responsible for win/loss; and MANAGERS, who also dreams but never dares to perform and wishes for everything to fall in line for them.

There was a time in Indian IT industry where it required many managers to manage people and projects to deliver the Offshore work items to Onsite, that era is gone now, but those managers are still there,what do you think those managers are now? Leaders?

Now the entire world is competing together to innovate new solutions/products for the growing new businesses, in this situation the Indian IT industry requires LEADERS not the MANAGERS.

Those Managers who has managerial experience in managing a project or group of people are now stepping in to LEADER ship positions in Indian IT industry, this is very dangerous, these people are really experienced and calculated but never take risk because of lacking of WILL and since they are not inherent Leaders.

These managers pretend to do everything and anything but never do a single thing, manage and blame others for not turning out well in every opportunity.

People of this kind will never try to do right things, or let others do, they always use some big English Jargon's. These Leaders (Manager turned Leader) look for pit holes in the Organization, processes, Inter departmental communication gaps, and individual's emotions and builds a political shield around them to protect from the repercussions of their political game.

If that person is your boss, he will jeopardize your career and makes you part of his political game play, just look for these symptoms in your boss to identify whether he is inherent MANAGER or LEADER.

• Does lots of planning and strategy
• Does not lead from front, manages from back
• Deals with aftermath problems, not proactive
• Warns politics of people around
• Puts lots of checks for every step
• Demands everything shall be known/routed
• Blames others for their mistakes
• Makes general statements not specific

Usually these Leaders (Manager turned Leader) follow above techniques to mitigate the risk of not being INHERENT LEADER, this doesn't matter if your group is just meant for delivering some piece of code to client, but it does matter if your group and your boss are responsible for growing a business.

Managers can’t be Business Leaders, but sadly in “Hierarchical lead Indian IT industry” everybody with 20+ years experience thinks that they are Leaders and can take up any challenge, in turn these people burn BU’s and growth opportunities of that business, and always end up in political warfare with peer.

These Managers does lot of strategy, planning, and builds a political protection layer around them with the help of like minded people in the organization. This is a perilous trend growing in the “30+ years old Indian IT industry”, and sadly there is no mechanism to identify it.

Are you being challenged for asking a good appraisal – “Don’t Just Request, rather Demand for Appraisal”? What are the different ways to demand for a good appraisal? – Past appraisal analysis and setting correct career path for future.

This is something different and difficult question to deal with apart from routine questions at an appraisal discussion table, instead of getting career guidance and appraisal; you will be challenged for your Skills and Strengths though you are being a loyal employee for the Manager /Organization. Here your manager may be challenging your Skills, Strengths and Marketability of your resume in the current Job Market, OR sometimes your manager may be really wanted you to press panic (EXIT) button! If your last Appraisal Discussion was closed like this, and still in the same job working for the same manager, then what will the guarantee that you will be appraised well in the coming season?

Nobody is permanent in this temporary life; Jobs can’t be excluded from this truth. Everybody had gone through the recession, by now everybody understands that corporate jobs are not permanent at all including the boss’s Job. If you understand this logic, and try to observe around you, most of the people pretend that they are permanent and loyal for the company and for boss else everybody is not. Pretending of this kind gives temporary results, but it will never give the permanent results. So shall we remain calm and accept whatever is given as part of appraisal not bothering the inflation and price hikes?

"The Career building of one’s should not be in the others (Organization/Manager) hands; it should be in their own hands". If you are leaving your career in your boss hands, this will be the question you will certainly face in the future, so how to build the good career path in an organization if you have already started your career in one organization?  Self review is the answer for the question.

• Self review-Your current work with Past and Future (To-Be)?
• Self review-What kind of jobs/roles the current job will fetch you in the future?
• Self review-Future demand for the current job in the market?

Everybody shall have a self review for every 6 months and try to answer the above questions, based on the answers; one can put down a plan for the rocket speed career path by assessing the improvement areas for new roles/jobs which are in demand and gets you good hike/appraisal if not in the current Organization.

“If I have to Demand why will I request for a good appraisal”? This is the next question one need to find answer. Demanding is not always getting a good Offer Letter from a similar company with good % of hike; these are making your manager to sense your Importance.

• Continuously work on skills improvement
• Outshine and expand in every direction
• Make your job more dependable on you
• Bring your achievements to your super boss not just your boss day to day
• The last option is get a good Offer Letter from a similar company with good % of hike

 If organizations are running for making profits for their promoters, then why you as an employee settle for low appraisal or relevantly no appraisal? Why you can’t make yourself run in Profits? You should also think yourself running an “organization of your skills and strengths”, and set goals for every year or two to achieve, build skills that makes you more skillful and knowledgeable year on year. This keeps you ahead of your competitors and results in good appraisal and Hike. Building skills in one area will not helps, you always have to diversify your skills in 360 degrees, and choose one weak area and work on it every quarter. Few important diversified areas makes you front runner.

• Communication for every position (verbal/non-verbal communication)
• Network with Peers and Colleagues across Industries not just confine to the current Org.
• Take relevant professional certifications from external bodies/Institutes
• Improve academic credentials if you be short of some.

Lets analyze a situation where in everybody Demands (by now you should understand the difference between Demand and Request) for a good appraisal or correction, the occurrence of this situation is limited to project/group not entire organization. Think what happens with organization operational margins and how it will compete in the market with other companies who deliver the work for fewer prices. To maintain the margins the companies always go for campus recruit and employs new entrants to protect the profits for less price. This is very important for people who are working in the mass production side of a manufacturing company, in one way Indian IT services Organizations are also mass manufacturing houses concentrating only deliverables not on Innovations and Product development, so be cautious doing job with IT services.

Selecting a good job offer plays vital role in the next company when you already decided and made your mind to leave the current job. Never accept and join the first offer, look for more such offers with good hike and responsibilities, never go back on taking additional responsibilities for a good hike and position.  One more important thing is that you should not stop searching for the jobs even if have joined new organization until your first Self Review (remember in the paragraph we talked about self career review) after 6months) completed and gives you the expected results.

My next post will discuss on tips and techniques of positioning and building a self propelled resume, and differentiating yourself in the job market. More emphasize on resume selling techniques.

Please keep an eye on my posts.

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When did you join your current Job? Year or two? Do you think this much time is enough to spend in one company? What is the right time to look for a new Job?

I was discussing this with my cousin last week, and it has been a topic to discuss with him since he is a loyal employee working for the same organization for last 5 years…

Most of the people do not know when to exactly look for a job change in this volatile job market specially the IT job market. In the initial days of your association with an organization you feel lucky and also feel that you deserve the position and the package that have been offered to you.

So what would be the reason for one to start looking for a new job, everything looks fabulous in the initial days of association with a company, you respect everybody in your team, your manager and super boss. You try to finish all the assignments/work items in time, or sometimes slog yourself to finish them in time, the energy and efforts that you put in the initial days will not lost forever. Slowly you feel losing the energy and interest to perform and show the same level of focus that you did in your initial days of association with the company, and you boss start comparing you with juniors/new entrants.

If you find any Or few of them matching with your current situation, then it is the time to make yourself ready for job shift. Watch for these symptoms occasionally in your career life.

• You are feeling comfortable in current roles!
• You’re not/over spending time at office with work?
• Your efforts and work are not noticed and recognized
• No new learning from the work!
• You are doing more than your role deserves!
• Your immediate boss didn't get promoted to next level in last two years?

You are feeling comfortable in current roles, if this is your symptom, you may be slowly closing your mind for new learning and experiences, this will lead to rust your skills and marketability of your resume. Over a time this will also build a fear inherently for not going distances in your career and stops taking new challenges in your current organization also.

You’re not/over spending time at office with work; obviously there is no question why would you not look for a change in either case.

At every level of job there would be a way to measure the performance, if you Or your manager not been recognized and appreciated for consecutive two years, it’s the time for you to look for a new job, why only you, why not your manager? Sometimes both!

If you are smart and quickly adapt to the role demands, you will outperform in that job in no time. As you outperform, your manager starts over pouring more work at you with a small token of appreciation, unknowingly you will fall prey for his tactics and try to out shine every task that has been given to you, and sometimes you slog in the office to show the same level of standards in the every work item that you deliver, that means you are over utilized and less paid.

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