Turning Setbacks Into Stepping Stones

The most successful people don’t take setbacks as “The End” but rather as an opportunity to propel them forward.  Thus, they develop this uncanny ability to turn setbacks into opportunities 🏆 They don’t go down to failures;  instead, they use them as springboards to trigger their path forward to success. 🏹 It’s easy to get discouraged or feel low (aka “feeling like the end is here?”)  when things don’t go according to plan, wishes or as desired But did you know that  the most successful people don’t have a magic formula for avoiding failure? They just have a different way of thinking. 💡 They see failure not as an end, but as an inseparable step towards the journey to success. 📈  They see every setback as an opportunity to learn, leap and grow and help them move a step or two closer to their goals. 🎯 So the next time you face a setback, remember “giving up” is not an option. Take a few deep breaths, assess the situation, and ask yourself: what am I learning here? How can I use this experience to become better, stronger, and even more resilient? 💪 Remember, success is never going to be a straight line. It will be a winding road with plenty of bumps and detours along the way, and that is what will make it fun, memorable and worthwhile. 😍 Go on, embrace the journey, and don’t be afraid to fail. Remember, the only way to guarantee failure is to never try at all. 💯 (PS: I wrote this with the hope to inspire several friends, networkers and all the people who have been impacted by the economic downturn and/or decisions that were not favorable to their plans) Learn More

Nurturing Servant Leadership in Action - Agilonomics

Top Servant Leadership Traits: Caring for Your People First

Leadership is more than just achieving results. Empathy, support, empowerment and growth are visible where leadership is effective. A good leader finds creative ways to inspire his/her teams and impact positive change in the world. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care – “Theodore Roosevelt” What is then, the best way to become a caring leader? I will help us explore the essence of caring leadership in this blog, by sharing thought-provoking servant leadership quotes, and provide a few practical tips for becoming a more supportive and empathetic leader. The True Meaning of Caring Leadership Caring leadership puts  the needs of your team members first. It influences a culture  of collaboration, shared responsibility, and growth. This summarizes the essence of caring leadership. Personal glory or achievement are not as  important as creating a supportive environment where everyone can thrive. Simon Sinek said it well enough, “Leadership is not about being in charge. It’s about taking care of those in your charge.” This underlines the importance that empathy and understanding bring in leadership. When your actions show you treat your team as humans, and not merely as resources, you empower them to give their 100% and grow to become leaders themselves. Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy that brings empathy, support, and selfless service to others.  Mahatma Gandhi said,  “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Practical Guidance for Becoming a Caring Leader 1. Connect personally with your team members Spend time to understand your team members goals, passions, and challenges. Your actions should show that their contributions are valued and you are  invested in their growth and development. This will help  you build trust and create a supportive environment where everyone can thrive. Help your people succeed and give them credit for the success.  “A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” — Lao Tzu 2. Communicate Effectively Caring leaders communicate effectively. Set clear expectations with your employees, and ask for their feedback and concerns. Encourage open dialogue and collaboration, make everyone feel empowered. Ensure everyone contributes and shares their ideas. This way  you can build trust, inspire collaboration and greatness in your teams. 3. Lead by Example Caring Leaders set the tone for their teams. Demonstrate through your behaviors and actions the values you want to see in your team members. Authenticity, vulnerability, and humbleness are key. Admit your mistakes, be responsible for your actions, and show your team members that you are committed to help them succeed. Inspire your people to grow into their best versions. “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.” — Ronald Reagan 4. Empower Your Team Members Empower your team members to be accountable for their work and develop new skills and abilities. Empower them to make decisions and trust them to deliver to their accountabilities. Back them up so they can take calculated risks and learn from mistakes. Provide guidance and support as needed.  This way you can create a sense of ownership and accountability, impacting  increased motivation, engagement, and productivity. Always lead by example instead of demanding results. “You don’t lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case.“ – Ken Kesey But how do we do all this? By starting to recognize the importance of servant leadership. Servant leadership is about leaders serving their team members, rather than the other way around. By focusing on the needs of the team and empowering them to drive their goals and  succeed, the leader can create a culture of collaboration and mutual support. Robert K. Greenleaf, the founder servant leadership concept defines, “The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead.” Remember, It’s not about seeking power or control, but about serving the needs of the team. Personally, having worked for more than a decade in Agile environments, I experimented with different philosophies. While Servant Leadership looked quite theoretical to me in the beginning, working with it and learning from a few role models around me, I found it to be really effective. It took time to see the return on investment and was also quite hard in the early days, especially with people suspecting my actions and being cautious but holding onto the principles of human values and Agile, it started to bear fruit. What I found was higher trust, feeling of safety amongst the team members, team members stepping up to take responsibility and showing accountability for all work (as opposed to mine vs. yours) and owning the results! Here are 5 steps towards becoming an effective Servant Leader As a servant leader, you need to recognize that everyone on the team brings unique skills and perspectives, and you can achieve great things by working together. “I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.” – Mother Teresa Applying the  principles of servant leadership to your leadership style? Consider these questions: Reflect on these questions. Create an actionable plan, take feedback and strive to become a more empathetic and supportive leader. You will be able to create a culture of growth and success for your team. Conclusion: The most effective leaders are those who truly care about their team members. Take the time to understand your team members as individuals, communicate effectively, and model the behaviors you want to see in others. Remember, when you serve the needs of your team, you inspire them to do their best work and become leaders themselves. As the saying goes, “A good leader creates other good leaders.”

Leader Traits: Top 10 Success Factors for Effective Leadership

Top 10 Traits of Successful Leaders

Truly successful leaders have several traits in common By truly successful, I mean business leaders, who, while busy growing their organization, do not lose sight of (their) people’s growth. In short, they are successful in creating happy, high performing teams, departments, and organization through empowering and growing their people Such leaders are effective communicators. They are balanced – physically, emotionally and mentally. They move with a sense of poise.  They’re quick in actions and in making decisions, but not hurried in their minds Getting to this level of leadership takes conscious self effort on the part of the leaders to learn and grow. Such great leaders are rare Having studied a number of such leaders and their leadership styles, I observed effective leadership traits presented below.  Trait#1 – Great Leaders “Take Responsibility” Great leaders understand that responsibility is not given but taken. This deep aspect of responsibility reflects in their behavior and actions They feel a sense of responsibility for each and every person in their organization which helps them develop a personal connection with all. Such sense of belongingness brings the best out in the people as people thrive when they feel truly cared for This attitude helps build trust, empowers the people who also step up to “take responsibility” in helping achieve the organization goals. The leaders show support by wholeheartedly giving credit to people for success, while taking responsibility for failures  Example: Scrum Master shielding the team when a sincere team effort resulted in failure while coaching team members to learn from it and move on. The same Scrum Master coaches the team to be cross functional, self organize around work and continuously deliver high value through Sprints. When the time comes to get the accolades, the Scrum Master steps to the side and allows the team to feel “they did it”. Such Scrum Masters will be noticed and acknowledged sooner or later Trait#2: Great Leaders “Serve Selflessly” without a hidden agenda.  Effective leaders are servants first: This attitude aspires them to lead and become a servant leader. Traditional leaders want to establish (‘I am a leader’) leadership first which may or may not inspire them to serve The servant leadership attitude provides a safe place for the people. When people feel safe, they let go of the fear and trust is established Servant leadership skills in leaders puts the focus on people and teams (“groups of people”).. The organization succeeds, becomes great as a result of its great people Example: A servant leader manager works selflessly and earnestly to bring up an employee who is lagging behind others in performance by truly understanding what motivates them and how to stimulate them through the intrinsic motivators of autonomy, mastery and purpose rather than putting them under a performance review and firing them when they fail  Trait #3 Great Leaders “Self Introspect” Great leaders take some time to daily introspect. They go inwards, review their (recent) actions, behaviors and decisions and what they could have done better and differently to uplift their people and move them forward towards achieving greatness (both individually and for the organizational vision) This helps the leader to be aware of his or her limitations and to continuously work on those, which benefits both the leader, his or her people and the larger organization Example: In the book, “How to win friends and influence people”, Dale Carengie notes that people who got most from the book are the ones who kept some kind of log to follow up on their interactions with others and contemplated. What they could have done differently to be more personable and attractive Trait #4: Great Leaders “Employ Practices” to Daily “Refresh and Renew the Mind”  Leaders move from good to great when they realize the need for practices that help refresh and renew the mind on a regular basis. They develop and evolve a practice (usually learned from agile coach) that helps provide “mental hygiene” which empowers them to have a say over their mind. This is a revolutionary concept and often includes breathwork and meditation These techniques help the leaders stay grounded and centered despite ongoing challenges and situations which enables them to make critical decisions objectively. This is health supporting and brings long term gain for team members, leaders and organization Example: Many leaders who work at Agilonomics as partners all have a daily breathing and meditation practice. They are not only successful but have grown to lead with empathy and compassion. They also have goals and results to achieve and strive to do so but do not compromise human values in the process. Their employees and followers love them for their humility and being accessible Trait #5. Great Leaders “Thrive on Feedback” Successful leadership style includes learning from feedback.  Leaders may too feel a pinch of nervousness when receiving feedback, but they use feedback with introspection to become better leaders Leaders who truly benefit from feedback become good listeners. They don’t just take action but they listen, learn and lead. They work to discipline themselves to become great listeners Example: I know a Servant Leader Agile Coach who has successfully transformed many teams and organizations. On being asked how he had had great success in a short time? “I learn from feedback” was his response. He would ask “What could be done differently for even better results?” to his clients, listen actively and take the suggestions to where he went next  Trait #6. Great Leaders “Balance”  Passion with “Compassion and Dispassion” Great leaders come to realize that uncontrolled passion is not useful and too much (uncontrolled) passion can create frustration in them and anger in others  They balance their the river of passion by confining it within the banks of dispassion and compassion A river not confined to its banks can flood and be destructive. Uncontrolled passion can create fear and anxiety in the people you serve or work with.  However, passion guided by compassion and dispassion can be a force like a river confined within its banks helps generate power and electricity Trait #7. Great Leaders have a “strong inbuilt Self

The Ultimate Purpose of Servant Leadership

First and foremost, Servant Leadership is about adding value to people and their lives. To be successful at Servant Leadership is to be caring, to help everything and everyone you come across (you touch). Great Leaders understand that the best thing that they can give to others is themselves and their time. Servant Leaders help others reach their true potential, and they do so without any personal agenda.  Their goal in life is to be of value to everyone and anyone.  A good Servant Leader will help people achieve their best in a number of ways. First is by getting a deeper sense of who they are: understanding their story, their journey in life so far, their deepest fears and desires etc.  In doing so, a good Servant Leader grasps their aspirations, their pains, the joys, the risks they have taken, the goals they want to achieve in life. It is as if you are stepping in the shoes of the people you are working with, to understand how it feels to be just them. Just by being  with them, and understanding them, creates a strong bond between you and the people you’re working with. It helps to have that strong connection and conviction in your clients that you really care for them, that you are here for them, that you are on the same side as they are, that you are ready to walk an extra mile to be at their level and then take them holding their hands to where they want to reach. Secondly, make their vision, their needs, their goals and how they want to achieve it, your top priority. Many so-called leaders think about leadership as all about themselves. But it is not the right understanding. In fact, Servant Leaders  focus on the needs and wants of the people and make their (people’s) dreams, hopes and aspirations a priority.  Servant Leaders nurture people and organizations and align the vision of the organization with the dreams of its people. And, in this alignment, there is great power. A good Servant Leader believes in the people he or she works with, and by doing so, they help the people believe in themselves, which helps the people perform better.  It is great when the people believe in a leader, but it is beyond greatness when the leaders believe in the people they serve. Not merely by their words, but also through actions they confirm their belief in the people. By doing so, they help the people grow in Self belief. Only by understanding people deeply can you provide true value to   their lives. This will enable and empower you to work with them and brainstorm ways they can achieve their dreams while also bringing value to the bigger organization.  You can then work with them to put a plan or journey in place. It is one thing to say that, you want to help people on the teams you are working with. But it is another to actually follow through and guide them all along the way. When you follow through, you are not only helping the people, the teams, the organization, but you’re also adding credibility to your own leadership, skills and influence – not only with the people but with everyone else in the larger team or organization.  There are really no cons when it comes to adding value to people and their lives. Definitely, it will cost you time and effort and will need a lot of patience, courage and having to deal with conflicts, disagreements etc., but, when you add value to people and their lives, you help them and truly make them more valuable.  A successful or an effective Servant Leader will work with individuals to make teams stronger; will work with teams to make departments stronger; will work with departments to make the larger organization stronger.  When people and the whole hierarchy of teams and departments become effective, it helps everyone. Your biggest reward will be a deeper sense of satisfaction. In my journey of Servant Leadership, my deepest rewards were  to see a spark in the eyes of my team members, and Scrum Masters, and Product Owners I worked with as they discovered their own journey towards being successful. According to J. Oswald Sanders’ book, Spiritual Leadership: leadership is the ability to influence others to follow his or her lead. Famous leaders have always lived this truth. This is realized through a deep understanding of leadership. You can see all around the world, the most powerful leaders are also the most influential. True leaders do not lose their influence. The leader that is primarily focused on product or organizational growth while ignoring (under emphasizing) the growth of his or her people does not have a long-lasting influence. Such an influence goes away with their title, position, or money. Servant Leadership is an example of true leadership where the influence continues to stay independent of title, position, or money. Do you see the difference?  Can anyone be an effective leader? Somehow, many people believe that leadership is only for those who are born with a certain ability. This is not true. I believe, anyone who moves on a journey where they feel they want to be of value to others actually starts showing up as a leader.  In fact, great leaders are those who wake up every morning to see how can they give value to others around them. I do agree that there are certain leadership skills or traits that can be seen in some people early on in their lives, but it does not guarantee that they will grow up into a great leader.  Attitude and effort are two important aspects of good Servant Leaders. Such leaders show up with a positive attitude, and they give 100% in the efforts. Instead of being indifferent to people pursuing their own agendas, having wrong attitudes and refusing to work with a team, they choose to care about people, and include everybody. It is a choice they make every day.  Servant Leadership also understands that just because you have influence with one or

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