There is a state of mind, which is most conducive for path breaking work, for individuals as well as teams. A leader's role is to achieve this for himself and his team.

There are a whole host of management techniques, strategies and methodologies. TQM, CRM, Reengineering. Guerrilla Warfare, Market dominance, Niche Marketing and what not. Each one of them seems to be a panacea for a lot of problems but success is not assured for all who might implement them. At the same time there are businesses, which are very successful, and the management might not be even aware of the latest management buzzwords. So what accounts for success? Some might attribute it to "kismet," fate or luck. But such a conclusion is not really helpful. I believe there is a state of mind, which is conducive for success. Here I am not referring to IQ, experience or knowledge that a person might have, these are all enabling factors but not the most important. The most important factor is to have a mind, which has accepted a situation and reconciled to the fact that the only way out is to make it a success. This state frees the mind to focus on solving a problem what ever be the odds and whatever be the constraints.

A mind which is not happy with the job, is looking for a new job, a new assignment basically an escape. The boss might motivate, announce an incentive or threaten dire consequence for not performing. Work will get done but would it be the best? Would it be work, which makes for success? As the odds rise won't the quest for escape become even stronger and when the business really needs total involvement a key resource might actually call it quits. A mind that however is totally content with its present status and situation is more likely to apply itself to the job. By contentment I do not mean status quo with respect to performance, the mind is content to apply itself whole heartedly to the current problem, job or situation.

It is the leader's, entrepreneur's and each individual's role to consciously get into this state of mind which I call "No way out" because then the mind's only solution is to find a solution and make the situation a success. This is the state of mind, which ensures total commitment to the task whether things are going well or not.

Sumantra Ghoshal talks of an even more powerful state of mind, and uses the term Volition to describe it. It is a much more than motivation, the mind does not work for any tangible reward, and it works because of a sense of commitment. A state of mind like Gandhiji had when he decided in South Africa to root out colour discrimination, a firm commitment "to root out the disease and suffer hardship in the process." A mind in this state is unstoppable, and we have seen it in the case of others like Mother Teresa.

The process for getting into this stage is purely by the process of introspection or by a process of surrender. In self driven people through the process of introspection  and elimination they come to the conclusion that this is the best opportunity available and one needs to make the best out of it. This whole process needs to be done in a systematic and focused manner. Rather than having the thought of escape spoil one's performance over months together it better that the mind dwells on the various alternatives fully and completely in a very short time. I have found this useful when dealing with my team too. If someone in the team shows signs of discontentment, I help the person by laying the structure for introspection. What is the person's long term goal, does the job fit with it, are there any better jobs around, can the present set of responsibilities be changed to fit the person's style and aspiration. I would even ask the team member to take two days off and do a through introspection and come back. It is much better than to have a dissatisfied player in the team.

This focused state of mind is the most conducive for results, it will find solutions without resources, it will create opportunities when none existed and it will solve problems, which seemed insurmountable. The greatest resource that any organisation can have is a mind that is totally committed to it. 

This article was earlier published in Dec 02 Businessgyan.

The author is the Chief Catalyst of Businessgyan, His areas of interest are business strategy and innovation. For feedback & more information send mail to thespark@ businessgyan.com

Related Items:

---

Be first to comment this article

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.