An African proverb – “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together” is one of my all-time favourite sayings. Because despite over 200,000 years of evolution, humans and nature have survived simply because of what I would like to call ‘collaborative teamwork’.
Animals that work together as teams do so because it is crucial to their survival instincts. Right from geese, to bees, to dolphins and wolves, the animal world is rich in not just diversity, but can teach us a few tricks about working as a team. And for us humans, teamwork is the backbone of workplace success.
The Canada Geese are a perfect example of flexible leadership. The flying V formation that they use when migrating long distances is headed by a leader at the apex of the V. When the leader gets tired, another goose steps in and takes over the reins. Sounds fairly simple, right? But on a much deeper level, we can learn so much from their flexible leadership style and ability to be agile, all while delegating responsibilities (mid-flight, might I add!) without a hitch. As leaders, we need to keep an eye out for the well-being our teams, communicate with purpose and constantly reinforce the concept of trust!
Being both an ardent animal lover and a HR domain expert, I have always had a keen interest in the nature vs nurture debate. At work, I often ask the question – Are we born with the propensity for certain behaviors or do we learn them because of our environment? While nature is what we understand as pre-wiring and influenced by genes and other biological factors, nurture is shaped by external variables such as life experiences, our social relationships and our culture. As one of the oldest debates in psychology, it is only fair to dissect the impact of nature vs nurture at an organizational level.
A behind-the-scenes-look at life at Godrej Housing Finance
My ‘Word Of The Year’ for 2021 happens to be ‘Nurture’. And so while gathering my thoughts for this piece, I reflected once again on why I chose the word nurture to help guide my decisions and bring out the best in my teams. The GHF values act as an anchor for each of us and enable the business to grow. Each GHFite brings something special to the table, because of who they are, where they come from, the experiences they have had and the skills they’ve developed along the way. Businesses today are paying close attention to how personality traits (nature) blend in with workplace culture (nurture). So if the nature of your company is fast-paced, innovative and agile, it bodes well to hire people with a strong set of soft-skills including empathy, attention to detail, and courage.
Why? Because understanding what shapes workplace culture is as important as rolling out initiatives to improve productivity, performance and the ability to collaborate cross-functionally. At GHF for example, trust is not just one of our values. It is the most important thing. Which is exactly why our leadership team took it upon themselves to drive a sustainable and transparent work culture right from the top. Despite uncertainties and challenges which the pandemic bought with it, our goal has remained the same – to nurture our work culture, communicate openly and invite feedback from every employee.
Is there a secret to nurturing effective leadership?
Nurture is a peek at how leaders empower their teams to make thing happen, motivate them to take ownership and challenge them along the way. Excellent leaders know that nurturing leadership qualities helps increase productivity and identify people who are ready to step up to the plate when organizational changes occur, therefore making new leaders necessary. One of my most treasured books – The Wisdom Of Teams by Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith is a classic guide to unlocking the potential of teams in your organization. The authors build a case for their curve that maps the functionality of working groups, potential teams and real teams, all the way through high performance teams. They further assert that “real teams” do not have a leader, are self-managing, share leadership through collaboration and possess a shared vision. They describe the environments where these teams thrive and the steps organizations that can take to create similar results. So in a way, both nature and nurture play vital roles within a company and as far as books on team building go, this one’s a winner! The secret to nurturing effective leadership starts by leading the change, talking to people to truly understand why and how they act, and establishing teams of people with the ‘right’ behaviours that are well in line with organizational values.
Nature vs Nurture, or both?
An academic report by the University College London (UCL) claimed that ‘leadership is partly hereditary’. So the question is – Does your genetic makeup influence and determine your leadership skills? Luckily enough, the answer is definitely in favour of both nature and nature. A company may be fast-paced and forward-thinking, progressing with speed and agility. Or it may be one of tradition. GHF is definitely the former. From a personality perspective, whether or not we are born with certain tendencies it is apparent that corporate culture, environment, and our peers have some influence on how we behave. A blend of nature and nurture is what makes a company truly stand out. On the leadership front, a cocktail of interpersonal skills, time management skills, ability to take initiative and ability to work in a team are four central characteristics that elevate the role of a leader. The diversity of personalities, thoughts and approaches that we encounter at work every day present us with endless opportunities to identify skilled individuals who are ready to take on the challenges of leadership when needed!
Ruhie Pande 