One of the most frequently used words today is ‘grow’ — everyone wants to grow or be associated with teams or organisations that are growing. However, as leaders, it is our responsibility to ensure that our team stays motivated to contribute to their fullest potential at work. One way to achieve this is by providing proper training and organising team building, ideating and brain storming activities. The FM team at Reliance Retail organises PRIDE — or Proactively Reasonably Identifying Deliverables to Execute — pan-India every year with different themes.
This year, the theme is VUCA, which stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. The aim is to ensure the team’s development on parameters such as emotional intelligence, self-awareness and fulfilment, which lead to a positive impact on the team as well as the business. While the emphasis is on equipping the team with necessary skills that will improve their performance, there is also a sincere effort to make this an enjoyable and open exercise for everyone to express themselves and maximise their learning.
In my recent travel across the country, with different team members and during pep talks, the meaning and concept of ‘grow’ was explained to stand for four values —gratitude, respect, ownership and willingness.
Gratitude
What is gratitude? Is it mere thanksgiving or is it something more? As the adage goes: “Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude, completion of thankfulness is gratitude; thankfulness is expressed in words and gratitude is shown in actions.” When we feel grateful, it shows in our behaviour and work. It’s important to be grateful — to everyone who helps us perform in life or at work better. A major challenge people face is the reluctance or hesitation to express gratitude to their colleagues or bosses. They may feel praising a colleague would give him an edge over them. It’s important to remember gratitude is the sign of nobility and not expressing it is akin to wrapping a gift and not giving it.
Respect
This is one of Reliance’s core values. I always tell my team that while each one of us will always willingly or unwillingly respect his/her boss, few will actually treat the technician or housekeeping staff with the same respect. Always remember that each person lends a hand in the retail experience, which can make all the difference. This value becomes all the more important in the service industry. It’s no rocket science that people prefer going to places where they are treated well and shown respect, similarly the more respectfully we treat our customers, the more our business will flourish. Lastly respect yourself. Although simple, this trait will guide and see you through tough times. Always remember respect for others’ guides our manners but it is respect for the self that guides our morals.
Ownership
One of my mantras for leadership is that it’s not about delegating authority but delegating ownership to the team consistently. When a team works with the mindset of ownership, the results are always better. The notion is infectious and more team members will be seen adopting it. I always tell my team to not let fear of failure stop them because it is with failure that you learn. Failures teach us what success doesn’t. Let people own their assignments, let them work freely without the failure of fear and you will be amazed to see how well they perform. When a team takes ownership of the problems they are facing, often the problem gets solved.
Willingness
Willingness is the quality or state of being prepared to do something, to do more, to try again if we weren’t successful the first or previous time. As leaders, we should always be willing to go that extra mile and challenge our limits and empower our teams to have the same attitude. The transition from ‘why me?’ to ‘try me!’ is important; it will take us places and help us achieve what we didn’t dare to dream about. This quality boils down to real action, being different from the crowd and staying ahead of competition. It is the most motivating factor as results are in proportion to the push we have given to our willingness. It is often said that the “first rule is not to lose and the second is to always remember the first rule”. Be willing to work hard, add more every day, challenge yourself, get out of your comfort zone, learn, appreciate, trust, forgive, let go and remember that “where willingness is great, the difficulties won’t be”.