Making of Managers - 15 ::: Evolving as a strong personality

Dear Gowri
I am sure I will have some experiences tomorrow to be posted in this series if I attend my Public Speaking class.....I really shudder at the thought that it is going to be 6th class and I am just left with 3 more classes.....I have immensely enjoyed and got benefited with these 5 classes that has happened already.....and the whole web world may not suffice if I start verbalising my each and every thought, feeling and emotions about the class & record each and every learnings that I have undergone until now....
Still, I am compelled to make this posting right today as I got a strong signal of becoming a strong personality at office..... To make it bit brief and not appear bit boastful, the team which works under me do not try to argue much with me...when I give any instruction (I rarely order them...make it like a friendly chat and end with a request .... which yields only vigourous head nods ....I mean YES nods...), they are carried out AND when I consciously enter into some socialising or casual talks at canteen, they just enjoy my humour and quick wit....and there too they are pin drop silent only...till I get out....of the canteen. I normally excuse myself very naturally from the canteen after taking my coffee....with a feeling of empathy towards them - let them enjoy and have fun amongst themselves.....isn't it//
Now,the beauty is that with my recent elevation to one more market to be handled since Jan, I am practically out of touch from lot of meetings with my earlier team as the supervisor is quite an efficient guy and has a daily Team Leaders meeting....(I used to have it weekly with all TLS...Daily I just met my direct reportees during last year)..... and keeps me out of most of the operational things... Such change of working may irk people at my position, but with my macro level thinking and maturity, I really enjoy these exclusions and keep chatting only to him (the supervisor) on exceptions that he put forth to me....some times as an information, few times seeking my view on it....
So, coming back to the main point, I dont have much operational duties these days and just spend time in II quadrant (things which are important but not urgent) ... and just do follow ups on pendancies that I follow up personally....Yesterday, there was an escalation mail that was cced to me too...and it was a silly mistake of sending mails to wrong person.....!! The supervisor of the team was away at Tirupathi and Quite impulsively I nominated one of the Team Leaders to organise a Brainstorming session amongst the TLs (including few senior members) and get me a list of all situations leading to wrong mails....It should be noted that the mails that I am talking about is not some occassional ones / administrative nature, but the team,as a part of process, raises 100 - 150 mails each day to follow up on pending invoices (we handle payments to be made...and not all the invoices are perfect and ready to be processed....lets not get into details)
I gave her (this TL resembles Swetha...and really grew up rapidly tremendously under my special grooming.....also she got married on 29th apr last year (2007)....which is my own 10th wedding anniversary......I had taken both Anoo and Madhoo to her marriage at Vadapalani...the marriage hall was just 1 kilometre from Hotel Saravana Bhavan) some instructions on how to handle a typical Brainstorming session and told her role quite clearly (she needs to shut up..), gave her a format in which I wanted the output and assured that I will join in the 55th minute of the 1 hour session...
She dutifully went inside the Board Room with lot of tension and excitement....and I got deep into few other chats and discussions of my other team. When I entered the Board Room, I found friendly smiles of my team...and they looked at me stopping their discussion... Calmly I sat next to the facilitator girl and just glued into the computer screen without a word....then the discussion continued for 5 more minutes......and I interrupted only when there was a pause....and it appeard when they have dried out completely.....!!
I thanked the team telling them that it is quite important they should have such sessions amongs themselves without waiting for supervisors / managers to barge into every thing.... All of them were in ununiform (me too) and this casual and fresh mind on friday is apt for such sessions....I added...
I requested the TL to mail the excel sheet to me which I forwarded to my personal id.....and today morning I completd the exercise at home.....Going through the various points captured, and grouping them properly, look at ways and suggestions to avoid them in future...and the action plan for the future to eliminate it completely.....I mailed it back to my office id just now spending 1.5 hours exactly....which complimented to the teams 1 hour (it was 8 member team which generated all the points
What is the bottom line of this elobarate explanation of the whole episode with never tiring finger tips of mine ?? YES, there are some fools who are labelled as supervisors and managers who wrongly think being strong...and strict is a pre requisite to drive the people under them towards the goals.....!!
Here I am joining the limited group of the universe who believe in being strong personality and ability to act thru others...and providing opportunities for the team to evolve by their own self learning.....and being a personal example of how they can be when they move to top.....
Krishnaarpanam....
suchoo
ps:- I am giving below my mail exchange for safe custody and future reference...

--- On Sat, 7/6/08, suchoo wrote:
From: suchoo >Subject: RE: 'BSC=001-386-510'REQUEST URGENT PAYMENT FOR BCRDB-EUR23.46-VI T05 Elec Eltrec
To: Anonymous
Saturday, 7 June, 2008, 6:55 AM
Hi TL
I spent exactly 1.5 hours at home....(I literally clocked it)

Please circulate this to the TLs......(with abc and def ofcourse). I would like each of them to go through the expanded excel sheet carefully....

We may spend together max 15 minutes after our DER meeting and share some thoughts / doubts in this excel......

Thanks for your support on this...

Leads,

Think abc Team is already matured enough to organise such sessions from now on....Not necessarily every initiative should come from the supervisor / manager !!

Rest in person...

Regards

suchoo
--- On Fri, 6/6/08, Surendran, Suren (S.) wrote:
From: suchoo
>Subject: RE: 'BSC=001-386-510'REQUEST URGENT PAYMENT FOR BCRDB-EUR23.46-VI T05 Elec Eltrec
To: TL
Friday, 6 June, 2008, 4:07 PM
Great….Thanks…I am sure you had a good quality time…

Suchoo

Ps:- keep this mail safe….There could be some occasion you may need to send some document to my personal id...xxx and yyy knows….but still it is better you too have it….

From: TL
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2008 4:06 PM
To: Suchoo
Subject: RE: 'BSC=001-386-510'REQUEST URGENT PAYMENT FOR BCRDB-EUR23.46-VIT05 Elec Eltrec

Suchoo,

I am attaching the file on wrong mails for your reference.

Regards
TL

From: Suchoo
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2008 8:23 AM
To: TL
Subject: FW: 'BSC=001-386-510'REQUEST URGENT PAYMENT FOR BCRDB-EUR23.46-VIT05 Elec Eltrec

TL
You may use the enclosed format for your discussion….Please log into the computer at the Board room and just start filling up this excel sheet to make the time more qualitative, focused & memorable…

THE LAST TWO COLUMNS CAN BE FILLED UP AFTER I JOIN YOU PEOPLE….As I have told earlier, I want to join only after you prompt me….

Please talk to me before you go to Board Room. I will tell you few more things on how will handle the meeting…

This Brainstorming session should happen even if some of the TLs are on leave today…..Please feel free to include some hard nuts / experienced in the team to arrive at the comprehensive list…(like abc, def, gef…..)

Regards

suchoo