DN Prasad on the new operating system for leaders

DN Prasad, or DNP, as he is fondly known as in the professional circles, is presently the Senior Director - People, Strategy & Operations, GovTech Singapore. 

In his masterclass on “Leadership Traits that are Essential for Transformation”, at People Matters TechHR 2020, DNP spoke about the need for collaborative leadership to navigate crisis, the 6 principles for effective collaborative leadership and encouraged leaders to ponder upon their leadership journey through a set of reflection parameters.

“It is not about one person leading from the front. It is a village that comes together. In a lot of ways it is like the orchestra that comes together, and the role of the leader is like that of a conductor,” said DNP as he kickstarted the masterclass. Emphasizing the need to look deeper and recognize that change does not happen to an organization, but to a collection of individuals, DNP walked the attendees through certain key principles to hold onto in their endeavor to lead their teams through the uncertain times. 

He spoke about how teams and individuals endeavor to improvise on the basis of the conductor’s guidance. For such a collection of individuals doing things differently, he recommended that there is one form of leadership that becomes very crucial, and that is ‘collaborative leadership’. Collaborative leadership is a type of leadership, said DNP, that is required to get effective and efficient results across internal and external organizational boundaries.

“Collaborative leaders invest time to build relationships, handle conflicts in a constructive manner, and share control.”

To enhance one’s ability to effectively lead as a collaborative leader, DNP suggested 6 key principles based on research and recommendations from key leadership associations and universities.

From ego system to ecosystem

The new operating system for leaders requires them to make a shift from ego system to ecosystem. The segments in the image below define the ecosystem or the operating system for collaborative leadership:

Continuous change agents, learn to pause

The second principle DNP suggested was by the Centre for Creative Leadership, on how leaders are in essence change agents, but must take the time to pause and reflect. “As leaders are often change agents, one of the important things they should be able to do is to pause, step back, zoom out, look at the bigger picture and then start zooming in.”

To be able to do that he recommended a four step approach:

• Thinking fewer: Prioritizing ruthlessly
• Thinking scarcer: How do you do more with less
• Think faster: Agility > Perfection, Focusing on prototyping instead of perfection
• Think smarter: Who do you bring in together? Do we have the best people in the room? Do we have the most ideal people in the room to solve any problem?

It is all about people

People and values together build culture.

“You don’t create culture. You create values, find like-minded people who live those values, and together a culture is born.”

Without the right people, all efforts are meaningless, noted DNP.

Everyone point north

Everyone must be aligned and leaders must rally around the common purpose or mission that ties all together. This principle further extends to another principle that focuses on “You may not agree, but you need to be aligned.” What leaders should do is not try to necessarily get consensus, but instead try achieving alignment. “It’s not about consensus, it’s about transparency. Always provide the rationale”.

Adding that positive contention lets people express their opinions before a decision, he said, “Transparency and trust allows them to commit even when they disagree. Great leaders don’t try to get consensus, they achieve alignment.”

Focus, but aim first

It’s important that we focus, but it’s also important that we aim first, said DNP. For instance the focus and need for data in the current times. “Data is important. But transformational leadership isn't all about analysis. It is a combination of analytical skills, analysis and deep intuition as well.”

Let’s talk about squads

The next principle focuses on building squads over conventional organizational structures and job roles.

“It’s not about individual heroes anymore. It’s about building small, autonomous full-stack teams responsible for solving particular problems and challenges.”

Collaborative leaders must focus on providing guidance, allocate and equip with resources and then handover the field to squads to work their way through business challenges.

With great power, comes great responsibility

This principle focuses on the need to not just empower but also hold individuals accountable. “It’s about giving them the power and authority to get the job done, while holding them accountable for the results.” A key aspect here said DNP is to reward action but also defend and celebrate when they make mistakes. In order to encourage action, DNP did suggest to replace the culture of fearing failure with a culture that accepts mistakes.

Velocity > Accuracy

In this principle, he emphasized prioritizing action over accuracy, in the interest of time. It is essential to get to action and prototype instead of letting go of time and opportunity.

“Speed isn’t greater than excellence, yet it’s important to get into the prototyping mode and keep experimenting,

Coaching principles as part of a transformative journey

For collaborative leadership to truly be transformative, one must acknowledge and recognize how coaching remains an integral part of leadership,noted DNP. However, often there are gaps that keep one from encouraging the full potential of both themselves as a coach, and in the process, that of their coachee.

While DNP spoke about key elements or questions for collaborative leaders in the process of coaching: What’s happening? (To establish the current state); What’s most important? (To establish future state); and how do you get there? (To establish steps to move to future state); he also delved into 3 pillars as a reference to develop those questions. He shared that coaching boils down to 3 principles:

• Good listening: This principle strives to create a sentiment - I hear you and I see you.

“Coaching is about good listening, which is about listening to understand and not listening to just respond.”

DNP urged attendees to ask themselves, are we listening to understand or are we listening to respond?

• Good asking: Let’s explore together what’s underneath. “If we want to create ideation, it’s about asking the right questions.”
• Good planning and follow up: Are you solving or are you helping solve? This principle encourages the sense of - I care so let’s track improvement together. “It’s about co-creating solutions and not doing their work.”

Further to embracing the basics of coaching, DNP encouraged leaders to reflect on their journey and growth trajectory, through 10 questions, enabling few moments of reflection and introspection:

“Titles make you managers. People make you leaders.” Being better people managers starts with having the right intent, reckoned DNP.

In times like the present that demand greater understanding and collaboration from everyone, irrespective of their titles, building a strong foundation for work relationships will strengthen the building blocks of trust, engagement and commitment in a digital workplace. Being a collaborative leader, will not only act as a binding factor and in aligning the organization towards a common mission, it will also contribute to accelerated problem-solving through well-guided squads and an enabling organizational culture.