Entrepreneurial spirit
vs team spirit
Zubin Mehta’s orchestra performed recently
in Mumbai and it was absolutely stunning to hear each musicians excel with
their instrument, yet be in complete harmony with the orchestra. No musician
attempts to compete or stand out, everyone accepts their role and performs
seamlessly. This is true team spirit, where there is an understanding that
excellence and winning occurs in collaboration. The conductor is respected for
his role as well. There is no fight for glory. Sports and theatre are arenas
where each player is required to play their part best in the interest of the
team.
The sportsman’
spirit is often seen missing amongst corporate executives. The highest level of
competition is visible amongst peers in many organizations. Greed, jealousy,
competitiveness, comparison, power play and turf creations occur due to a sense
of individuality and lack of empowerment. When a person feels insecure or out
of control, they feel the need to exert control over others through various
tactics like information or relationship withholding, lack of cooperation,
inadequate transparency etc. True leaders are those who empower others, as they
are confident about their abilities and comfortable taking support of others.
Over
the recent few years, the fluctuations in the economic environment are creating
pressure on businesses to reinvent their product offering or business strategy
at a rapid pace. To cope with this level of uncertainty, senior executives are
being expected to be leaders of their domain and adopt an entrepreneurial
approach to work, yet be aligned with organizational goals and vision. Working
from a space of empowerment rather than competition is the need of the hour.
According to Steve
Jobs, entrepreneurship is about using your intuition to connect dots of
opportunity that does not exist as yet and continuously cultivating it through
innovation and initiative. It is this passion, leadership and zeal to create
that drives performance and shapes the business. However as the business grows,
the focus often shifts to managing business and attending to structured and at
times mundane matters. The entrepreneur moves from a human being to human
doing. This is when there is need to be
watchful of getting boxed and to retain the entrepreneurial spirit, it is
helpful to engage professional management.
Entrepreneurial
spirit is often misunderstood as the ability to freely run with an idea. The
freedom to implement a vision demands responsibility of consequences for
choices and actions and requires courage, leadership and perseverance. When
executives are expected to adopt an entrepreneurial approach to work, their
style of working needs to reflect the attributes of an entrepreneur without
being individualistic in their inter-actions or decision-making. This often
causes a dichotomy. On the one hand, there is need for free thinking,
responsibility, quick decision-making and creativity and on the other hand,
there is a need for accountability and structure. Executives are feeling
stretched to align and work in an unstructured manner within a structure.
“The things we fear most in
organizations – fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances – are the primary
sources of creativity.” Margaret J. Wheatley
Earlier,
people preferred to work in the same organization for 20-30 years and learnt
and grew within the system. However, nowadays, people are job-hoping every 4-5
years for professional growth. Executives are challenging themselves by
changing sectors, organizations, country etc. When we take away anchors, like a
stable job, city, work domain etc, we need to establish personal anchors to
deal with challenges of such self-created dynamism. Although, executives have
the required skill set to excel in different jobs, there is often lack of
emphasis on self-development and growth. To be the entrepreneur of our life,
there is need to take responsibility of our emotions, choices, reactions and
their consequences.
Recently,
I was coaching the business head of a growing organization in a dynamic sector.
He had been a part of the business since its inception and hence worn multiple
hats at the same time. Now the organization had grown into multiple businesses
and his role had changed from being a jack of all businesses to the master of
one. He forgot that he was now the captain of his ship and no longer the mobile
crew. To be a captain, the thought process has to be expansive and inclusive –
envision the business strategy, take risks, motivate and collaborate with
different teams and be creative.
“Players win games, teams
win championships.” Bill Taylor
A
true champion submerges his sense of individuality and remembers that success
is directly linked with collaboration. MS Dhoni is a fine example of captaincy
that led the Indian Cricket team to victory in the Cricket World Cup 2011.
Dhoni remained unruffled and focused on the goal and displayed sheer grit on
the field. Collaboration requires a sense of empowerment and awareness of
strengths and areas where support is required to accomplish a vision. No one
person is capable of doing everything. We are all pieces of a puzzle; only when
we work together and fit in at the right place, are we able to complete the
picture.
