PGEMP Batch 70

Name Himanshu Gupta Contact 1

Roll Number PGEMP70/A/10 Week 3

Assignment 2

Subject Leadership Lab

ASSIGNMENT No. 2: (20 Marks) (to be submitted in word only)

Ques.i. Making use of the concepts and frameworks about Leadership you have learnt in Contact II, write an
assessment of yourself as a leader. What is your characteristic style as a leader?
ii. How effective do you think you are or would be as a leader and why?
iii. What would you do to enhance your leadership effectiveness in the future?

Ans. i. I am working as an Executive Assistant to Chief of Manufacturing Operations- Auto Sector, Mahindra
& Mahindra Ltd. I was given responsibility to prepare a business case for a new paint shop at Haridwar
foreseeing the need for capacity expansion in view of demand surge in Pickup category and New model going
up. I had to work with a cross-functional team comprising of employees from various functions like: Sales
Planning, Marketing, Finance, Central Mfg. Engg., Haridwar Plant Engg., Manufacturing, Strategic Sourcing,
Material management, Asset management, Corporate projects, Business planning and President’s office etc.
The task given was to analyse the need for Pickup models in Northern market (Within 1000 KMS of the Plant
Radius) which can be served thru Haridwar Plant and based on new models planned at Haridwar, should we
plan for capacity expansion by putting up a new paint shop. My functional leadership style is Team leader style
of leadership. This style of leadership helped me to understand market scenario by interacting with the
Marketing, Sales & field sales team to prepare for the base data for our proposal of Capacity enhancement
(Within minimum Time and Cost). My leadership style helped me to get information from different set of
people in the shortest possible time so as not to miss the annual capital budget cycle. This exercise helped me
to learn many facets of leadership and how to develop and nurture inter-personal leadership. When I reflect
back, I found that the Leadership style I was following was taught in class under Leader Effectiveness and
Adaptability Description exercise.

The leadership dimensions which I feel were important are as follows:

1. Articulating the Vision: This is the first and foremost thing that I feel is most important to bring all
the stake-holders visualize the single most -important organizational goal. Almost all team members
were very clear on the task at hand, the expectation from each one of the team member and the role
each one shall play for the success of the Project since we intended to cater to the market requirements
22 months later. We seta a challenging target of setting up a new Paint shop within 12 months from
the day of Budget approval. The experience of the team members who have established such capacity
expansions helped in finding out the pitfalls and activities which needs to be done in parallel to meet
the target was a hallmark.
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My Personal Score perception– 7 out of 10.

2. Relationship building and sharing knowledge: To get job done in a CFT with varied people from
various background needs Team to be cohesive. This is first step towards Relationship building and
building trust within the Team. The atmosphere in the team shall be transparent and all members should
feel free to share their views and knowledge they feel is critical at any juncture for the success of the
project. My belief is that that doing things rather than just telling is an effective way of working. My
Personal Score perception – 7 out of 10.

3. Avoid mental biases: The very critical thing to become an effective leader is not to be Biased and
perceptive by what one hears and experiences during brief interactions. The Leader should not have
biases as this affects the morale of the team and sometimes the very objective of the projects at hand.
During the project approval stage, many of the team-members were sceptical that Asset management
wont start negotiation with the potential suppliers but when we explained them the need and the
challenge at hand, we were pleasantly surprised by the approach taken by them which helped in
crashing the timelines by about a month. My personal Score perception 8 out of 10.

4. Problem solving and empowering team to perform: Since there were members from different
departments working towards the same goal it was imperative that they worked together. But there
were some typical challenges faced by Team due to crunched timelines and the Layout challenges to
keep the overall cost of Project down yet not affecting the desired Quality parameters. The team was
quick to bring out the problem on table and sought help from the Senior experts within the industry
and the suppliers. My role was to bring the facts on table and encourage the team-members to try
different approach rather than wasting time and seek help from who-ever can solve the issues within
M&M or outside. Sometimes, when few of the team-members felt to try a new solution, I helped them
to do so even if they were hesitant and sceptical about the same. My Personal Score perception – 7 out
of 10.

5. High Performance expectations: When the goals were set they were tough since the time lines were
very tight and also we wanted to keep the investment to a minimum. Hence all members had to face
tough challenges in ensuring that these were met. We allowed no compromises, instead looked to raise
the bar further for better results in certain areas. We had sessions for the members wherein new ideation
techniques were explained so that more ideas could be inculcated but without any lowering of the
target. This brought the most out of the people working on the Project. This was most useful while
deciding on the equipment required to be purchased wherein the cost targets were very tough. My
Personal Score perception – 8 out of 10.

Ans. ii. W.r.t. the traits of an effective leader, I think I score well on emotional intelligence, working well
within the team, Striving for set targets & good inter-personal relations. I feel I have right balance of intiating
and considerating type of leadership behaviour i.e. task oriented and employee / team-member oriented. There
are some situations wherein an individual should be able to switch between the two type of behaviours, to
attain the intended result. My personal assessment score matches with the exercise I did in the class.
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Ans. iii. Areas I think I need to improve in order to be more effective as a leader in future are:
Creating an inspiring vision statement:
To keep my team members motivated and passionate, I can improve by translating the vision into a discrete
milestones which are understandable by them. This can help me as well as my team in formulating an effective
action plan which will enable us to achieve the vision which we are aspiring for. Also, to keep the motivation
level high, I shall start to celebrate the small successes which we get in our quest to achieve the larger goal.
This will help team to be aware of the task at hand and help them to visualize what the larger success shall
mean to all.

Inspiring team members to bring out the best in them (Unleash their potential):
I shall spend more time in analyzing the strengths of the individuals so that I can motivate them to achieve
higher levels of skills in them and discuss them to understand what they would like to do on an individual level
and how can I utilize their potential to the Best use of the task at hand/ project. I would encourage them to take
calculated risk and take out the “Fear of Failure” from them to achieve better result and to develop the sense
of responsibility within them. Inculcate the systemic way of problem solving and coach them to work in Team
rather than being individualistic. I shall help them to undergo formal training for design thinking to inculcate
the skill of Innovation and problem-solving.