A Formidable Mix: Bureaucracy, Leadership and the Future of the Organization

Questioning the Status-quo

In a leading tech organization of 30,000 associates, what happens when there is a cloning of leaders and leadership-styles caused by a bureaucratic approach to leadership identification employed by both the business leaders and the Human Resources team? A lack of fresh perspectives, prevalence of operational and hierarchical behaviour by business leaders, attrition of bright prospects and high-potential talent form just the tip of the iceberg. It entails ramifications for the future as well.

In the 20+ years of the organization’s existence here in India, no attempt was made to identify youngsters who could take up Leadership roles of the future.

Breaking Some Patterns

To fight the bureaucratic approach, we set up a subscription method to join the program we designed. The young leaders had to apply to join the development program themselves; we needed their whole-hearted commitment to the 7-month journey. Managers were not allowed to nominate anyone.

We shortlisted people based on the performance indicators within the organization and looked at the consistency of high performance over a 3-year time frame; a mail was sent to these shortlisted high-potential candidates to send us an SOP video. Further shortlisting was done based on the videos, followed by 1-hour intense interviews to select the cohorts. Every year, 2 cohorts comprising of 12 members each were chosen to join this programme.

No Ordinary Development Programme

This was no ordinary training programme which would give the candidates silver bullets on a golden platter. We exposed the cohort members to high-level group coaching where self-reflection and actions taken were of high priority. Two batch mentors, one from the business and one from the HR, constantly watched over these cohorts and stayed available for queries.

At the beginning of the development journey, psychometric tests like Hogan’s were done for each member to estimate the starting point. Feedback about each member was taken from the wide array of coaches deployed. My team member or I were present on all “development days” with the cohorts.

Live problems faced by the organization were given to the cohort members to explore and figure out how the problems could be overcome. The discussions were spirited, and useful insights were also obtained.

Some of these cohort members also had connects with the Board members at least twice during their programme.

Is the Future in Safe & Right Hands?

Feedback about this programme has been so positive that is now considered as a flagship programme for the organization; it has also been recognized by the Board Members at the Headquarters in Europe.

Today, more than 50% of the members have entered the pipeline into Middle-level Management. When positions are open, these cohort members are given the first preference. Some “bright sparks” have also been placed in senior roles in the organization. This programme has also been instrumental in providing solutions to the problems – which have also been implemented.

The camaraderie and the willingness to work together has been another great outcome, and the networking amongst these associates has increased considerably. What’s more? They have even started giving back to the organization; In 2023, they organized a “Young Leaders Meet”, a whole-day programme, for the organization which was well-received.

The pipeline for middle management and above has been greatly enriched with these young leaders who are finding their “bestest” versions of themselves every day.