5 Qualities of “Heliotropic Leaders”

Cricket is like religion in Indian Sub-Continent, Changing nature of the game has sprung some unexpected surprises on cricket lovers. Pink Ball in its short history has produced some interesting moments. India out on 36 & England 58. Some test matches are getting over in just 2 days. Srilanka, beating a strong Pakistan after getting out on 96. Many such upsets were witnessed by just a small change in fundamentals of the game.

The same thing happens when market conditions and fundamentals of the businesses change. Some of the leaders who perform well in the “Bull Run” struggle when there is a downtrend in the market. Their “charisma” vanashies on the first sign of trouble. But some exceptional leaders are like “Heliotropic Plants” they know how to keep growing and helping others to grow even in tough times.

The 5 qualities that every strong Heliotropic leader should have are:

1. They focus on the culture of Mutual Trust: This is a basic of leadership excellence and for a team to be successful, leaders must work on building Mutual trust. If your employees are going to feel safe and experiment with new things they need to be confident that their mistakes will be encouraged and they will be free to try new things.
2. They Handle Pressure well: As a manager, you’re held accountable for the results of others. There will be times when your team underperforms and that’s the time when you will have to stand by them and handhold them. Virat Kohli has been trolled after losing to Australia. Dhoni was trolled after every loss but he always stood by his team and had faith in their skills.
3. They communicate Honestly: Under pressure, most leaders start blaming others but the hallmark of a good leader is to communicate honestly and accept responsibility for things that have gone wrong. People will have trouble improving if leaders fail to identify the correct issues and start focusing on them.
4. They are Open to New Ideas: Good leaders experiment and they allow others in their team to come up with new ideas and are receptive to them. One very famous quote of Science author & media theorist, Steven Johnson – “if you look at history, innovation doesn’t come just from giving people incentives; it comes from creating environments where their ideas can connect”.  Great leaders understand the power of ideas and use them to grow. 3M is a wonderful example and their culture of idea generation is a case study in itself. 
5. They help develop employees’ careers: Some leaders believe that the training and development of their team will increase the attrition rate in their organization. They feel that if they teach people they will leave their organization and move. Good organizations and great leaders feel otherwise, they know that creating opportunities for employees to master new skills actually binds them to the organization. This helps them to build the team’s depth and strength. This also conveys a powerful message that you care about their personal growth and welfare.