Empowering a team mate on the spot

Dear Reader, 

A mentoring client Mr. Ramesh Mehta. (name changed) is chief executive of his organization. He & the company’s sales head Varun Sharma went for a critical business negotiation with a key client.

At the meeting Ramesh noticed that Varun’s hands were trembling as he wrote on the whiteboard. He went up to Varun, gently tapped his shoulder & said: “Varun, you know your job and I am confident that you will do this presentation well.” That gesture rekindled the inner confidence in Varun and the entire discussion was a breeze. The company arrived at a win-win arrangement in the negotiation.

I noticed lot of joy & light in the eyes of Ramesh when he was narrating this experience. The joy of nurturing someone to his best. Ramesh had an option to take over the presentation as it was sufficiently critical for the company. But he did 2 things at the same time with this gesture, building the organization & building the business.

I was personally very inspired by this. I shared this with another client Rekha Menon (name changed). Her eyes lit up as I shared this experience. She said 5 years back she had an exactly similar experience.

Rekha, being HR head of her organization was required to make a presentation to a 15-member Japanese delegation while her company was exploring a JV with them. There were distinct hierarchy & protocols to be followed with this team. She was so scared before the presentation that she fell sick yet could not back out. Just before the meeting began, her company’s CFO whom she barely knew, took her aside. He held her hands and said “Rekha, you know the HR and people matters of our organization. These people don’t. Therefore, only you can make this presentation. I am sure that you will do a very good job.”.

Rekha shared that this was a turning point of her life. Her presentation went off so well that the JV was signed primarily due to the HR presentation as the Japanese delegation could resonate with the company culture.

Since then she has passed on this genuine confidence gesture to many people down the line.

May these two accounts inspire you to empower your people to handle critical situations and turn out  winners.

 

Warm regards,

Rohan