I was Interviewed by Aliya Abbas of 'HR Katha' for their - 'Trust Over Performance' story.
Sharing some of my comments here to the questions asked for our common learning.
The quintessential 'Volume versus Values' debate particularly in the People & Leadership space comes up everyday despite the ultimate outcome being known and well-rehearsed in our minds. Volume here refers to Numbers & Performance ... Values to the elements of Trust.
Performance has direct association with the 'Balance Sheet Behaviours' , those that contribute to business like numbers, delivery of results , profits, EPS, ROCI, sales numbers, market shares etc.
Values are associated with the critical 'Off the Balance Sheet Behaviours' of leaders and people like trust, confidence, empathy, interpersonal skills etc which underlace and drive the morals and morale of the people in the Company. The previous is a short-term winner. The latter is the long-term Winner.
The short answer therefore to your deep question about who wins - the Toxic Leader or the Influencing Inspirer, lies hidden in the purpose & character of the enterprise. It is also about the definition of 'Winning' in the belief system of the enterprise.
My experiences in managing People in businesses in India and overseas leaves no space for debate. Trust is the hands-down winner. If the person one selects is 'Hi on Trust & Medium on Performance' , you could augment him with Coaching and other inputs. But if the person is 'Hi on Performance & low on Values', hiring him is a big - 'No-No'. Consciously hiring such toxic Leadership is like knowingly watering your tree by pouring Contagion in the roots. Such a tree will collapse, ultimately. Just a matter of time.
Now the hiring problem is that we have developed a hundred tests and skills to identify the 'Hi Performers'. Very easy. But we have not developed any meaningful and significant tests to identify 'Hi on Trust' people. Thus often companies end up hiring people in critical and important positions who get subsequently eliminated for toxic styles or ethics and Code violations. The recent NSE fraud where arrests are made, the ICICI CEO Scam that was unearthed, the former McKinsey Head arrested in US for Insider Trading ... don't they all evidence the proven hypothesis?
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