It’s a rare rainy day in our city. As I look out of the window, I see people scampering for cover from the rain. I also need to go out to meet a friend though I don’t know his exact address. I have two choices for me. I can wear a raincoat or carry my big umbrella. I decide on the umbrella because I can offer a couple of persons cover from the rain. As I go out and take in two people, one of the volunteers to guide me to the address I was looking for. This incident taught me a valuable lesson -When you are thinking not only for yourself but also for others – in other words – abundance thinking, it helps everyone.
By this incident, I realized that leadership in an organization has lots of similarities. Later when I was discussing this incident with my Colleague Rahul, it occurred to us that it had equal applicability in leadership in an organization. Successful leaders invariably take along everyone in the organization irrespective of their levels. By reaching out to them, they are able to derive valuable inputs from everyone. Invariably, such leaders transform the core culture of the organization. By looking out for needs of others, a leader serves not only his/her own cause but also that of others and more importantly that of the organization.
Hence Abundance Mentality and Transformational Leadership go hand in hand. Transformational Leadership skills are magical in nature with a perspective that such skills can be acquired by consciously practicing them with consistency being the key. Such consistent behaviors create patterns which are easy and influential for people to experience and follow amongst their own teams. Some of the key skills of transformational leadership are:
• Empowering team members to take up responsibilities sometimes above their levels in the organization or beyond their routine work.
• Listening to the overall viewpoints and arriving at the best solutions.
• Create a vision of self, team, and organization.
• Most importantly act as a change agent within the organization. In other words, transform leadership style.
For these skills to be mastered effectively, the ability to think and execute in “Abundance” is one of the essential attributes to focus on. People must see that as a Leader you BELIEVE in yourself and in others’ potentials, capabilities and most importantly the firm belief that others can also lead. After all, leaders keep changing, but the organization stays on. So a True Leader will always look to groom the next leadership group. The most important aspect of such leadership to be truly transformational is for the Leader’s mindset to create a space for the people of the organization to also transform. To implement this, there has to be a transformation in the thought process of leaders. This is where the Abundance Mentality makes the leader even more successful. Abundance Mentality has two key aspects:
• The Giving Mindset – Willingly giving more and constantly looking out for such opportunities.
• Trust-Driven Mindset than Control Driven Mindset.
When Giving takes precedence over Taking & when Trust plays a bigger role than control in leadership attitude, the culture of the organization undergoes a positive transformation. One of the examples is that of a common friend of ours, Manoj. He is the CEO of a medium-sized company. He has cultivated the practice of treating his suppliers, investors, employees, and everyone else as if they were his best friends. His equation with them transcends the usual business relationship. This approach comes back to him in a manifold.
Every one of them tries to do/offer their best for their close friend. Thus they all strive for the common good. Essentially they all make a part of a whole. This is a prime example of abundance thinking. Hence a leader with an abundance mindset directly transforms an organization creating a positive belongingness for people with the organization. It’s not about one leader leading many, but many leaders leading many other leaders and potential leaders – the “Power of More”. Such leaders with abundance thinking create space for more abundant leaders.
Now let us consider an organization with different leaders having opposite mind-sets i.e. Scarcity Mindset and Abundance Mindset. By Scarcity Mindset, we signify a leader who concentrates all leadership and decision-making processes in him/her. Abundance Mindset as already explained is the opposite. With Technology growing at Giga speeds and innovation displacing many traditional modes of operation, it is critical that abundance thinking is likely to be more productive. Out of the Box, thinking and creative solutions may be absolutely critical for a business to not only grow but even to survive. It is obvious that if inputs are encouraged from many as opposed to only one or two persons the result will be better. Thinking of a circle of influence helps leaders plan on collective good, collective solutions, and collaboration. This creates a culture of Giving and getting into the habit of giving more. This, in turn, provides a win-win environment for both leaders and people who work with them. In other words, such leaders lead without even showing that they are leading but making all team members feel as leaders. Such leaders also ensure their people thrive and prosper with the same belief system leading the organization together to greater success.
Both scarcity and abundance mindsets are present in all leaders. Invariably, every leader operates out of both these mindsets at certain times. What determines the success/failure of the leader is the degree to which one habit of thought dominates the other. The impact/outcome of abundance mindset depends on the extent to which the leaders are conscious to practice abundance thinking consistently until it becomes a subconscious act of positive thinking. Abundance leadership mindset creates a positive ripple effect in the entire organization displacing the fear and control leadership mindset.
As leaders let us wear our thinking hats to evaluate ourselves on the degree to which we are contributing as transformational leaders by applying the Power of Abundance Thinking.