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7 leadership lessons from Indra Nooyi

Few people in the corporate world command the respect that Indra Nooyi receives. Consistently listed as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People and Fortune’s Most Powerful Women, she is praised largely as a forward-thinking leader. Her adaptive response during her 12-year tenure as CEO of PepsiCo helped revenues grow from US$35 billion to US$63.5 billion while at the helm.

Beyond aiming for financial success, Nooyi was also the chief architect of Performance with Purpose. This saw PepsiCo step up their growth efforts while making a positive impact on the environment and society.

Nooyi has accumulated a treasure trove of leadership lessons. Here we share just seven gems from this business powerhouse:

 

1. THANK PEOPLE

One of the most unusual things Nooyi did as CEO of PepsiCo was to write more than 400 letters each year to the parents of her senior executives. She was inspired after a family visit to India. She watched her mother bathing in praise from visitors who congratulated her for her daughter’s stellar career. Moved, Nooyi went back to PepsiCo and penned the letters to the executives’ parents. “I wrote a paragraph about what their child was doing at PepsiCo,” she told CNBC. “I said, ‘Thank you for the gift of your child to our company.’”

 

2. KEEP LEARNING

As CEO, Nooyi made the tough decision to overhaul PepsiCo’s IT system. To understand the technologies required, CNBC reports she read 10 textbooks cover to cover and had professors on call to answer her questions. This legwork didn’t just inform her and help her clearly identify the right solution, it also empowered her to face sceptics hesitant to make a change.

 

3. LEAD BY PRINCIPLE

Indra’s legacy is evident in PepsiCo’s guiding principles. These inform every action and message from the global giant. These six principles are:

  1. Care for our customers and the world we live in.
  2. Speak with truth and candour at all times.
  3. Respect others and succeed together.
  4. Sell only products we can be proud of.
  5. Win with diversity and engagement.
  6. Balance short term and long term.

 

4. STAY TRUE

Never one to imply a veneer of perfection, Nooyi is refreshingly honest. She is candid about the relentless hours required to be an effective CEO, and the toll that takes on her personal time as a result. Nooyi was known to work as many as 20 hours a day, often seven days a week. When asked if that made her a good role model, she answered, “Probably not.”

 

5. BRAVE CHANGE

Nooyi recognised the need to accept change as part of the course large companies take. She started putting key elements in place at PepsiCo that are now considered normal by most companies. Today, PepsiCo is no longer just synonymous with soft drink, but now has a new strong ethos of healthy product choices and a socially responsible mission.

 

6. FOLLOW YOUR MORAL COMPASS

In the 12 years with Nooyi as CEO, the beverage giant continued to be guided by Performance with Purpose. As a result, PepsiCo made the Ethisphere’s list of the world’s most ethical companies during each of those years.  ey also made a commitment to improving access to clean water in developing communities, winning PepsiCo the Stockholm Industry Water Award.

 

7. ENCOURAGE INNOVATION

Not one to leave her company standing still, Nooyi believed in innovation. She gave her management team cameras and photo albums to visit retailers and discover innovative opportunities. Additionally, Nooyi brought in an innovation expert from 3M to spark creativity within PepsiCo. The company also runs the Nutrition Greenhouse, a collaborative accelerator of emerging and innovative businesses using healthy ingredients, or waste from the food industry.

 

This list only just scratches the surface of leadership lessons from Indra Nooyi. She’s a leader like no other who excels in everything from financial literacy, employee empathy, having a strong vision, moral leadership, embracing change and remaining true to herself. Her example can help any leader become someone people want to follow.


This article originally appeared in the June 2019 print edition of Leadership Matters, IML ANZ’s quarterly magazine. For editorial suggestions and advertising enquiries, please contact Karyl.Estrella@managersandleaders.com.au

 

Middle managers: The key layer for influencing performance

You might have heard that between senior management and front-line employees there’s an idiomatic ‘30,000 ft drop’ – a gaping chasm of information, insight and inspiration lost between the two layers. However, middle managers exist within that space and are therefore in a key position to bridge the gap and influence performance.

It seems like a challenging place to be and research confirms that to be true. According to a study conducted among CMI members, 80% of middle managers recognise that they are important in building trust within the workplace but only 31% feel that those around them share that view.

 

Trust impacts performance

That’s a difficult fact to ignore considering trust influences performance. One study found that managerial activities can effectively improve performance, in particular, those of teams. To promote high team performance, managers, especially those directly in charge of teams, need to actively engage in fostering trust. This includes monitoring the level of trust in teams, managing team members’ perceptions of threat and initiating trust-building activities. All of which fall within the responsibility of middle managers.

 

Middle managers hold the key to unlocking trust

Research also identifies that the role middle managers take in strategic decision making put them in a key position to influence the rest of the organisation. These roles include:

  • Synthesising information. They have a unique view of the organisation that allows them to interpret and evaluate information in a way that senior management can’t.
  • Championing alternatives. This unique perspective means they are able to see alternative options and present these to upper management.
  • Facilitating adaptability. Being ‘on the ground’ and seeing first hand the challenges and obstacles that staff experience, middle managers are best placed to foster flexible organisational arrangements when it comes to executing the strategy.
  • Implementing strategy with intent. Middle managers are also best-placed to handle interventions that align organisational activities with the overall strategic intention.

 

Support middle managers to improve employee performance

What can organisations, senior leaders and managers themselves do to optimise the strategic role of middle managers?

  • Organisations can invest in developing middle managers in their leadership skills
  • Senior leaders can support middle managers through active involvement, coaching or mentoring. Keep them informed and display trust towards this layer of management.
  • Middle managers can proactively seek out ways to improve their influencing (upwards, downwards and laterally), communications and decision-making skills.

Sources (articles available to IML ANZ members via Leadership Direct):

Five minutes with a leader: Emma Skea

At just 21 years of age, Emma Skea IMLa started to forge a successful career. She previously worked in administration and as a paralegal at Shine Lawyers on the Sunshine Coast and now is an Administration and Operations Officer with recycling giant Remondis. Leadership Matters asked her to share five reflections on leadership.

 

1. COMMUNICATE

I am still quite young and I am still learning, but I observe a lot and have managed staff myself. I recognise that communication is the most important thing. You have to be honest as an employee and as an effective leader. Communication is something that you must learn and adjust to. In my workplace, we work in very close teams, and communication is essential. We have several team huddles throughout the week to ensure we are all in constant communication. Our team huddles allow us to touch base, as well as bounce ideas off one another.

 

2. BE HONEST

If you are having a problem with something or someone, you need to fix it. It needs to get sorted in a constructive way where all parties can agree on the outcome. Regardless of the size of your team or where you rank, if a resolvable issue is at hand then honesty is the best policy.

 

3. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Personal development gives you tools along the way to grow your capabilities. Ten per cent of your salary every year should go toward personal development. It’s a great way to expand your knowledge and skills as well as network and meet people in a similar industry, or even the complete opposite. I myself take it as an opportunity to get to know my community as well as grow my skill set and knowledge.

 

4. SET AN EXAMPLE

I worked in hospitality and, when I was running events, I would have 30 staff with 500 people attending and it could very easily turn into a high-pressure situation. One thing I took out of it, was that everybody has to be on the same page. If the manager is saying one thing and doing another, not only is it a bad look, it gives extra room for errors and doesn’t allow you time to perform at your highest standard. The best teams are headed by strong managers who nurture growth and play to their team’s strengths.

 

5. BE KIND

I have always been told: do to others as I would like done to myself. If you are kind to your colleagues and team, especially in a high-stress workplace like a law firm, that kindness is contagious. Being kind is such a little thing but it can change someone’s day and mindset. The happier you are as a team, the more productive you will be.

3 Points of view: Hey, that’s not fair!

Fairness matters to staff and employees a lot more than  you might think. As a manager and leader, how do you ensure you are being fair and even-handed? journalist Nicola Field asked three experts .

Employees need to trust you if you are going to lead them. That means I not only have to be fair, but also need them to perceive me as being fair.

I make efforts always to have open lines of communication. Where possible, I explain the reasons behind my decisions. I involve my team in coming up with an action plan to solve specific problems. You need to be vulnerable sometimes with your team and share your own experiences.

I make a constant effort to treat everyone equally. The goal is always to align my actions with the shared purpose. The team should be able to see the link between the actions and the goals we share, even if it sometimes requires challenging old processes.

Leaders are not perfect. I try to be aware of, and take ownership of, my own biases and emotions. I admit when I have made a mistake and forgive others when they admit their mistakes.

Transparency is another crucial ingredient in both being fair and being perceived as being fair. My team knows how I make decisions. I am always upfront and truthful.

Ankit Sharma CMgr MIML – Project Manager, MMG Ltd


Transparency is critical to fairness. Especially with any reward, recognition and hiring processes. Ensure selection panels have diverse representation because while it is important to be fair, it’s also critical that it is seen to be fair.

If you have staff who are working harder than others, this needs to be recognised. If some employees aren’t contributing as much, seek to understand why. If you don’t manage a poor performer this can leave others disgruntled. Equity theory tells us that employees can be demotivated if they feel their effort is greater than what they receive in return, and they may seek ways to improve the level of fairness from their perspective. So leaders must take action. Listen to what’s going on in your team. If you are seeing first-hand or hearing from team members about there being unequal levels of effort, look at both sides of the story and work to find a resolution.

Michelle Gibbings CMgr FIML

Author of Career Leap: How to Reinvent and Liberate Your Career (Wiley)


Avoid the blame game. I have a personal philosophy of always looking at the problem, not the person. Fairness is about acknowledging that mistakes happen and encouraging employees to take responsibility.

For managers and leaders, fairness starts with transparent communication about expectations and consequences.

Be aware too of perception versus reality. Be sure you’re not spending time helping one particular employee more than others. Similarly, in any team there is almost inevitably one person who is super helpful, and another who just coasts along. It’s not fair to take advantage of those who work hard by overloading them – yet it can be an easy trap to fall into, until they’ve had enough and hand in their resignation. Instead, encourage the coasters to stand up and pull their weight – it’s not a case of picking on one person, or you as a manager trying to look good. What you are aiming for is the success of the team.

Coach the coasters to the point where they realise they need to pull their weight or reconsider whether they want to be part of the team at all.

Ken Murphy FIML

Founder, Ken Murphy Consulting


 

What do dysfunctional teams look like?

Unfortunately, many of us have experienced working in a dysfunctional team at least once. However, with the increasing use of teams, effective teamwork has become a critical ingredient for organisational success. But what make a team less functional than they could be?

According to Lencioni (2002) there are five factors that cause a team to be dysfunctional. These are: an absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability and inattention to results. Whilst these five factors may seem to be distinct issues, Lencioni argues that they are heavily interrelated. This article will take a look at how these factors interrelate with each other and how to overcome them.

Absence of trust

In team settings, trust refers to team member confidence, positive team intentions and the willingness to be vulnerable amongst members. When an absence of trust is evident in a team, there are numerous consequences. This can include:

  • Limited constructive feedback
  • Concealed mistakes and weaknesses
  • Negative relationships and grudges are commonly held

To overcome a lack of team trust, there are multiple approaches organisations can take. Firstly, it is encouraged that organisations implement 360-degree feedback tools. These tools can be a powerful method for building trust in teams as they promote transparent communication and ensure that team members are more comfortable being vulnerable around each other.

Secondly, trust can be promoted through workforce training on personality profiles. By helping employees to develop a stronger understanding of their colleagues’ personalities, they will be more emotionally intelligent. Consequently, the credibility of team members can be maximised.

Fear of conflict

The second factor of team dysfunction is a fear of conflict. Whilst an absence of conflict in team settings may sound seemingly ideological, conflict is necessary for producing healthy debate and critically evaluating ideas. Typically, teams that have an absence of trust are likely to also fear conflict as team members are less willing and confident to share different ideas or provide feedback.

To promote healthy conflict in team settings, it is recommended that organisations continue to develop the emotional intelligence of employees. By building the emotional intelligence of their workforce, conflict is less likely to get out of hand, meaning less team members will fear it.

Lack of commitment

Another factor that undermines the effective functioning of teams is a lack of commitment. A lack of commitment is a common consequence of a lack of trust and conflict in team settings as team members have less passionately expressed their ideas. By feeling uncomfortable to present ideas that they are passionate about, team members are likely to be less committed to the course of action.

On top of promoting healthy conflict and trust to build the commitment of team members, there are also other approaches. In particular, setting deadlines and encouraging team members to nominate which task they would be most interested in being responsible for are effective ways of building commitment.

Avoidance of accountability

When there is a lack of commitment towards a course of action, team members typically feel less accountable for the risk of failure. This leads to counterproductive behaviours that undermine the success of the team project.

To maximise the accountability of team members and promote team efficiency, it is recommended that teams take the time to develop goals and expectations before commencing the project.

Inattention to results

The final factor of team dysfunction is an inattention to results. This factor refers to the tendency of members to care about something other than the shared goals of the team. This dysfunction thrives in organisational environments where team members are assessed individually rather than being assessed on their overall group performance.

Evidently, any one of these five factors could be detrimental to the performance of a team. Can you pinpoint which one caused your dysfunctional team experience?


Reference: Lencioni, Patrick M. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team : A Leadership Fable, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2002. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/qut/detail.action?docID=292516