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I started working in CESC in 1984, as a Graduate Engineering Trainee. CESC, at that point of time was very different from what we know the organisation to be now. There used to be only one shift-engineer in charge of a generating station from 5 o’clock in the evening, till 8 o’clock in the morning. I don’t know if characteristically I was a humble person then, at the age of 22 or 23 years, but having to take responsibility as the sole shift engineer, and manage workers who were much older and experienced than me, compelled me to be humble in order to get the best out of my teammates. I used to take care of the operations and maintenance, along with the medical and canteen facilities. That’s when I realised that if a leader approaches everything with a sense of compassion and humility; it makes one more accessible and relatable to the team. People will be able to access the leader and share about their concerns and difficulties, which can then be resolved.
Being humble also helps to influence people in a positive manner. During a six-month executive programme that I did with IIM-Kolkata, I learnt that people are more drawn towards humble leaders. They find leaders who underrate themselves to be more effective than people who overrate themselves. This has been my personal experience as well. If a leader needs to be successful in influencing others, humility is certainly important. To start with, a leader should not think he/she has to lead. The responsibility of a leader is to guide the team members. If that is done well, the rest will fall in place. In every achievement, the leader should celebrate and position the team before putting himself or herself in front. Slowly the team will be noticed for their achievements and the leader will also be noticed.
At the end of the day, a leader should realise that he or she cannot be the champion of everything. Humility is essential for a leader because it helps to be self-aware and understand what we do well, as well as what we do not do well. And it helps to bring out the best in others.
We must always try to show compassion and humility to others. It is essential to lead oneself as well as an organisation. Above all, humility is a beautiful trait that can help one live life in a better way. Be humble. In my view, humility is the strongest value in a human being. Life might not be easy but humility, patience and a forgiving attitude can certainly make it simpler.
I’ll answer this in a slightly different way. I would say a sense of humility is essential to leadership because it authenticates a person’s humanity. One has to demonstrate humility in the workplace. It is a demonstrative quality and if one practices this, it will always help. Power comes with rank. But one shouldn’t have to pull rank to claim authority. If a leader tempers his/her authority and arrogance, and approaches people and situations with humility, it can certainly help in being an influential leader.
Being humble within oneself is not enough; a leader must showcase compassion more proactively. One of the ways to showcase humility is through active listening and being appreciative of others. When you listen to others proactively, you will realise people like to get appreciated. People like being acknowledged for the good work they do. Therefore, always look for ways to appreciate and acknowledge the good work. At the end of the day, as a leader, your objective is to help your team reach their maximum potential, because a leader cannot achieve everything alone.
Demonstrating humility and compassion in the workplace is of paramount importance and these are behavioural practices an organisation must adopt at all levels.
A few months back, we got a power-purchase agreement for Dhariwal Power Generating Station’s Unit 1. This agreement ensured that the unit will be in operation for the next 3 years. We have been vying for this for quite some time, which finally came through. But to make it successful, we needed to get linkage coal from Coal India Limited (CIL), which would assure a steady supply of coal.
I, along with my team, was quite certain that we would be able to get the coal, once the power purchase agreement is signed. If we didn’t get it from CIL, it would not only jeopardize the operations of Unit 1, but also put Dhariwal as a company back to RED once again, because we cannot run the plant with coal bought from the market.
Suddenly, we got an email from CIL that as per the Fuel Supply agreement, we are not eligible to get the linkage. I was completely taken aback because knowing the market volatility and coal import scenarios, the supply from CIL was absolutely very essential. I, along with my team and other leaders in the group, initially thought we would fight it in the court of law, as we were very sure we were eligible and would win. We started the work by engaging a legal firm and was ready to file a petition in Kolkata high Court, but at the end we discussed and decided to wait for a month or so and try to resolve the issue amicably. We only had about 45 days to get this resolved.
From April onwards, the contract started. We started supplying power to the Central Railway, Mumbai, which utilises the power to run the suburban trains in Mumbai. I knew we would not be able to sustain ourselves for more than a month. I went to the Ministry of Power in New Delhi and requested them to intervene in this situation. I showed them the documents and tried to convince them.
For days together, I had to frequently travel back and forth between Kolkata and Delhi as I had to take care of my responsibilities related to Haldia Energy and CESC too. It started to affect my health, but I felt it was essential to resolve the coal linkage issue, otherwise the operations at Dhariwal would have to be stopped and the time avail-able to sort this out was limited.
I kept travelling to and from Delhi and Kolkata. Finally, they relented, and the Ministry of Railway and the Coal Secretary helped me with a recommendation letter to CIL. Even then, the Chairman of CIL did not agree.
I had to go back to the Ministry again. After another few rounds of meetings finally we managed to get the coal linkage. I think it was possible to find an amicable solution to the situation because in spite of being rejected again and again by CIL, Ministry of Coal, I approached the people who mattered with utmost humility and humbleness. I was successful because I could instill trust in them because of my humility which is closely associated with sincerity, modesty and truthfulness.
There are many such instances that I can recall. But another one that comes to my mind is 2003 – when CESC decided to offer VRS (voluntary retirement scheme) to about 2000 people. New Cossipore Generating station was one of the power stations of CESC at that time where many unutilised manpower remained in permanent roles. There were some departments that were to be withdrawn completely – security, canteen and workshop. Workers from those departments -from ‘mazdoor’ at the bottom most level - to the ‘charge-hand’ at the highest level, had to either take VRS or get deployed to another de-partment of the same generating unit. But in case of deployment to another department, everyone had to join in the bottom category as a mazdoor, which was quite a few levels down.
There were about 15-20 such people in New Cossipore Generating Station (where I was then deployed) who did not want to take up the VRS, as they needed the job, and because of their age, could not get a job anywhere other than CESC, in areas outside the power station.
I understood that it would be a huge emotional blow to these people who had to start over again as a mazdoor in another department of the same workplace.
I personally spoke to them and assured them that I would be with them till the time they are able to get assimilated in the new departments smoothly. Slowly, they were able to start over again with dignity. I approached the situation with humility along with empathy, compassion, fairness, unpretentiousness and of course authenticity—and it certainly helped.
I firmly believe that many times, in difficult situations, humility and compassion drive better outcomes than any other value. To conclude, when things go wrong, humble leaders admit their mistakes and take responsibility. When things go right, they shine the spotlight on others. At the end of the day leaders, must inspire trust, cooperation and commitment among the workforce.
