A Covid-Proof Leadership Strategy

Covid-19 has come as the blackest of all swans, unleashing a human and economic tragedy beyond all expectations. In such turbulent times, what sort of captain is leading the crew of the ship IDBI Federal Life Insurance.... Banking Frontiers finds out.:

Crisis times calls for leaders with multiple skills. One such critical skill is communications, which itself is a multi-faceted subject. While everyone recognizes the importance of more communications in this pandemic situation, Vighnesh Shahane, MD & CEO at IDBI Federal Life Insurance, has a slightly different take. He believes in informality as more important than just the quantum of communications. And this is just one facet of his leadership strategy.

In a free-wheeling interaction, Shahane discusses various aspects of leadership that can significantly make a difference in an organization as it passes through such critical times and lists things that he considers relevant and unavoidable in a leader’s journey in taking his organization to the safe shores.

Informality, he emphasizes, helps break down communication barriers; it also helps to breed knowledge and improve the speed of communication. “When the ecosystem is formal and bureaucratic, you can have whatever communication you want, but you won’t get the required information or trust,” he explains.

Shahane also believes that informality is a necessary condition to think and talk beyond work related issues and encourages it at IDBI Federal Life Insurance. It does not mean, he says, putting your legs up on the boardroom table and having a cup of coffee. It is breaking the barriers of politics and bureaucracy and ensuring speed in decision making.

“But I do not believe in taking informality to the level where all kinds of personal problems are discussed between office colleagues – informality should not go beyond a particular point. A lot of leaders recommend increasing communication skills and I cringe, as communication happens in various forms,” says he.