We develop a tendency to idolize people! Doesn’t this particular practice, date back (believe it or not!), to our very infancy?
The seeds of admiring, or idolizing get sown at a very young age, perhaps when we are still being cradled by many hands.
With the limited visual capabilities of a new-born (which spans only up to a distance of 8 to 15 inches), they inspect intently, analyzing each person, who falls under their visual purview. With each passing day, they start focusing a little more, furthering the process of knowing the world. Their curiosity is surely in line with their rapidly growing grey cells. Thereafter, the phenomenon of idolizing people continues life long, and in every phase of life, it intensifies manifolds.
Quite interestingly, despite all the pampering and adulation by one and all, infants start developing a liking, and admiration for just a few. 
All of us have noticed (how can we even remember our own infancy!!), an infant readily smiling at a few, but getting scared of others. Perhaps, they are either drawn to, or enchanted by some favorable characteristic traits, in a person. Likewise, being repulsive to the unfavorable ones, is natural.
The list of people topping their mind map, more often than not, would be their parents. I am certain, you would agree that very early on, our parents get revered by us.
The adoration & admiration we feel for them in oodles, makes them a hero of sorts, in our ever growing fertile imagination. 
So much so that, it feels as though they have answers to all things big & small, in a world, which seems inexplicably perplexing, at times. Hence, I would like to derive at the fact that the first leaders, who shape up our personality without doubt, are our parents.
Eventually, what gets absorbed by way of the voluntary & involuntary observations, right from our infancy to our adulthood, is translated into our personal traits. We might agree that subconsciously, we choose our respective leaders, imbibing their favorable attributes as we tread along our life path.
With these thoughts of how we choose our leaders, early on, I shall graduate to the current times with an interesting case study from one of my training deliveries. This should drive home my point on the Leadership Styles, and it’s impact on the teams’ overall performance.
Case Study- Outbound Team Building Program
A couple of month’s back, one of my clients (a 25-year-old Global IT Giant), wanted me to conduct a program on Teaming, Team Bonding & Team Building. Apparently, teams from the various projects had very less likelihood of assembling on such common meeting grounds, given their demanding work schedule. Consequently, it deprived them of any conducive opportunity to get bonded as a homogenous group, working for the large establishment. 
Therefore, I planned this Outbound Training Program, which touched upon different aspects of Team Building, as follows:
- Discovering Affinity
- Developing Interpersonal Skills
- Deriving benefits from Effective Communication
- Team Building =Trust Building
- How effective Listening Skills make a world of difference
- Being Assertive Ascertains Acceptability & Credibility
- Time Management
- SMART Goals
- Leadership Skills
These were a group of 25+ participants, out of which, four were the Senior Managers. So, I divided the team into four with each group being headed by a Senior Manager. 
One of the managers, who had joined the company recently, was to replace the other manager, who was serving her notice period.
I had decided to go with the chosen distinctive activities, to take us through the desired learning, leaning also towards leadership. In the process, CorpMantra Academy’s trademark of fun, laughter, and learning were intact, in plenitude. The Experiential Learning Process did have the key take away, well-tuned with our topic of “Team Building”.
Here is the introduction of the participant trainees, in brief (do note the characteristics of the Senior Managers):
- Teams- from different IT projects
- Software Engineers- having 3+ to 5+ years of experience
- Senior Managers- Software Engineers with 10+ to 15+ years of experience
- Senior Manager 1– A hefty looking, well-built outspoken gentleman, whose track record was that of a good performer. He personified a successful manager, capable of driving his team to success.
- Senior Manager 2– A rather reserved bright young gentleman, who came across as approachable, but had the inclination towards being a little shy. I am not sure if he is a quasi-introvert.
- Senior Manager 3– A lady manager, who was serving her notice period, came across as disinterested. What more need I say!
- Senior Manager 4– The new hire- A suave & energetic young manager, seemed to have a lot of “fire” for his new job. His approachable stance, readily earned him the camaraderie of his team members. He acted less as a manager, but more as an influential leader, sporting a very pleasant demeanor.
The first activity itself managed to set the cords right, amongst the heterogenous teams. Thereafter, as the team submerged into the theme, learning unfolded, with the least of effort. 
If the second activity unravelled the other nuances of the chosen topic, the last activity landed us on a plane, where we rediscovered the impact of leadership on each team.
As we came to the end of the program, all the trainees were absolutely delighted & enthralled, on how the intrinsic learning were derived from those fun filled activities. What left them in amazement was the way in which Leadership Style of Senior Managers had a greater impact on the performance of the team, at large. The teams’ performance had a direct link to the Leadership Styles of their individual managers.
Analysis
Now let us get back to the Senior Managers, and their teams’ performance
- Senior Manager 1- A hefty looking outspoken gentleman, whose track record was that of a good performer–
His team stood first. They were quick to accomplish the assigned tasks at hand, which branched out from a good teamwork coupled with good planning. The structure they had built was very strudy, and could withstand a weight of 10 kilos; however, aesthetically it was not appealing. The results highlighted the true traits of an efficient manager, who directed his team well; however, the lack of detailing, and finesse were given a big miss.
- Senior Manager 2-
A rather reserved bright young gentleman- His team stood 2nd. Their work seemed to have been done without much planning, and their structure fell short of finesse. Their manager had concentrated on reaching the goal, which they had manageed well. Even then, tapping on to the potential of his pool of talents, to the best of their abilities, could be relooked upon.
- Senior Manager 3- A lady manager, who was serving her notice period, came across as disinterested, and lost.
Her team failed to achieve the given tasks, and were out of the race, even before trying out. Their manager had decided not to be participative, and that is where the team fell apart, despite having some promising members. Her team failed to perform in any of the given activities, or tasks.
- Senior Manager 4- The new hire- A suave & energetic young manager, who seemed to have a lot of “fire” for his new job. Even though his team stood 3rd, theirs was done with great planning, had the finesse, and compared to the others’, theirs was the best structure.
The way he had divided work between his team, and the way he stepped down to participate more as a leader than a manager, was impressive. They were not only working towards their goal, but wanted to give a good finishing touches to their structure. Each team member seemed to be influenced by their efficient & persuasive suave leader, who left no stone unturned, while getting the jobs done well, himself being very actively participative!
Points To Be Noted
- From the above, we can easily draw the conjugation between the Leadership Style & Team Performance. This Team Building Training Program, is a prelude to the ensuing blogs on Leadership Programs.
- Here, each team was the true reflection of its respective leaders.
- The infant, in each individual had rightly followed the famous adage- “Follow the Leader “.
- Let us add to it a line of significance, a precurssor to success- “Follow the Leader & their Vision”.
- And here goes our take on the leader:
“PC- Brainy Quote”
Now I shall leave the rest of the analysis to my readers. CorpMantra Academy shall knock back with other learning from our various training programs.
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Priya Gajamer
Founder & L&D Principal Consultant, CorpMantra Academy
An artistically inclined, health enthusiast, holding a degree in Bio Science, with 20+ years of work experience, spanning across industries. An IAF Certified Corporate Trainer in Soft Skills, and a Strategy Consultant for Global IT Services, she also dons the hat of an ardent blogger for Health & Wellness, IT & Retail, and is a Social Change Activist.