Posted on Apr 10, 2013

The Value of Availability in Leadership

The value of availability means handiness; readily obtainable or accessible.

Leadership Questions:

How easily accessible are you to your team? How would they score you?
Are your digital devices and processes designed to make you available only when you want, or when others actually need you?
What is it that others really want from you: information, to do something, or just to listen?

It All Starts with Being Available

As a marketer, I’ve always been an advocate for organizations to make it their top priority to focus on customers. Employees were second.

Then I read a book that gave me a different perspective, called “Employees First, Customers Second.” The author is Vineet Nayar, the CEO of HCL Technologies, a global IT services company based in India.

Nayar writes about his account in transforming HCLT from being a typical top-down driven organization to one that is driven by employees working in the “value zone,” the place where customers interface with the company. Based on this new approach, within 5 years HCL became one of the fastest-growing firms in the global IT services industry, especially known from its radical management practices.

In their efforts to shift to a self-governing organization where employees take responsibility for change, Nayar makes it clear that the leadership team learned to embrace the value of availability.

As Nayar writes in his book:
“There we were, the senior leadership team, standing up in front of the entire company, taking all questions, opening ourselves to every comment. Just by being available and by being transparent as we could be in our comments and answers, we built trust with the members of the audience.”

Many readers of this book will likely pick up on the transparency and trust, willingness to take risks, or the supportive nature of the leadership team. But I believe the real magic starts with simply being available.

Today, everyone wants answers ‘right now’ (or better yet, yesterday). Speed of information is more critical than ever. Leaders can no longer delay by hiding behind closed doors or staying in their ivory towers. Customers, employees, shareholders, and channel partners all want answers – and they want it now. Even if you don’t have the answer or know the whole answer, it’s better to share what you do know than not share at all.

Stated a different way: just being available can make all the difference.

Is this hard to do? Yes. Does it come with challenges – such as knowing when you can switch off? Absolutely. But as HCLT has proven, leaders who embrace the value of availability can help others make a significant difference.