“No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.”
H.E. Luccock in these metaphorical words, explains best the vitality and potential of teamwork in reaching the milestones expected of an institution. To be given an opportunity to lead the team is to be given a question to answer- Where do we go from here?
To answer this, it is imperative that we understand what the consequences of an organised leadership should be.
A true leader should first and foremost, envision a work environment where the importance of teamwork is revered. He/she is the one who needs to instill the fact in team members, that no one is smarter than all of us, that success is not about individual goals but about collective good, that it is amazing how much we can accomplish if we care less about who gets the credit and more about how much we can do when we aim for something bigger than each one of us.
The next benchmark to set is that of novelty, innovation and the materialisation of ideas that are envisaged collectively by diverse minds.
A team is purposeless if it traverses the stream of stagnation instead of the thickets of something daunting, futuristic and hitherto unheard of. Such a goal requires firsthand thinking, soul searching, extensive observation of surroundings, the recognition of what is missing and the realisation of that one realm where we need to improvise and innovate.
Another destination to reach as a leader drives the team forward is greater integration with the world outside and with undiscovered arenas. Needless to say, the reluctance to step out of one’s comfort zone, or passivity towards anything apart from what we already know is the greatest enemy of progress. Therefore, it is essential to possess an indomitable will to discover rather than display, to challenge ourselves rather than compete with others, to slog through tougher endeavours rather than showcasing easy wins, to take the road less travelled than the oft beaten path, to paint an avante-garde portrait of the world than to remain in the background of the mundane conventional systems and commonplace platforms.
The leader must know that the most important spearheader of such aspirations is originality. Edith Wharton said,”True originality consists not in a new manner but in a new vision”, and the leader must strive to dream of one which propels its team to imagine, imbibe and invent.
-Pranjali Tripathi
HEAD GIRL