Tigers interestingly possess and exhibit many desirable personality traits which are valuable for leader development and leadership effectiveness in many if not most circumstances. Leadership skills are possessed by both humans and animals alike. Intriguingly, animals can be remarkable examples of leaders for they lead their groups by influencing, leading by examples, guiding and constantly communicating with their followers. The Tiger is one such animal who possesses unique concoction of leadership styles. And who doesn’t want to be led by a TIGER, anyway!
Having powerfully built shoulders and legs( read the character a leader to possess), the tiger, is also seen by the Chinese as courageous as well as upholding justice. Being seen as the King of the Beasts in East Asian cultures, paintings of tiger(s) are normally put in the house to ward-off evil spirits. Going by these innate traits of tigers, they qualify as a natural leader as proposed by Trait theory of leadership.
Like an authoritarian leader, Tiger sets goals individually, engages in one-way, downward communication, controls discussions of followers, sets rules and directives unilaterally, rewards obedience and punishes those who non-conform to his rules, and exhibits poor listening skills.
Tigers use the basic management process of controlling, organising, and short-term planning and showcase Transactional leadership style in certain situations. It involves motivating and directing followers primarily through appealing to their own self-interest.. The main goal of the follower is to obey the instructions of the leader. The style can also be mentioned as a telling style.
Their impulsive, vivacious, and dynamic personality traits make them magnetic characters who always end up being the center of attention in social settings. Moreover, their courage and universal attractiveness make popular leaders.
Here are few leadership lessons to be drawn from Tigers:
— When a tiger hunts, he stalks his prey silently, and gradually sneaks up on it. Leaders should also keep a look out for competition all the time and know when the iron is hot for the perfect strike. Successful Leaders are well–versed with the market & competitors health. Most if not all, decisions are backed by certain data point and not on intuition
— Most Tigers live with their nuclear families i.e. with their chosen & reliable companions. And Tigers never hunt in packs, and neither do they move alone. Same is true for leaders, who should always judiciously choose the resource. A disjointed & a disoriented team may even fail a wise leader, as it is the team that implements & executes the directives
— Tigers are known to just hunt once in about eight to nine days. This makes it necessary for every slaughter to provide them enough to sustain them till the next hunting episode. Similarly, successful leaders need to plan head and envision the future as every decision of theirs will directly or indirectly impact the future of the organization.
— There is a saying that ‘there are times when even the tiger sleeps’. Here, it is taken that even a leader may commit a mistake, yet, as a leader; it would be more inspiring for him/her to admit rather than to deny it. A True leader accepts his mistakes and never puts everything on the team. Leader & the team would adopt an overall continuous improvement approach.
Sandeep Gandhi is CHRO/Head HR at Aircel and runs their Save Our Tiger (SOT) programme