Isn’t responsibility a key component of Leadership so why do we talk about responsible leadership?
To get the answer, it is important that we understand the definition of Responsible Leadership and then we will get the answer on its own.
Responsible Leadership is not positional leadership, it is more about personal choice where the person takes responsibility for what he or she does, not just as a Leader of the organization but also as a social being or more aptly as an aware citizen.
Business leaders usually focus only on the organization’s financial performance, but Responsible Leadership thinks about sustainability, trust, and inclusive growth.
Responsible leadership can be defined as the management of an organization’s connection, cooperation, and collaboration with society to address the concerns of all stakeholders and also to contribute to the economic, social, and environmental performance of multiple strata of society.
The responsible leadership focus is never to just maximize the organization’s profitability but to optimize the organization’s performance along with the stakeholders’ overall growth, social upliftment, and ecological balance.
Responsible Leadership Model
Responsible Leadership is not an individual effort but it is a collective Endeavour.
Responsible Leadership aims to address complex social problems like financial inclusion, which is a big challenge for the Banking sector.
Responsible Leadership empowers the leaders to manage the complexities of the business as well as the complexities of the social environment
To practice Responsible leadership, bank leaders need to sharpen the following competencies
- Ability to see things from different perspectives and gather unbiased information from multiple sources and then process the information from multiple perspectives enable leaders to manage and control the cognitive complexities
- Ability to show compassion and empathy to enroll various stakeholders to articulate the problem and consensual decision-making enable leaders to manage and control the relationship complexities
- Ability to be mindful in all situations enable leaders to bank on a wide-ranging behavioral repertoire to play the diverse roles that their position demands and this enables leaders to manage and control the complexities of their position
Conclusion: Responsible leadership approach can contribute to solving pressing and conflicting problems like financial inclusion, risk management, disruptive competition, etc. In today’s age of populism, where issues are blown out of proportion, the discussions are triggered by blazing sentiments, we require responsible leaders who base their discussions on facts and figures and steer these discussions with compassion and empathy toward a more rational exchange of ideas and solve problems collectively.
