Amit Bhatia understands the numbers. He should; Amit is Prosum’s Vice President of Finance and Information Technology. While Amit knows his way around a spreadsheet, he has more than a decade of hands-on work with CRM platforms like Salesforce and other client-server architectures. Amit is a troubleshooter at heart. Whether he’s supporting our production team to find the right talent for our clients or defining our corporate systems architecture , Amit is a servant-leader striving to solve problems.
We interviewed Amit to find out what motivates this leader to succeed and what he looks for in his team.
Amit Bhatia, in His Own Words
I’ve been in IT since 1997, and I can tell you it’s like that expression—the only constant is change. The past decade has been exciting as technology evolved at digital speeds. As an ERP Consultant, where I started my career, I experienced firsthand the movement of technology from the server side to a cloud SaaS product. From ERP to CRM, I have always been involved in helping organizations grow by making technology the “enabler” for the business. My professional mission in life has been to make “technology” a differentiator that helps business leaders understand data in order to make necessary decisions. Throughout my career in the technology field, I have been very close to reporting and data generated by various platforms to help shape the data to derive meaningful insights for the business.
One thing that has yet to change, even as I moved from numbers and databases to leading teams at Prosum, is the need to stay motivated and engaged in the work. I firmly believe that I can learn every day something from every person that I interact with in my walk of life. This would include my internal team members, my peers, leadership at Prosum, external partners, vendors, my network, etc. I have a passion for reading books, blogs, and news to improve my knowledge and stay inspired. Some of the great leaders I follow closely in business include Kevin O’Leary, Bill Gates, and Andy Jassy. These voices and the mentorship of my senior leadership team inspire me to come up with new ideas for motivating my employees.
I find keeping teams motivated despite any conflicts or obstacles requires four best practices:
- Practice active listening by really hearing feedback and suggestions.
- Encourage innovation by embracing ideas to improve overall operational efficiencies.
- Reward employees for suggestions, actions, and accountability.
- Empower the team and everyone around me with opportunities to succeed and grow
Strong leaders should practice these skills today while removing roadblocks that hamper their team’s performance. Goal setting is also essential for individuals, teams, and organizations. Setting and owning goals should be for everyone, from the President of the company to the newest hire. These goals should be S.M.A.R.T goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound) while also aligned with the company’s vision and mission.
Goal setting is vital to engaging teams in the entire organization’s success. At Prosum, we set expectations at the time of hire by clearly communicating team goals. Together with the new employee, we talk about career road mapping and where they want to go. Then we work together to help the employee get there. This fits well with my servant leadership style.. . I always like to ask my team “”How can I help?”.
Four skills can set someone apart when looking for new employees to join my team. They include:
- Being a team player
- Effectively communicating, both verbally and in writing
- Attention to detail
- Having the skills and knowledge to do the job
Finding the right employee is only the first step. It’s how you manage those employees that makes or breaks a company. The key to being a good manager is to have an open door and create an environment where the team feels comfortable sharing their views and thoughts without any hesitation. I do meet with my team at least three times a week. My feedback, though, is mainly to challenge them to think differently about a roadblock and to keep them moving forward. Ultimately, I trust and encourage my team to follow their instincts. They know what to do. I’m just there to support them and keep them positive, motivated and engaged.
