RAVINDER- Spl. Secretary, UP Govt.

TE: What according to you should be skills a leader must possess?
RAVINDER: A leader has a bigger responsibility than executing work. His work involves motivating people who have different needs, different attitudes and different value systems to move in a singular direction, and that too, in a direction that he thinks they should be moving in. To accomplish this he need to possess certain important characteristics and certain skills.
One such important skill is to earn the trust of his fellow team-mates. To be able to garner faith that their leader seeks what is best for them so that they can dedicate their efforts and ambitions in a direction sought by the leader.
Second most important skill is knowledge of the area one is expected to manage. No one can be expected to lead unless he knows the work well. In a situation of dilemma he is expected to give quick and reliable decisions.
Next comes the ability to take initiative, even when it means leaving the well toed line of action. In many situations, solution comes from out of box thinking, and a leader is required to move the team towards unorthodox line of action.
Finally, a team is made up of varied nature of members, whose personal interests keep colliding with the group interests. In order to ensure that the whole team keeps moving in single direction a leader need to keep resolving the conflict among team members and coordinate efforts.
TE: As Additional Commissioner, Commercial Tax, what is your general approach/attitude towards organization objectives, collective goal and motivation?
RAVINDER: Zonal Additional Commissioner being a supervisory position, is mainly deals with review of others work with an objective of achieving zonal revenue targets. The whole working of the zone and effectiveness of officers' efforts  is reflected in the single figure of collected revenue. However, there are things beyond achievement of target, as collection can be fleeced, extorted and taxed through unreasonable means too. It is important that, whatever is collected as revenue, is actually due as tax under current law and policy. Revenue collection is augmented when conducive and positive environment is provided to the trade, commerce and industry. Friendly and helpful environment should be provided to dealers so that they show similarly positive attitude towards the department and honest reporting can be promoted. At the organization level it requires integration of personal goals of employees with the objectives of the department. They should feel that achieving organization goals leads to fulfillment of their dreams too. Although, for a government organization it is difficult to provide motivators, working for a well reputed department can itself be considered a great motivator. Further, creating positive vibes in the office through appreciation of good work, new thinking and helping attitude can also add to greater employee satisfaction. However, nothing satisfies more than a feeling of achieving ones task. 
TE: As a leader, what do you strive for?
RAVINDER: Nothing satisfies a leader more than achieving his goals, both organization and team. However, organization goals in this department are broken in range and sector goals. They can be achieved only when each component performs its part effectively and completely. As a leader my role is to help my team mates to realize their potential in achieving these goals. On occasions it may actually involve mentoring on issues, or sometimes to really push the team mates to invest higher commitment. As a leader, I should be available to them wherever they find a need for me, and in turn we as a team should be able to complete the task given to us.