WHAT’s WITH LEADERSHIP NOWADAYS…

WHAT’s WITH LEADERSHIP NOWADAYS

Leadership, a strong word. The pinnacle of Management. It encompass the whole directional movement of the organisation. Also it brings a tremendous impact within the political scenario.

Leading others does not come with the position. One have to earn it, learn it, pick the lessons along the way and soemtimes learningthe hardway through mistakes along the career path. Painful and some may even be expensive lessons to learn.

Leadership is like pointing the direction and hey guys…this the way we should be going. Then again, it’s about aligning the people from within. Who sits where and do what ! Placing people at the right place in sync with their expertise and performance, sifitn throuhg the attitudinal sieve. Remember, the tagline that goes, one bad apple spoils the whole bunch !

Leadership is NOT about status quo. It’s about serving those people you work with. Don’t mistrude the word ‘serving’. It simply means to know, to care, to refine, to make it better. I other words, to be where the action is. Hence, Communication plays a BIG role in the life as a Leader. If you want ot be the People’s Leader, then communication is the key word here. Know what the organisation wants. the results require and communicate it downwards in a simple plain language that people understand. And remember, who does what requires specific communication. They maybe different form one person to another. Hence there exists leaders among leaders.

One leader up there cannot oversee and know what’s going on throughout the organisation. Hence, the existence of leaders within groups, within teams, within peers. And all these leaders plus the top ones, they should be in sync. Rememer, it only takes one to spoil the whole mass. So meetings of leaders should be all baout how to make things happen, period. And not jive inot the nitty gritty of personal interest and vendetta. THERE SHOULD NOT BE POLITICKING WIHTIN LEADERS within the organisation. If it does, that’s the begining of troubled times, trouble performance.

Ever heard of the phrase, ‘eat the Frog on the table?’ It’s just a metaphor but frankly I would say eat the frogs. We tend to have personal interest and most of the time doing coverups so that the frogs can’t be seen on the table. Wrong ! Lay out the problems, obstacels and work as a team, engaging each other for solution based. That should be the strength of great organisation. If your Managers are not able to do this, to see things eye to eye. Then it’s time to realign them. Remember, we may have different opinions, ideas, solutions, the way we loo at things. That is actually your strength. Diversification and different minds from different people is actually the strength of the organisation.

Leaders nowadays is NOTabout position, power or fame. It is all about the people the have ade it possible for you to be there. There should be NO Cronies, NO Favoritism. Team all the same, everything is about the Team not the individual. Remember, people are your greatest asset. So it was written in any Management books.

The Psychotic BOSS.

Are you the type that like to shout at the top of your lungs to your employees?
Are you the type that like to nag and curse your employees?
Are you the type that will tell your employees to do what you tell them and prevent them from making any improvements and changes at the workplace?
Are you the type that dictate things to your employees, prevent your employees to interact with the parent company, except only you?
Are you the type that terminate your employees today and call them back when you need them tomorrow?
Are you the type that think and tell others that only you know how to do things, boasts out loud and that others don’t know nothing?
Are you the type that brings your self around like the emperor and that your employees are shivering inside, but still stay on because of their livelihood?
……
Verdict : Then you are a Psychotic Boss. You need to be having psychological profiling and treatment. GET HELP !

Remember People do not leave the company, people leave their BOSS. There is a BIG difference between a Manager and a Boss.

THE DARK SIDE OF THE CORPORATE WORLD.

Corporate world is the highest peak of organisational management. They determines the manoeuvring of the organisation, spearheading it’s direction to the desired state. They determine the policies and other matters that requires decision at the highest level of organisation. They comprise of the few that makes up the executives committee up there.
At this level, it should be that of the interest of the owner or owners. Hence, the people here are the selected few, chosen by the owner/s to govern the organisation, the best to their abilities. The so called the chosen few. Most of the times they make decisions to the best interest of the organisation. They are like the main gear that will move other working gears to move in synchronicity, delivering the required results.
Then again, being human is all it needs to complicate the whole effort of smooth synchronisation of organisational performance. The statement that people do not leave the organisation, people leave their managers, regardless of their title or position becomes a self fulfilling prophecies.
We know that paper qualifications, resumes, experience and so forth look good to impress, but attitudes somewhat becomes the dark side of the moon, the unseen side. The ones that will make the cogwheel of organisational manoeuvring to get stuck midway.

BEING A TEAM PLAYER is a must. EGO and wanting to the most important person that stand out in the team destroys the harmony of the team.

TRUST among each other is critical factor, then again with the wants and needs to be in the centre stage and having the spotlight to oneself, overshadows the importance of others, and thins out the trust factor, diminishing communication and interactions all in the best interest of the organisation.

REFUSAL TO LISTEN to the ideas of others too create the wall that call upon team collaboration and participation. Hence having some of the players keeping to themselves, and having the splinter groups within the team. The beginning of the cracks that grows as time passes.

MAKING THE WRONG DECISIONS and refusal to collaborative make team decisions sway the performance to the best interest of the many, but to the best interest of individuals.

SHARED POWER diminishes over time and the rise of autocratic management begins.

RESPECT among colleagues thins out, instead of giving it becomes respect upon demand of position and authority.

COMMUNICATION is at it’s minimal. Understanding and the spirit of camaraderie is no more to be found.

SMILES & GESTURES are all in it’s plastic form. Throwing good facial and body language with daggers behind the back.

When the cogwheel of organisational management is not in synchro, this is when it begins to move to the dark side of the moon. Hypocrisy is at it’s peak. And if nothing is being done, the end will surely be at the doorstep. Everyone is for their own.

zmza – June 2019

PEOPLE, POWER, AUTHORITY & LEADERSHIP

“Leadership, most of the time begins in the middle, not on top.”
– John Maxwell; 360 degrees Leadership
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I might as well concur with John. Almost 3 decades being into the training and development quadrant, I tend to realise that statement. Leadership does NOT always comes from the top. It emerges from the Middle. The Middle Management.
That is why I have always stressed that SUPERVISION is critical. The Supervisory Group, they are critical to the performance of the organization. Most of the time, the supervisory group leads their subordinate well, without even realising that they are practising the dynamics of leading people for results.

LEADERSHIP, It begins always with Influence. Some authors define leadership as simply the ability to influence the activity or activities of group or groups of people.
Then again you get Peter Drucker, mentioning that if you have two or more people behind you, then you are a leader. Well, all the same, they are correct.
To influence others, TRUST is a complete must ! No one fella will simply listen or follow you, if they do not trust you. And in order to build trust, relationship, rapport, good communication all are a must.

I have always stressed the fact that it begins with:
1) Acceptance.
The moment people accept you, only then can you engage them into any activities. This requires rapport, this requires the ability to build good relationship with the people.
If this is missing, then you only operate with position. And that come with Power and Authority. It is eventually damaging.

2) Engage.
Upon the people accepting you as their new leader, the second phase that follow is engagement. Only then, can one executes the status of leadership, to influence their activities for results. As some motivational perspectives says,”To get your people to want to do the things you want them to.”

3) Deliver.
Only then, comes the final part, deliver the results required thereof.
However in-between the 2nd and 3rd part, there are other elements that requires good Managers to be doing. Things such as supervision !
Most Managerial people think that they don’t need supervisory skills as they already have their supervisors reporting to them. This is wrong. Supervisory skills are not only limited to Supervisors, but it is required in most management position and leadership position.
However the sad part comes in for the fact that most Top Management position does NOT lead, but they execute their Authority based on their position. They endorse their Power based on their status quo. Then, that is NOT Leadership.

In Conclusion, I would generally say, do not neglect your middle management team. The need to further develop their abilities is a Must.
Secondly, forget about Power and Authority if you are to lead (though you may only need it when you have to). Foster your relationship with your people in your organization. Build Trust, Engage people, Empower them. You do not have to carry the mountain on your shoulder.
Thirdly, learn, unlearn and relearn. Learn Leadership, one cannot manage if you cannot lead. Leadership as they say is all bout Character. Your Character ! You cannot Lie and wanting to lead the same time. It simply doesn’t work.
Leadership in itself is a very very broad subject matter. If you ask me, leadership is all about your people and not so much about your ego and self interest or your position et all.

…..

UNDER PROTEST.

Have you experience times when you are in a situation of disagreement, with situation, with changes in the way we do things? Or worst still the new changes in the administrative structure?
And we do not have any choice but to still perform. Now not with the body, mind and soul! This is what I term as PERFORMING UNDER PROTEST.
To whom are we protesting? Actually we are simply protesting to ourself and of course, our performance shift out of the norm and our physical state shows!
There is such a term as Flexibility in Management. And Yes, Great Leaders they too are flexible to adapt and change. Without such, performing under protest is not productive and it has it’s TOL to be paid.
Some people would say I got NO CHOICE. The fact remains that when there is no choice, a NEW CHOICE will emerge.
My advise is don’t be an extra baggage for others to carry us. Either we perform and be flexible enough to adapt or pack one’s luggage and head home !

BOSS, MANAGER OR LEADER ?

The moment we step our feet into the office, what do we normally think first?

Blank? Priorities? Drinks? or Getting on someone’s back ! Different people, different styles and flairs. And that’s why they have come with with the so called managerial grid, managerial style…leadership styles and so forth.
When do we put ourselves as managers, and when do we put ourselves as Leaders of the organisations. Are there any difference in both. Of course there is ! But when do we switch roles?

When one starts to be autocratic, micro managing, yelling and throwing files at others…you’re the BOSS ! The ones that people curse always.
However, when one smile and make others feel good. A simple Thank you, a Pat on the back, sharing coffee time….when you realise that you are being too good, then you are into the Leadership zone,
And when you are so rigid with standards and policies, systems and the way one does things…then you are being a Manager.

It is one in all and all in one. But remember there is always the dominant aspect to it ! I believe, we do have a choice. The sad truth is that no one thinks about this, and hence they end up being Manager but None of being a Leader. Or some may end up being a BOSS all the way !

When we are too result oriented, looking after our own chair, we will always forget about the People factor.

Zmza 2016.09.08

Character and Competence.

Character and Competence. You need both to be effective. You need both to be great.

Character without Competence alone doesn’t deliver the trustworthiness of others unto yourself. However Competence without

Character too would never make you to be great leaders with values.

One need both, to be Great !

 

 

 

Zmza 2016.08.17

 

 

 

INTEGRITY AND HONOR

We speak of integrity and honour most of the time, especially when we talk about Leadership. In the classroom, training on characters of great leaders, we will come across such term as Integrity and Honour.

But somehow, I do feel that Integrity and Honour is just another subject matter to talk about. It doesn’t mean a thing when it is only a talk of the day. It is all about action. It is all about the daily practices of being great at Leadership. But then again, Leadership doesn’t exist when only one perform as a Manager.

To be great, a Manager has to be performing as an effective and efficient manager, while at the same time touches the people’s heart, feelings, acceptance and engaged them through great Leadership.

Realise that there is no perfect Leaders (unless you are a prophet yourself). There can only be Great Leaders. Leaders like Mahatma Ghandi, Margaret Thatcher, Mahathir Mohammed, Nelson Mandela. Well, there may be those who disagree. Yes, one is free to choose their own great leaders, but remember they are not Perfect, they are Great.

Great leaders Builds, Transform and Move Forward. Great leaders prepare and groom others to be great too. Now, How about Hitler? Great but on a negative connotation. They destroy. They become a Destructive Leader.

When leaders who compromise their Integrity (Having integrity means doing the right thing in a reliable way. It’s a personality trait that we admire, since it means a person has a moral compass that doesn’t waver. It literally means having “wholeness” of character – vocabulary.com), everything is done ! When Integrity and Honour is missing, one would even sell everything in side and grasp, leave aside a country and it’s people.

 

2011-12-02