Dear all...THIS IS FOR ALL PRESENT AND FUTURE WORKING PROFESSIONALS...
All of us are in organisations or social systems (e.g family) from the time of birth. At all these places we have at least one default role, status and associated responsibilities. We are supposed to perform some activities. The jobs we do are defined by the leader of the team or society...written or unwritten!
Sometimes we are not told what we are supposed to do but it is assumed that we know and we are supposed to know (e.g roles of husband, wife, father, brother, sister). At all these places we are associated with people to perform our activities. At any time we are members at some places and in some we are leaders or managers. Our status keeps changing in the same team/organisation at different times.
What is LEADERSHIP?...Who is a good MANAGER?
There are hundreds of definitions. Every individual defines these in his own way.
By looking at these two words, Leadership is all about dealing with People (other resources takes second place) and Manager is all about effective and efficient use of other resources (people take the second place), though people play the most important role at all organisations and social systems, more than the other resources!!
With Money, i.e Rs.100/- what we can do is defined. With Material i.e one sq foot of iron plate, what we can do is defined. But with people we can make an organisation or destroy an organisation. So, they are the most important element of home or office or society!
Initially, many years back every member of the family worked in agricultural farms together. Later when agro-industry manufacturing agro products or tools or providing services to farmers came up at nearby places outside the village the family members got separated when some went for jobs there. After some time government came up with government jobs with its job security and pension. So, many went to the nearby cities and joined government jobs. Everyone went for jobs for earning money so that they can bring more money to family for more comforts at home. So, family was their center of life and not the organisations. So, they were looking for organisations that can give more salary, less work, 9 to 5 or less than that, did not want promotions and transfers, wanted only more money through over time (not work!!).
Even today we have many who are in this frame of mind. Other day my daughter said ‘Dad, one of our professors named few government organisations and said ‘There is absolutely no job there. Total free time and cool. No one works there. You will get monthly salary, DA, secured job, promotions, pension etc without any tension. So, all of you should try to get government jobs!’. So, India has been a welfare state and the culture here is ‘I am entitled for my salary and it is my right, whether i work or not!’. Even in society everyone wants their rights, without knowing or not in a mood to accept that RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES go together and one cannot exist without the other!!...Everyone wants their rights and no one wants responsibility!...Though the youngsters are different but the oldies and the organisation culture set up by the oldies spoil or discourage them.
Karma principle of ‘Do your job. Don’t expect any outcomes. You will get what you deserve!’ is only in books. No one understood the real meaning and peace behind it. So, every one ridicules it and goes by their own definition and remain anxiety struck, get tons of curses, become lonely, get heart attack and die or get life style diseases before or just after getting their rewards!!
As in olden days everyone was poor and they needed only money to earn their living and bring in more comforts at home (for status too), it was PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT that was practiced which gave the strategies of ‘milking the cow’ with the salary and wages, rewards, perks, allowances etc. i.e keeping the people motivated with external factors.
Today everyone has the basic living and comfort needs met. So, it is more of internal factors that matter, i.e motivation has to come from within, though external factors form the bed rock motivator to join the organisation. There has to be a driving force inside the individual to work. So, PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT principles died their own death and HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT principles came up after thorough researches about the human psyche, changing needs and wants at different ages and stages in life, considering the overall resourcefulness of an individual, with career plans of periodic training for growth.
So, coming back to Who is a good Leader or Who is a good Manager?
One who creates an environment at home or office or any other organisation where in...
1. The members when they get up in the morning and think ‘what should i do now’ and if they think ‘Oh shit! I have to go to that hell called office! I don’t want to go! I don’t want to meet that person! I hate my boss! I don’t like the people there. I don’t like that environment!’ then it is a perfect example of a bad leadership or management.
2. If the same employee thinks, ‘Whavvvvvvvvv!! I want to go to my office. I want to meet my people. Today i want to spend more time with my boss. He is such a radiating personality that i feel more energised, enlightened, motivated when i spend even few minutes with him. I can’t think of my day without seeing him at least once! He is more than a boss in my life. He is my guide, mentor, guru and well-wisher. I love my organisation. I love my team. I love that environment!’ then the credits go to the LEADER AND THE CULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT HE HAS CREATED IN THE TEAM/ORGANISATION!’.
3. Everyone in the team should not feel like going home. They should feel that they get more peace, empowerment, happiness and great flourishing relationships at office than at home. They should say that they get lost in their jobs and do not know how the time goes and only feel refreshed and entertained as they work more and more in a day.
4. Any outsider looking at the team should not be able to find out who is the leader of the team, i.e the leader should merge with the members totally that he is the invisible force behind the total dynamics. The outsider should go back thinking that THE CULTURE IS THE LEADER IN THIS TEAM with a wonder in the mind ‘whavv...the individual who created this team and culture is the TRUE LEADER!!’
5. Everyone in the team should feel ‘Come what may, i can’t put down my leader. I can’t see him unhappy. I work for him. He is the source of my energy and inspiration to work and live on this earth!’. When one commits any mistake he or she should feel ‘Woff! What sort of a blunder i made. I should not have done it. It put my boss to shame in front of his bosses! I will never commit such mistakes again in my life and put him in unpleasant and uncomfortable situations!’
6. Organisations change. Policies change. People change. But the memories, legacies and cultures we leave, remain hard in the minds of people and organisations.
7. So, ideal definition i can think off of a good leadership or manager is ‘one who etches a special place in the hearts of people and organisations as the best leader, mentor, guru, guide who placed the people and their growth, as the center for the growth of the organisation, makes them work and enjoy 24x7x365 at their full potential with total involvement while they also self-actualise!...It is an ideal definition. How much close we are able to take the organisation and people depends upon our successful leadership or managerial skills!!
Peacefully yours...rams...
