Monday, February 21, 2005

Management

Planning, organizing, leading and controlling. The four ideals of persuasive management. Do managers really earn money for business or do they just cost money? Are these ideals effectively taught and practiced in business, or are they sidelined for radical ideas that destroy trust between employees and management? Without the right training for management there can be no real accountability to those that they supervise. So what must be done? We will rely upon these four traits of good leaders throughout the course of this paper, and it will be my effort to show that when using these, productivity, along with morale is improved.
Planning. An important lesson in planning can be learned from the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. As Alice looked for a way out of Wonderland, she came to a fork in the road. “Which road should I take?” she asked the Cheshire Cat. “Where are you going?” the cat responded. Alice said she didn’t know. The smiling cat gave her this reply, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” Ken Blanchard, author of the One-Minute Manager series says that an important way to motivate your people is to make sure they know where they are going. It is important to see that each persons goals are clearly defined and he or she knows what good performance looks like. This will give them a clear focus for their energy and put them on the road to becoming high performing, empowered producers.
Organizing. The great minster of positive thinking Norman Peale offered this suggestion for organizing. At his ninetieth birthday party, shared a story about a man that he had met on a plane. The man looked worried so Norman decided to engage in a conversation. “What’s wrong?” he asked. After some coaxing, the man shared that he had just received a promotion, but had doubts about whether he had what it would take to be able to the job. “Yes you do!” stated Dr. Peale. “How do you know?” the man replied. “You do if you think you do.’ Then he encouraged the man to start each day by chanting “Think big! Act big! Be big!” By the time they landed the man was in a different frame of mind. It is important as we work to lead others by effectively planning, we have to have to be our own best friend, and believe in ourself. Then we can have the esteem to organize well.
Leading. If you are not sure how much direction to give others for a certain task, it is always better to over-supervise then to under-supervise. Why? Because if you find your people are better than you thought, and you loosen up, they will like you, and respond in a positive way. It also helps as you seek to communicate your growing respect for the quality of work your people are producing.
Controlling. As the saying goes, anything worth doing does not have to be done perfectly--at first. Managers should recognize that good performance, both their own, and others, is a journey, not a destination. Everyone learns by doing. It takes time and practice to achieve specific goals.
So we see that when attention is paid to the specific details of leadership, namely here:planning, organizing, leading and controlling, management can be productive, and create a harmony between themselves, and leadership.

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