Teachings,+Leadership+II

Leadership
(By Sam)(ael) (Return to Social Skills) Management is an important Skill. Especially for Jedi. Using correct Management A leader can direct many others efficiently and keep them productive. Business corporations pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for a business consultant to come in and re-organize their management making it more efficient. These corporations often make far more than they spent as a result and the system is better for workers and employers. Businesses, the military, commitees, and even the Jedi order rises or falls by it's management skills. Rome was great because it was very well organized and efficient (How many democracies can boast that?). Rome fell when the order fell apart. Anywhere there are three or more people you can use leadership, diplomacy, and Management. If Jedi are to serve properly in their leadership roles they will need all three of these important leadership skills.

Aspects of Management
-Delegation -Reward/Motivation -Organization Links -Nerves -Specialization -Unification

(Also) -Training a Protege

Delegation
Usually when you are allowed to manage, you are in charge of something or you are the leader. A politician of leadership; you need to produce results to stay in office whether among friends or fellow management at work.

One of the best ways to produce great results is NOT to do it yourself. As a good manager you //should// help your employees, BUT you should also have things running so well that you could disapear and the process would continue and excell.

This means Delegating. Delegating means trusting or giving someone else a responsability or task. After you delegate, it is out of your hands and, you should be able to take care of other things. Just make sure that when you delegate to people who don't toe the line, that you are ready in case they fail, or delegate someone else the task of watching them and making sure it gets done.

The reason you delegate is because you CAN'T do everything yourself. If you try you will have lazy followers/employees sitting on their hands and your manager or leader will have to hear you explain why something he delegated to you isn't done. You will probably have to hear that while you desperately try to fix the problem. Not a good position when your staff could be 110% efficient and do MORE than is needed.

Remember that when you give someone else a responsability or task that you need to know who you can trust to take care of business and then reward that kind of work.

Which leads us to the next section.

Reward/Motivation
When you are the leader, and you are calling at least some of the shots there is always something you can do to reward your best men. This is important because if you forget this your 'Good Men' might start feeling abused because they toe the line for nothing.

In order to get people motivated (which makes them easy to manage and begins training them into better staff) you need to find some way to reward them. At work perhaps you have the power to give them some kind of treat that few others are allowed access to. If you are military you can make their resume shine or at some levels give out medals, trophies, or honors and titles.

These methods work well, but the best managers are wonderful with the one reward tool that you always have. Honest gratitude and praise.

The Manager that personally thanks the people who worked well after his shift will find hard workers there the next day. A leader who honestly stops and thanks someone who excelled will find that person trying even harder. If you take a moment to really treat someone right and even do things for them when you can (even small things like sharing lunch with them) you motivate your people. Even the ones who aren't doing so well. If they see that you fairly reward your men they will be motivated.

"//When my staff at work excell, I thank those who went the extra mile and I let those who really shined today, shine. If that means giving up my seat at lunch to make sure they understand that I appreciate them. It is done//." -Sam)(ael-

__The Benefits of motivating are__: You increase efficiancy and each staff produces more labor with a positive attitude. You train staff to become better because they are always stretching for that little extra. You provide a happy meaningful enviroment and cut accidents. You attract others. You find several good Protege at once. (See 'Training a Protege')

Organization Links
Organizations are like organisms in some ways. The body needs to be well set up to survive. Waste of energy and resources often results in extinction, malcontent, and replacement.

A strong system of links needs to be in place then, so that a few Management can efficiently govern the body. The reason you need fewer managers is so that you can be resilient with the organization. Few management cuts the beurocracy making a quick decisive action possible. (This is why there are only 12 seats on the Jedi council, no matter how many Jedi.)

Links are lines of command (or responsability) from a staff member, to his or her manager, which leads to their manager until you reach the top. The clearer these lines are, The clearer each person's responsability and accountability is, the more efficient your Organism is.

Just like a creature that can't make up it's mind (like a deer sometimes) usually dies or is outmoded and becomes extinct. A leadership, organization, or group will fall without clear decisions at the top and productive, efficient action all the way down.

Each staff member should be able to clearly trace the lines from himself, all the way to the top. Even better if he understands his purpose within the organization as a whole.

Nerves
Management are like the nerves in the body. They make things happen and they are right there for the decision. A manager needs to be aware of their roles. There are three steps that any manager needs to understand and excell at.

Responsability Decision Making Their charges

If a Manager understands their purpose and responsability clearly **they** are more efficient. Everything works better that way. If a Manager is capable of making wise and responsible decisions whenever occasion calls they will reduce wasted energy and make those around them more efficient. If a Manager is aware of who and what they are in charge of, they can provide motivation and wise decisions.

Specialization
Often you may have to manage things that are completely different. Think of the differences between a Company and a Comitee! One is motivated by money and has a strict set of links. Bob is in charge of Phil and Grace and if phil and grace dont produce two units of work each hour Phil gets yelled at by bob and bob gets chewed out by joe HIS manager. This is because money is the objective and each manager is responsible to produce. A comitee?!? Different story. The Comitee is usually formed to provide intelligent input and action on a specific matter. That means that everyone is the manager and the staff. Everyone is equals. There is NO link of command. This is why Comitees are usually a Joke. If you want to be boss, you either need to have a mature group who likes you or have exceptional Leadership and diplomatic skills so you can forge some invisible links of command 'by popular vote'.

The reason you need to understand the difference is that the goals, the structure, everything that makes a would-be manager successful are DIFFERENT.

You always need to adapt to the situation with these basic ground-rules. You need to remember that a glove isn't very good unless it fits tight. An organization doesn't achieve it's goals unless you adapt it so that it can be tight and suck every little advantage out of the system. EXPECT a different plan for every organization but ALWAYS a clear, efficient one.

Unification
Management ALWAYS requires other people. Remember that you don't use people. You have to be one of them at the end of the day to enjoy life so unify your people and take care of them. They work better that way and you do to.

Training a Protege
The best thing you can possibly do while you manage is train someone else to do everythin you can. Think about it.

-If you train one of your best workers so that they can do everything that needs to be done, you can delegate any of the tasks you need to get out of the way.... To them. -If you teach your Protege to manage well, they can manage for you whenever you cannot be there or in emergencies. -If your Protege gets promoted above you, remember; you taught them well and you were good to them. It should be smooth sailing instead of payback. In addition your Protege will likely remember you when handing out the good stuff. It could even be beneficial to have attachements higher up than yourself.

Now when training a Protege you need to pay special attention to one or more of your best staff. This means that even in work you take them especially under your wing and may even become friends. You don't smother them, and you don't alienate your other staff. Business goes on as usual, except that you take the time to form a (Somewhat-very much) deeper relationship and teach/mentor them. You should also loook out for their best interests, recommending them for promotions they could fill and excell at. When you train a Protege it is like a minor Padawanship. A partnership that you should not exit lightly or you will spoil the privilege and lose control. Also remember the Pain of Losing a Padawan. You have no idea how it reflects back on you even if you are just perfect. And it is painful. But... In the swing of things, when a blow lays you very low... It can be one of these very people who pick you up and set you back on your feet. Often our students become better than us and remember their teachers with kindness.