Leadership

As time go by people change. And all these people are being lead some how or rather; by the government to the head of the family. In respect to that, the kind of leadership has also changed with time. The kind of leadership depends on the people who they are leading however the principals of leadership are the same. What differ are the styles, systems and the mechanics of it. As civilization grows so are the maturities of the leadership. To simply put in those days if a king has a dispute with another kingdom he just attacks. But now it is by diplomacy, though at times war is still apparent.

Having a constant changing human thought process how are we to deal with this as a leader. Let us start by the leader himself carrying the baton of leadership. The leader’s mentality, attitude and approach and management.

As time go by people change. And all these people are being lead some how or rather; by the government to the head of the family. In respect to that, the kind of leadership has also changed with time. The kind of leadership depends on the people who they are leading however the principals of leadership are the same. What differ are the styles, systems and the mechanics of it. As civilization grows so are the maturities of the leadership. To simply put in those days if a king has a dispute with another kingdom he just attacks. But now it is by diplomacy, though at times war is still apparent.

Having a constant changing human thought process how are we to deal with this as a leader. Let us start by the leader himself carrying the baton of leadership. The leader’s mentality, attitude and approach and management.

Part 1

Leadership is a leader on a ship. The faith of the ship lays rest on the captain on the ship. It is a big responsibility once one becomes a leader and the role needs to be taken with respect and appreciation by the leader especially and also by the followers. It should not be taken as a burden but should be taken with pride and dignity. If one thinks it as a burden then one should not lead as this will not only benefit the person oneself but most importantly the followers for they will be relieved off the burden shown and thrown upon by the ‘burdened’ leader. A leader should not think for ones own benefit but the benefit of the group one is leading. If the leader ones to do that, then it is better to lead himself alone then to make use of his followers.

When one becomes a leader one has to (if accepted the role) take it has a challenge, a learning opportunity and an opportunity to serve. Jesus is our leader and how did he lead? He served us. He came to serve and not to be served. A good leader is a good server. In leading you are to benefit your followers and not to lead them astray.

But being humans temptations are there to make use the position as a leader to do selfish stuff or expecting a reward which is rightful with all the hard work done. Well don’t aspect for it. The thought of it will be there but don’t aspect it nor crave for it. You will get it if you deserve it at times without yourself realizing. A way God rewards you for your good work and you will be rewarded though at times in different ways not expected.

Perseverance. One will receive a goody bag of struggles being a leader. What do you do with it? Well enjoy it. Isn’t it a ‘goody bag’? You will have lots of it especially when you are leading a social/community based organization basically like doing church work. (Why? It is another topic) How to go about it then? Sacrifice. Jesus persevered and in the end He sacrificed for us. Didn’t He not? When you become a leader you need to sacrifice, if not, your whole team will be sacrificed by you yourself. Here we can say that what you are, decides mostly what your team will be and how it goes. When you are doing God’s work then you cannot run away.

Sounds scary? Well if you look at it that way then you one to be a leader without wanting to serve like being a doctor without wanting to treat patients.

A leader should not give up as it is better to lose. Ho Chi Minh once said to the Americans, “For every 7 Viet Kong you kill we will kill one American but we will still win the war”. They did. What if he had given up? Therefore it is better to put up a struggle or fight and lose, then to lose or give up in vain without doing anything. Despite losing, in it there is winning. What wining? Well it is in identifying your mistakes and not repeating them. You learn thus grow eventually. A good leader is not how he starts but how he ends. When fallen, get up, brush off the dust and walk straight, but remember how you fell. Even the enemy will salute you. Remember the movie, The Last Samurai? The part, where all (the white lead army) bowed after killing all the samurai.

Basically the leader should know what one is heading to; the challenges, the demands, your performance and the expectations and the responsibility at hand. One has to set ones mind clear on all those. Don’t go in blindly. One has to live up to it, if cants then don’t be a leader. But at least allow yourself to try, for everyone can become, and are potential leaders. One cannot run away for one will become a leader more than once definitely in their lives.

Part 2

Discipline, being a role modal, knowing how to carry oneself, bold, brave but in all humble. Those are some of the characteristics a leader should have basically of what I see but of course there is more than that. When people know you are a leader there are expectations which you need to meet. If not you would not be respected and not followed so in the end who are you going to lead. It is difficult and at times you might not be doing what you want or like or not to your interest. When you become a doctor you are expected to know it all although it is impossible but thus it should not be an excuse not to even try to know more. That is meeting expectations. People look up to you when you are some kind of leader in society therefore do you want to disappoint them?

It is said a good king is like his subjects. How then is to be a leader? Be like his subjects? Well a leader has authority and power but it is how and when he uses it. In every action taken by leader, it should not be done in the name of authority and power. Simply saying like being a dictator. There should be democracy. One should lead the idea of the team and not lead the team to an idea. And the idea is the agreed one from a meeting. Within a team authority and power should be used to control, steer and to get the idea worked. It is used to follow the objectives and not for self use.

One should treat the followers with respect and dignity for without them you have no role. One also should listen to all the followers’ opinions and try to understand them. It is of receiving input, collating, and analyzing them to set up a wholesome understanding of ones followers’ situation and environment and thoughts. This makes it easier to lead and future decision making will be better. It is like finding a formula.

Playing politics is very tricky and may get dirty and should be avoided when possible. The one that should play the politics is the leader himself. Another word is creating the strategy. If every follower plays politics there would not be unity and thus division will ensure. Even worst is having difficulty to run activities due to sabotages, uncooperativeness’ and having thorns in the meat. Every leader has a style and the followers should follow it if it is fulfilling the objectives. At times it may not be agreeable to you and it is to you. So as long as the objectives are up hold then it is ok. If not the duty is to inform the leader of his inappropriate style or change in a democratic way. The leader only, playing the politics is like playing the puppet which has many strings to control. He has to ensure there is coordination and task dispersion to the right people should be done based on merits and not favoritism. He creates a strategy, a picture or a chess play sending in the right pieces first to win the game.

A leader needs to maintain peace and stability of his followers too. Prevent and settle and not make conflicts. In doing so one needs to understand followers’ feelings and try to know what they are thinking and what will be their moves. Once in a while go and ask how they are, what do they think… . Be concern and sensitive. It is good as it maintains a good repot with your followers.

So here basically the leader needs to be a good driver, steering the followers to a right path into achieving a goal. Have a positive, fair, well informed mind in attitude and approach.

Part 3

A good leader is not how he starts but how he ends. To repeat this phrase, bringing it into the context of management. It is easy to start something as everyone is hyped up in doing so but haven’t you heard of the lamp dying off? So it is the maintenance of what begun counts. It all starts by having a vision then beginning a mission. To run the mission a set of objectives needs to be lined up with a theme which is a summary of your mission. Having all the ingredients then create the backbone and structure of your organization.

Creating the backbone is controlled by certain factors, which depends on the type of followers you are leading. So you need to see with what people you are dealing with then based on that you need to identify what they need and how they need to be lead.

Everyone today is educated and not easily fooled and worst of all materialistic and self centered. So how are you going to deal with them? More over people will only work when they know they will be rewarded or benefited. Therefore less rewarding task is lower ranked in the priority list. Why? Is it wrong to want a reward? Actually it is not but what is actually happening nowadays is that they want the assurance of a reward before they began work. If look closer it is the same as bribery. Gone were the days, I think where only when you work hard you will be rewarded. Passion is lost. So we are being ended up as robots. How this has come about is another topic. How much reward do you need to show your best? The whole world? Well, then you will never be able to show your best nor know you can do better @ have grown and matured. They might end up chasing something which is not there.

What is not realized is that the reward is an intellectual joy/ self satisfaction which once you have you are totally in control of your surroundings. It is a primary happiness which is explained by Socrates.

If your followers are like that then how are you going to lead them in a task which there is no materialistic reward? It is difficult of course. It would not be surprising if your team won’t last.

Follow the flow of your followers. Do what they want to do and lead them in it. Then it might work because it is all psychology. People have face and pride right? So if your followers are people of their word then they would have to do what they want to do in a team to save face right? It might sound proxy here but look at the situation. Use evil to do good or are we changing that evil into good?

Here now basically is that you have to lay the foundation and draw out a plan for which then your followers will built and your future leaders will improve continue and thus evolve and the organization to grow and mature. In anything you do it is not worthy if you do not seek improvement or growth.

Leadership now is not in an ideal situation. We are now not leading a team but individuals of different minds and interest. That is why a direction is important to start a journey. To drive the engine on the tract, people who have agreed to that direction can do it. All we can do is provide the tract on the direction and who wants to join can do so but those who don’t we can’t do anything. Even if we want to then our tracts and directions will have to keep on changing. But at this level (CSS) it is very difficult to do so.

If you realize the Church has done this already. I just realized it myself while writing this. There are many religious orders right? All of them have different approach to God and to do His service. Example: La Salle Brothers. Their approach is through education to meet God.

Becoming a leader is difficult especially when you are leading a non profit or non rewarding organization. However there are of course times when luck is on our side. But still maintaining it is another thing. All one can do is first respect what you are doing and do your best you can. God willing your hard work will be paid off.