as you want to be treated. It applies to an employee and the CEO. Wherever it is continuously applied, successful organizations and enthusiastic people profit and flourish.
Cynics naturally doubt these assertions. People who have lost or been hurt find Theory L Management to be idealistic and therefore unrealistic. These people lose to the competition that does find it realistic. These people also shortchange themselves because they are capable of changing and growing. It does require an organizational commitment and transformation in most cases. This is both desirable and achievable.
Many people have gotten to positions of power without possessing the proper personal skill power. Therefore, they believe there is no need to change. Many are callous. Some are ruthless. Some see no connection between organizational success and the humanizing, decent way to treat people. We do. And we hope that you do. This is the basis of The New American Leadership System™. We also hope that you want to take a quantum leap in your own practice of leadership. The payoff for you and for your family at work and your family at home is definitely worth it.
Leadership and Management
Everything of value begins with sound leadership. Nearly everyone has an idea about leadership. So do we. Try it on.
Leadership or Management?
How do you differentiate? After years of working with leaders there are some clear distinctions. Leaders need to develop concepts of a vision, a mission and ideas about some deliverables. Managers need to implement the concepts, input to the vision, mission and deliverables and manage the resources-human, technical and capital, to get the job done.
Years ago, leadership was simply believed to be setting the vision and having managers and employees carry it out. This notion has lost power. It was simple when managers and other people were heavily dependent on the leader. In some instances, it is still so. But not in very many successful organizations.
So today we look at leadership and management and finding a blending. Sometimes leaders manage. Sometimes managers lead. Is initiative a quality of leadership? Is taking authority to execute responsibility without asking a quality of leadership? The answer to both questions is yes. Finally, is it leadership when a manager is so well tuned-in to his/her leader that he/she can go back and lead people to the mission in a special and unique way? Here many might disagree. The answer, we believe, is a judicious blend of leadership and management.
Our operational definition of leadership in the organization for the 21st Century is:
The Leader inspires people to want what he/she wants them to want and then to do it... without manipulation and by being direct and honest. If there is one major requirement of the leader, it is to be inspiring.
Does a leader want managers and employees to practice management and leadership according to this definition? Generally, yes. So, really effective leaders put high priority on developing managers and employees to become leaders. They would like them to lead projects, teams, branches, divisions and staff units, in line with the organization's vision, values and mission.
Winners: People with titles of manager and people without them can be winners.
1.Winners practice Ownership and never Rationalization.
2.Winners manage and lead as needed.
3.People have the choice — to be a manager or an individual contributor. Winners perform well in either position.
Winners come in all sizes, shapes and with different job responsibilities. Leaders build their people into winners. And winners do not wait for leaders. They lead, take responsibility and perform in life in an empowered way.
We have provided concepts and skills for winners to master as part of The New American Leadership System™.
Over the years it has become clear to me that Character is the central foundation of excellent management and leadership for students of The New American Leadership System™. The 21st Century has started. It is yours to structure. We hear much about the concept of Character as essential to political, organizational, and governmental effectiveness. It penetrates religion and spiritual life. Simply put, Character is a blend of ethics and morality. It is thinking and doing good, right, helpful and better all the time. It is not its opposite: bad, wrong, hurtful and worse. In the audio clips, you will hear references to Character Based Management and Character Coaching. All of the concepts and skills of The New American Leadership System™ are defined in our text as well as in the audio clips. They are the direct practical applications of longstanding principles of high character demonstrated throughout history. In our experience, the value of using our Character Based Management and Coaching techniques has very long-lasting positive impact — beyond your lifetime in many cases — with your students, employees, family, co-workers, suppliers, and everyone else with whom you associate. A well-structured life of personal Character development and Character Coaching will leave you with a legacy well worth leaving.
“Effective Leaders Manage and Effective Managers Lead”
The Underlying Foundation of Leadership and Management
Our goal as effective leaders is to empower and ensure maximum levels of ownership-not rationalization-at all levels of the organization, starting at the top.
Management is the Process of Getting People to Want What You Want Them to Want ... and Then Getting It Done.
•by being straight and open about what you want ... without manipulation
•by being sure to find out what others want too by checking it out with them
•by applying it up, down and sideways ... whether you are a manager by positional power or not
•It may come as a surprise that super managers perform precisely as leaders do minus the requirement to be visionaries. They may be visionaries but it is not a requirement.
Self-Management is for individual contributors who do not manage people directly. They need to get people to want what they want people to want and then to get it done. So they need to apply the same process as the manager does. Sometimes they have fewer and sometimes they have more people to influence and persuade.
The use of honesty and truth, principle, integrity, good and right practices are valued and appreciated by employees, customers and peer managers. Effectiveness, quality of products and services, productivity and efficiency, ownership and commitment are assured outcomes of departments, units, plants, labs and companies that are managed according to The New American Leadership System™.
These definitions are not traditional and they are not textbook definitions. They are built on personal ownership and personal commitment. Therefore, management is not just a position on an organization chart. Nor is it them — it is YOU.
Management Skills
Management and Self-Management Skills fall into three categories:
1.Technical skills are those that come from knowledge and training in a specific field or functional area of expertise.
2.Conceptual skills are those that aid in understanding how one's role and work fit into the whole of the organization. How does my part affect the rest of the organization?
