This is the start of the chapter on the first of three enabling elements: people, tech, and process.
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The farther you are from a person, the more they appear to be evil,
stupid, or both.
Chapter 7: Lead People
This chapter discusses the most intensely complex part of
any complex system, people.
Your team, whether you are the manager or team member, will have
brilliant, captivating, and far-thinking folks. It will also consist of the most
aggravating, foolish, and stubborn individuals. Many times, these will be the
same people. Most will have frustrating characteristics that pop up
consistently or at random. Most will think the same of you, if they think of
you at all.
Unproductive arguments pop up by surprise and monopolize
entire meetings. Anxious managers make clumsy attempts to motivate teams.
Rumors break out and destroy relationships. Sadly, you can’t really cure it
all.
But some steps can be taken. People, after all, are also the
most critical part of any strategy to sustain your complex system. So effort
here pays off a hundred-fold.
This chapter discusses in 7 sections the most important 7 techniques
that help all of us to stay on a useful path.
1.
Everyone benefits when everyone is a leader
2.
Leaders remind people their purpose is worthy,
useful, and valued
3.
Coach as needed, but keep corrections private
and focused on behavior
4.
Don’t pretend you can accurately peer into the
other person’s inner world
5.
Notice those losing heart and encourage them
6.
If you have the power, organize people to
achieve their purpose, not yours
7.
Don’t descend into stereotypes, get to know the
person
Everyone benefits when everyone is a leader. You, yes
you, are a leader. It does not matter how you see yourself in your mind or on
the organizational chart. Practice leadership techniques and you, and those
around you, will be better off.
Leaders remind people their purpose is worthy, useful,
and valued. One of the most loving things that great leaders do is they
remind people, one at a time or in groups, that they, and you, are pursuing
something important, perhaps even critical. At the core of every human being is
a desire to be needed and valued. This is especially amplified at work where even
the less astute realize that unneeded people could be “let go”.
Coach as needed, but keep corrections private and focused
on behavior. Praise in public. Criticize in private. It just works better
for everyone that way. Sincere praise should be plentiful, but it takes
practice. Criticism of another, done well and away from audiences, often results
in you finding out things about you – things that you, personally, could have
done better. Good coaches know that they can improve as well.
Don’t pretend you can accurately peer into the other
person’s inner world. The Bible’s command of “Judge not!” combined with
other commands to “correct your brother” means that people have always had a
hard time separating a person’s actions from their motivations. It is better to
say: “Marcia, we can’t charge toys to our business travel credit cards. It
really has to stop. Can we agree that you will do that?” If you start with: “Marcia,
I know you love your kids and you feel bad you can’t provide them all they need
and you want to use your company credit card in places you know you shouldn’t…”
you will soon find yourself in a self-made quagmire.
Notice those losing heart and encourage them. It may
seem that nothing is sadder than a person who has quit in place. But that
person can be “patient zero” who starts to rot the organization’s morale and
make everyone feel hopeless. THAT is much sadder. Help them before they are
excised and discarded like surgery to remove an infection. Lend an ear. Try to
help. But don’t get infected yourself.
If you have the power, organize people to achieve their
purpose, not yours. There are good organizations that make the work flow
easier and there are bad ones that seem designed to stop all progress. The
perfect organization for sustainment is described in this chapter under the “organizing
people” section. These organizational constructs come with helpful rules to be
applied in sustainment organizations.
Don’t descend into stereotypes, get to know the person.
There are more prejudices deeply buried in your psyche than the obvious racial,
religious, or political ones. In a Department of Defense multi-faceted team,
for instance, it is easy to think every contractor is looking only for company
profit, every civil servant is there to homestead inside a comfortable bureaucracy,
and every uniformed military member focuses their thinking on how to attain
their next rank. Your team will have similar prejudices. Don’t fall for them.
Everyone is an individual.
In the final sum, it all starts with you, not the other guy.
And it starts with you seeing yourself as a leader. However, leadership is a
life-long pursuit. Seek out other books, forums, classes, experiences, and
people who will help you become a better leader.
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