Typically Americans HATE to be Managed or BOSSED

Typically Americans HATE to be Managed or BOSSED



Typically Americans may hate to be managed
yet they will follow leaders they believe in,
at least for a short while. 

The key is "FOR A SHORT WHILE"

Leaders may be born.

Leaders can be developed. 

Leading productively, effectively and efficiently does consist of learnable

skills, behaviors and attitudes.

Over the first 5 years of my speaking, doing workshops or retreats about Leadership in the US I started titling my sessions.

AMERICANS TYPICALLY HATE TO BE MANAGED
But THEY WILL FOLLOW LEADERS
AT LEAST FOR A SHORT WHILE.

All the books I had been reading since Warren Bennis's famous one we damning Managers and praising Leaders and of course hating BOSSES.

The following exercise I began using in 1980 with the first two Community Leadership Development Programs that Walt Denero asked me to speak to when they came to the University of Georgia for their KICK-OFF RETREATS for their 8 month long Leadership Development Programs in their communities.

Over the next 15 years I spoke for or ran entire weekend retreats over 300 times for various town, cities or county Leadership Programs sponsored by their Chambers of Commerce.

My topics consisted of

Leading Styles & Skills
How to Develop Leaders in Your Community
How to Before a Productive and Creative Leader
Communication Styles & Skills
Teams and Teamwork and how to lead teams
Creative Thinking
Understanding Yourself in Order to Work Better with Others.

This was my first Leadership exercise


With your teammates create a list of seven traits
of productive leading based on your experience

and knowledge.

I divided the people, 20 to 30, most times into teams of 4 or 5, preferably 5 and asked them to generate a list of 7 desired traits of a Leader.


The next step was to collect all the lists of 7 traits looking for patterns and an agreed upon 7 to 10 lists.

After using this type of team exercise to generate traits from them I developed several others.

After few years I gave myself the assignment to collect LEADER TRAITS from 100 separate books I had read to prepare for my workshops, speeches or retreats looking for THE BEST TRAITS from all of them.  My goal was to find a short list of traits that the 100 authors wrote about.

Instead I ended up with a list of over 400.  Because of that inconsistency among authors I created an exercise where I had the various teams read over the collected traits from one specific book, different book per table.

In most cases the books provided 20 to 50 traits.

The assignment to the teams was for them to review the traits from one book and narrow them down the most important 10 in their occupation, business, profession.

Then we posted all of the teams results of 10 traits on the walls of the room.

Following that we narrowed those down into the common 10 in the room.

I was looking for what my group, audience or class members THOUGHT were important traits for the 
LEADERS THEY WOULD WILLINGLY FOLLOW.


After doing that exercise for many workshops and retreats I generated what I began calling the 

CORNERSTONES OF PRODUCTIVE 
& CREATIVE LEADERS.

which I shared in a previous chapter of this book

Here are the five  books I eventually used for several years in workshops, retreats, the GPSTC Executive Program and for 15 years teaching my masters degree course on Leadership for CSUs Command College specifically for public safety officers from Georgia and some around the southern states.








Stephen Covey may have found 7 Habits of Highly Effective People but not necessarily did authors who wrote about LEADERS agreed.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Leader - Manager - Boss

Image
Leader - Manager - Boss In the early 1980s Warren Bennis wrote a book that began the HATE MANAGERS & BOSSES, LOVE LEADERS MOVEMENT. In my workshops, retreats and university courses I challenged the participants and students to explore their own thinking about these 3 roles Over my 30 years of doing such programs I developed my own thinking. Boss, Manager, Leader  are simply 3 ways of mostly doing the same work with employees or teams. Also one lesson I learned and support is that Unless you can effectively BOSS you will never truly learn how to LEAD or earn the right to LEAD other people. Also I created a 4th title or role COORDINATOR Coordinator of the work of other people from a few to thousands. For me we BOSS when the time is limited or in emergency situations. Managing is what ALL employees need to be trained to do much as W. Edwards Deming and Juran wrote and spoke about during the decade of QUALITY CIRCLES and the QUALITY MOVEME
Read more

There are Potentially Infinite Styles of Leading

Image
There are Potentially Infinite Styles of Leading When I began giving speeches, workshops, training programs or facilitating Retreats focused on Developing Leaders I began using Leader Styles to help the various leaders and future leaders explore that the  BEST LEADERS ARE THEMSELVES while understanding ALL those who follow them. While I was working on my doctorate I studied many Thinking Styles models and used them with many audiences and classrooms of students to help them  UNDERSTAND YOURSELF IN ORDER TO WORK BETTER WITH OTHERS I created my own basic Thinking Style Model based upon a great deal of experience with hundreds of others and especially after I did a Correlation Study using 300 separate tests, questionnaires, quizzes that produced scores of .9 and higher, basically saying that they all were very much the same. They ranged from quick exercises to tests with over 200 questions. Because I often did lunch time speeches I needed something shorter 
Read more

Change the Only Constant in the Universe

Change the Only Constant in the Universe Philosopher Cato is often given credit for this observation Though some people thrive on Change, many to most do not. Here are a variety of reasons why the greatest majority of people RESIST CHANGE. WHY PEOPLE RESIST Change People resist change for a variety of reasons. Some of them are... 1. The purpose of the change communicate individually more is not made clear.  communicate with group more thoroughly 2. The people affected by the change  involve them in small groups are not involved in the planning of the change. 3. Existing habit patterns  study how changes will affect are not considered. existing habits/paradigms 4. Lack of ownership  involvement, encourage buy-in 􀀇􀀄􀀁 􀀏􀀓􀀕􀀝􀀁􀀡􀀘􀀁􀀓􀀢􀀢􀀓􀀣􀀗􀀠􀀥􀀁􀀔􀀗􀀠􀀗􀀫􀀥􀀤􀀁􀀁 􀀁 􀀁 􀀢􀀓􀀪􀀡􀀘􀀘􀀂􀀁􀀁􀀣􀀗􀀨􀀓􀀣􀀖􀀤􀀂􀀁􀀔􀀗􀀠􀀗􀀫􀀥􀀤􀀁􀀘􀀡􀀣􀀁􀀣􀀗 5.  Laci of apparent benefits  payoff, rewards, benefits for results􀀇 􀀄􀀁 􀀏􀀓􀀕􀀝􀀁􀀡􀀘􀀁􀀓􀀢􀀢􀀓􀀣􀀗􀀠􀀥􀀁􀀔􀀗􀀠􀀗
Read more