Saturday, August 07, 2004
Leadership!
What does it take to be a leader?
Well, I don't know, but I know a good leader when I see one. Lately I have been reading the book "Leadership and the 1-minute manager". It is quite an interesting book. Now I find it easier to correlate some of the actions my manager took and the interacting style to leadership skills.
Also, now I associate the way I interact with various people with leadership skills. The author mentions that "different people should be treated differently". Now I am sure that we have all been taught to treat people "equally" in the workplace.
But different people are different! For example, consider the new hire (fresh out of college) that started on your project last week. Can you treat the new hire same as a 2+ year experienced person on your project. Of course, not. I am sure all of us will agree that the new hire will need some hand-holding and grooming before s/he becomes a productive team member.
The book talks about following leadership styles:
1. Directing.
2. Coaching.
3. Support.
4. Delegating.
As you progress from style 1 to 4 with a person, the person has been transformed in to a more idependent, responsible, contributing team member.
To measure the performance of a team member one needs to track 2 Cs i.e.:
1. Commitment.
2. Competency.
You could have a person who has lost motivation and is no longer committed but is competent. Then the person needs "support". But the new hire we talked about above would need "coaching" to help build technical skills (be competent).
In our previous meeting in the company about the appraisal process, the speaker talked about competency in two areas:
1. Technical skills.
2. Soft skills (like communication etc.)
Need to read further ...mature to a better leader.
Well, I don't know, but I know a good leader when I see one. Lately I have been reading the book "Leadership and the 1-minute manager". It is quite an interesting book. Now I find it easier to correlate some of the actions my manager took and the interacting style to leadership skills.
Also, now I associate the way I interact with various people with leadership skills. The author mentions that "different people should be treated differently". Now I am sure that we have all been taught to treat people "equally" in the workplace.
But different people are different! For example, consider the new hire (fresh out of college) that started on your project last week. Can you treat the new hire same as a 2+ year experienced person on your project. Of course, not. I am sure all of us will agree that the new hire will need some hand-holding and grooming before s/he becomes a productive team member.
The book talks about following leadership styles:
1. Directing.
2. Coaching.
3. Support.
4. Delegating.
As you progress from style 1 to 4 with a person, the person has been transformed in to a more idependent, responsible, contributing team member.
To measure the performance of a team member one needs to track 2 Cs i.e.:
1. Commitment.
2. Competency.
You could have a person who has lost motivation and is no longer committed but is competent. Then the person needs "support". But the new hire we talked about above would need "coaching" to help build technical skills (be competent).
In our previous meeting in the company about the appraisal process, the speaker talked about competency in two areas:
1. Technical skills.
2. Soft skills (like communication etc.)
Need to read further ...mature to a better leader.
Labels: management
