So much of what we are viewing in the field of management and or leadership seems to be overly focused on the managers and leaders.
A crucial element: the people who don't want to be managed or led. Or, those who want to manage and lead--with our without qualifications.
Something I observed in the schoolyard 53 years ago.
Watching the Process:
A seven year old boy does not want to be The Captain of the Team. He wants to be The Captain of the Winning Team. If given a choice, he would rather be a player on the Winning team than Captain of the Losing Team. This is why some people are bad followers. They do not want to follow leaders who cannot lead. Our solution seems to be leadership training--the new fad. That, and now "Mindfulness".
How long has this been going on?
When I was a teenager, the youth fellowship group I belonged to ran a retreat where we learned how to "connect" with others. We learned how to trust.
A few years later, we were problem solving at University. We were being taught how to work in groups.
- Team Building.
- Consensus Building
- Eliminating Group-think
This instruction became institutionalised:
- Courses were taught: Organisational Analysis, Group Dynamics, and others.
- During a financial crisis, we were reading about the Japanese Management Style.
- We ran seminars on Time Management. (A concept which, I am certain, goes back to before Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn made a movie about it. )
We are under the impression that the "bossy kid" is the one who will need leadership training. Perhaps not. Perhaps the "bossy kid" is one of the bad worker-bees.
In other words; When will the "Consulting Industry" begin to focus on "follow-ship training".
That someone is not cut out to be a leader is conspicuously obvious by a simple fact; no one wants to follow that kid, boss, manager, leader. Yet we clutch fanatically to the notion of hiring consultants to teach leadership. Why do we never teach leaders to identify the future leaders from among those who work for them.
Two things the Consulting Industry must do:
1. Teach Some People to Follow.
2. Teach the higher ups, that some of the people they've put into leadership positions do not belong in leadership positions no matter how many consultants drag them off to the all-day-seminar.
"Don't tell me I don't know how to manage. I attended the all-day-seminar. I have the three-fold-brochure."
Additional Reading:
The Culture of Bad Management
Warmest regards,
Slim
( I found my niche in life. I am going to be a business stylist.)
slimfairview@yahoo.com
LinkedInProfile www.linkedin.com/in/slimfairview/
Copyright © 2013 Slim Fairview
All Rights Reserved.
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