Leaders and Managers - The two creation

All things are created twice…

According to Stephen Covey who wrote “The seven habits of highly effective people” states the second habit – begin with the end in mind. This means that all things are created twice. There’s a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation. His analogy was taking for example the construction of a home. You create it in every detail before you ever hammer the first nail into place which tries to get a very clear sense of what kind of a house you really want. This refers to planning until it reduces to blueprint. It is now the carpenter’s rule to measure, cut and put the bricks and mortar making sure that the blueprint, the first creation, is really what you want. Another analogy he pointed out is in the business. If the organization wants to be successful, it must define what they are going to accomplish. They should carefully think (first creation) through the product or services they want to provide in terms of market target, and then they should organize (second creation) all the elements like financial, research and development, operations, marketing, personnel, physical facilities and so on – to meet that objective. Most businesses failures begin in the first creation, with problems such as undercapitalization, misunderstanding of the market, or lack of a business plan.

This principle goes also with Leader (who leads) and Manager (who manages) which means that leadership is the first creation and management is the second. Management is a bottom line that focuses on “How can I best accomplish certain things?” Leadership is the top line that deals on “What are the things I want to accomplish?”

As he quoted the line from both Petter Drucker and Warren Bennis, “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things” He explained that management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success while leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall. He presented an analogy of producers cutting their way through the jungle with machetes. Managers are behind those producers and its role is to sharpen the machetes, writing policy and procedure manuals, holding muscle development programs, bringing in improved technologies and setting up working schedules and compensation programs for machete wielders. Leader’s role is simply to climb the tallest tree, surveys the entire situation and may say that it is a wrong jungle. But how do they react to the leader? Obviously, they would say that they are making progress. Often times, we intend to be very busy cutting through the undergrowth without realizing that we are in the wrong jungle.

Moreover, Covey said, “We are more in need of a vision or destination and a compass and less in need of a road map.” This is definitely true even Dora the explorer conveys it. She has her LITTLE bag that contains a map that could help her address her BIG goal to find what she really wants.

The one minute manager…

Another book I read which was referred to me by a very close friend named Melanie Faye Demeray as I borrowed her book by Stephen Covey – one I cited above. The title of the book is “The one minute manager” by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson. The book tells the story of a young man who was looking for an effective manager where he wanted to work for one and become one. He had spoken with many managers: government administrators and military officers, construction superintendents and corporate executives, university presidents and shop foremen, utility supervisors and foundation directors, with managers of shop and stores, of restaurants, banks and hotels, with men and women – young and old. Some of them care about the result so they are autocrats and some of them care about people so they are democrats. The young man thought each of these managers – the “tough” autocrat and the “nice” democrat – were only partially effective. Until such time the young man encounters this one minute manager who is both an autocrat and democrat and shares his three secrets of a one minute management. These are:

1. 1. One minute goal setting is simply:

a. Agree on your goals.

b. See what good behavior looks like.

c. Write out each of your goals on a single sheet of paper using less than 250 words.

d. Read and re-read each goal, which requires only a minute or so each time you do it.

e. Take a minute every once in a while out of your day to look at your performance, and

f. See whether or not your behavior matches your goal.

2. 2. One minute praising works well when you:

a. Tell people up front that you are going to let them know how they are doing

b. Praise people immediately.

c. Tell people what they did right – be specific.

d. Tell people how good you feel about what they did right, and how it helps the organization and the other people who work there.

e. Stop for a moment of silence to let them feel how good you feel.

f. Encourage them to do more of the same.

g. Shakes hand or touch people in a way that makes it clear that you support their success in the organization.

3. 3. One minute Reprimand works well when you:

a. Tell people beforehand that you are going to let them know how they are doing and in no certain terms.

The first half of the reprimand:

b. Reprimand people immediately.

c. Tell people what they did wrong – be specific

d. Tell people how you feel about what they did wrong – and in no certain terms.

e. Stop for a few seconds of uncomfortable silence to let them feel how you feel.

The second half of the reprimand:

f. Shake hands, or touch them in way that lets them know you are honestly on their side.

g. Remind them how much you value them.

h. Reaffirm that you think well of them but not of their performance in this situation.

i. Realize that when the reprimand is over, it is really over.

The book had presented good key points to what a manager should like. As I finished reading it, I correlate to Covey’s forth habit which is “Think win/win”. One minute manager wins both result and people. It is not just advantageous to him because he is the manager but also to his fellows who are being taught to become independent – one that could solve certain problem on his own.

It’s been a good stress reliever that I read the book. I was so weary when I come to my friend’s house to get the book written by Covey. If you haven’t read this book, I highly recommend it. It was worth to read. I personally thank my friend for sharing this one.