LEADERSHIP

Leadership, Management, Command, & Control

While there are plenty of discussions about leadership verses management and the need for command and control nowadays, these are important concepts that every leader must be aware of to successfully guide their organization. In fact, they are the four pillars of every organization as they directly drive the organization. Used properly, the business will grow; used improperly, the business will sink.
These are not distinct processes, but rather concepts that all leaders perform in order to build and strengthen their organizations.

As the above diagram shows, the four pillars overlap, thus they are not separate processes. This blending gives the organization the ability to focus on opportunities and deal with threats:

• Leadership drives the interpersonal aspects of the organization, such as moral and team spirit.
• Management deals with the conceptual issues of the organization, such as planning and organizing.
• Command guides the organization with well thought-out visions that makes it effective.
• Control provides structure to the organization in order to make it more efficient.

Benefits of the Four Processes

Command and Control

While most people think of command as simply telling others what to do, it goes far beyond that. Command is the imparting of a vision to the organization in order to achieve and end-goal. It does this by formulating a well-thought out vision and then clearly communicating it. Command emphasizes success and reward. That is, the organization has to be successful to survive and in turn reward its members (both intrinsically and extrinsically).
An example would be visioning a process that helps to increase informal learning and make it more effective. A bad vision would be implementing a social media tool, such as a wiki or Twitter. This is because social media tools are the means rather than an end-goal. That is, they are more like specific objectives that enable you to achieve your end-goal (vision).
Now you might implement a social media tool as explained below, but the real goal is to increase interactions that lead to informal learning, while a supporting process is the tool itself.
Visions do not have to come from the top, but rather anywhere within the organization. Informal leaders are often good sources of visions; however, if the vision requires resources, then they normally need the support of a formal leader.
In contrast, Control is the process used to establish and provide structure in order to deal with uncertainties. Visions normally produce change, which in turn produce tension. These uncertainties cause tensions that leaders must deal with so they do not impede the organization. This is far different from most people's conception in which they think of control as controlling others.
For example, an organization might implement a new social media tool to enable its worker to interact with others and aid the process of informal learning more effectively. After implementing the tool the leader might ask, “Is the tool we provided to increase the effectiveness of informal learning really working?” Thus, control is also used to measure and evaluate.
Inherent in evaluation is efficiency—the act of examining the new tool often leads to processes that make it more efficient. This can be good because it can save money and often improve a tool or process. The danger of this is if the command process is weak and the control process is strong then it can make efficiency the end-goal. That is, it replaces effectiveness with efficiency.
A good example of this is our present economy that caused many organizations to perform massive layoffs. Now the very same organizations are complaining that they cannot find qualified workers. Efficiency over road effectiveness—they failed to realize that they would need a trained workforce in the future.

Leadership and Management

Management's primary focus is on the conceptual side of the business, such as planning, organizing, and budgeting. It does the leg work to make visions reality. Do NOT equate the term “management" with “controlling people." Management is more about ensuring that the organization's resources are allocated wisely, rather than trying to control people. In fact, good managers know that trying to control others is extremely difficult if not impossible.
Management helps to acquire, integrate, and allocate resources in order to accomplish goals and task. Going back to the above example of increasing informal learning by implementing a new social media tool, the managers must look at the real goal, rather than the tool. The real goal is to increase informal learning and human interactions in order to make them more effective, not to put into place a media tool.
If the tool becomes the primary goal, then the wrong polices could be put into place that decrease its value as an informal learning tool, for example, implementing a policy that no one in the company can ask a question on Twitter as it might make us look stupid or our competitors will know what we are trying to do. This policy removes the real purpose of the tool—enabling the employees to learn informally from each other.
Secondly, if the focus is only on the tool, then other options are omitted, such as tearing down cubicles and creating spaces where people can meet.
In contrast, Leadership deals with the interpersonal relations such as being a teacher and coach, instilling organizational spirit to win, and serving the organization and workers.

The Synergy of the Four Pillars

While all four processes have their place, they are not implemented separately, but rather in concert. Using the example of implementing a new social media tool for increasing informal learning:

• Command communicates the vision or goal to the best people who can implement it. Throughout the process, it adjusts to new knowledge and refines the vision.
• Management allocates the resources and helps to organize the activities that will make it a reality. This is normally a continuous process, rather than a single activity.
• Leadership helps to guide, coach, and motivate the people to do their best throughout the entire process.
• Control looks for opportunities to reduce risks, which in turn makes the process more efficient.

The four pillars need to be in harmony with each other. As the diagram below show, when one or more of them is too strong, the organization falls out of balance:

Likewise, if any of the pillars become too weak, it drives the organization out of balance:

Thus, the four pillars must consistently be weighed against each other to ensure they are in a proper balance that allows the organization to grow and prosper.

ONLY DEAD FISH SWIM WITH THE STREAM

Life is difficult. And the Rule is to thank God it is so. If it was
all fluffy and easy we wouldn't be tested, tried, forged in the fire
of life. We wouldn't grow or learn or change, or have a chance to rise
above ourselves. If life were a series of lovely days, we'd soon get
bored. If there was no rain, then there wouldn't be any feeling of
great joy when it finally stopped and we could go to the beach. If it
was all easy we couldn't get stronger. So, be thankful it is a
struggle some of the time, and recognize that only dead fish swim with
the stream. For the rest of us there will be times when it's an
uphill, upstream struggle. We will have to battle waterfalls, weirs
and raging torrents. But we have no choice. We have to keep swimming
or get swept away. And each flick of our tail, each surge of our fins
makes us stronger and fitter, leaner and happier. There is a statistic
that suggests that for a lot of men, retirement is a really bad idea.
Lots of them die within a relatively short time of handing in their
briefcase. They have ceased to swim against the current and get swept
away. Keep swimming, little fish, keep swimming. Try to see each
setback as a chance to improve. They make you stronger, not weaker.
You only get burdened with as much as you can carry - although I do
appreciate that at times it may seem as if it's a whole lot moreg and
of course the struggles don't come to an end, but there are lulls
in-between times - backwaters where we can rest for a while and enjoy
the moment before the next obstacle gets thrown our way. And that's
what life is, what it is meant to be; a series of struggles and lulls.
And whatever situation you're in now, it's going to change. So what
are you in? Lull or struggle? Rain or going to the beach? Learning or
enjoying? Dead fish or healthy salmon?

CHOOSE HOW YOU MAKE YOUR BED

Every action you take, every decision you make, everything you do
causes an immediate effect on those around you - and on you. And that
is the important bit. There is such a thing as instant karma. It is
your bed and you are going to have to lie in it. Your actions will
dictate whether in general your life is going to run happily or badly,
smoothly or as if the wheels have fallen off. If you are generally
loving and thoughtful you will get your just rewards - and not in
heaven (or the next life or whatever you believe) but right here,
right now. Trust me. Whatever you do and how you do it will come back
to you in spades. This isn't a threat, merely an observation. Those
who do good, get good. Those who do bad, get bad. I know we can all
point to people who seem to have it made and are still pretty vile.
But they don't sleep at night. They have no one to really love them.
Inside they are sad and lonely and frightened. Those who go around
sharing a bit of love and kindness get rewarded with the same coming
back. It's a bit like the old adage that "You are what you eat". You
are what you do. Look at the faces of those who spread joy and you
will see laughter lines and smiles. Look at those who like to bully
and get their own way and are arrogant or demanding or vicious and you
will see etched lines of misery and fear, and frowns where there ought
to be lightness. These lines won't ever be taken away by face creams
or suntans or plastic surgery. They are what they do and you can see
it in their eyes. And the state of their bed of course. So be careful
how you make you bed. What goes around, comes around. There is instant
karma. What you sow you reap. Better to stand up and be counted right
from the start. Do the right thing, every time. You know what it is.
Then when you get in the bed you've made, not only will you be able to
sleep at night, but you'll sleep the sleep of the just.

NEVER LEND MONEY UNLESS YOU ARE PREPARED TO WRITE IT OFF.

The full title should actually be: Never lend money - to a friend or
your children or siblings or even parents - unless you are prepared to
write off either the money or the relationship. There is a lovely
story told, I think, about Oscar Wilde (correct me if I've got the
wrong person) who borrowed a book from a friend and forgot to return
it. His friend turned up and demanded the book back by which time
young Oscar had lost it. His friend asked Oscar if he wasn't
jeopardizing the friendship by not returning the book. Oscar Wilde
merely replied, "Yes. But aren't you also doing the same thing by
demanding it back?" If you lend money - or a book or anything else -
don't do it unless you are prepared for it to be lost, forgotten, not
returned, broken, ignored, whatever. If you are precious about it,
then don't lend it in the first place. If it means a lot to you, keep
it safe. If you do lend anything, including money, then don't expect
to get it back if you value the friendship - or relationship. If you
do get it back then that is a bonus. If you don't, well you were
prepared for that in the first place. Lots of parents make the mistake
of lending money to their children and then getting all hurt and
disappointed when they don't get repaid. But they have spend the
child's entire life giving them money and then as soon as they get a
bit grown up and go away to university or whatever, the parents
suddenly start saying it's a loan and demanding repayment. Of course
isn't going to repay it. They haven't been trained to. It is
unrealistic to expect them to do so. If they do, count your blessing
and be grateful for the bonus. Same with friends. Don't lend them
anything if the non-return is going to matter to you. It is your
choice after all. You don't have to lend anything to anyone. If you
choose to do so, be prepared to write if off or don't do it. Obviously
if the money means more to you than the friendship, then of course
demand it to be repaid - and add interest as well. And the same goes
for siblings or parents (goodness don't ever lend money to them,
they'll never pay it back). So who should you lend money to? Strangers
of course. And they won't pay it back either.

BE ON THE SIDE OF THE ANGELS, NOT THE BEASTS.

Every single day of our lives we are faced with an immense number of
choices. And each and every one of them usually boils down to a simple
choice between being on the side of the angels or the beasts. Which
are you going to pick? Or did you not even realize what was going on?
Let me explain. Every action we make has an effect on our family,
people around us, society, the world in general. And that effect can
be positive or detrimental - it's usually our choice. And sometimes it
is a difficult choice. We get torn between what we want and what is
good for others; personal satisfaction or magnanimity. Look, no one
said this was going to be easy. And making the decision to be on the
side of angels is often a tough call. But if we want to succeed in
this life - and I measure success by how close we get to generating
that self-satisfaction/happiness/contentment - then we have to
consciously do this. This can be what we dedicate our lives to -
angels and not beasts. If you want to know if you have already made
the choice, just do a quick check of how you feel and how you react if
someone cuts in front of you in a line of traffic in the rush hour. Or
when you're in a big hurry and someone stops to ask you for
directions. Or if you have teenage children and one of them gets into
trouble with the police. Or when you lend a friend money and they fail
to pay it back. Or if your boss calls you a fool in front of the rest
of your colleagues. Or your neighbor's trees start to encroach on your
property. Or, or, or. As I said it is a choice we have to make
everyday, lots of times. And it has to become an conscious choice to
be effective. Now, the problem is that no one is going to tell you
exactly what constitutes an angel or a beast. Here you are going to
have to set your own parameters. But come on, it can't be that
difficult. I think an awful lot of it is self-evident. Does it hurt or
hinder? Are you part of the problem or the solution? Will things get
better or worse if you do certain things? You have to make this choice
for yourself alone. It is your interpretation of what is an angel or
beast that counts. There is no point telling anyone else that they are
on the side of the beasts, as they may have a totally different
definition. What other people do is their choice and they won't thank
you for telling them otherwise. You can of course watch, as an
impassive, objective, observer and think to yourself: "I wouldn't have
done it like that." Or "I think they just chose to be an angel." Or
even, "Gosh, how beastly." But you don't have to say anything.

ORANGE PEEL

Back in 1911, a stuntman named Bobby Leach went over the Niagara Falls
in a specially designed steel drum - and lived to tell about it.
Although he suffered minor injuries, he survived because he recognised
the tremendous dangers involved in the feat, and he had done
everything he could to protect himself from harm. Several years later,
while walking down the street in New Zealand, Bobby Leach slipped on
an orange peel, fell, and badly fractured his leg. He was taken to a
hospital where he died of complications from that fall. He recieved a
greater injury walking down the street than he sustained in going over
the Niagara Falls. He was not prepared for danger in what he assumed
to be a safe situation. Some of the big problems we have that roar
around us like the rushing waters of the Niagara will leave us
unharmed, while a small, seemingly insignificant ones may cause our
downfall. Why? We simply become careless and do not recognise the
potential danger. We mistakenly think we are secure. We must always be
on guard. To be victorious and successful in life, we must watch out
even for those little "orange peels."

CHOOSING TO EXHALE

Too many of us like life to be hard. We get turned on by the frenzy of
running here and there, trying to fix things, all at the last minute!
As a recovering hard-aholic, this is what I know now: Working hard and
doing the hard work are not the same. One of my favorite bible verses,
Proverbs 3:6, says, "Seek His will in all you do and he will show you
what path to take." In the past, I lost sight of this promise. I
thought my life had to be hard to be worth anything. I had watched the
adults around me struggle with such finesse, I grew up believing it
was necessary for my proper development. I struggled through bad
relationships, believing hardship, hurt and pain were the natural
order. I knew how to take a punch, and I refused to be knocked down. I
now know that just because YOU CAN TAKE A PUNCH DOESN'T MEAN YOU HAVE
TO STAND IN FRONT OF A FIST, particularly when that fist is your own.
Life does not have to be hard! Our frenetic pace is often an attempt
to deny those places within that are terrifying to face. If you serve
on five committees in church, you can deny the unhappiness in your
marriage. How can you be faulted for your nasty attitude when you're
working 20 hours overtime each week? When you're overwhelmed by
demands, how can you be expected to attend to your inner landscape? We
settle for less than we want because we are too busy to pursue our
heart's desires. We say yes when we need to say no because we don't
have the time to deal with confrontation. Working hard becomes an
excuse to avoid addressing our deeper needs. What I know now is that
when we believe we are deficient, we create distractions. When we are
not willing to confront the anger, fear, shame, guilt and resentment
we may harbor, we struggle. But the truth is, we discover who we are
not by wrestling with our circumstances, but by listening for God's
guidance. WORK CLARIFIES AND ENHANCES OUR PURPOSE. IT DOES NOT DEFINE
IT. PRAYER DEFINES OUR PURPOSE. MEDITATION CRYSTALLIZES IT. STILLNESS
SHOWS US HOW TO DO IT. You life is a demonstration of your
relationship with God. It's time you free yourself from WORKING HARD
and to choose instead to do the HARD WORK - sitting in silence,
listening to God, and being obedient to the wisdom of your inner
voice.