There is one common denominator in each and every company. No matter what industry, what sector, what size it is this one thing is true for every company: They all want to reach their corporate objectives!
These corporate objectives almost always contain the financial objective of delivering shareholder value in terms of increased returns and sufficient profit to finance any other corporate objectives such as high quality products or services, a significant share of the market and growth.
The question is: How do we reach them?
No matter what company I was working for the question of “How to reach objectives?” was a constant issue. There was no lack of plans. There were many bright ideas, strategies, technologies and some of them were brilliant. Whenever there is a situation to solve or there is something to reach the management body does easily come up with an answer and they work out a great planning. And then they sit back and enjoy their creation. It’s usually fine so far.
The difficulties start to come one or two weeks later when one sees that no or very little progress has been made with the plans. The team ignored your directions, they do not seem to get its importance, the whole thing just doesn’t move! Does it sound familiar? Isn’t it frustrating? Isn’t it embarrassing in front of your senior?
Management is very easily defeated on the level where the projects and plans have to be executed, where they actually have to be done.
So the question is fully justified: How do we reach them?
Fortunately this question is already solved. You can save the anger and headache a manager is usually getting in trying to cope with others mistakes, laziness or misunderstandings, or even with the disagreements of seniors or other managers.
Studying the subject of Management Leadership will answer each aspect of the question: “How to reach objectives?”
Based on my experience as a consultant elaborating what the subject of Management Leadership is and what exactly it encompasses would in itself set the thinking of managers in the right direction. So allow me to start this series of articles from the very beginning and give a detailed clarification on the subject.
Management Leadership could be defined as those abilities and skills that people or groups with commanding authority and influence have to have in order to reach objectives with the group.
This subject is not simply about how a leader can become confident and toughen up to reach compliance. It is much more than that. It embraces different aspects of leadership and management as a group activity:
– how a management body as a group can stay in agreement and coordinated and thus effective,
– how to conduct effective meetings,
– how to get compliance through several management levels,
– how to behave as a manager on the different management levels,
– how to get compliance and still preserve good atmosphere,
– how to speed up a group and its activity,
– how and when to discipline people,
– how to keep up a good relationship with seniors and how to be a successful junior manager,
– how to recognize who will make a good leader,
– how to train, teach or mentor your junior and make him successfully and independently manage his area,
– how to keep the whole group coordinated, motivated and focused toward reaching objectives,
– how to create and maintain a high team spirit,
– how to handle different types of people successfully and why,
and much more.
In short, the subject is about leading a team and reaching objectives as a team!
Studying Management Leadership will help you to understand and overcome difficulties that a leader and a management body can have with people or situations and organize them in a way that these situations do not recur. This series of articles will give you as a responsible leader tangible help and tools about how to make planning a reality.
Conclusion:
As a leader you can encounter many, nearly endless different situations. The bigger the company is the more sophisticated management and leadership methods will be required to have them under control and keep progressing toward your key objectives. With a management structure like that of General Electric it has to be very well organised and leaders have to be laser precise in what why and how they are doing. Thus the higher you are in the company and the more responsibility you carry the more skilled you have to be in Management Leadership.
