A New/Old take on Leadership
Recently, the President Elect of the United States Barack Obama was linked to creating “A team of Rivals” as his potential white house cabinet. This reference comes from a book of the same name written by Doris Kearns Goodwin. The book talks about Abraham Lincoln, regarded as one of the greatest US Presidents, who was one of the first leaders to use this concept, in a particularly extensive way. He said “I need the best people on the job”, and appointed many former foes from the campaign - some who disagreed with him quite strongly.
This creates an interesting discussion question concerning leadership. In many ways, our culture is one where “if you aren’t for me, you’re against me”.
Ingenuity
How Important is Staff "Buy-in"?
Most people frown on "getting staff Buy-in" , especially with our trini attitude of "ah cyar be boddered".
Ultimately, many company initiatives and projects fail due to lack of "Buy-in" both at the horizontal "peer" level and the subordinate level. Good "Buy-in" can lead to successful initiatives, as most employees exhibit the following behaviours:
- Understanding and then believing in the concept of inititative.
- Convincing fellow employees of the worthiness of the concept.
- Willingness to sacrifice time and effort, thereby aiding the in the delegation effort.
As a result many benefits can accrue.
What are some of the techniques to get "Buy-in"?
- Brainstorming sessions - the facilitator gets ideas from the group while introducing the proposed solution as a "floater".
- Painting the full picture - This involves disclosing the sometimes "confidential" management discussions, (with necessary censoring of specific details), in order to convey the logic or gravity of the need.
There are quite a few more.
Ingenuity
Which is more important, Ethics or results?
In today's working environment, we are often asked to sacrifice much of ourselves. Whether we are business owners or we work for someone else, we have made or will have make that difficult decision at some point.
According to this article on bnet.com article (membership required);
"Business owners often face difficult ethical dilemmas, such as whether to cut corners on quality to meet a deadline or whether to lay off workers to enhance profits."
This can apply to managers and staff as well. In the article they discuss four models of ethics approaches:
1) Utilitarian - "taking the action that will result in the greatest good for the greatest number of people".
2) Moral Rights - "The moral rights approach concerns itself with moral principles, regardless of the consequences."
3) Universalism - "The universalist approach to ethical decision making is similar to the Golden Rule. First, you determine whether a particular action should apply to all people under all circumstances. Next, you determine whether you would be willing to have someone else apply the rule to you."
4) Cost-Benefit - "Under the cost-benefit approach, you balance the costs and benefits of taking versus not taking a particular action."
What does that mean for the average trini?
We are societies of "shoo shoo" and "mauvais langue", so its hard for the average person to do what is right without being labeled and ridiculed in some circles. Not to mention fear over loss of job from a boss who disagrees or being taken advantage of by an a coworker looking to get ahead. I submit, however, that it is precisely this kind of debate and ethics based decision making we need.
Do I live in a dreamworld, maybe. But I have walked the talk, at the expense of reaching even further in my career. (For those who know the breadth of my work experience, you may be surprised at that).
Ingenuity
Given the Financial Crisis, where do you suggest to invest?
As most of us are aware - but probably don't care - there is looming US and global crisis. This is already affecting us - see this Express article on the Central Bank (Trinidad Express - Trinidad affected by Crisis).
The new question this week is, where do you suggest to invest?
Personally, I recommend keeping your money put if you already have it in US stocks or local money market funds that may be pegged against the US stock market. Why? If you've lost value, moving your money will not recover it, but all experts predict a recovery in the short term (6 - 8 months) and return to growth/profits over the next five years.
If you have money in local savings and are looking for high growth opportunities, choose other financial vehicles carefully, find out where they invest your money!
Ingenuity
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