By Pamela Tyree Griffin
The U.S. Army's Eleven Leadership Principles:
• BE TACTICALLY AND TECHNICALLY PROFICIENT (Part Two)
• Know yourself and seek self-improvement
• Know your soldiers and look out for their welfare
• Keep your soldiers informed
• SET THE EXAMPLE(Part One)
• Ensure the task is understood, supervised and accomplished
• Train your soldiers as a team
• Make sound and timely decisions
• Develop a sense of responsibility in your subordinates
• Employ your unit in accordance with its capabilities
• Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions
The rules that the Army uses can certainly be translated to the business world. A new manager especially may find these rules will apply to a organization that desires to be well run. (This is part two of eleven)
Be tactically and technically proficient. What does this mean?
One of the best things you as a manager can do, is to know the jobs the subordinates perform. This doesn’t mean you DO the job but it does mean that you should know how to do it, what’s entailed and what training may needed to get the job done. This is how you measure technical ability. Tactically speaking, when you as a manager understand the job, then you can match the right people to the right tasks and jobs. In other words, you can properly delegate the work.
There are consequences for leading an organization that’s not technically savvy. There will be work that doesn’t get done at all or gets done incorrectly. A manager who mismatches talent with the appropriate opportunity is doomed. And with that goes your credibility as a manager.
Say you have people in your group that need to learn a certain computer function for example. Whose responsibility is it to ensure they do? While the expectation is that the person will take on the responsibility of learning, it’s really up to the manager to guide them in the right direction. The manager needs to provide the tools so that the employee can get up to speed. They must also allow the person time to learn the needed skill. Once they do, you are on your way to leading a technically proficient group.
As you look at your group, begin to define the gaps in skill and locate ways for them to get instruction. Once you do, you will have a happier workforce and one more willing and able to get the job done. They’ll also recognize that their manager took the time and effort to make sure they had access to what was needed to perform the job correctly.
Take some time and figure out what you as a manager need to do to help your group perform better. And once you have filled the gaps with the critical skills, you are in a better position to apply the tactics you need to ensure a consistent work product now and in the future.
So the question is: What are you doing to bring your team up to speed tactically and technically?
About the Author: Pamela Tyree Griffin has over twenty years of insurance management and training experience, is a published writer, book author and facilitator. She conducts FUN weekend workshops and speaks to groups about business related and other topics. For more free tips and to pickup your free e-books: http//:takeoff.to/ptgriffin.
Source: www.isnare.com
