Re: Helping others do their job better
George Sweeney III (george.sweeney_at_nwa.com)
Tue, 9 Mar 1999 09:40:01 -0600
Old aircraft maintenance maxim: "It's easy to fly it; it's damn hard to get
it to the end of the runway!" -all employees are members of "The Crew."
Best regards,
George Sweeney
Manager Human Factors Development
Northwest Airlines
> From: Paul Baxter <pbaxter_at_personalbest.com.au>
> To: crm-devel_at_db.erau.edu
> Subject: Helping others do their job better
> Date: Monday, March 08, 1999 6:34 PM
>
>
> Tony,
>
> What a refreshing approach to personnel management! If we only took the
> time to make them feel at home, make them feel valued and wanted and put
a
> "human face" to the organisation then old fashioned values like employee
> loyalty and commitment might have a chance to develop.
>
> It reminds me of a job I had some years ago where the new "boss" called
us
> all in soon after his arrival and made a brief speech during which he
said,
> "As I see it, my role as administrator in this organisation is to help
you
> do your job better." Most of us said nothing at this revelation and some
of
> us smiled a little but as it turned out the fellow meant exactly what he
> said. Needless to say, he earned a tremendous amount of loyalty over the
> years because he would fight for the things you said you needed in order
to
> do your job well and if you had a good idea he would try to make it work
> and also not pass it off as his own good idea but give due credit. His
view
> of his "leadership" role was so unusual, so refreshing and so compelling
> that he won over many "followers". If one of the definitions of
leadership
> is that in order to be a leader you first need to have followers, then he
> was indeed a very effective leader.
>
> Too often, administrators and so-called leaders see their role as
primarily
> being "in control" of others - directing them, supervising them, taking
> charge and "leading from the front", as it's called. Consequently,
> management effectiveness courses spend a lot of time dealing with
"control
> " issues. Sometimes this is vaguely disguised under names like
> "facilitation", "coordination" and such terms but essentially it is about
> the business of making "control freaks".
>
> Leading from the front in the sense of "controlling" others obviously
works
> well in certain situations and it has its place but it is my belief that
> staff members who willingly give their loyalty make better followers than
> those who feel compelled to do so. While this approach may be seen by
some
> as a luxury or a pipe dream, I still think that many of today's
> organisations would do well to take a different view of leadership and
move
> it a bit further away from the emphasis on control, to an approach that
> clearly states that administrators and other leaders are there to "help
> others do their job better." Or maybe my head's too far up in the clouds?
>
> Paul
> --
>
> "Let me suggest that leadership also involves "administrative" things
that
> are easily taught. For instance, maintaining a good inprocessing
checklist
> is an excellent leadership tool. It tells the
> new guy that you're interested enough in him/her to show them around,
etc. "
>
> Paul Baxter PhD, MA, BA(Hons), BA, Dip Teach, MAPS
> Personal Best Systems (R). Personal and professional coaching.
> Less pain, more gain.
> Brisbane, Australia. Ph +61 (0)500 579 257. Fax +61 (0)7 3376 1576
> Internet: http://www.personalbest.com.au/~pbaxter/habits.htm
> Email: pbaxter_at_personalbest.com.au
>