Leadership - The problem
The problem
Mental ability
Getting to achieve your vision will require the completion of a series of tasks.
Deciding on what tasks, how they are completed, when they are completed and their dependencies on other tasks is the tricky bit.
Each of these requirements is a ‘problem’ and if you fail to solve any of them you will not achieve your vision.
Solving problems is not just a matter of using appropriate techniques, like Brain Storm, but also requires good mental ability when it comes to leadership.
Mental ability is a combination of factors.
Some dictionary definitions are.
Knowledge
The facts, feelings or experiences known by a person or group or people.
Intelligence
The capacity for understanding; ability to perceive and comprehend meaning.
Wisdom
The ability or result of an ability to think and act utilizing knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight.
With wisdom you can exercise judgement a necessary requirement for a leader.
One aspect of wisdom is to keep it simple if at all possible.
This was enthusiastically put forward by Ockham’s (also spelt Occam) Razor a principle stated by William of Ockham (1285-1347/49).
The principle gives precedence to simplicity; of two competing theories, the simplest explanation of an entity is to be preferred.
The principle is also expressed "Entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity".
The principle was, in fact, invoked before Ockham by Durand de Saint-Pourçain, a French Dominican theologian and philosopher of dubious orthodoxy.
Common sense
Plain ordinary good judgement.
Insight
The ability to perceive clearly or deeply.
Knowledge is the bedrock of decision making. Without it you will not be able to solve problems.
Perhaps this should be qualified slightly.
If you intend to do every bit of decision making on your own this will be the case. However, a good leader will learn the art of delegation.
One reason to delegate is to tap into a pool of additional skills and experiences. In other words, you don’t need the specific knowledge yourself.
As we can see from the above definitions intelligence allows you to gather appropriate knowledge and understand what it means.
It allows you to use this knowledge (perhaps gained from experience of particular jobs) to consider options when solving problems.
A better term for this is wisdom.
Knowledge and experience is used to make judgements and therefore act appropriately.
Relive problems with repetitive actions
Leaders are proactive which suggests that they perceive problems and try to act as early as possible or make contingency plans.
For non leaders or followers this lack of perception often manifests itself in behaviours and actions which are merely repetitions of what they have done in the past when presented with a problem.
The phrase ‘learning from experience’ often means taking the same approach as you did last time instead using that experience to look at alternative methods.
This can be compounded over many years. If you base this years activities on last years experiences then you may be no further forward.
After 15 years you may not have progressed at all. Apart from the negative affect on your own career development your company may in effect be moving backwards.
A good leader will always learn from mistakes. The aim is to find the best response from listening to the available information and encouraging discussion before formulating options.
Developing your wisdom
From a personal perspective self development is similar to improvement in any problem solving process.
For A.P.I.M.A we have.
Assess
Having dealt with people you can assess how you coped. What went well? What went poorly and why?
Do you feel you are in a rut for particular decision making? Have you questioned the decisions you came to in terms of ‘could it have been better?’ or ‘did we just do what we always do?’
In order to accentuate some points and help you visualise them better you may want to.
- Write them down or,
- Record them on audio tape or,
- Record them on video tape or,
- Talk to someone
Plan
What do you propose to do to improve your use of wisdom in the same or similar situation in the future?
Implement
Try out your modifications the next time you have the opportunity to do so.
Monitor
Did it go well? Do you feel you’re making progress?
Act
If you feel your use of wisdom is still not what it could be you will need to take action, that is, review the reasons again as you did in the ‘assess’ stage.
You might wish to consider the following aspects.
- Apart from a personal review consider how your team interacts with other departments and groups.
- Do you seek feedback from key people your deal with?
- Talk to managers in your department or from a completely different area.
- Start up an action group to discuss issues and consider ways forward.
- Make sure you give yourself room to carry out this type of review.
Reviewing your experience
Have you produced a Curriculum Vitae? If you have, it can be quite a useful item from which to review your experiences.
Think about your achievements in lower and higher education, your first and subsequent jobs.
Were there any memorable incidents that reflect how you performed with people?
What did you learn?
How have you improved over the years?
Are there any areas that you would have done differently if you had your time over?
Were there any persons that you feel demonstrated good use of wisdom that impressed you at different stages in your life? For example, a teacher, fellow pupil, family friend, personnel manager, one particular boss? What did they do and achieve that made them stand out? How can you adapt this now to your own benefit?
Team or colleague review
Another approach is to assess a group pf people from your perspective and see what you can learn from it.
A group of people that you interact with on a regular basis will leave an impression on you.
You can think about the way each of them possess qualities of wisdom.
What are they good at? Make a list.
Why are they good at it? Provide evidence?
Looking at the detail may give you some insight into how you could modify your own behaviour.