CHIEF DIRECTORATE: STATE LAW ADVISORY SERVICES
Management and Leadership
As most Public Sector Lawyers would, at some stage in their legal careers, have to assume management and leadership positions, it may be useful stimulate thinking and encourage some self-study and research in these areas.
Here are some thoughts:
1. Power may be defined as the ability to get the results you want.
2. John C Maxwell has said that "Everything rises and falls on leadership... leadership makes the difference.".
The following holds true for any organisation -
Personnel determine the potential of the organisation
Relationships determine the morale of the organisation
Structure determines the size of the organisation
Leadership determines the success of the organisation
Leadership is therefore the most critical element to the success of any organisation, even the public service!
John C Maxwell states that Leadership rests on 4 Pillars -
1. Relationships: to truly connect with other people
2. Equipping: helping others to fulfil their potential
3. Attitude: the make-or-break ingredient of success
4. Leadership: influencing people around you
In his book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership,
John C Maxwell identifies and discusses in detail what he calls the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. An understanding and application of these laws to yourself in the organisation you serve should see you improving your effectiveness and performance and the results you get! This book is recommended for anyone interested in becoming a better leader.
To whet your appetite, the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership are listed below -
1. The Law of the Lid: leadership ability determines a person's level of effectiveness
2. The Law of Influence: The true measure of leadership is influence
3. The Law of Process: Leadership develops daily, not in a day
4. The Law of Navigation: Anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course
5. The Law of EF Hutton: When the real leader speaks, people listen
6. The Law of Solid Ground: Trust is the foundation of leadership
7. The Law of Respect: People naturally follow leaders stronger than themselves
8. The Law of Intuition: Leaders evaluate everything with a leadership bias
9. The Law of Magnetism: Who you are is who you attract
10. The Law of Connection: Leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand
11. The Law of the Inner Circle: A leader's potential is determined by those closest to him or her
12. The Law of Empowerment: Only secure leaders give power to others
13. The Law of Reproduction: It takes a leader to raise up a leader
14. The Law of Buy-in: People buy into the leader, then the vision
15. The Law of Victory: leaders find a way for their team to win
16. The Law of the Big Mo: Momentum is a leader's best friend
17. The Law of Priorities: Leaders understand that activity is not necessarily accomplishment
18. The Law of Sacrifice: A leader must give up to go up
19. The Law of Timing: When to lead is as important as what to do and where to go
20. The Law of Explosive Growth: To add growth, lead followers - To multiply, lead leaders
21. The Law of Legacy: A leader's lasting value is measured by succession
3. More thoughts on Leadership
Here are some worthwhile snippets gleaned from various speakers on leadership and motivation -
3.1 A good leader can take less and do more with it.
3.2 A good leader has the courage to be controversial.
3.3 You can't have success without a successor.
3.4 You may not need more resources, but only better direction. A good leader can give that direction.
3.5 Forward thinking leaders position themselves for success - always ask yourself: "What are my next few moves?", and then plan ahead accordingly.
3.6 Think BIG - don't limit your ultimate success by being small-minded.
4. Focus on your strengths!
Traditionally, and especially in the public service, we have been conditioned to focus on our weaknesses and limitations (in terms of abilities and skills). How often have we heard that we should bring our weak points "up to standard"? If we are all "up to standard" in terms of ability and skills we will be just average. The public service needs more than just average employees. The public service needs remarkable and extraordinary men and women to lead and implement.
What we should, therefore, rather be striving towards is being remarkable and extraordinary. To achieve this, we should perhaps concentrate and focus more on our strengths (natural abilities and skills) and develop those to the point where we become those remarkable men and women the public service so desperately needs!
5. Other angles:
The books below are recommended for perspectives which challenge conventional thinking ...
5.1 "Starfish Principles"
"One thing that business, institutions, governments and key individuals will have to realize is spiders and starfish may look alike, but starfish have a miraculous quality to them. Cut off the leg of a spider, and you have a seven-legged creature on your hands; cut off its head and you have a dead spider. But cut off the arm of a starfish and it will grow a new one. Not only that, but the severed arm can grow an entirely new body. Starfish can achieve this feat because, unlike spiders, they are decentralized; every major organ is replicated across each arm.
But starfish don’t just exist in the animal kingdom. Starfish organizations are taking society and the business world by storm, and are changing the rules of strategy and competition. Like starfish in the sea, starfish organizations are organized on very different principles than we are used to seeing in traditional organizations. Spider organizations are centralized and have clear organs and structure. You know who is in charge. You see them coming.
Starfish organizations, on the other hand, are based on completely different principles. They tend to organize around a shared ideology or a simple platform for communication - around ideologies like al Qaeda or Alcoholics Anonymous.... They arise rapidly around the simplest ideas or platforms. Ideas or platforms that can be easily duplicated. Once they arrive they can be massively disruptive and are here to stay, for good or bad. And the Internet can help them flourish.
So in today’s world starfish are starting to gain the upper hand ...".
Quote from a summary of the book, the Starfish and the Spider, which is a must-read for anyone in a leadership position. It will challenge your assumptions about leadership and its function.
The Starfish and the Spider argues that organizations fall into two categories: traditional “spiders,” which have a rigid hierarchy and top-down leadership, and revolutionary “starfish,” which rely on the power of peer relationships. Learn how to incorporate "starfish principles" to achieve success ...
5.2 "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb"
"History does not crawl, it jumps.' says Taleb. Often we tend to place too much weight on the odds that past events will repeat themselves, but the significant and really important events are rare and unpredictable. These Taleb calls the Black Swans, a reference to a 17th century philosophical thought experiment. Until explorers found black swans in Australia in 1697, all anyone in Europe had ever seen were white swans - it was assumed and accepted as "fact" or "scientific truth" that "all swans are white" ...
Taleb argues that most of the really big or significant events in our world are rare and unpredictable. Rare events do occur much more readily than we dare to admit. Our thinking is usually limited to our experience and what we accept as "fact" or "scientific truth" are actually mere assumptions we make based on what we see, feel and assume. Reality, however, is much more complicated and unpredictable. Assumptions relevant to average situations, are less relevant to irregular situations, especially when the "rules of the game" change ... Extreme events do happen and have a significant and lasting impact and effect. Examples abound, including the stock market crash (and its unexpected recovery), September 11th and the Internet ...
6. Further suggested reading ...
The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson
Management: A Biblical Approach by Myron Rush
God is my CEO: Following God's Principles in a Bottom-Line World by Larry Julian
