"Don't tell people how to do things; tell them what to do, and let them surprise you with their results." - George Patton
Being a leader today is different from ever before, and this is particularly true within organizations.
If you are a leader within an organization, then there is a high chance that you will find yourself dealing with a range of new situations and tools that alter the way that you lead.
For instance, you might today need to lead from afar. That means, in other words, you will be using collaboration tools to collaborate with distributed teams worldwide. That means, in other words, you will be using collaboration tools to collaborate with distributed teams worldwide. This can make life much more difficult, as you will not be able to know precisely what your staff is doing, or whether they are conducting the work you set them! Likewise, parents now need to deal with new challenges, including mobile phones and the internet. Again, this prevents them from knowing everything that is going on in the children's lives, making it harder than ever for them to protect them and guide them.
There are several ways that we can react to these changes. One of the most common is to try to reign in our followers even more – to place stricter and more controlling rules and restrictions on them. We hope to understand better what they are doing and thus control their actions.
But the truth is that doing this often has the opposite effect. Again, the most powerful way to motivate someone miles away from you is to ensure that the tasks you give them are inherently motivating. They should be rewarding in their own right – because they offer a sense of ownership to the person completing them and a sense of being highly involved. But the truth is that doing this often has the opposite effect. f you notice someone falling behind, do not assume it is because they are lazy! Instead, ask why they are not motivated enough to complete the work you have set them.
Likewise, parents understand that telling their children they cannot drink alcohol will often force them to act out and drink even more without telling their parents! Giving them that bit of freedom – allowing them to have some drinks in a controlled and safe environment – can often help them avoid feeling the need to rebel.
And so it is with the internet: try and block or restrict your child’s internet access and they will only find a way around it. But give them that access and tell them that you are doing so because you trust them, and you might find they are less likely to betray that trust.
Your job as a leader is to protect, inspire, and guide. It is NOT to control. This is true even when dealing with a leader's modern and complex challenges. That only makes this approach even more vital.