Key Leadership Lessons – A Fresh Perspective!

What the “Minions” have taught us about leadership…

  

The infamous stories of the Minions and their exploits in the “Despicable Me” movies are what legends are made of, so I thought I would borrow some leadership lessons from my little yellow heroes! Here are some of their exemplary insights into leadership “minion style”.

Environment is key to good leadership. It’s important to set up an environment that is conducive to good team interaction and productivity. Good leadership will establish this in support of the team in the pursuit of its goals and objectives.

Share your vision. This may seem trivial, but ask anybody what motivates him or her and they will tell you that making a positive impact on the world through their work is what gets them out of bed in the morning. Money is often low on the motivational list, so don’t assume they will sell you loyalty for a pay cheque. Instead, sell them your vision and they will buy it!

Engagement is critical in any leadership success story. If you don’t have it, you don’t have effective leadership. Engagement through genuine purposeful leadership will connect with your team on a personal aswell as a professional level. A leader’s humanity is the glue that brings a great team together. Trust, engagement, competence, development and performance are stops along the way to a team’s success story.

Know your team. You may enter a team as a leader and not think a processor could be a CEO or a processor may think he or she could be CEO and is frustrated at the lack of progress. Understand the hopes and dreams of your team and they will thank you by engaging your common vision for the future. There is nothing more rewarding then leading a motivated team.

 Support your team. It’s important when facing new situations that you support your team members in the sharing of knowledge, know-how, mentorship and moral support when dealing with the unknown. A problem shared is a problem halved!

Small talk. There is nothing small about small talk, engage your team in small talk. The strongest of relations are formed at the office cooler. 2 minutes a day keeps you connected in a non-formal way!!...

‘If you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life’. A leader must be prepared to show the team some of their personality by leading with genuine displays of passion. Show your team you have heart and are invested in what you are doing and they will do the same in return. The result will be a sustainable team success!

Finally, I leave you with an entertaining display of “Minion” teamwork that shows even in chaos and dysfunction, we can overcome….

Source/Credits:

Pics:

www.geniusquotes.net

www.mystarjob.com

www.memegenerator.net

www.beckydavisonline.com

www.hapsblog.com

www.ajax.questwww.net

www.krwjones.com

www.pmsclan.com

           

www.365daysofthankyou.com

www.davidicke.com

www.motogp.questwww.net

www.bigpapblog.com

Media:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8MJUox3Llg

The Moral Imperative... is it a leader's burden?

Is there a cost in “doing the right thing??”...

E.O. Wilson once said, “If those committed to the quest fail, they will be forgiven. When lost, they will find another way. The moral imperative of humanism is the endeavour alone, whether successful or not, provided the effort is honourable and failure memorable.” It’s an agreeable point that those “committed” should carry a moral imperative and thus are influenced by honourable behaviour in the execution of their duties. In my view, this concept extends well beyond team leaders and manager to us all.

So, how does a moral imperative influence individuals, groups, cultures and companies? Its an open question for further consideration but In my view, it simply acts as a ruler for good behaviour highlighting bad behaviour when it occurs. We can be very quick to criticise our leaders and in some cases, the criticism is very warranted. However, its never all their fault despite how it may seem so what overt lessons do we take from their behaviour and apply in our own lives?

Outlook determines how we govern ourselves. If we claim to do the right thing considering the consequences of our actions on those around us, then our outlook will accordingly lend to decisions based on an outward looking viewpoint. This may place the individual at a disadvantage in the shorter term for just doing the right thing. However, the longer-term benefits are undeniable when a committed individual moves beyond short-term loss to longer-term gains.

Values determine the content of our moral imperative. If we believe in a sustainable future that is community based where our common success today will dictate the type of future for our children’s children, then our values will be more circumspect, social and interdependent in nature. They will also allow us to be more insightful as the power of people is engaged more readily through the values we carry in ourselves that drives our behaviour towards others.

Endeavour to embrace the vision of the enterprise, whether it is in short-term projects or long-term plans growing the business into a multi national giant of its time. When thinking about this, think about the moral imperative and how does good behaviour influence the company lifecycle. Does it take a longer to reach a more sustainable plateau of operational performance when doing the right thing? Is this agreeable with management and colleagues alike?

Results are important and sustainable results are the consequence of a sustainable business model being run by a management group that respects the moral imperative, making sure their people are equipped and supported in an informed manner to make their company great over time. Do results solely dictate how business is done or does the business dictate what results are possible? There is little time for “doing the right thing” if a business is doggedly driven to achieve unsustainable results at any cost. The cost over time will always outweigh the gain in the short-term acquiescence of unrealistic targets.

Turnover of staff can kill a business very fast. Many consider finance to be the king of business success, which is not the case. People are the king of business success from ideas to engineering to process to daily operations; people make or break a business. People nowadays don’t leave companies; they leave bad managers, so why not think about employee CHURN as a key metric in how culture, practice and vision are married in a tripartite chemistry defining the working environment for staff. Genuinely engage your staff and they will engage you! Profit will follow and continue to do so where leaders do the right thing and exercise the moral imperative.

So, to be O.V.E.R.T. is not only the right thing do so, its is the decree of the better professional who places the welfare of their company, their colleagues and their customers over their own knowing a better future for them lies in the success of the whole rather then any individual part. They give themselves over to the common success rather then taking short-term success for themselves at the expense of the company and/or their colleagues to their left and the right. When we do the right thing in business and in life, we notice the moral imperative is something others tell us about and we just do…  

Sources/Credits:

Pics:

www.relevantinfo.org

www.iamrambling.com

www.bizwords.co.uk

http://www.brandonbaney.com

Credits:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/imperative.html#svWHB5htCIzuzApl.99