Tag Archives | leader

Prof Botman verwag aksie van Jeugleiers

By Rian Truter on September, Wednesday 21 2011 in 2011, Education 1

Prof Botman en Quintin van Staden

Ek was ’n paar weke gelede bevoorreg om by Universiteit Stellenbosch – JIP Matrikulant van die Jaar-kompetisie betrokke te kon wees. En ek gebruik die woord voorreg nie sommer ligtelik nie!

Na ’n ontmoeting met die finale 22 jong volwassenes, het ek gevoel die woorde van Timbuk3 se liedjie the future’s so bright I gotta wear shades behoort die perfekte slagspreuk vir hierdie kompetisie te wees. Nie alleen het hierdie jongmense opnuut ‘n hoop vir die toekoms by my laat opvlam nie; hulle laat jou selfs daarna uitsien!

Prof Russel Botman het tydens die toekenningsgeleentheid die volgende aan die finaliste gesê: “My generasie het die gat in die osoonlaag veroorsaak, julle generasie moet dit weer toemaak. My generasie het oorloë veroorsaak, julle moet ‘n stop daaraan sit. Julle is die mense wat hierdie land in die toekoms moet lei.”

Dat hulle sy opdragte gaan uitvoer, daaroor het ek geen twyfel nie. Waaraan ek wel twyfel, is of ons generasie genoegsame leiding aan hulle gee om dit wel suksesvol te kan doen?

Sir Ken Robinson, kreatiwiteitsghoeroe, is van mening dat dit onderwys is wat ons die onbekende toekoms in moet neem. Amper soos ’n ontdekkingstog die vreemde in.

Wat moet ons dan nog vir hierdie jong reisigers, benewens die basiese onderwyskennis soos lees en skryf, optel en aftrek, inpak?

Ek meen die volgende vier sake is noodsaaklik as hulle al die gate wil toestop:

’n Heilige respek vir die Omgewing
’n Verstaan en begrip van Diversiteit
’n Eerlike en nederige begrip van Leierskap
’n Stel ingekoopte Waardes.

Boonop sal elkeen van hulle ook moet besef dat Jason Ohler se woorde …adding value becomes everything. I don’t care what the business is – selling education or selling cars – if you are not adding value, you are out of the game ononderhandelbaar vir hulle en ons toekoms is.

Baie geluk aan Universiteit Stellenbosch en JIP vir die inisiatief met hierdie projek geneem!

It’s education that’s meant to take us into this future we can’t grasp … – Sir Ken Robinson

Imagination is more important than knowledge. – Albert Einstein

Human intelligence is richer and more dynamic than we have been led to believe by formal academic education. – Sir Ken Robinson

Foto: Justin Alberts

Does installing fear help the medicine go down?

By Rian Truter on September, Sunday 18 2011 in 2011, Leadership 0

Which is the better motivator, the promise of rewards or the threat of punishment?

Iemand, eers gedink dit is ’n leier maar later het ek al hoe meer tot die besef gekom dat dit dalk ’n slagoffer is, vra bostaande vraag nou die dag op ’n internetforum.

Die regte antwoord is ewe belangrik vir leiers en volgelinge, want ek is daarvan oortuig dat alle leiers ook een of ander tyd met hierdie kwessie worstel. Veral as jy onder druk verkeer om ‘n taak af te handel of om jou verkoopspan die gegewe mylpaal te laat bereik.

Some leaders believe that when they engage in installing fear into their subordinates, they are doing their job. That if you make the potential bad apples afraid, they will not turn into real bad apples and secondly, that if something does go wrong you can say that at least you were trying.

Seth Godin believes that fear can be used as a tactic, but it’s almost never the end goal of the exercise. The problem with using it as a tactic is that it’s so easy to do; organisations almost always forget the real point of the exercise.

The key to making fear work is to be realistic with the consequences. Nicole Sforza, from Incentive Magazine, recommends that the consequences have meaning and that you follow through with them. There must be a clear explanation of what is expected and once that is laid out and agreed to, fear must only be used when expectations is not met.

The opposite side to motivation by fear is that it leaves subordinates more drained than before. A student wrote in a college term paper that wanting to achieve a goal just to avoid losing what we have, is not a goal that can motivate for a long period. It does not offer any promise of forward motion or accomplishment.

Uit eie ondervinding het ek geleer dat mense verskillend reageer op die motivering-deur-vrees-taktiek. Diegene wat moet skrik, skrik glad nie. Hulle dink dat dit vir die ander mense bedoel is en dat hulle punt- in-die-wind is. Diegene wat reeds voldoen aan die vereistes, en vir wie hierdie taktiek nie bedoel is nie, skrik hulle in ’n ander bloedgroep in en begin verwoed pille kou en onwillekeurige spiertrekkings openbaar.

Om ’n suksesvolle organisasie of selfs ’n gesonde gesin te bou, is motivering deur vrees of straf nie die gewenste hulpmiddel nie. Vrees is ’n emosie en in ’n atmosfeer waar vrees heers, gaan mense net nie hulle optimale funksioneringsvlak bereik nie.

Mark Dowd skryf in die Guardian: … guilt and fear are very limited in their appeal and, more often than not, only induce a great desire to turn away and carry on as before.

It’s important to remember that motivation by fear is by far the easiest way to motivate. But it still verges upon intimidation. Motivation by fear always results in inner anger against the person using the fear tactics.

Wat is dan die oplossing?

Dowd glo dat mense gelei moet word om eienaarskap vir iets te aanvaar. Of dit nou ’n projek, aardverwarming of die jaarlikse gesinsvakansie is, almal moet inkoop daarin. Hy noem dit the notion of stewardship.

Hy glo ook dat die opregtheid en voorbeeld van ’n leier die beste uit volgelinge haal.

Dalk is die antwoord heel eenvoudiger as wat ons wil dink?

Die antwoord is miskien in die bekende spreekwoord woorde wek, maar voorbeelde trek te vinde?

Example is not the main thing in influencing others, it is the only thing. – Albert Schweitzer

The key to successful leadership is influence, not authority. – Kenneth Blanchard

Leadership: the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. – Dwight D. Eisenhower

Image: Pixomar (FreeDigitalImages)

Apple every day – The Steve Jobs way!

By Rian Truter on August, Wednesday 31 2011 in 2011, Leadership 1

Daar is al baie oor Steve Jobs gesê en dat daar nog baie oor hom gesê gaan word, is so seker soos dat daar binnekort ’n nuwer weergawe van die iPad sal verskyn.

Dit is egter nie net Steve Jobs se uittrede as CEO van Apple wat my interesseer nie, maar ook sy leierseienskappe. Wat is dit wat hy het wat gemaak het dat Apple vandag een van die grootste maatskappye in die wêreld is en boonop miljoene fanatiese aanhangers het?

I scrutinised the web and printed media and made the following shortlist of what made Steve so successful:

Steve Jobs may not be the greatest technologist or engineer of his generation. But he is perhaps the greatest user of technology to ever live.
He is able to see a company from the outside, rather than inside as most managers do.
Steve trusted his instinct. Some may call it vision. That required an ability to think first and foremost as someone who lives with technology rather than produces it. And he was willing to gamble based on that instinct.
He was Apples’ biggest fan. If you listen to Steve’s legendary presentations over the years, he comes across not as the creator of a product so much as its very first fan.
Steve has a great eye for talent and the bigger picture. He taught his organization to develop a product for the second or third generation rather than a once off.

Apple was onder Steve nie altyd die maklikste plek om jou brood te verdien nie. Mense wat hom ken en ook die binnewerke van Apple beleef het, beskryf Jobs so toeganklik soos ’n junkyard dog.

Onder Steve Jobs se leierskap was Apple a brutal and unforgiving place, where accountability is strictly enforced, desicions are swift, and communication is attriculated clearly from the top.

In baie organisasies sou bostaande korporatiewe kultuur reglynig bots met wat van ‘n leier verwag word: geloofwaardigheid, bedagsaamheid, sensitiwiteit, nederigheid asook ’n goeie dosis kreatiwiteit, intelligensie en ’n strategiese brein soos Napoleon.

Maar hoe het Steve dit dan reggekry om net met die helfte van bogenoemde eienskappe te oorleef? Kenners beweer dat mense hom sy gebreke vergeef het, want wat hy aan takt en sensitiwiteit ontbreek het, het hy opgemaak met sy ongelooflike en helder visie vir dít wat hy vir Apple wou hê.

Die vertrek van Steve Jobs laat Applewerknemers en -aanhangers met ’n bekommernis oor die pad wat vir hulle geliefde produk wag, want met Steve besig om aan die appel te kou, kon hulle rustig slaap … en wag vir nog ’n WOW-produk!

Miskien is dit gepas om Steve die laaste woord te laat inkry (party sal sê, soos gewoonlik): Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.

Nog ‘n paar aanhalings van Steve Jobs:

Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.

I want to put a ding in the universe.

We made the buttons on the screen look so good you’ll want to lick them.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Source:

Cliff Kuang: FastCompany

Joe Nocera: New York Times

Image: Nutdanai Apikhomboonwaroot

How to create White Space

By Rian Truter on August, Wednesday 17 2011 in 2011, Leadership 2

When I hear the term Visionary Leader a picture of a person perched/sitting on a hilltop sprung to mind. And this imaginary person is not sitting around idly but is diligently peering into the distance. To the faraway horizon, to the future …

This is what all leaders do. Not all the time, but leaders have to schedule time to climb the proverbial hill and to go and see what is happening on the horizon. Maybe you will see the trouble or the solution coming. Before it unexpectedly hits you between the eyes.

Yet, the demands of leader’s jobs don’t allow them that luxury. Let alone the space to actually stop and think.

Sabina Nawaz wrote in an article, This Space Intentionally Left White, that leaders are hired for their intellectual horsepower. But in the midst of the hustle and bustle of their job, there is little space to breathe.

And breathe they must. For when you breathe you start to think. Perhaps when somebody tells you to take a deep breath, they are actually telling you to start thinking!

Nawaz recommends that the leaders she coaches have to schedule a time during their busy week for doing nothing but thinking and to pay attention to what emerges in the absence of the noise of their normal activities.

She calls this the creation of white space.

To do precisely that, is difficult. Allowing for white space in our lives goes against our normal way of doing things. But according to Nawaz white space gives us the opportunity to think beyond our current problems and issues.

She recommends that to be successful at creating white space, leaders must be intentional about setting up some quiet time. The following is her four prerequisites to succeed in creating your personal white space:

Set aside a specific time in the week. Block out that time in your schedule.
Turn off the noise. Don’t answer telephones or emails.
Experiment until you find the right format for you. Journal, walk, meditate or go climb the hill.
Keep your white space dates. You need to practise perspective.

All of us have heard of the sacrifices leaders made for their career or work. How they have missed their children’s birthdays and how they operate under tight timelines and competitive pressures. But most of them don’t make time to make their minds wander. To climb the hill …

Creating white space in your busy schedule lets you hear and think in a new way.

Source: HBR Network, Sabina Nawaz, This Space Intentionally Left White, July 1, 2011

Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it. – Henry Ford

If you’re going to be thinking anyway, think big. – Donald Trump

If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking. – George S. Patton

Image: Apple/’s Eyes Studio

Legends

By Rian Truter on June, Tuesday 28 2011 in 2011, Leadership 0

Die polemiek woed weer in die pers oor wie die beste is of was. Wie gee wie die reg om hom of haar as die beste ooit te klassifiseer? Amper tot legendestatus te verhef …

Tydens ’n besoek aan die KKNK het ek ontdek dat sommige mense soos oom Gert van Tonder skielik ‘n legend geword het, want al die jonges wat saam met die oom gesing het, het hom ‘n legend genoem. Is dit dalk omdat hulle hom van hulle doek- en Wielie-Walie-dae onthou, want oor sy sang kan dit nie wees nie.

Hierdie kwistige gebruik van legend voor en agter het my laat wonder oor wie en wat nou eintlik ‘n legend is.

Volgens my beskeie mening is Staal Burger, tannie Evita Bezuidenhout en die Toyota-bakkie ‘n legend. Maar om sommer links-regs enige iemand met die titel legend te bekroon, wil vir my ‘n bietjie goedkoop voorkom.

Ek vermoed die mense probeer eintlik sê die betrokke persoon is ‘n held. Maar in hierdie tyd waar alles cool is, het held ook seker êrens in die stof gebyt? Legend is nou die woord op die tong.

Nou hoe lyk ‘n legend dan nou eintlik?

Om as ‘n legend geklassifiseer te word, voel ek, moet die persoon as eerste vereiste darem sy/haar eie leeftyd kan oorleef. Daarmee bedoel ek, jy moet darem lank na jy die tydelike met die ewige verruil het, nog altyd oor gepraat of onthou word.

Legends moet ook ‘n bietjie opgeoffer het vir ‘n saak groter as hulself. Om net op ‘n KKNK-verhoog te verskyn en liedjies met drie versreëls te sing, plaas jou nie summier in dié klas nie. Nostalgie of te not!

Legends moet ook guts hê. Soos ‘n Wolraad Woltemade wat ten koste van homself sy perd die branders inry om absolute vreemdelinge te red. Om net Kaptein span die seile te sing, laat jou nog nie eens uit die hawe kom nie! Sarah Palin het die eienskap netjies raakgevat toe sy die volgende opmerking gemaak het: “…the difference between a pit bull and a hockey mum; it’s only the lipstick.”

Wat vir my egter die belangrikste aspek rondom ‘n legend is, is die stories wat hy/sy vertel. En ook die stories wat van hom/haar vertel word.

Suid-Afrika het vandag genuine legends nodig. Nie kunstefees- legends nie. Legends wat ook leiers is. Mense wat bereid is om stories, wat as ‘n morele barometer sal dien, vir die kinders en mense van Suid-Afrika, te vertel. Mense wat ons onvoorwaardelik as morele voorbeelde aan die wêreld kan voorhou.

Fred Harburg meen as leiers die krag van ‘n storie verstaan, maak hulle ‘n blywende verandering. Hy verwys in dié aanhaling na ‘n maatskappy, maar ek dink dis net so van toepassing op enige land in die wêreld. When a company is blessed with leaders who express compelling stories about things that matter — grounded in fact and reason, tied to values that are widely embraced, constructed with logic and expressed in positive, emotionally passionate terms — people not only listen, but are moved to action.

As ons leiers hierdie tipe stories begin vertel, kan ons almal lustig saam sing met al ons helde op die verhoë dwarsdeur Suid-Afrika. Ek sal dan weet dat die legends van hierdie land se stories ‘n verskil gaan maak wat langer as die 90 minute van die vertoning sal duur.

There used to be a time when the idea of heroes was important. People grew up sharing those myths and legends and ideals. Now they grow up sharing McDonalds and Disneyland. (New York, 1989) – Bob Dylan

True Legends never die. – Unknown

Image: mieliestronk

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