7Ancient Secrets of Managing Productive People
The Way of the Shepherd, written by Dr. Kevin Leman and William Pentak, presents the reader with seven basic and ancient foundations to successful leadership. Throughout the story these essential management principles are imparted upon a young novice reporter through an interview of one of the most successful CEOs in the United States. During this interview the CEO communicates these seven ancient leadership elements that can be applied in today’s hectic business environments.
The first principle, Know the Condition of Your Flock, stresses the importance of people to the successful manager. The CEO points out it is important to understand the condition of your people in addition to the status of their work. The people can become a manager’s greatest competitive advantage if they are understood and treated properly. If a manger takes a personal interest in each of the employees and treats them as individuals, then management becomes more effective.
Discover the Shape of Your Sheep is all about identifying strengths and weaknesses of these individuals to ensure they are in the correct position. A person’s skill set should apply to the task they are assigned and they should be motivated to apply these skill sets. It is also important to have people with positive attitudes and have personalities that complement their assignments. These along with people’s experience can determine how effective they will be in certain positions.
Discovering and understanding all this information makes the task of lesson three that much easier; Help Your Sheep Identify With You. Build trust with your followers through genuineness, integrity and compassion. Getting people to want to follow you by giving them a sense of meaning and belonging is a true sign of leadership. Clear communication of values and mission, defined roles and high standards of performance are instrumental in getting people to