HANDLING PEOPLE FOR POSITIVE CHANGE
Organizational Leadership when embedded within an organization is transformative, leading it to be defined as management or better supervision (Watson, 2010).
For some leaders, leadership is easy because they have the best working people, but for those who have the most unproductive and complacent manpower, chaos is expected.
The leader then has to find ways to effectively and reasonably deal with the situation.
People have different personalities, attitudes, values and experiences.
Probably, it is in this matter why situational and contingency theories are most opted from the other popular theories such as great men and trait theory in handling people.
Another is that, inevitable transitions may be so rapid in an organization that can both stress the leaders and the worker’s.
Lastly, personal life can complicate working ethics, leading to a boundless difficulty for leaders to handle their people.
Dr. Dale Carnegie has formulated three principles in handling people.
He has viewed human beings, not as creatures of logic, but creatures of emotions. It means that people wakes up and sleeps everyday bringing within them their emotions. And so everybody has the ability to get hurt and getting hurt can lead a person not to work hard, not to follow rules and be tagged as a problem employee in an organization.
What are then these three principles that can change an individual, a group, a community and the whole world? Would this require for a leader to spend so much money to do it? Would it not be applied right away? Would it be applicable to all? Let me now begin to share with you the insights of Dr. Dale Carnegie about the Fundamental techniques in handling people that bring out positive change in an organization.
Do not criticize, condemn or complain. This is the big secret in dealing with people.
As such that people are creatures of emotions – constructive criticism can still hurt people and it does not make lasting changes but only resentment. Criticism from superiors assassinates interest to work harder and eventually breaks the relationship between a leader and a follower.
As Charles Scwab said, “I have yet to find the person, however great or exalted his station, who did not do better work and put forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than he would ever do under a spirit of criticism."
Give honest and sincere appreciation. William James said that the deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated. Appreciating should be coming from the heart and not from the teeth. When you appreciate from the heart, it is universally accepted and when you appreciate from the teeth, it is universally a condemned.
Appreciation indeed brings out the best in people.
Leaders should give their people the reasons to follow and listen to them.
It is impossible to expect for the subordinates to obey rules leaders do not follow. It is even inhuman for a leader to solely focus on his or her agenda without listening to the subordinate’s voices.
Stephen Covey said that it is best to seek first to understand others and then to be understood.
Handling people in an organization are never an easy job!
But leaders and subordinates just need to learn the skill of happiness to handle people.
By following the three principles of Dr. Dale Carnegie, remember that one is already creating happiness, not only for themselves alone, but for others and for the whole world. Truly, creating happiness is not hard, not costly and yet it is applicable to all – what a wonderful life to live as change is coming.