The 15 Skills of Leadership and Management: Introduction and Controlling the Group

Over the course of time, volumes upon volumes have been written about the intricacies of leadership. These cover anything from the most basic concepts of the subject to its most complex theories and ideas, everything from world domination to becoming a better corporate manager. These include topics such as morality, diplomacy, social responsibility, strategy, psychology, and the relationships formed between leaders and their followers; all to determine theories of what makes the best leader. The conclusions from these social, historical, and psychological observations have created what is possibly the most predominant and most often read of all these volumes of literature. They are those books that attempt to isolate and itemize the essential tricks and tools of the trade. For example: Rules & Tools for Leaders by Perry M. Smith, The One Minute Manger by Dr. Kenneth Blanchard, and Million Dollar Habits by Robert J. Ringer.

Regardless of the basis, or how this knowledge is presented, there are several key factors that continue to reappear throughout the literature. I have found 15 discernable skills of leadership that any supervisor, CEO, president, or political leader must be able to use in order to complete their objectives. But these are only the basics, there are still numerous abilities that are unique to each of these positions and there is no guarantee that these skills alone will grant success in all endeavors.

These 15 skills are as follows:

1. Controlling the group

2. Communication

3. Counseling

4. Decision making

5. Discipline

6. Evaluating

7. Leading

8. Motivation

9. Planning

10. Representing the group

11. Setting the example

12. Stress, Strain, and Fear

13. Teaching

14. Understanding the characteristics and needs of the group

15. Using the resources of the group

Although these skills can be defined individually, most often a leader uses several of these skills at one time. In other words, no one skill stands alone and the mastery of each; depends, to an extent, on the mastery of the others.

With the uniqueness of so many leadership positions, defining even the basic skills becomes difficult, but if they were defined around one job, in one industry, the concepts become much easier to explain. Through classroom knowledge and work experience, I will define each of these skills and describe scenarios in which they were used during my internship.

Controlling the group

This is a skill that the leader will often find himself performing. It does not require the whip cracking boss who stands on his employees and micro-manages every detail of their work, nor should it invoke images of a hollering drill sergeant putting his soldiers through basic training. Performing this skill well requires tact and finesse. To control his group, a leader must be in a position where he can see them and they can see him. The leader should appear to be working but not too busy as to seem unapproachable or out of reach. The leader checks in with each member of the group periodically to examine their progress, praise them for good work, and guide them to better performance on inadequate work. A leader’s guidance should be helpful and constructive. Demeaning a member for substandard work will cause them to resent the leader and as a result they will produce even more substandard work. This can create a “snowball effect” which will spread dissention throughout the group. The leader should give instruction and then step back. As long as the work is progressing well, there is no reason for the leader to stand over his group member and dictate. He must learn to allow the members to take their own initiative with the instructions he has provided.

The leader must keep his group on schedule, but understand the need for breaks and down time. A tired and overworked group will lose motivation to complete their tasks and will resent the leader. They will also look for ways to cut corners and evade responsibility. To avoid this, rewards that members find rewarding should be offered for well completed tasks and exceptional effort. Praise and rewards that do not seem genuine will be considered insulting to the members.

As a group supervisor at an amusement park it was easy for me to fall into the terrible habit of micro-managing my crew. I often felt that it was very effective at getting the best out of my group, but it wasted much of my time and I could see how they wished I would back off sometimes. I examined my actions and realized that I was too worried about how I appeared as a leader to my supervisors and not concerned enough with the well being of my employees. I corrected my mistake by finding ways to work alongside them and instruct by setting an example rather than standing over them. This corrected another mistake that I was making. I had fallen into a second habit of staying in the control room to do my daily reports. I though that I could see them working and they could see me working, but I found that looking through the windows it appeared to them that I was just sitting around more than actually working.

The amusement park had its own system of rewarding with free tickets, bonus money and employee picnics which I had no control over. What I was able to offer my team was every Friday night after closing we would all go on the ride. It served exceptionally well to boost morale and soothe tensions. It still amazes me that a quick spin on a ride and going home soaking wet made everything worthwhile for them.

I also planned and revised the job rotation schedule constantly to make sure breaks were as long as possible. Sometimes as little as 15 extra minutes away from the ride would do an employee a world of good.