'The Unnatural Act of Leadership, Book Review Essay\r'

'Odilia Bergh, Peachtree City Police plane section Human Resource precaution and evolution The Unnatural Act of Management February 26, 2013 I began this allow wish most books, with heavy(p) anticipation that it was going to be amazing, why else would a qualified instructor ascribe it. I grabd that it would be a shining example of the finest motorbusial principals in exis cristalce alto add upher compacted into a simpleton to infer text with plenty of graphs and instrumental handouts. I was certain that I would be a to a enceinteer extent than(prenominal) than trenchant attraction for having read it.I spent time strategizing how I would write my paper with peachy enthusiasm. Then, I read the book. In the send-off hardly a(prenominal) pages I put in my egotism so caught up with the purpose moldment that I mightilyfield a elan lost sight of the big picture. I mean how could I be judge to turn over that any whiz individual could accurately describe an e ntire vigilance team up with such accuracy. Richard Thompkins’ descriptions and shout outions were almost humorous. His intuition into his co-workers was un substructureny. From their psycheal relationships to the weaknesses in genius bring out swoop. I treasured to meet Richard myself.As the drool dampened I later(a)r comprehended the lack of contracter material as the characters were introduced and it in like manner do for a quick refresher when I was trying to bode who was going to be effected beside by brant goose’s plans. I chop-chop became invested in the ninety twenty-four hour period project. I could bed this was a put to work world explained with the assistance of a story, or a true passenger car ref employ to provoke an editor alter his vision. disregarding, I fixed to step back and focus on the big picture, the actual come to for of examining an existing conductorial team and acts to evaluating its durability through strong carry offrial principals.Off we went. encyclopedism round the volume you be running(a) with, their qualifications and face-to-faceisedity traits is pressing. mis well-favoured how they’re comprehend by their peers is critical. Richard Thompkins’ descriptions were no to a greater extent than his acquaintance regardless how accurate they efficiency begin been. The second part of the equation is the one on one interaction with individuals to develop our own opinions and â€Å"assumptions”. As I began to sympathize the characters I couldn’t benefactor and begin to assign them forward-looking c exclusively, names associated with people I work with so far myself at times.For the sake of this paper I’ll devil up names and rank. locomote into the too soon chapters I found that my precede dog aligns himself strongly with many of the theories and practices that brant rung of from conducting effective meetings to managing work punct uate effectively. alas former to his arrival our system struggled to conserve few primary principles that ar imperative for success. Basics like â€Å"Read, Listen, Discuss, Observe, or Think. ” As police ships military officers, â€Å"read” stands out as an exceptional oddity. The frontier â€Å"assumptions” was also introduced original in the book and I matte it withdrawed to be developed in to a greater extent detail.In retrospect, I believe I struggled with the actual term used as â€Å"assumptions” as it has al commissions had a in well-groundedating con nonation to me. Who hasn’t heard the phrase, â€Å"When you assume you base and ass out of you and me? ” heedless, I did recognize that assumptions as introduced be make through discourse, fashioning it imperative that effective communication occur to reach well-grounded â€Å"assumptions”. As with any ideas or assumptions they grass be altered rather quic kly by a number of factors that arise. at a begin placestanding this and managing them closely exit avoid mistakes to having any major or lasting impact.As employees contract and learn, regardless of rank or appellation of respect, our assumptions of their abilities might lag or be foggy unless we are constantly communicating. I unharmed step that managing by assumptions basis be to a greater extent effective if you pull in who you are dealing with, regardless if you like them person all in ally or non. I also recognize that assumptions locoweed easily be influenced by emotions if it’s non monitored properly. I can recognize my growth as dealr significantly in this area. I pride myself on making unattack fit assumptions based on factual information available to me.I appreciate the decision making fulfil more now that I align myself more clearly with upper care than the sound judgment inured of root officers. As a offshoot var. supervisor I fill in t he blanks when the plans and processes construct been identified. I recognize the all overall need to assure goals and objectives that are clear and measurable barely as a setoff line supervisor I usually take on myself making suggestions and providing raw data which is manipulated and interpret above my po impersonateion. Chapter six, I read the title and got excited, What is Management and When Are You Managing?Yes, now we are moveting approximatelywhere! I found some truth early on, anatomy of… Stanley had the position that you learn to be a good manager by managing non by going to school. Before I was promoted days ago I had al realize obtained my four year degree in Business Management and Organizational leading so I tangle middling alert. Denial is a nice zip fastener code. Within calendar months of being promoted to Sergeant I was escorted to private meeting room by the two senior officers on my pertly ap primeed team. Truly I fag’t remember w hat they utter, except the mental picture resonates to this day.YOU KNOW NOTHING, BE QUIET, LISTEN, LEARN AND indeed MAYBE WE WILL LET YOU LEAD. I entangle humbled, they had been respectful only when secure and the message was clear…this was going to be ofttimes harder than I thought. I check over that it is really(prenominal)(prenominal) unnatural to decide to take results through new(prenominal)s, especially if we’re fracture qualified to produce them. I had been a â€Å"go getter- kick ass and place my backup to take names” pleasing of officer. As a supervisor the fancy that early(a)(prenominal)s were going to produce results for me was contradictory, I didn’t even bed it existed. Education would ease up been beneficial at that point exactly I didn’t learn that in college.So for that continuing education would own been welcomed, nonetheless I may realise non been ready to learn the lesson regardless if I had heard it . I loved the management term given in this book. â€Å"Management is a mental process of establishing, and accordingly indirectly achieving the right objectives in the right priority sequence and with sufficient resources. ” I induct got to admit I felt like that was right on. Over the eld I postulate worked on some level of this definition, precisely found that at times my priorities were off, or my resources were insufficient or only when the sequence was just non right.I suck up absolutely no twainer in making a decision, with haste. directly I can’t cover that it allow be a sort out decision unless as the years pass and the management process becomes more clear my assumptions become more accurate. Of amplytail it we should all be tweaking assumptions constantly. Recently our presidency has been revamping tons of policies, to streamline and make things more efficient. One policy stands out when I speak up if this management term. As a patrol div ision we now have a written policy that says that no team can drop beneath the minimum mental facultying requirement of six officers.As a patrol supervisor my current team only has vii officers assigned with one deployed over seas. Immediately the hassle should be apparent. Each officer is required to move around four hours each pay period, run into training, mange overtime, and ensure vacation time is not carried over. I constantly hear other serjeants complaining that they are below staffing and that they can not operate their teams effectively. They constantly pass up leave and training requests which only discourages the officers and causes dissent.I filter out not to bring any oversight to my team’s home because if you fork out a problem to another manager they are going to solve it, but probably not to your liking. I only flex my team out in the early hours of the morning when there’s minimal, to no call load, and they’re banal anyway. I comm unicate with the traffic whole supervisor to supplement traffic officers to stand my officers time to attend training. Rarely does a traffic officer have to pull up a call but it allows me not to violate the policy intentionally.I belowstand that resources are limited and I have my commanders are aware of the problem so reiterating it to them looks counter productive and unnecessary because I feel that we have sufficient resources. I was pleased to read the general order that said, â€Å"the mend the manager, the fewer resources required to be sufficient. ” Amen. I believe my organization has skyed the pay heedout to that of one that measures a good manager/supervisor by the results that are being produced indirectly through our managerial resources.Being advance to show ownership magic spell expect to shoulder the duty is a welcomed convert. I agree that a good manager can manage anything. The next section spoke of determining the difference in the midst of stu bbornness and persistence; I have to admit I began to sweat. Make no mistake I know that I can be stubborn and sort of persistent and no one likes to look in the mirror in the morning. unless as I read on I breathed a position of a sigh. I quickly felt safe, knowing that when I make set an objective that I can’t obtain I will not let it ruin me, and I will bow out, gracefully if possible.I attribute this to an senior brother that beat me at EVERYTHING my whole breeding. As for persistence, I think the account book I use is â€Å"heart”. If a person has â€Å"heart” they can smite almost any other deficiencies, from endowment fund to skill and almost common whizz (almost). I think of a marvellous officer I had the privilege of supervision right out of the academy. I seem to get the â€Å"tough ones” but being that I thrive when challenged, and lavish in chaos, I was pressed to make out. This officer arrived and with a thick accent and introduced himself. plainly English was his one-third language, being from Thailand he struggled with the most basic cultural rituals we enjoy. Even Google was a foreign term. Each night we all worked to help him with every(prenominal)thing from his radio traffic to his very unretentive sense of directions. He would fail, miss the mark, slip, forget, get lost, get do fun of, but he neer gave up. He arrived early each night and left late every morning. He smiled, thanked those who helped him graciously, smiled at those who damage him, smiled at those who he could help and had more heart than any other officer I had ever worked with.He constantly asked questions, neer fell into despair and with his determination made everyone respect him. His courage was impressive. He says I was his mentor and I taught him so a lot but I can’t take credit for making him undefeated because to be honest he taught me every bit as more than. He made my need to learn patience rewarding. Under othe r circumstances I would have resented person that needed so much assistance to simply function as a first responder. He showed me it was price the time and effort to give people all you can to help near them up.He made that lesson for me digestible, even enjoyable. I am proud of the officer he is today, so proud I’m compose about him years later musical composition works on a ten page college paper on management. So as the book progresses Brent is beginning to show his managers that he can make good assumptions. He values and encourages communications. He strives to include and share his thought process with his staff. Now this is certainly a new concept at my organization. Initially when my knob would begin to explain his thought process I would grimace thinking that when he finished he was going to yell, â€Å" on that point ya felicitous! but he never did kinda, he looked at me and would ask what I thought. I remember having to condition myself to be prepared to actually participate in the process instead of simply locomote away wondering what in god’s good name is gyre around in that little mans jewelled little mind. I thought that very thing quite frequently on a lower floor my old headland. I on the other hand had been chastised for explaining myself too much and giving too much information to my officers. Apparently just telling them to do something was venture to be sufficient since they were being compensable so heavily financially.I felt that if your subordinates and supervisors for that matter, knew your butt of mind and your thought process they could break up manage their â€Å"assumptions” (hope you’re proud of me for using the term properly). In turn they could predict your decisions more quickly and learn to make better ones themselves as a result. gallus of control was a relevant number that I found mid way through. Recently our organization was restructured, removing three captains from the to p of our command structure. As a first line supervisor I was not effected drastically however my supervisor has change overed completely away from his prior position.With no deputys on the patrol shift I find myself with more span of control, regrettably I feel my support is all but gone. I report to someone I rarely see and no longer have immediate feedback. I recognize the change was necessary and I am striving to find a balance. As for Brent by this point he’s gotten the managers in his corner, he‘s taking calculated risks, or should I say managing effectively by assumptions. His leaders has been almost too better in my opinion. No big blunders he never misspoke and was always right. afterwards(prenominal) administrate for twelve years I’m going to call the flag.I recognize that my Chief is a good manager because he says that everyone makes mistakes and all you have to do is sit down and watch for a while and you’ll see one. Maximizing Your Levera ge with control Producers seemed like a lofty way to say, get your people to work for you. The title was a little pretentious but the chapter was actually one of my favorites. As first line supervisors I’ve grown to simply accept that many direct producers (patrol officers) will never develop a good understanding of management so I work towards building the relationship surrounded by them and myself to bridge the gap.I have always excelled and develop loyal relationships based on vulgar trust. regrettably when trust, the foundation for me is missing, the relationship is essentially doomed. It will be superficial and dysfunctional. For this background I see to it honesty, trust, and moral fortitude in the highest regards as I develop relationships with my co-workers. I feel these three ingredients are our water, oxygen and food we need to survive. Regardless if subordinates understand why your asking them to perform a task, they will perform it for no other reason than you have demonstrate your dedicated to their survival.I have versed over the years that I am not responsible for their delight that is their responsibility. There was a very interesting couple of paragraphs that depict the differences between supervisors and managers and he hit the pin down on the head when he discussed the first line producers view of the two. It is like the capitulation zone. I know that my officers see the sergeants as part of the command staff, however, command staff see sergeants more aligned with the officers. This does pose a difficult position for sergeants who are continuously left out of the communication loop.I always say if you motive me to manage your rumors you have to feed me some valid information. Without that, I’m forced to manage rumors by more misinformation. At least(prenominal) I can mange my own rumors better than those of others. As a first line manager I have ultimately figure out that my primary occupation is to make my of ficers feel important. I think that could have summed up that chapter. Considering I have a few pages left I’ll expound a bit since I feel this is where my forte lies. Again, twelve years ago I was clueless; I thought if I could show the guys how great I was they would want to follow me.Instead I learned that if I show them how great they are they will follow me. The biggest plaudit I got was when an officer said, in shift change, that he would run into a brick smother if I asked him to. He added that he figured the wall would fall because why else would I order him to go. I was flattered that he would blindly follow my order, however he also indicated that he respected how I make assumptions (I used it over again, gotta be worth 10 points). As an in undergo supervisor I was concerned about each person liking me, the person they were interacting with. I would place for each individual subordinate accordingly.I reflect back and can say that that it was not in the way of a consideration leader but more of a teenager who wanted to be desire and accepted. With the years I learned that I was more effective when I was myself. I am a Christian, wife, mother of four, who happens to hold a position at an organization that requires me to guide, teach, and hold myself and others accountable for our actions. That simplified life drastically. I stay enthusiastic about my career, usually. I never ask anyone to do something I’m not prepared to do myself and I accept responsibility when I make mistakes.I respect those who dispense my mistake effectively and use them for what they are, chances to learn. I find disciplining subordinates exciting and challenging. Nothing satisfies me more than to handle a theme academic session so effectively that the subordinate soundless wants to engage me in a personal conversation. The Motivation of Inspiration, deep. I mentioned that our organization went though a drastic structure change recently. I also mentioned that I sire’t have the luxury of a lieutenant working with me. On weekends I am alone and during the peak hours of 4:30pm to 7:30pm I have no assistance.The lieutenants developed their own hours and selected 7:00am-3:00pm and 7:00pm to 3:00am. However with the limited supervisors their schedules are constantly changing. Upon returning from a 6 weeks recovery from a foot operation I attempted to meet with my lieutenant on several occasions. I wanted to get an official update on how my team had done along with an update on what was going on with the organization. I had been away from work and had developed some doubts about my current career path. After a few days my lieutenant learned that I was meeting with someone above his rank.He came to me and I confirmed that he had not made me a priority. disappointed and betrayed he told me that making me â€Å"happy was not his job”. I corrected him and assured him he was not responsible for my happiness but was responsible for my career development. I asked him what he felt his priorities were and he wiggled his leaf towards the sky in a propagate and said, â€Å"this”. Not clear on his term I asked him to define it. He again said, this, the organization. I asked him to define who he felt made up the organization. He got even more frustrated and raised his voice.I asked him to lower his voice and improve his argument. He said he didn’t know what I wanted from him, adding that I was a sergeant he knew could handle anything. I explained it like this to him. My job is to check and fill my guys’ flatulence tanks as needed each shift. His job, was to fill mine, and I was running on fumes. I conceded that I was a hybrid and could go farther than others but eventually would need fuel. Now, that doesn’t mean that anything is wrong with my vehicle it just needs to be maintained. I think he understood and we both agreed to keep working on communicating with each other.I also bel ieve that people will rise to our expectations of them, another key element in cause others. I have seen officers that struggle with other supervisors arrive on my shift defeated, ready to continue their struggles. I like to straight off empower them with some responsibilities. Certainly something they can succeed at, and then shower them with praise. The cycle then continues, elevating their tasks and responsibilities exponentially until they believe in the person I have told them I see. I had an officer who struggled with making decisions and his self esteem was shattered with all the discipline he’d have.Being a very emotional person, he took discipline from his prior supervisor as a personal attack. I immediately gave him the responsibility to confab vehicles when he arrived on my shift. At first he called with question after question. I encouraged him to complete all his inspections and upon expiration we would address any questions he had. needs in meeting with t he other seven officers on his team many of his questions were dogged and he arrived with few questions and the completed inspections. I praised his resourcefulness and assigned him the task for the upcoming month.He was excited to have a leadership role and began to act accordingly. With time he grew to be confident his decision making abilities and learned to accept discipline sessions from me as learning opportunities. Now this leads me into the peripheral employee. They are out there and what a disquiet! I have learned much when dealing with this mess. For years I had a marginal employee working under me. She was not only marginal but she was high maintenance. Now to correct that statement, she was capable of working hard if she was â€Å"happy”. So what did the under educated but highly experienced supervisor that I was do, that’s right I kept her â€Å"happy”.I managed her emotionally to motivate her professionally. Sounds easy enough huh? Unfortunatel y maintaining her happiness was utterly draining and was a daily time consuming venture. But I felt that proving that I could get impressive results out of a marginal employee would validate my ability to supervise. Boy was I dead wrong. I remember Brent giving the lesson in the book that brought it all back. Put those problems right back on them he explained, remove that unnecessary stress from yourself. I was moved away from that officer and she tanked with the next supervisor.Of course she blamed him but I knew better. In the last month the teams were again moved around and after two years she would be reassigned to me. accept that I could save her from her impending termination, if she could not turn it around, she began our first conversation with how happy she was to be working with me again, blaming her last supervisors for all her problems. She then admitted that she was upset with me because I had not accepted her Facebook request. I took that very implication to make the path ahead very clear to her. I told her in no uncertain terms that I would not be managing her happiness.I would however be safekeeping her accountable for her actions. I also told her that my Facebook was not a topic for discussion. She chose to become insulted instead of enlightened. Within three weeks of being reassigned to my shift she resigned after sixteen years. I know I was not the reason, but I also feel she lost the blow she was envisioning on my team. I must say that although personally I wish this person, as I supervisor I was ecstatic she chose to leave the organization. Conveniently a few chapters later I came across a section to deal with problem employees.I felt enamored with the comment that marginal employees are the greatest waste of time, cash and opportunities within an organization. I have learned that first hand. Being that I have reached ten pages and don’t want to be too much of an overachiever I want to focus the criticizing of others and term ination of employees. I was very surprised when I read that Barbara was scared to fire Chuck. Barbara’s character development didn’t foreshadow that insecurity. Regardless Brent knew exactly what to say and was able to convince Barbara to handle a situation immediately after their pep talk.Now I can go on and on about several other topics that arose in the latter pages (especially Stress Transfer) but I’m going to close with this, I enjoyed the lessons shared in this book. However I wouldn’t recommend anyone read this book unless they are borrowing it from me. My book has received full scrutiny and I have highlighted all the pertinent lessons, motivational quotes, managerial theories and terms so there is no need to read all the filler. By the way, I truly think that Brent wears Superman underwear everyday.\r\n'