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Shelter Chieza Change Management
When it comes to exceptional leadership qualities there are a few movies that aptly illustrate these. There is Coach Carter, a 2005 American biographical drama based on a true story of Richmond High School basketball coach Ken Carter portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson, who made headlines in 1999 for benching his undefeated high school basketball team due to poor academic results.

For me Coach Carter is an excellent movie because it illustrates the challenges of mentorship, coaching and leadership not just in sports, but in every organisation.

Then there is the Last Samurai, a 2003 American epic war film starring Tom Cruise. It is an amazing story of courage, truth and justice in a world of greed and corruption.

Cruise portrays an American officer, whose personal and emotional conflicts bring him into contact with samurai warriors in the wake of the Meiji Restoration in 19th Century Japan. The film’s plot was inspired by the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion led by Saig? Takamori, and on the westernisation of Japan by foreign powers, though in the film the United States is portrayed as the primary force behind the push for westernisation
In the movie, Cruise is captured by the Japanese and eventually becomes part of their culture.

His life is spared and he is allowed to live among his captors and learns their ways and fighting style. Eventually he becomes part of them and fights alongside them against his own country.

And finally there is the Pursuit of Happyness, features the on and off — homeless salesman — turned-stockbroker Chris Gardner played by Will Smith.

It’s based on a true life story about how a man fought his way from struggles with his family, his finances to the point of homelessness to eventually set up a brokerage firm.

One of my favourite quotes in the movie — “Can I say something? Um, I’m the type of person that if you ask me a question and I don’t know the answer, I’m gonna tell you that I don’t know. But I bet you what, I know how to find the answer and I will find the answer.”

Chris Gardener will tell his son: “Don’t ever let someone tell you, you can’t do something. Not even me. You got a dream, you got to protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they want to tell you can’t do it. You want something, go get it. Period.”

The above examples show different types of leaders with different leadership style. The more you start appreciating your role as a manager the more you will notice the huge responsibility on your shoulder.

I was recently reading a skills journal which said a manager’s leadership style was responsible for 30 percent of the company’s bottom-line!

That shook me to the core, wow, that’s a whole lot. Just imagine the amount of money and effort a company will spend on new processes, efficiencies, and cost-cutting methods to add just one percent to bottom-line, and we are talking of a whole 30 percent based on leadership style?

That is a huge burden to carry especially if you are new in a job. You have just landed a new position in leadership and you have to deal with ongoing challenges and change.

You are in completely new uncharted waters with no knowledge of what is going to happen next. You cannot take up a new position and rule with an iron fist. You need a team to work it out; those dictatorial tendencies of yours will simply not work.

Great leaders choose their leadership styles. Have you noticed how golfers work out their game — they choose their clubs with a calculated analysis of the matter at hand, the end goal and the best tool for the job.

I have a slightly different appreciation to some of the leadership methods that I used to believe in my management infancy.

I no longer ask what is wrong or its variations in a meeting? I discovered that by asking what the problem is, I tended to focus on the negatives rather than what I could do and build on it. I have also quit asking who is at fault if any project did not end as anticipated because the moment I resorted to the blame game the more I fail to get answers.

I have learnt to empower my team and give them probing questions to find solutions, never to think for them.

My questioning modes have undoubtedly changed since I discovered that questioning is an invaluable leadership tool.

Asking the right questions can help business leaders to look forward to changes, grab opportunities, and move their organisations in new directions.

Questions can be excellent if used to engage and motivate people, but they can just as easily be used to confront or blame, and can shift the mood from positive to negative.

I believe that questions focusing on strengths and using positive language are far more useful to organisations than questions with a negative focus.
So which leader are you it’s never too late to make adjustments and live up to the leader that you should be.

Till next week, may God richly bless you.

• Shelter Chieza is an Advisor in management issues. She can be contacted at [email protected]