In the lesson on Wednesday, we talked about what
makes a good leader.
Through discussions, we found some
important abilities related to leadership:
Confidence, creativity, kindness, motivation,
passion, patience, positive thinking, pride, reliability, responsibility, strictness,
sympathy, thoughtfulness…etc.
In my view, "trust" is one of the most important key words
for being a good leader.
Of course it's important that the leader
himself/herself is trustworthy, but also he/she need to trust their team
mates.
When I was a 2nd year high school
student, I directed an English musical performance to show in the school
festival.
Before starting to make it, my teacher asked
me to make a performance that all students in my course can appear and speak on the
stage, at least once for each person. I thought it was crazy, it's impossible. Usually,
the number of casts (who have their own "lines") in one musical performance is 30 at the most. But my course, "International Course", had 2 classes, each consists of 30
students, so I needed to manage 60 casts including me. Moreover, the amount of time we can use for the performance was limited to 45 minutes.
I cooperated with 2 students who had some knowledge and experiences of
musical, and finished writing the script after repeated trial and error. However, because we needed to practice it in summer vacation, some students got more and more reluctant to come to the practice. At that time, I thought such phenomenon is caused simply by their personal laziness. And I was too busy on making sound effects, deciding lighting, getting costumes and equipment etc. so I wasn't able to really care about it.
Nevertheless, I finally noticed that it was not solely because of their individual problem. I found that it was because I did
not trust them. I looked upon them as unmotivated people. Although they trusted me (so they agreed that I would be the leader) and probably had an attitude to cooperate
together at the beginning, I did not entrust them with any works other than the
minimum = work as a cast, just memorize the line and act. I didn't even consult with them about their role in the play.
My big mistake was that I put too much confidence in my own ability, and did not try to know what others can do. Thus I tried to do most of
the tasks by myself or few of my friends who were familiar with musical and whom I could only trust.
The performance itself ended with success outwardly, and many teachers, parents and students of other courses praised for the quality of the show as well as our hard work. But I could not pleased with such praises because I felt maybe we could have made more amazing show if I had trusted each of the members.
If the leader did not trust his/her team mates, the followers would be discouraged. What I learnt from this experience is that good relationship and cooperation won't materialize without trusting each other.
...This is an summary of what I wrote in the
analysis of myself as a leader, which was required for the AO entrance exam of
this university in fact.（゜▽゜))))
I found an interesting article refers to
the power of trusting.↓
This article talks about "trust" not just in a company/team but in a broader society.
Please have a look if you have time! :)
I also think to trust is one of the most important keys to be a good leader. But trusting only others is not enough I think. You also have to trust yourself to manage with difficult situation. If you doubt yourself, your followers cannot trust you as well.
返信削除Anyway, have a fun winter break^^
What a great post! Thanks for taking the time to so thoroughly relate your experience and what you learned from it. This will be key to your future success, this ability to find fault and improve as you go along.
返信削除I have a whole book on Trust should you be interested.