Tag Archives: Leadership Principles

Train your staff to work as a team

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Your staff should be trained, challenged, and encouraged with perfection and teamwork as a goal. No excuse should be made for leaders not to train their staff be the best in their profession. Train with a purpose and emphasize the essential element of teamwork.

Adapted from “Train your Marines as a team”

The sharing of tasks and hard work should strengthen reduce problems, develop teamwork, improve morale and give a feeling of unbounded loyalty.

Teamwork is the key to successful operations. Teamwork is essential from the smallest business to the largest. As a boss, you must insist on teamwork from your staff. Train and operate as a team. Be sure that each everyone knows his/her position and responsibilities within the team framework.

When team spirit is in evidence, the most difficult tasks become much easier to accomplish. Teamwork is a two-way street. Individuals give their best, and in return the team provides security, recognition, and a sense of accomplishment.

  1. Train, study and train, prepare, and train thoroughly, endlessly.
  2. Strive to maintain individual stability and unit integrity; keep the same leader as long as possible if they’re getting the job done. Needless changes disrupt teamwork.
  3. Emphasize use of the “buddy” system.
  4. Never publicly blame an individual for the team’s failure nor praise one individual for the team’s success.
  5. Provide the best available facilities for training and make maximum use of teamwork.
  6. Ensure that all training is meaningful, and that its purpose is clear to all members of the staff.
  7. Acquaint each individual of your staff with the capabilities and limitations of others, thereby developing mutual trust and understanding.
  8. Base team training on realistic, current, and probable conditions.
  9. Insist that everyone understands the functions of the other members of the team and how the team functions as a part of the whole.

~ Jody Victor

Know your Employees and look out for their welfare

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(Adapted from “Know your Marines and look out for their welfare”)

You should know your employees and how they react when placed in different situations.
An employee who is nervous and lacks self confidence should never be put in a situation where an important decision is made. Knowledge of your employees’ personalities will enable you, as the leader, to decide how to best handle each one and determine when they may need closer supervision.

  1. Put your employees’ welfare before your own – correct grievances and remove discontent.
  2. See the members of your staff and let them see you so they get to know you and feel that you know them. Be approachable.
  3. Let them see that you are determined to be a success.
  4. Concern yourself with their life circumstances.
  5. Help your employees get needed support when necessary.
  6. Determine what your employee’s mental attitude is; keep in touch with their thoughts.
  7. Ensure fair and equal distribution of rewards.
  8. Encourage individual development.
  9. Share the hardships of your employees so you can better understand their reactions.

Another Leadership Principle from the Marines

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Another of the Leadership Principles of the Marines is to “Be technically and tactically proficient.” This would mean to know your job inside and out. Know all aspects of your job or task at hand. Are there manuals to read? You must be capable of answering any questions that may crop up. Further (some of these have been changed to suit everyday life rather than miilitary):

  1. Seek a well rounded education by attending school, work reading and research daily, take correspondence courses.
  2. Seek out and associate with capable leaders. Observe and study their actions.
  3. Broaden your knowledge through association with others.
  4. Seek opportunities to apply knowledge through leading others. Good leadership is acquired only through practice.
  5. Prepare yourself for the job of leader for your next promotion.

In business or in our life situations, we can look at these principles and apply them to ourselves. Do you take the time to evaluate yourself in this way?

We will continue to look at some of the other principles offered by the Marines.

~ Jody Victor

Leadership Principles from the Marines

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One of the Leadership Principles of the Marines is to “Know yourself and seek improvement.” How can you seek improvement if you don’t know yourself, you might wonder. The Marines don’t stop there. They give some guidelines to help you develop in this area:

  1. Make an hosest evalutions of yourself – find your strong and week personal qualities. Strive to overcome the weak ones and strengthen the strong ones.
  2. Seek the honest opinions of friends and superiors. This will show if you’ve improved your leadership ability.
  3. Study the causes for success or failure of other leaders. You can learn from this.
  4. Develop a genuine interest in people; try to get an understanding of human nature.
  5. Become proficient at effective writing and speech.
  6. Develop a goal and goal plan to reach that goal.

In business or in our life situations, we can look at these principles and apply them to ourselves. Do you take the time to evaluate yourself in this way?

Over the next several posts, we will look at some of the other principles offered by the Marines.

~ Jody Victor