Page 55 - Develop your leadership skills- John Adair. -- 2nd ed

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46 ■ Develop your leadership skills

Organising

Just as the language of leadership qualities is a bit imprecise –
‘perseverance’, ‘tenacity’ and ‘stickability’ mean, for instance,
roughly the same thing – so the language of functions is also
imprecise. Organising is the function of arranging or forming
into a coherent whole. It can mean systematic planning as well,
but that is a function we have already covered. It encompasses
the structuring – or restructuring – that has to be done if people
are to work in harness as a team, with each element performing
its proper part in an effective whole. You may, for example,
break a larger group down into smaller subgroups.

At first sight you may think that the organising function
belongs more to the strategic and operational levels of leader-
ship rather than to your role as a team leader. You are probably
right as far as such factors as the size and structure of your
group are concerned, or indeed its relations with other groups
in the organisation. But here I suggest that the organising func-
tion concerns more than structuring or restructuring the archi-
tecture of organisations. If someone is described as a ‘good
organiser’, what is meant by that phrase?

Much of the ground here has been covered already, such as
being clear about the objectives, making a workable plan and
structuring the group so as to facilitate two-way communica-
tion, teamwork and the appropriate measure of control. But
there are three other aspects to be considered: systems, admin-
istration and time management.