How to lead: managing people takes hard work--and a little selflessness.

• Author: Wiesner, Pat
• Position: On Management

OFTEN, I GET MAIL FROM PEOPLE WHO SAY THAT it's just too hard, management. The people under their supervision are just too frustrating, and the only way to get them to work hard is to threaten them. Sort of like a slave driver.

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A young man in school once wrote a nice letter thanking me for my part in helping with his research on how business and management work. He ended by saying that it all seemed pretty complicated, leading other people and all. He said he wasn't sure that he could remember all the stuff required of a good leader and manager, and after college he expected to go into business.

Well, it's not that hard. As a matter of fact, it's easy to spell out. The hard part comes in putting it into practice. I'll do the easy part and leave the hard part to you.

Problem: How do you get people to do what you want them to do ... convince them they actually want to do it?

Answer: Make your project important to your people. Here is where is gets a little harder. The basic truth is that we (or almost anyone) will take up a cause, project or problem if we see it as being in our best interests to do so. The trick to being a good leader is to somehow get people to make your problem into their problem. So this is the formula as I see it:

* Get to know every member of your team, individually. This takes some work. You can't expect to get to know someone well enough to know how to interest them in your project without really getting to know them as a person. The real goal is to find out what goals they have for themselves. If you're really good at this, they will probably find out as much about you as you find about them.

* Sincerely help them achieve their goals. This means through assignments, education, counsel, etc., you make them absolutely sure that you care about their goals as much as you do about your own. This must be sincere. The simple secret is that good people will buy into your goal to the extent it helps them...