What a piece of work is a man!
By Wayne Spivak
National Press Corps
United States Coast Guard Auxiliary
What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! [Hamlet: II, ii ]
Will people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? All the rest of you just rattle your jewellery. [ John Lennon]
You may be wondering the odd choice of not only title of this monograph, but the blending of such disparate quotations. Shakespeare and Lennon, here are two men who lived in different times, albeit the same country, who both address similar themes.
The older gentleman speaks through Hamlet, our deeply troubled Prince, as Hamlet shares a discourse with Rosencrantz.
On the other hand, centuries later, John Lennon shares a quip with his audience, at the Royal Variety Performance, 15 Nov. 1963.
So again, what hath this prose to do with value of leadership I say thee?
Keeping the eye on the ball
A leader above all else, needs to be firmly entrenched in many worlds. Just as Marley brought Scrooge to Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Future, so must our volunteer leaders be aware of past, present and future.
Past
The past provides a leader with a gauge, litmus as to the accomplishments, and comparatives of these accomplishments. In financial analysis, vertical and horizontal analysis provides the analyst with the ability to compare one year to another, one industry to another, or one company to another.
The leader must focus in on not only performance, but the systems which produced those performance values. Gauging the effectiveness of these systems, which include human resources, or in the vernacular, our volunteers, is essential for enhancing next year’s performance.
Present
Our leaders need to key the eye on the proverbial ball, as it relates to present programs, resources and objectives. Function and form should follow similar paths, but one should never be an over-riding factor against the other, where the resultant performance is skewed against the favor of the house. Case in point; procedures and policies for the capture of data, seen as the essential element in the budgeting process should never be handcuffed in such a way as to inhibit collection.
Rules, policies and procedures should be developed and encouraged to make the data collection of legitimate and honest data, simple, easy and forthright. The ball, in this instance is to collect as much accurate data as possible to support an organization’s contention or veracity of their budget (request).
Too many times, the form (rules) inhibits the function (collection) and the result is diminished returns. Diminished returns of data collection. Diminished returns on budget verification. Diminished budget.
The leader must see though the forest and see the trees, as the old cliché goes. These field glasses must see through the personalities of the volunteers, and see the successes, while understanding the disruptions.
For the ball is the gauge, and it needs to take a slope that is positive and strong. Loosing sight only inhibits that flight, ultimately causing the ball to land short of its objective.
Future
What a good leader does today, will bring home the “bacon” tomorrow. Cultivating today’s budding leaders, makes tomorrows leaders. Cultivating and tilling the soil of a fresh budding program today, may produce a harvest that will bring the inevitable holy grail, the mission statement, into perfect clarity.
A leader must set aside personalities, set aside political ambitions, set aside cronyism and look at the future. A great leader takes these crippling human elements, keeps them under control and finds greatness for the organization. In the mix, the leader becomes great. Here form truly does follow function.
Summary
So how does our two quotes fit into this brief monograph?
What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! [Hamlet: II, ii ]
Will people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? All the rest of you just rattle your jewellery. [John Lennon]
Maybe Shakespeare and Lennon were saying: “If you were a real leader you'd harness the positive energy and roadblock those who don't see it. In turn you’d increase the positive outcomes. But bad leaders; they exacerbate the negative, frown at the positive and look for ways to diminish any chance of success.
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