I can still see Ron Knowles standing up on his desk, plocking like a chicken and flapping his arms as if they were wings. Ron Knowles, professor extraordinaire, mentor and colleague, always tried to come up with interesting and unconventional ways to make learning fun. PLOCers make the best managers and leaders; he would tell me. If they can’t PLOC Smitty, they will have a difficult time trying manage and lead others. If you want to be a more effective manager or leader, take a page out of Ron’s book and learn to PLOC. Trust me – you’ll be glad you did and the people you work with will be better for it.

Planning: – Managing and leading others is a planned event. What gets planned and executed gets done. A great plan always starts with the end in mind. It would be best if you had a clear understanding of what it is you want to accomplish. Once you decide your goal, put a plan together to get there, outlining each step you need to take.

Leading: – Great managers and leaders lead by example. Be the kind of leader that you would follow. Honesty, integrity, empathy, open-mindedness and trustworthiness should mean more than fancy platitudes. Having the ability to manage and lead others is a learned behaviour. Decide what new skills you need to learn and take the time to learn them.

Organizing: – Great managers and leaders excel at managing their time and their teams time. In a standard 40 hour work week, you have 200 hours to accomplish what must be completed that week. It’s crucial to prioritize what needs to be done and when. Remember, you can’t do it by yourself so delegate, delegate and delegate some more.

Controlling: – There are several ways you can control without mirco-managing the outcomes. You control the purse strings. You control promotions. You control who gets to do what. You control the perks. You control who gets hired and who gets fired. Forcing others to do what needs to be done by bullying or intimidating them no longer works. The key is to find out what they want and help them get theirs, and you’ll get yours. Use the carrot, not the stick.

PLOCers make the best managers and leaders. Are you ready to PLOC?

Copyright (c) 2020. Brian Smith – Power Link Dynamics. Not to be reproduced without permission. To find out more about Brian and what he can do for you and your organization visit https\;//briansmithpld.com or contact him directly at: brian@briansmithpld.com