WSP11884 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

concrete than generalities. If we take the pains to think our and elaborate our thoughts and our plan in clear consistency, we are likely to reap a reward beyond our hopes. Communication of Ideas: To deal with people requires the communication of ideas. This is a two-way street. The business man cannot possibly put across his ideas unless he knows what ideas are already in the minds of others with whom he is dealing---ideas which may clarify or confuse, help or hinder. Workers must understand what management is trying to do before they can be counted on for enthusiastic support. . This means that management must have crystal-clear in its own mind just what is to be attempted, 01:" the result will be confusion and frustration. Napoleon wrote to his General Murat: "You will so manage that the Spaniards may not suspect the course I intend to pursue. This will not be difficult, for I have not fixed upon it myself. " Time is needed to communicate ideas to others and cultivate their growth. In view of the complex conditions to which we human beings must accommodate ourselves and the number of conflicting ideas from which we are compelled to choose, it is no wonder that an effort to rush us into decisions should antagonize us and rouse our opposition. The miracle is that so many leaders by taking time and trouble, succeed in having their ideas accepted. The man who allows himself to appear in a hurry gives himself a needless handicap. The onlooker is likely to think that the hurrying man has found his responsibilities too big for him and to decide that he for his part, is not going to be rushed into a decision reached in surroundings of excitement. None of us likes to feel that he is being told to do something; we prefer to feel that we are acting on OUr own ideas, or that we are thoughtfully agreeing with the ideas of someone else. The man who is adroit in working with people has mastered the method of giving instructions proving a point, or winning agreement in such a way that those to whom he conveys his ideas feel they are their own. The purpose of all but little men ;is not to dominate but to inspire, not to strike fear into men but to enlist their goodwill, not to gain a point by fighting but to win support by making people want to get behind the plan. There comes, in every man's life, a time to fight, but it must be tested by asking: "Is the cause worthy: Cannot I persuade rather than compel? If I do win my point by force, will the response be - 14 -