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Leadership, Management and Organisation

Introduction.

The martial arts have their origins in the military, and they have adopted a very military type of hierarchy and strict discipline. Unfortunately, they have sometimes neglected to include important skills such as leadership, management and organisation or “LMO” which are the very life’s-blood of any group who wishes to operate effectively. These, then, are skills that are absolutely vital for any organisation and it is important that martial artists understand something about them.

It is for this reason that this essay has been written, to serve as an introduction to the skills of leadership, management and organisation, each of which will be discussed in turn, together with some basic information which, if implemented correctly, will make any martial arts club or organisation far more efficient and productive.

There will be a companion to this piece of work, entitled: “Command, Communication and Control” that will also be appearing on this website sometime in the near future, and you are all strongly advised and encouraged to read them both, as they each compliment one another in order to give you a much clearer understanding of these subjects and arm you with practical strategies you can easilly implement to initiate further improvements and make your life as a hard-working instructor that little bit easier.

 

Leadership

Leadership is a very rare and desirable quality. However, literally every instructor needs to be a leader as they are the ones who are responsible for guiding their students in their quest for greater knowledge and understanding. Neither is this responsibility solely confined to what is taught on the mat: As instructors, we all already know that we exert a huge amount of influence upon our students, and this extends well beyond the confines of the martial arts club.

The way we think, act and behave, the way we conduct ourselves, is vital to us setting the correct example for our students to follow. In addition, as our students begin to progress, we need to encourage them to contribute towards the effective running of the club, as this will both help them to feel a valued and appreciated “part of” rather than a simple “belonging to” type of person, and gradually prepare them for the day when they will be running their own club and/or arm them with important, transferable skills they can use in their daily lives.

Some people (extremely few) are borne with natural leadership abilities. Usually, these are what is known as “charismatic” leaders and other people are only too happy to follow them blindly and allow them make the decisions for them, be they good or bad. Most of us, though need to work at acquiring such skills, and learn more about them as we go along.

Leadership is a big subject, and their are quite a few different methods used in leading people effetively. However, the most important leadership styles will be discussed below.

 

Leadership Styles

The three main styles of leadership are as follows:

 

  1. Authoritarian/Autocratic.

This style is the one used whenever instructors tell their students what they want done and how they want it doing. This style might be utilised in certain circumstances even with quite advanced and competent students (when a senior instructor is teaching a new technique, for example) but it will more normally be used for teaching and inducting new students, as this will help them to follow instructions carefully and maintain their safety and security while practicing.

Using this style of leadership, however, certainly does not mean you should shout at your students, or make them feel uncomfortable in any way. Rather, it is about maintaining more control over what is going on for the benefit of everyone concerned.

 

2.  Participative/Democratic

This style involves the instructor including one or more students in the decision making process (such as when negotiating the curriculum for a short course on some specialist aspect, etc.). However, the instructor still maintains the final decision making authority. Using this style helps to involve and empower the students, who will immediately begin to feel more of a responsibility for their own learning. Therefore, utilising this leadership style is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of strength that your students will appreciate and respect.

This style will usually be adopted when you are dealing with the more competent students, and when discussing various matters with your senior students/junior instructors. Thus allowing them to draw upon their own knowledge, skills and experiences in contributing to the decision making process.

 

 3.  Delegative/Laissez-faire

This is where the instructor actually allows the senior students/junior instructors to make certain the decisions themselves by standing back, observing and remaining on hand as an advisor if and when required. It should be remembered, however, that the instructor is still responsible for any decisions that are made. This leadership style is only ever employed when the senior students/junior instructors are completely ca[able of analysing the situation and determining what needs to be done and how to do it. A senior instructor cannot and, indeed, should not, be expected to do everything, and must set priorities and delegate certain tasks to those best able to carry them out: This is as much a part of their training as any other technique they need to learn, and they must be afforded every opportunity of praticing being more responsible and in control.

This is not a style to use so that you can blame others when things go wrong, rather this is a style to be used when you fully trust and confidence in the people concerned. But, great care should be taken here, as this style must only ever be used wisely and well.

However, whatever style of leadership an instructor chooses to use in a certain situation, it must still always be remembered that the sign stamped indelibly upon the forhead remains, and it reads: “The buck stops here”. That is why an instructor has to remain on motivated, informed and on top of the game the whole time. After all is said and done, it is our head that is on the proverbrial block, no one elses.

 

Management

Management, although closely related to leadership is, none the less, also very different different in some important ways. Leadership is completely about people and attitudes and how an instructor can influence these in a strong, positive way. Whereas, management also has to include materials, resources and administative duties. In addition, there is the actual management of certain behaviours among your students and instructors such as the way they interact with each other, etc.

Management is fundamentally about doing the things which maintain and evolve the continuing effectiveness of the club or association. It is concerned primarily with processes for the management of peoples behaviours, materials and resources and also certain administrative duties, such as ensuring all grading records are in good order, etc.

This management process should also include things like performance management, absence management, discipline and recruitment etc.

As instructors, we can become better managers by simply making the time and effort in learning to do things the correct way ourselves. For example: When I was given  my first senior management position within a large martial arts organisation back in the 1980’s , I  took it upon myself to undergo some management training. I did this simply because I  took my new duties and responsibilities very seriously, and wanted to do the best possible job I could. Back then, such training was never even touched upon in the martial arts fraternity, and people used to stumble about and learnt as they went or, (as in my own case) sought out the training they needed elsewhere. Now, things are gradually changing for the better, and that is why I am writing this information down here for everyone.

Management, then, encompasses everything we do in order to deal with the day to day running of our club and/or association.

 

Organisation

Once again, organisation is very closely related to both management and leadership, but is certainly not the same. Organisation means the way an instructor uses their leadership and management skills to plan and implement the various action(s) required in order to get the job done. As far as the human resources side of things go, this means recognising, appreciating and (above all) utilising the talents of those around you. To clarify: Don’t just limit yourself solely to your senior grades, as they might not posses the particular skill sets needed to accomplish a certain task you need doing. In fact, a lot of the time, it would be completely unfair to assume they are able to do certain things simply because they happen to be a certain grade(this does, of course, change with the more advanced dan grades). Instead, broaden your horizons a bit and look at some of the other students and even, if you have juniors, to their parents/guardians.

Much of the time, this will prove to be a lot more effective and you will accomplish a great deal more, as well as helping everyone to feel valued and empowered by allowing them to contribute what they can when they can.

Delegation has always been an absolute imperative when it comes to getting things done and achieving important objectives. Allocating the right task to the right person means that everyone can move forward together far more efficiently, and this helps with certain other, equally important areas such as instilling enthusiasm, maintaining motivation, teambuilding and teamwork, etc.

Also, as you are doing this, everyone involved will be constantly developing not only their own skills and abilities, but learning about some new ones as well, all of which tend to be generic in nature and so can be readily transferable and put to direct use in other aspects of their lives.

When an instructor needs to get something done, the main points they should consider are as follows:

  • Clearly identify objectives that are both achievable and measurable
  • Prioritise, delegate and allocate 
  • Pick any team (s) required carefully from the talent-pool available to you 
  • Work to a strict deadline
  • Always have a contingency plan
  • Always work and behave like a closely-knit team 

The bullet points listed above will, if implemented correctly, help instructors to assist their club or association to move forward a a much faster rate by motivating and using the people around them in an efficient manner.

 

Conclusion.

Effective leadership, management and organisation are just as important for us as being able to demonstrate a technique well. They are as much a part of what we do as are our breakfalling or weaponry skills, and should be learnt and practiced accordingly.

This is true for all club instructors, but especially so for the more senior grades simply because they are climbing the ladder of initiation and promotion in our Ryu, and so are gradually becoming an integral part of the very fabric of the school.

That is why certain titles and senior dan grades are awarded solely upon merit. E.G.what a person has contributed to the development of the art and the furtherance of the school. Consequently, these higher ranks and titles are far harder to earn, and can take literally years to realise. However, this is the only way they can be earned. This is the same with literally all martial arts schools, and is also true of many other types of organisation, including the military. After all, if you are becoming one of the most important people in any sort of organisation, then you will need to be able lead, manage and organise accordingly.

LMO, then, along with it’s companion essay “Command, Communication and Control” or “3C” should be considered as actually making up an important part of the “grading syllabus” for any and all advanced ranks and titles.