The Six Basic Principles of Leadership

By Du Ping

To be a leader is not always an easy task. The following six principles might be useful for team leaders.

Don't unify thoughts, unify goals

Unification of thoughts, commonly known as “brainwashing,” is always ultimately futile. We are all independent individuals, and no one wants to be mentally controlled. But a goal can be made universal, which integrates the company's development goals and employees' personal goals. A universal goal motivates the team, while the ability to achieve goals is a key indicator of the team's effectiveness.

Instead of changing one's mindset, change one's actions

Mentality is a person's subjective feelings, which is difficult to quantify. What you need to do is to break down a goal into multiple tasks, which can be further transformed into methods, tools, and actions, then you get what we call “the standard operating process.” The standard operating process requires employees to act in accordance, removing unnecessary actions from duties and generating more efficient work.

When actions change, the outcome changes too.

帶團隊并不是一件容易的事情。以下六條原則，對團隊帶頭人來說，或許有一定啟發。

不要統一思想，但要統一目標

統一思想，俗稱“洗腦”，其實是徒勞的。每個人都是獨立的，沒有誰的思想能被控制。目標是可以統一的，公司的發展目標和員工的個人目標可以有機結合。一旦有了目標，團隊就有干勁，達成目標是衡量團隊戰斗力的關鍵指標。

不要改變心態，但可以改變行動

心態是一個人的主觀感受，很難量化。把目標分解為任務，把任務分解為方法、工具、動作，就是我們常說的標準作業流程。標準作業流程要求員工必須按照表格轉化來行動，工作崗位上去除了假動作，工作就高效多了。

行動變了，結果就會變。

靠譜最為重要，本事可以培養

在靠譜和本事之間，靠譜是第一考慮要素。技能和本事是可以通過訓練提高的，靠譜需要一輩子去修煉。一個不靠譜的人，能力越強，破壞性越大。發現一個人不靠譜，無論多么能干，一定要在第一時間將其辭退。

Reliability is the most important element—ability can be cultivated

Between reliability and capability, always choose the former. Capabilities and skills can be improved through training, while reliability is hard to obtain. For a person who is not reliable, the more capable he is, the more destructive he is. So when you see an unreliable person, no matter how capable he might be, always let him go.

Theoretically, I tend not to recruit people who fail in their entrepreneurial efforts. Because the entrepreneur type of people tend to have an entrepreneurial complex in them, they only work for other people when they have no other choice. They tend to leave for the first available chance to start their own business whenever they can.

Adversity helps develop talents, while rotation helps improve skills

Don't apply too fine a division of labor in a team. Professionalism does not mean refined division of labor, which usually leads to unnecessary pride in employees on some positions. They may consider themselves as having unique skills, with which they can hold against the company, asking for a raise or putting forward unrealistic and excessive demands.

Therefore, members in a team should rotate and take turns working on different positions. One or two backup players must always be prepared. Through rotation, available people can be located any time for any position.

Rotation improves every team member's skills and makes the team more harmonious.

Love your soldiers and use them to their utmost.

Discipline must be strict, because slackness compromises a team

A winning team is usually a well-disciplined team. A loose and slack team might appear harmonious from the outside, yet it's a plate of loose sand inside. When the company requires hard work and great effort, you can't expect a scattered team to win.

People-oriented management is not relationship-oriented management. Rules and regulations must be followed, and work must be done in strict accordance with the process.

Stick to the law of 20% versus 80%, and value your core staff

Eliminate equalitarianism and the practice of “sharing food from the same big pot.” Benchmarks should be set and valuable workers should be rewarded in a team. Give good staff the best resources and tools, help them achieve best possible performances.

20% of the employees determine the strength of a team. Core staff are very important and should be cultivated at every position, from management and technology to marketing and logistics. Core employees must enjoy preferential treatment and take on more important tasks. The core workforce should also be constantly evaluated and assessed. When someone does not meet the criteria any more, they should be let out of the core team.

(FromEntrepreneurial Thinking, Enterprise Management Press. Translation: Lu Qiongyao)

原則上我是不招聘創業失敗者的。因為創業失敗者內心始終有一個情結，出來繼續上班是沒有辦法，只要一遇到機會，就會繼續創業。

逆境成就人才，輪崗提升技能

一個團隊，分工不要太細，專業化分工不是細化。過細的分工會導致部分崗位的員工驕傲，因為他們擁有獨門絕技后，隨時會要挾公司，要么漲工資，要么提出不切實際的過分要求。

因此，一個團隊的成員應該輪崗，要比實際需要多準備1到2個候補選手。通過輪崗，每個崗位隨時可以找到人補位。

輪崗后，每個人的技能會得到提升，團隊會更加和諧。

愛兵切，用兵狠。

紀律必須嚴明，渙散動搖軍心

能打勝仗的隊伍，紀律一定是嚴明的。組織內部渙散，看似融洽，其實是一盤散沙。當公司需要艱苦樸素、奮勇拼搏的時候，隊伍呈現疲態，最后的結局可想而知。

人性化管理不是人情化管理，按照制度辦事，按照流程干活，保證每個人的底線不會差，這樣的團隊就不會差到哪里去。

堅守二八定律，核心員工是關鍵

不搞大鍋飯，不搞平均主義。團隊內部就是要樹立標桿，找出真正的功臣，給他配備最好的資源，給予最好的工具，讓他取得更理想的業績。

20%的員工決定團隊的強度，核心員工是最重要的，涉及管理、技術、營銷、后勤等各個崗位。核心員工要享受優待，也要承擔更重要的工作。核心員工隊伍需要不斷地考核和篩選，一旦有人不符合核心員工標準，立即淘汰。

（摘自《創業思維》企業管理出版社）