Top-notch employees will recognize strengths and weaknesses and utilize both to
enhance the organization. Effective management uses employees in a way that best
fits their strengths; this is a win-win situation. If the management does not take
interest in employees and how they work best, nothing will develop. Many emplo-
yees will give their best without substantial motivation in order to satisfy the
management. Malik states that individuals are intrinsically motivated to a certain
extent to perform to high levels of expectation. Nonetheless, positive feedback must
play a role in this scenario in order to maintain high levels of performance.
Occasionally organizations or employees seek to change workers’ personalities.
“The task of management is to take employees just as they are in order to find out
their strengths within the organization. They can then become active, achieve
success and obtain positive results. No other approach can be justified, morally or
economically” (Malik 2001, p. 123). As a leader, I must offer a corporate vision that
will both move the business forward and promote employees’ development; these
two aspects are mutually beneficial.
Fifth Principle: Trust
“In the final analysis, leadership comes down to trust, which may be influenced by
leadership style, motivational structure and corporate culture” (Malik 2001, p. 137).
Malik explains that some upper-level managers who do everything wrong accor-
ding to the textbook nonetheless create good working climates and are financially
successful. If a manager succeeds in creating and maintaining trust in their imme-
diate environment, then their authority will be robust and reliable. When mistakes
are made, employees often doubt their managers. Yet if trust has been established,
the harm done will be minimal.
How does one reach employees to gain their trust and confidence? Malik lists
simple but effective rules for developing trust. First of all, looking from the outside
or from the top down, employees’ errors are their manager’s errors. Internally, errors
must be dealt with by means of constructive criticism and if need be punishments.
This information must also be passed along the chain of command to ensure the
error has been corrected. Secondly, the manager’s errors are the manager’s errors,
with no exceptions. All managers must be mature enough to admit their mistakes.
Thirdly, successes of employees belong to the employees. Unfortunately, superiors
often adorn themselves with others’ successes. This behavior will drastically dimin-
ish the positive feedback for the employee and be detrimental to the entire organi-
zation. Fourthly, the manager’s successes are the team’s successes, at least with
good managers.
Trust must be cultivated in order for it to be taken seriously by employees. In
addition, managers must also genuinely believe in the trust system. They (the
management) have to fulfill obligations and not just play out roles. Malik addresses
a point of good leadership that is important to me: the authenticity of the personal-
ity. Trust is the both the beginning and the ending of the study and will be discussed
in detail later on. Another criterion for trust rests in integrity and its close relation-
ship with authenticity. For employees, this means: reliability, consistency and a
lack of procrastination. At the same time it is important to ensure that the basis of
2.1 The Craft of Leadership 33