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.

带团队并不是一件容易的事情。以下六条原则，对团队带头人来说，或许有一定启发。

不要统一思想，但要统一目标

统一思想，俗称“洗脑”，其实是徒劳的。每个人都是独立的，没有谁的思想能被控制。目标是可以统一的，公司的发展目标和员工的个人目标可以有机结合。一旦有了目标，团队就有干劲，达成目标是衡量团队战斗力的关键指标。

不要改变心态，但可以改变行动

心态是一个人的主观感受，很难量化。把目标分解为任务，把任务分解为方法、工具、动作，就是我们常说的标准作业流程。标准作业流程要求员工必须按照表格转化来行动，工作岗位上去除了假动作，工作就高效多了。

行动变了，结果就会变。

靠谱最为重要，本事可以培养

在靠谱和本事之间，靠谱是第一考虑要素。技能和本事是可以通过训练提高的，靠谱需要一辈子去修炼。一个不靠谱的人，能力越强，破坏性越大。发现一个人不靠谱，无论多么能干，一定要在第一时间将其辞退。

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)

原则上我是不招聘创业失败者的。因为创业失败者内心始终有一个情结，出来继续上班是没有办法，只要一遇到机会，就会继续创业。

逆境成就人才，轮岗提升技能

一个团队，分工不要太细，专业化分工不是细化。过细的分工会导致部分岗位的员工骄傲，因为他们拥有独门绝技后，随时会要挟公司，要么涨工资，要么提出不切实际的过分要求。

因此，一个团队的成员应该轮岗，要比实际需要多准备1到2个候补选手。通过轮岗，每个岗位随时可以找到人补位。

轮岗后，每个人的技能会得到提升，团队会更加和谐。

爱兵切，用兵狠。

纪律必须严明，涣散动摇军心

能打胜仗的队伍，纪律一定是严明的。组织内部涣散，看似融洽，其实是一盘散沙。当公司需要艰苦朴素、奋勇拼搏的时候，队伍呈现疲态，最后的结局可想而知。

人性化管理不是人情化管理，按照制度办事，按照流程干活，保证每个人的底线不会差，这样的团队就不会差到哪里去。

坚守二八定律，核心员工是关键

不搞大锅饭，不搞平均主义。团队内部就是要树立标杆，找出真正的功臣，给他配备最好的资源，给予最好的工具，让他取得更理想的业绩。

20%的员工决定团队的强度，核心员工是最重要的，涉及管理、技术、营销、后勤等各个岗位。核心员工要享受优待，也要承担更重要的工作。核心员工队伍需要不断地考核和筛选，一旦有人不符合核心员工标准，立即淘汰。

（摘自《创业思维》企业管理出版社）