In Speaking with Aloha, managing and leading (ref: Be an ~INGer) are not interchangeable words / verbs for Alaka‘i Managers: We define managing and leading in terms of energy, and we believe that great managers do both every single day.
Human energy is the primary asset in any workplace, any discipline, any industry: Human labor, and the ingenuity of human thought, will create all the other assets we conventionally think of, like time, financing, tools and equipment.
Alaka‘i Managers Channel (M) Good (L) Energy
Workplace energy functions the same way batteries do for your favorite electronics: You can have the most high tech smartphone or camera in the world, and it will do absolutely nothing if its battery is dead.
Alaka‘i Managers look at their daily Managing / Leading complement through this energy comparison, creating (L) and then channeling (M):
LEADERSHIP is the workplace discipline of creating energy connected to a meaningful vision.
MANAGEMENT is the workplace discipline of channeling that mission-critical energy into optimal production and usefulness.
Great managers cannot channel good energies they are unaware of, or energy which doesn’t exist.
Said another way, inspired by the cool art of Tang Yau Hoong seen below, in leading we find our light source, finding the best lights possible, and in managing we turn those lights on and harness their brilliance.
Energize your self-talk with an affirmation based on our energy/ managing/ leading distinctions: What is your current source of leading energies? What is your affirmation (what will you do) with managing those energies in the best possible way? The answer is not just “my people” or “my team” — be more specific. It’s when your team does what? When? How? Why? and as connected to what mission and vision?
Give this just 5 minutes of your morning:
We agreed to keep these short ~ everything below the photo is optional.
About this Coaching Series for those newly joining us — welcome!
Introduction: Speaking with Aloha: Affirmations for Alaka‘i Managers, and Project Index.
Optional Archive Aloha resources complementing today’s affirmation:
- There is a powerful 9-word affirmation tucked into this article! Getting the Old to Become New Again: “Most of us relish the newness of January, when the calendar conspires with us to ramp up energies again. And that ramping-up is very inclusive (2015 link update), corralling all energies, whether personal, professional, or randomly inspired. Then we go back to work…”
- Alaka‘i Managers are the new Energy Bunnies: 3 tips with more on human energy as a resource ~ We used to call it “Continuous Improvement.”
- Extra credit: How does the Energy/ Managing/ Leading affirmation you’ve come up with, relate to our current Value Immersion (humility and dignity)?
~ Posted on Instagram by @shockabraddah ~
Much Hawaiian kaona in this depiction,
with energy flowing from taro, heart of the island diet in old Hawai’i nei