In the September 2020 issue of Army magazine, Sgt. Major of the Army (SMA) Dailey (ret.) gave an updated version of his rules after 30 years in the U.S. Army. As the former most senior enlisted member of the U.S. Army, his rules were shared to help guide new soldiers through their career.
In August of 1989, General Colin Powell published his 13 Rules of Leadership. As the incoming Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Powel shared his sage advice with an uncharacteristic focus on leadership not specifically related to the military.
During a recent reorganization, I was assigned to a new leader. Within the first two weeks, that leader handed his team a list of rules called Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). This SOP was generated to help his new team understand his expectations and his learned best practices.
While working in a large manufacturing company as a young engineer, I was handed a list of Big Rules. These big rules were an ongoing and ever-increasing list of manufacturing lessons and best practices former engineers had learned the hard way, on the job. The list was intended to help us “junior” guys, not make the same mistakes.
Leaders create rules not to control, but to give control to their people. To help people in their jobs, their careers and ultimately in their lives.
So, why should leaders create rules?
– Rules set clear expectations (in an unambiguous way, rules help us make our leadership path clear)
– Rules help mitigate conflict (when everyone knows what is expected and agrees to comply, most issues can be resolved without conflict)
– Rules help us document our history (when leaders think enough of something to make it a rule, there is usually good reason and history)
The bottom line; leaders create rules to help align and guide our people