(Minghui.org) I would like to share my understandings on how to solve problems related to managing truth-clarification projects.
On the Nature of Management
Teacher said:
“Let me tell you that a Buddha is the king of Fa in his heavenly world. We call him a Tathagata as a way of referring to the embodiment of his Xinxing standard level. He is actually the king of Fa in that world of his. In that world, there are numerous beings under his management. Of course, it is not the management of our ordinary people with laws for reinforcement. He manages it completely with compassion and loving-kindness.” (Lecture in Sydney)
From my understanding, the key to good management is altruism.
In a company, there are internal and external customers. Those who purchase from the company are the external customers, and the company has to satisfy them to stay in business. The staff are the internal customers, and they should be encouraged to be considerate of their fellow colleagues.
A key issue may be that a given person can't put himself in other people's shoes. He can't see others' needs and this, in turn. prevents him from doing his job well.
If a subordinate can always see things from the perspective of a supervisor, one day he may become one. If a supervisor can imagine the problems his subordinates may have and arrange their work accordingly, he can bring out the best in everyone.
Executive Effectiveness
A lack of effectiveness as an executive is a big headache for many entrepreneurs. There are several reasons this may be a problem.
The organization’s leaders must be honorable and capable of managing wisely. They must be able to see the whole picture. They have to be able to choose the right person for the right job, objectively. They should be able to listen to different opinions.
The basic function, protocols and standards of management within the organization itself should be clear, reasonable, and practical.
The staff must be equipped with the professional skills needed to carry out their specific tasks. There need to be channels for timely communication, message delivery, and feedback.
Basic Management
Basic management consists of planning, organizing, staffing, instructing, and monitoring.
Planning: For example, when a practitioner is in charge of advertising for Shen Yun, he must first make plans for when and where to use each available resource. He has to decide how much advertising is enough.
Organizing: Next, he has to mobilize or organize his resources, which involves spending within financial constraints.
Staffing: If the task requires other people, recruiting and training are involved.
Instructing: Any team or project needs a leader. The coordinators of our truth clarification projects are the leaders. The leaders build the team, give instructions, deliver messages and feedback, and inspire the team members.
Monitoring: The final part of management is monitoring the risks, seeing to emergency backup plans, evaluating the quality of the work, and timing.
The leaders also need to decide how to divide up the work, devise operating procedures and standards, develop channels of communication, and create mechanisms to share solutions and feedback. A supervisor should manage his time and work flow and learn new professional skills as needed.
Professionalization: A Matter of Xinxing
Being Falun Dafa practitioners, all of our abilities and wisdom come from Teacher. As a result, learning how to be more professional is a process of xinxing improvement.
Our management also needs to be professional, because many of the truth clarification projects target ordinary people and take the form of ordinary work and companies. It is a must for management to be professional.
We must get better as we move forward on the path of Fa rectification. We may have barely managed to complete a project years ago, so if we still use the same methods now, then we haven't improved at all.
From the perspective of cultivation, there is a higher standard for us now. If what we do now doesn't conform to that higher standard, then we have fallen behind.
Regulations and Contracts
People often choose not to follow the rules of the organization, including people in management. It could be that they don’t like the rules or that the rules are not practical.
It could also be that we are so used to the culture of the Chinese Communist Party – we say one thing and do another, and do not like to be told what to do.
In a way, a regulation is a kind of contract. When divine beings entered into covenants with men, it was meant to guide and regulate the behaviors of men based on compassion and altruism.
When a wise king issued a decree, he followed the divine beings' teachings and his goal was to have people assimilate to righteousness. A regulation made solely to punish people and not for the general good of everyone was not in line with the divine beings' guidance.
From Master's lectures, we know that we have signed a contract with Master in order to come here to help with Fa rectification. As of today, for the things we didn't do well, we may blame interference from the old forces or the negative influence of CCP culture.
However, when we dig deeper into our minds, we know that, a lot of times, we fail when we are not willing to follow management’s regulations and do not want to follow Master's instructions. This is essentially the same as going back on the vows we made to Master.
As far as regulations go, they are like the laws of a country. They are not meant to micromanage, but to govern key operations and general affairs.
Category: Improving Oneself
