The number 5 is always highly significant in our country- Five Elements- Earth, Sky, Water, Air and Fire. Five Pandavas from the Epic Mahabharat- Dharmar, Arjun, Bheem, Nakul and Sahadev. Five Vedas- Rig, Sama, Yajur, Adharvan and Upanishad.
Five Fingers in a hand-
Small Finger
Ring Finger
Middle Finger
Index Finger and the
Thumb.
In the Medical parlance, these are referred to as Digits starting from the First- Small Finger- to the Fifth- Thumb.
When we come to the Leadership styles, we may attribute the following qualities to our five fingers-
Small Finger- Spectator
Ring Finger- Connector
Middle Finger- Creator
Index Finger- Task Master and
Thumb- Leader.
Let us now analyse the above statements one by one:
Spectator
This person observes everything and every one closely but never follows any one as his Role Model. But he knows all the functions. If assigned any work in the office, he has his own time schedule to complete the job. So the Manager can’t assign any urgent work but can allot any important work and this Spectator will definitely accomplish it but at his own sweet will. Don’t you have this kind of employees in your organization?
Connector
This person is a good PRO- knows all influential people in the city, has friends in all the Departments like the Railways, Airports, State and Central Government offices and what not. Don’t you need this kind of people in your arena? Don’t you require these kind of services for you, your Boss and your family? Should you not keep him in good humour, whatever may be the quantity and quality of work he turns out on the normal days? Yes, we have to connect with this Connector at any given time.
Creator
This person finishes all allotted work quickly and asks “ What Next?”
He is like the ‘Vedhaal’ demanding more work in the Vikramaditya story.
Sometimes he creates work himself and helps the Institution.
Of course, at times he exceeds his limit and poses problems in front of Superiors. But still, you have to protect him in view of his past good work, creating novel methods of working and helping the office.
Task Master
This person is a ‘ Must ‘ in every office. He is a hard task master and gets any work completed in time and in a proper way. His help is very much required in times of Year End New Business, Recruitment of Staff and and any such time bound activities. Once you allot an assignment to this task master, you can forget and relax. On the appointed Day the results will be on your table. Is not such a person a requisite in each organization?
Leader
The title is self-explanatory. He leads the entire team cohesively, patting some, tapping some and whipping some. His aim is to win, some times win at any cost. At times End justifies the Means for this man. You would have seen your Boss saying “ Allot this job to Leader A and not to B, because although B is also capable, he is always particular about the means to achieve the result”. You will agree that we do need this variety of ‘ Leader’ in an Organization.
The Assignments before us
The tasks in front of us can be divided as
Urgent
Important
Urgent but not important
Important but not urgent
Both urgent and important.
How are we going to allot the above to our Five Fingers, I mean. Leaderships?
Important job can be given to the Spectator. Though important, there is no hurry to finish the work.
Urgent job can be assigned to the Task Master. He will not only complete the work but also within the allotted time.
Important but not urgent work can be given to the Collector so that he can leisurely use his contacts and complete the assignment.
Urgent but not important job is suitable for the Creator. He will handle it well and in time.
The last variety- Leader- is the Jack of all Trades and also the Master of all.
Conclusion
But the following facts remain-
All the Fingers are important and required for every human being for all activities, although some times it appears as if one particular finger is more needed than others.
Although the small finger seems to be insignificant, only this finger is in the front when we do ‘ Namasthe’ to others.
Although in the weddings, the Ring finger gets more prominence when the newly married couple exchanges the rings, but the ring gives more shine only when it it is accompanied by the other fingers.
Although the Thumb assists in showing the Victory sign, it is held high in the air only by the other fingers.
If even one finger gets injured in an accident, the whole hand loses its capacity of free movement.
Similarly all the five leadership qualities are required for any individual.
One has to contain a little of each quality- Spectatorship- should we not be a good observer?
Connectorship- should we not know imprtant persons in the city?
Creatorship- is it not required to be a fast worker and ask for more work?
Task Mastership- is it not needed to be a person to finish any given task?
Leadership- Who does not wish to be a good Leader?
Only when we possess all the above, we can be a true and lasting Leader.
Let us endeavour to be one such Five Finger Leader in our lives.
