Discipline

There are degrees of discipline. As the middle child, we thought discipline was awful. Our little brother/sister didn’t get punished but we did, while the other brother or sister was considered an adult. In the business world, there are also degrees of discipline or favoritism.

A worker who is doing something wrong can be corrected. With this there is no punishment or embarrassment before other workers. The worker who accidently caused a work stoppage should receive gentle instruction. Correction or fine tuning is needed to have a winning work team. If an employee is stubborn and doesn’t listen to correction, a drastic step is needed.

As a successful leader, we need to learn how much discipline is needed. In cases where it is the first indiscretion or a slight error, gentle correction is most effective. Small mistakes should not appear as a major job loss or a crucial mistake. Appropriate amounts of discipline can be an asset in our leadership model.

The Message version of the Holy Bible gives this closing advice. “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures and criticize their faults unless, of course, you want the same treatment. Don’t condemn those who are down; that hardness can boomerang. Be easy on people and you’ll find life a lot easier.”