Dear Robin Hood,
As your trusted advisor, I would like to present to you several opportunities and areas of improvement. The foremost opportunity is for you to extend your leadership and move the team to greater causes and actions. You need to be a transformational leader. This type of leadership creates higher levels of motivation and morality in both the leaders and his followers. (Northouse, 2007) Thus, you have a very good opportunity to grow as a charismatic leader and a person of worth. At the same time, you can add more value to the movement’s causes.
Another great opportunity is for you to expand your popularity with the masses with good works and/or programs and not just by banditry and distribution of sequestered goods. Another important opportunity is to coalesce with other strong forces to topple the Sheriff. The Barons who are planning to free King Richard the Lionheart from his jail in Austria. However, this is also a tricky undertaking. It is not really problematic but in a sense, it needs careful planning and decision making. This is because once your men engaged with another party; the whole situation is more complicated. Another major problem is the diminishing discipline and training among their men. This is not so problematic and it just needs a strong reorientation and more rigid training and judicious recruitment.
The mission, vision and goals or objectives of your team have been altered by the new developments. Instinctively, you will need a new mission because you originally formed these men out of their personal disgust and grievances for the High Sheriff of Nottingham. This was also the same reason you initiated your own insurrection from the Sheriff. As you and your men first gathered for your own thirsts for justice, today is a different ballgame. The Sheriff has also grown into a stronger force with his alliance with Prince John. Even when you and your men
may share the same vision, which is to topple the Sheriff, your moves must go beyond insurrection already. As you know, your rebellion is being quenched by the Sheriff who, by now, is fortifying his forces. You must know that the Sheriff’s influence is a serious threat to your movement. You must be wary of his alliance with the Prince
Thus, your new goal is to fight now only the Sheriff but also those officials who act like the Sheriff – arrogant, greedy, unjust, and elitist. Since you want justice for their fellow poor, you need to envision your team as promoting social justice not by just robbing the rich and giving it to the poor but more of carrying out programs and actions that will sustain the poor and uplift their economic status. As your goals expand, you need to strengthen your cause by recruiting and training more disciplined and forthright members who will act with goodness and justice.
The present strategy, I think, is obsolete. The men have grown and you cannot supervise their activities and maintain the goals you once have. You cannot also control their actions. It is very important that you manage them well because you need the strength that lies in their numbers and their actions. As for your target, the Sheriff, the strategy needs to be changed as well. This is because he already knows how your men operate and he can always thwart your movements and plans. As I mentioned earlier, his circle of influence has grown stronger and this can weaken your actions today and in the future.
Very importantly, your strategies need to change because your goals, mission and vision have changed. Your leadership has also evolved along the way. (Thompson, Strickland & Gamble, 2010) As you target to impact the masses and deal with them differently, you need to
change the way you handle your men and how you approach the programs and activities that you do in realizing your group’s goals.
I strongly recommend you pursue a more tactical strategy in dealing with your men and with your new and old allies. This is because the most important element of your leadership will be how you do things. Your moves and decisions must be executed with skills and/or expert maneuvering. This also characterizes the expediency of your actions. As you know, you do not have enough resources to make long term planning and candid actions and decisions will always be forthright. You need to calculate your moves because you do not know exactly the new enemy, even your own men may be well against you. Do not forget that the Sheriff and Prince John employ a lot of spies. Thus, you need to be really tactical about your strategies. Your tactical strategies will always ensure the success of your short term actions and as of these moments, you will make various changes and decisions and you can always count on this type of strategy.
The initial action you must take to apply this tactical strategy is to move your men. Since, they are your strength, you need to invest in them and recapitalize on their numbers and their strength. (Thompson, Strickland & Gamble, 2010) They need to be retrained and they need more arms and resources to pursue your goals. You need to reinforce them so that they will be your main force who will help you realize your objectives and vision. Thus, the operational aspect of your team is your first area of implementation. You need to manage your men and form them into operating units or specific groups which specific activities that have essence in terms of your goals and mission. They need to function well and this is where you need to initially focus. If
Please take my words conscientiously. If you do not heed my advice, defeat is certain. Consider the strength of the Sheriff and the political acumen of his ally, Prince John. If you do not decide and act promptly, the course is altered and you will have no significant place in the new developments to come. For instance, if you do not decide well on whether to ally with the barons, then, if they succeed, your power will be certainly diminished. Equally, if you join them and help oust Prince John, you have to be cautious and discreet since the prince’s spies may overtake you and your men. Everything seems to be consequential now and it is not a simple matter as before. Think well and act fast. I have given you all the important details to craft your next moves. You need to set your leadership into a more influential plane because it will ensure success for you and your people.
Being a leader, you have to perform many roles in your team. How you handle different situations depend on the way you manage your men and this entails the vision and mission you set for your group. As the group becomes more complicated in its organization, the way you handle them becomes even more demanding. Hence, you need to be competent in all aspects of your leadership. I come in as a mentor who will let you discern what needs to be done and I really hope the contexts of your leadership and your need for vital decisions and actions appeal to you with greater intensity. I bid you well.
REFERENCES:
Northouse, P. (2007). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks: age Publications.
Thompson, A., Strickland, A.J. III, & Gamble, E. (2010). Crafting and Executing Strategy: The Quest for Competitive Advantage (17th ed). New York: McGraw Hill.
