The silent leader as opposed to the loud leader

Why are the silent types the best leaders? Because they let their achievements make the noise not them making their own empty noise. Many are easily taken by a leader who is loud, loud in the sense that they want their subordinates to know what they are doing.

However, loud leaders are generally empty inside they don’t think deeply. They act without careful thought of the consequence of their actions. They base their actions upon their whims and caprices and the popular demand of the subordinates that they govern.  What is important for them is to feed their bloated egos and to satisfy the popular demand of their subordinates. And when they are already able to feed their egos they now think of the consequence of their egotistical and thoughtless action/s.  

Upon musing of their thoughtless  actions they will come to the realization that what they’ve done was not right. Therefore, embarrassment and swallowing of pride comes next and the loud leader is exposed as incompetent, all noise and fury without any intellectual bite.   

The silent types of leaders are those who think profoundly and they think in advance. They are always head and shoulders above the rest. They get the job done albeit silently they don’t make noise to advertise their achievements they rather let their achievements and accomplishments make the noise for them. 

Silent leaders are also the humble ones, this don’t mean that they think less of themselves they rather purposely don’t highlight themselves. They don’t want the spotlight of leadership solely focused on them they want it focused on the entire organization that they lead.  

Do you have this silent type of leader in your organization? – Maarino J. Dasmarinas

On giving behavioral feedback

How do you give behavioral feedback? For example you noticed that your direct report is noisy at work. How are you going to correct this errant behavior without offending the concerned direct report?  

When we give the behavioral feedback we have to focus on the offensive act and not the person who did the offensive act. But before doing that we have to find an appropriate place where we can civilly talk with the concerned direct report.  The appropriate place could be in your office or a place where there is privacy and solemnity.

Be calm, objective and civil when you talk about the errant behavior so that you avoid antagonizing the person. Some managers do this without considering calmness, objectivity and civility. Hence they lecture the guilty person as if the concerned individual is their slave. So what happens is the concerned will push back and defend herself. This can happen most especially if the direct report has a strong personality.   

After talking about the errant behavior allow the person to speak and voice her sentiment and as she speaks listen with your attention poured into her. Your expectation here is she would talk also with calmness, civility and objectivity. Why? For the simple reason that this is how you approached the concerned person. We have to remember that we get what we give: If we give respect we would also get respect and vice versa.

Close the one on one conversation on a positive note by telling the person that she has your back anytime. Ever ready to listen whenever she has issues about work or even issues about his/her family. -  Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Connection and consistency of positive actions are the secrets to effective leadership

How are you as a leader? An effective leader is someone who is able to connect his leadership with the people that he leads. But how can a leader connect with the people that he leads? Among many other things a leader connects to his people by creating actions that has impact to his subordinates and his leadership.

For example, a leader/manager who is newly assigned to his department noticed that his office is cluttered with unnecessary things. So the first thing that he did upon assumption of his position is to rid his office with the unnecessary things. Thus, he made his office clean and orderly.

By doing so he subtly connects his leadership to his subordinates. And the message that he connects or conveys is he wants a clean and orderly office. How can the leader/manager successfully connect his message? It’s through the consistency of his actions, in this case the cleaning of his office of unnecessary things should be consistent and not a one shot deal.    

A leader becomes a real leader when there is consistency in his positive actions. And the consistency of his positive actions enables him to connect with his subordinates. It creates a ripple effect that transcends the invisible and visible boundaries of his organization.

Many leaders fail to connect their leadership for the simple reason that there’s no consistency in their actions. They are only good leaders when there are cameras, smart phones and videos in-front of them. However, when there are no cameras, smart-phones and videos they backslide to their real selves which are leaders in name only.

If you occupy a leadership position right now and you are consistent with your positive actions. Even if there are no cameras, smart-phones and videos to document your leadership, you are already made as a leader. – Marino J. Dasmarinas