When you Impose discipline impose it with civility and respect

How do you impose discipline in your organization?

Some, if not many, of us impose discipline the old-fashioned way. This means punishing the transgressor right in front of a crowd to shame the person. But when we do this, we only plant seeds of anger and resentment in the person being disciplined. He or she may not immediately vent this anger and resentment, but sooner or later, it will come out.

There are leaders and managers who are heavy-handed when imposing discipline because they think it is the appropriate way. However, heavy-handedness in imposing discipline is counterproductive, as it results in the development of deep-seated resentment.

So, what should a leader or manager do when he or she needs to impose discipline? The leader or manager should immediately call for a private meeting with the transgressor so that appropriate punishment can be imposed in private. By doing this, the leader or manager avoids the unnecessary and arrogant projection of power and authority.

What is the importance of having a private meeting with someone who has breached the discipline of the organization or has committed a fault? You signify your sincerity to correct the person, and you send a message that you want to immediately contain and resolve the problem without grandstanding, ego-tripping, or insulting anyone.

By doing so, you create a sincere message that you want to heal the wayward behavior without shaming the person in front of a crowd. If you do this, you will even gain the respect of the person you are disciplining.

Many of us commit the mistake of correcting a person in front of a crowd, but this will not help heal wayward behavior. It will only create deeper emotional resentment in the person at fault. Hence, instead of bringing him or her closer to correction, healing, and reconciliation, we end up creating an emotional bubble within the person being disciplined, which could explode at any time.

Let us not allow ourselves to be consumed by our power and authority when we impose discipline or exercise leadership, as this will do us no good. When we unnecessarily and arrogantly discharge our power and authority, we only expose how flawed and limited our leadership skills are. Let us instead hold on to civility, respect, and reason, for this is the only way to correct and completely heal wayward behavior.

What is the use of showcasing our power and authority in public if it only creates deeper emotional injury? What is the use of correcting a person in full view of the crowd if it only creates a monster called hatred and resentment? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Should you always reward an exemplary performance with money?

Do you always need to recognize an exemplary performance from your subordinates? Yes! It is always a must to recognize every exemplary performance from your subordinates. 

Why? For the simple reason that recognition or reward is an integral part of motivation. 

However, there is a misconception that when we say “recognize,” it always means giving money or something material. Not true! We can actually give rewards even without a price tag attached to them. For example, simply calling the attention of an effective employee during meetings is more than enough recognition. A tap on the shoulder coupled with a short pep talk is another priceless form of reward and motivation. 

We should not always look at money as our vehicle for reward because it is temporary and impersonal. Besides, it does not convey a lasting impression in the heart of the recipient. For a change, why not try something that is not visible or measured by money yet will be forever felt in the heart? 

What are these? Verbal recognition during meetings, banners that convey positive messages, and so forth. Motivation’s true purpose is best served when you reward your subordinates with things that are not quantified by money. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Secure leaders vis-à-vis insecure leaders

In a faraway kingdom lived an insecure leader who was about to end his term. So he said to his underlings, “I want you to highlight all the accomplishments that I achieved during my term.” His minions were in a quandary about how they would undertake his order because he had nothing to show but his incompetence, arrogance, autocracy, and laziness. 

Effective, secure, and humble leaders would never be concerned about whether their accomplishments during their term of office would be noticed or not. Why? Because they are secure in what they have accomplished. They know in their hearts that during their incumbency, they had a laser-like focus on their mission and vision for their organization. They also saw to it that they were surrounded by the best intellectual minds to help them achieve their mission and vision. 

On the other hand, insecure leaders will always crave attention. They normally do this by using bombastic words or words that portray them as having a strong character and personality. Insecure leaders are not consultative; they decide based on their whims and caprices, without regard for the greater good. What is important to them is that they are able to bulldoze their own personal agendas. 

But a leader who is secure in his leadership will not be afraid to make decisions that are unpopular because he knows that these unpopular decisions will be for the long-term welfare of the people in his organization. 

At the end of the day, leaders are not judged by their present actions and accomplishments; they are judged by history and the legacies they have built and left behind. 

For example, how they have improved the well-being of their people, how they have enhanced the financial wealth of their organization or country, and how they have fought for the welfare of their people and organization against a bully organization or country, and so forth. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

How do you assign work/task to your Work From Home (WFH) employees?

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the work-from-home (WFH) arrangement is one of the ways organizations today continue their operations. But how are you going to assign tasks to your work-from-home employees when they are working in the comfort of their homes, and when you cannot directly supervise them?

The best course of action here is to maintain the status quo. Your WFH employees will have the same workload they used to have when they were not yet under the WFH setup. Is this still achievable? Yes, of course! Considering that there is no more travel time, less preparation in the morning to report to the office, and the same ease applies in the afternoon when going home.

WFH is the future of the work setup, and there is no turning back. Whether we like it or not, we have to adapt to this new work environment, which is very favorable to employees and to the organization as well.

The Covid-19 pandemic, along with the availability of high-tech modes of communication such as the internet, has forced organizations to take a closer look at the WFH setup. But WFH is not new; this arrangement has been going on for quite some time for some organizations. However, the pandemic has forced all organizations to harness the usability of WFH arrangements.

They now find this setup very useful, cost-effective, and practical in addressing the many work challenges organizations face today, challenges that have been primarily influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Profit Sharing/stock ownership as method of Motivation

Do you want to strengthen the motivation of your employees?

There are big corporations that offer creative financial schemes to further motivate their employees. One of these methods is called profit sharing, which is essentially the allocation of a certain percentage of the organization’s earnings to its employees. Another method is stock ownership, where employees own shares of the company in which they work.

This is a very viable means of motivation because workers are entitled to these attractive financial schemes. Who would not work hard if employees are given financial rewards from the net profit of the organization? Who would not work hard if employees are offered shares in the company they work for? Stock ownership is actually being implemented by big corporations worldwide. However, the globalized economy makes stock ownership quite risky.

For example, if an economic power such as the United States, China, Japan, or other economically powerful nations experience problems with their economy, there is always the risk that your local stock market will also be affected, which may result in the devaluation of your local stocks. Nevertheless, this is still a good scheme to impress upon employees that they are valued by their organization.

How about small-scale businesses? Can they also offer profit sharing to their workers? Of course, they can! This can be done by forging an agreement with employees that they shall be entitled to a certain percentage of the organization’s yearly net profit.

Profit sharing and stock ownership are very effective motivational tools that are seldom used by organizations. Why? For the simple reason that there are greedy business owners who only want the fruits of their organization for themselves. They do not want to share them with their workforce, who play a big part in the realization of organizational goals.

Why not try sharing a percentage of your profit with your employees? Why not offer them the option of stock ownership? See how they will plow back this goodwill in terms of motivation and concern for the well-being of the organization. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

How do you strengthen the commitment of your lazy subordinates?

Do you want to strengthen the commitment of your lazy direct reports and subordinates? 

There are managers who complain that they don’t have a committed workforce. This is actually a very valid observation, as there really are workers who exert only half-hearted effort toward their work. 

What is the cause of this? Is it an attitude problem? Is it attributable to the inherent laziness of certain workers? It can indeed be both an attitude problem and the inherent laziness of some employees. However, when employees accept an employment offer, it simply means they commit themselves to follow the discipline and culture of the organization they will be working for. If they agree to work for an organization, why are they still lazy and why are they still less committed?  

We can somehow trace this indifferent attitude back to their managers. A manager who is lazy and lacking in commitment will breed the same kind of direct reports and subordinates. Therefore, the key to changing the attitude of these workers lies in the hands of the manager himself. If he wants his direct reports and subordinates to change, then he must first change and lead the way.  

From being lazy and half-hearted, the manager must now become very hard-working and committed. If we apply the principle of leadership by example, it is expected that the direct reports and subordinates will also become very hard-working and committed. 

Managers sometimes look very far for the solution to their direct reports and subordinates’ behavioral problems, especially laziness and lack of commitment, not knowing that they are actually part of the problem. Certainly, they would also become part of the solution, provided they change their own negative attitudes and behaviors. — Marino J. Dasmarinas

On promotion

 Are you expecting to be promoted? 

Every employee has this inner desire within themselves to be promoted and be ahead from their contemporaries in their organization. However not everyone who desires to be promoted wants to work hard for that coveted promotion they simply take it easy. Then when they are not chosen they sulk and blame anyone but themselves.  

Employees who want to be promoted must work for it; the best starting point is to work hard in their present job assignment. You work hard not because you’re expecting to be promoted you work hard because that is the right action to do. 

Every worker must work hard so that they could give equitable value to the salary that they receive from their organization. Promotion is simply a reward for a person who works hard. But there are also times that no matter how you work hard you are not chosen to be promoted. So what would you do? Will you sulk and be indifferent to your organization?  

The proper attitude to have is to continue on working with zeal even if you are not chosen for promoting. You will always have a good karma once you choose to continue on working with passion no matter what the outcome of your desire to be promoted. For example, the good karma would come in the guise of an unexpected promotion or a job offer from another company.  

Let us say that you continue to work with enthusiasm even if you were not promoted. Then it happened that there again was a window for promotion. So you aspired again and by this time you’re expecting that you will now bag the coveted promotion. However to your great dismay you were not chosen again even if you were the most qualified.  

So what would you do now?  

If you believe in yourself and you firmly believe in your competence, it’s high time for you to walk away from your present employment. Look for an organization that would value your hard work and competence! - Marino J. Dasmarinas

The price of manipulative Leadership style

The story is told about a politician who cannot accept that he lost an election contest. So, he  fed his rabid supporters a false narrative that he was cheated. But whenever he was asked to provide evidence about his allegation he could not present any.   

His narrative of being cheated struck a chord among his rabid supporters that they believe it hook line and sinker. Hence, the losing politician told his rabid supporters to be ready to protest and they marched and protested. 

However, during the day of the protest the losing politician was nowhere to be found he simply let his supporters undertake the protest. Unfortunately it turned violent and there were casualties among the politician’s supporters and the authorities. An investigation was conducted by the police and they found out that the losing politician fed his rabid supporters the false narrative that he was cheated. Therefore the manipulative, arrogant and egotistical politician was arrested and was put in jail. 

Manipulative leaders/managers exist in every area of an organization. They are arrogant, brash and egotistic. They exist not to serve their organization but to serve their own selfish interest and agenda in the organization. They will do everything including feeding their direct reports and subordinates false narratives for them to survive. And they would be quite successful in using their manipulative leadership for a certain period of time. 

But leaders who employ behaviors that are deceiving and manipulative do not last for long. They are sooner or later exposed for their insidious behaviors and actions. Not only that they are exposed for who they really are they are also severely punished by laws that measures up to their crimes and they are judged harshly by history. Why? Because that’s the steep price that they have to pay. 

Do you know a leader/manager that has a manipulative behavior? – Marino J. Dasmarinas