Learn to share you authority

One aspect of leadership is it deals with authority that emanates from the leader. This authority cascades down to the lowest level in the organization. As such there are some leaders/managers who exploit this authority to the hilt. They become too autocratic that they centralize every organizational decisions and power.

But is centralization of authority and power correct? A good leader is someone who knows when and how to share his authority. He must learn to trust his subordinates by sharing some of his authority with them. In return the leader is enhancing his subordinates’ commitment   and dedication to his job and to their organization as a whole.

We must remember that a leader doesn’t exist for oneself alone; he deals with his people and he motivates them to work hard. Therefore it is a must for leaders to know how to share their authority with their subordinates.

Being the one who directly know their abilities the leader should calibrate the authority that he will be sharing with his subordinate. He must also ensure that there is a responsibility and accountability attached for every degree of authority that is shared.

Think about sharing some of your authority, it will be good for you, for your subordinates and for your organization. - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Maximizing your subordinates’ full potential

There are many ways how to fully maximize the usefulness of your subordinates without incurring additional cost to your organization. Maybe, you could think of closely monitoring their job performance. You could also think of reassigning them to a department where you know that they are most qualified and competent.

For example if you have an accounting graduate who is working in the production department. If there's an opportunity it is best therefore to transfer him/her to the accounting department. where the organization could make full use of his/her  knowledge in accounting.

Another method is not to limit your subordinates’ job to their assigned task only. We could think of using job rotation every now and then. This is for the reason that there are subordinates who truly desire to know more than what they presently know. And job rotation is the perfect management tool to address this desire.

When you use job rotation you also maximize your subordinates’ full potential and you expand their job knowledge. When you do this you are actually enhancing their job motivation because you’re addressing their psychological need to learn more skills.  - Marino J. Dasmarinas

The Coaching function of a Leader/Manager

Once in a while a leader/manager must harness his coaching skills most especially when he observes that a subordinate is performing below of what is expected of him.  For example, a car salesman’s output that is always on the rise suddenly drops to an alarming level.  A production worker who previously exceeds his work output is unexpectedly not anymore able to meet his production targets.

The coaching skill of a leader/manager is very useful during this kind of situation. To do this the Leader/Manager should talk to the person concerned so that he could discover the problem and eventually find a solution. After discovering what bothers the concerned person he must once again motivate the concerned person.

Therefore the leader/manager must know how to empathize and listen to his subordinate. After empathizing and listening it is incumbent upon the leader to inject life and motivation to the subject subordinate and this is done thru effective coaching.    

Because it requires personal interaction coaching is ideally done on a one-on-one basis. This is to facilitate effective transfer of ideas, motivation and inspirations. - Marino J. Dasmarinas 

The significance of empowerment

Empowerment is an organizational technique that is used by leaders and managers to fully harness the effectiveness of an organization and the human resource inside it. By using empowerment managers and leaders are able to free themselves of unnecessary work pressure. 

Thereby enabling them to focus more attention on other important responsibilities. When you use empowerment you are actually multiplying your authority. You create an extension of yourself through your subordinates.     

But before using empowerment as a means to efficiently manage your human resource and organization. You should see to it first that they (HR) are mature and competent enough to understand the responsibilities attached with empowerment. Otherwise if they are not mature and competent, empowerment then becomes an exercise in futility.

Among many other attributes, empowerment provides autonomy with accountability it frees the organization unnecessary centralization of power and resources. It helps develop competence, motivation and leadership on your human resource.

The end result of empowerment is you create an effective organization that can immediately respond to any organizational contingencies. Your subordinates are immediately able to decide and solve organizational issues based on the authority that you’ve empowered to them. - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Is your leadership influence diminishing?

If there is a leadership influence arrow, the direction of the leadership influence arrow must always be upward never downward. The moment the direction of the leadership arrow goes downward it simply means that the leader is losing grip of his leadership.

But is it possible for leaders to lose their leadership influence? Of course it’s very possible for leaders to slowly lose their leadership influence. This could happen when leaders become complacent that they would think that they are already indispensable in their possession of authority.    

Therefore the leader stops motivating himself and his people; he will not anymore lead by example. He instead will just be satisfied with the status quo and assume that his subordinates are not anymore in need of his leadership. Instead of leading by example he would be content on delegating his functions and so forth.

What would be the net result of this kind of diminishing and complacent leadership? Targets will not be met, the leader will not be anymore respected, and there will be breakdown of discipline just to name a few. 

So what must a leader do to re-assert his diminishing influence? Very simple actually! He must once again have the fire in his belly to inspire and motivate his subordinates by means of walking his talk, by reinforcing his competence and by leading by example once again. - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Consideration as method of motivation

Mr. X is an employee in a production intensive organization as such his organization requires him to be present for work most of the time. This is for the reason that their product is a basic necessity of life. His manager wants from him his utmost work commitment. And if he is on a day-off he would ask him to always leave his mobile phone open for any work related issues that he may be called upon.

Mr. X being a widower is both a father and mother to his young children as such there are times that he is forced to absent from his work. If he is asked to render overtime work he sometimes is not able to do so and he would always ask consideration from his boss to understand his plight.

As a boss or manager, is it Ok to stretch the limits of your consideration toward an employees such as Mr. X? Of course, we must at all times be considerate to workers such as Mr. X for he has a valid reason. Aside from that, it will not be all the time that workers such as Mr. X would be asking for consideration.

There would also be instances in the future that you as their boss/manager would be asking consideration from them. When the time comes that you would ask them work related favors such as extended working hours if they are available you could be assured of their commitment.

Why is this so? Because we are rational people with emotions; we keep and remember in our hearts good things that are done to us. When the appropriate time comes for us to pay back the good deeds that were extended to us we would gladly do so.  This is actually basic human nature: We give back the good things that are done to us.

Consideration is a very good tool for motivation. Consideration is also an effective motivational instrument to gain the wholehearted commitment of your subordinates. If we are still in doubt about this premise?

Just try being reasonably considerate to your subordinates and see for yourself their enhanced motivation and commitment. - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Be hard working and accept challenges

A mountain climber desired to climb the highest mountain peak. So he went to climb it; when he was a few meters away from the peak. He saw thick clouds that hid/concealed the highest peak. Thinking that he was still very far from his objective, he gave-up. If only he knew that his objective was within his reach; he could have climbed-on and achieved his goal.

In your work environment there would be times when your patience will be tested by your superior. You might be given a job that may seem so hard for you to do; don’t reject it accept the responsibility. 

For all you know it’s just a test for you if you could handle bigger responsibilities in the future.  If you think that your knowledge on the newly assigned job is lacking, don’t be afraid to ask help from your superior/s: They are there to help, assist and guide you and not to intimidate you.

Perhaps you’re just being challenged by your superior: He wants to further test your work attitude, patience and motivation. Your success in an organization would always be determined by your persistence and by your positive work attitude.

If only the mountain climber in our story persisted and exerted enough hard work he could have achieved his objective. But he gave-up.

Therefore, be hardworking, be persistent and always accept challenges. - Marino J. Dasmarinas