Do you have a credit conscious leader/manager?

One of the failings of a leader/manager is to grab or take credit whenever it presents itself. For example a leader who has been tasked to lead a taskforce would always take credit for whatever accomplishment that his team would achieve. Thus he would always attribute to himself any achievement that they accomplish.   

For example, in the presentation of his task force’s accomplishment he would shamelessly say: “I discovered that something was wrong in the organization’s procurement process that’s why I decided to discontinue it.” He would always use the subjective I to prop-up himself so that he would always be in the starring role. And the members of his taskforce remain faceless individuals as if they did not contribute anything for the team.     

This kind of leader/manager is an ego tripper or somebody who is so full of himself. He purposely omits the fact that it is the task force that he leads that made the achievement. Therefore the credit should be to the task force and not exclusively to himself.

There are many managers/leaders who thinks and acts that way, they think that it is a plus factor if they would always be in the limelight. What they don’t know is the more they grab credit or hunger for prominence the more that they are being silently ostracized by their subordinates and peers.  The credit conscious manager/leader may not immediately notice it but there are already rumblings in the organizational hallway about his selfish and arrogant behavior.

So what is the cure? The cure is lots and lots of humility and to realize that whatever accomplishment that a taskforce or a department achieves must always be credited to the team and not to oneself alone.

Subjective word such as I should never be used when a leader/person is a member of a team or taskforce or when referring to the achievement of his department.  Instead of I the inclusive word We should be used for the simple reason that all of the members should be given credit. 

An egotistical and self-centered leader/manager has no place in an organization for the simple reason that when we speak of an organization it means membership or grouping of people.  Thus self-centered and egotistical people should not be there!  – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Bullies in the workplace

Bullies are an ever present fixture in an organization we may not immediately recognize them because they quietly blend with the majority. But there would be times that they will create a noticeable scene for everyone to know that they exist in the workplace.

Bullies are arrogant people who push their weight around, they exist because there is no one who dares to stand before them. The more that nobody dares to face up to them the more that they are emboldened to continue their bullying.  Therefore, the problem of bullying exists because there are people who allow themselves to be bullied. 

How can we solve this irrational behavior? We can stop bullying by asserting our rights  and by standing-up to them. We must be firm with anyone who would dare to bully us because if we will not face them the more that they will bully us.

This is of course easier said than done. Can we face someone who occupies a very powerful position in our organization? Can we face-up to somebody who occupies a higher position than us? These are very valid questions that we need to consider, nevertheless if we want to stop workplace bullying we must be courageous enough to face these bullies.

Let us not be afraid with these organizational bullies they exist for the simple reason that we allow them to exist. But the moment we face them and assert our rights before them they would quickly fade away into oblivion. - Marino J. Dasmarinas

The greedy business owner

Once upon a time there was a greedy business owner who always want to corner whatever profit that his business earns. He would often be urged by his wife to give back a sizable percentage of their earnings to the welfare of their employees. But the greedy business owner simply ignored the suggestion he continued to pamper himself while his employees were wallowing from their inhuman working conditions.    

A few months had passed by the greedy owner noticed an increase in absences and also in resignation. There was also a huge decline in the output and quality of their products. After a year his company was forced to stop its operation and the greedy owner was left with nothing except for the huge bank debts.

It’s always a must for managers or business owners to equitably treat their employees for the simple reason that they are the lifeblood of their organization. In this day and age an organization can still exist even without the help of computerized operation. But can it survive without human resource? Of course not! This is therefore the primary reason why we must treat our people humanely.

It doesn't pay to be greedy in any arena of life most especially in an organizational arena. We must always learn to give back to our people: By increasing their pay, by improving and humanizing their work life and by always being accessible and transparent. - Marino J. Dasmarinas

The advantage of consultative leadership

A consultative leader is someone who consults first before making any organizational decisions. The main strength of this leadership style is it allows the leader to solicit the inputs of any organizational member. The leader listens to his subordinates and peers yet he still commands the authority and respect in the organization.

This practice of leadership is very helpful for a leader because it creates a  we belong feeling amongst organizational members. Just imagine when your boss consults with you. How would you feel? Of course you will feel very important and at home in the organization because there is this feeling that you are very much valued by your leader/manager. And the end result is you will be motivated to work harder simply because you know that you are valued by your leader.

Being a consultative leader also enhances your adeptness in the organization and it also enhances your value as a leader. Once you consult with your people you actually multiply your awareness on what is really going on the floor. It will also show that you are a humble leader who knows how to bend or listen and a leader who does not have a very high regard of himself/herself.

Of course as the leader/manager you ultimately retain the power to decide but it will greatly help you if you’ll learn how to practice consultative leadership. It will not only enhance your value as a leader you will also be pushing forward the morale of your subordinates.  

Why not try to become a consultative leader now and see the positive impact that it will bring into your position as a leader/manager? - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Human Behavior in Organization Speaker and Lecturer and Seminar/Workshop Facilitator

Human Behavior in Organization Speaker and Lecturer and Seminar/Workshop Facilitator.

My email adds: mjdasma@gmail.com  mjdasma@yahoo.com

The Leader/Manager who loves to delegate

Do you often use the function of delegation?

Delegation is a function of management that everyone of us should use on a situational basis.  We delegate when there’s a need to delegate but when there’s no reason to delegate we should not delegate.  

So, when are you going to delegate and when should you not delegate? You only delegate your function/s when there is a pressing need to do that. For instance, there’s a deadline to be meet and you surely can’t do it all you need to delegate in this situation. Otherwise if you will not you won’t be able to achieve your task.

Many managers often abuse the function of delegation. They have the tendency to delegate even the task that they can actually do and are supposed to do. Even if they have the time to do it they still choose to delegate.  Why do they delegate even if they can do it themselves? The answer is very simple: they are lazy!

When a leader/manager is always a patron of delegation it would eventually make him intellectually weak or dull. For the simple reason that it will lessen the efficiency of his brain, lest we forget, inactive brain makes a dull brain.

If he/she has time a leader/manager should avoid delegation he should just do what he is supposed to do. Thus he increases his brain activity and this surely will result  to a dynamic mindset which will benefit nobody but himself and the organization where he/she belongs.

How about the manager/leader who loves to delegate? He/she is not only a lazy manager/leader he/she is also incompetent and does not deserve to be called leader/manager. - Marino J. Dasmarinas  

What happens when you abuse your authority?

Julio is a newly hired Chief Executive Office of a large business conglomerate. Upon assumption of his new job his first directive was to issue a memorandum that declares all middle level management position vacant. 

His memo was not well received by the middle managers of his organization because it was unjust and unnecessary. The middle managers further stated that if would have been better if the new CEO and his underlings had conducted first an audit of every middle managers performance. So that he could find out first who were to be replaced and who were to be retained.

Since the middle managers thought that Mr. Julio was abusing his authority. They protested about it by wearing protest tee shirt that denounces the arrogance of the new CEO. And the workers union sympathized with them by having sit-down strikes during noon breaks.           

Therefore the newly hired CEO’s attention was called by the board of directors. And he was made to explain how come that instead of creating a order and stability in his organization he instead created chaos and problems. His lengthy explanation did not satisfy the board of directors, thus he was fired!

Arrogance much less abuse of authority has no place in leadership and except for a very few exceptions, a leader should always be democratic. He/she should never give orders based on his/her whims and caprices for it could weaken his/her position of leadership.

We have to bear in mind that a leadership position is not a permanent position in an organization. It is always an evolving and dynamic position of authority. This could change anytime the moment the leader or manager begins to abuse it or when he/she exhibits incompetence. -  Marino J. Dasmarinas