A true and effective leader is a humble leader

Honorio is the president of a small country, he won based on his promise of humble leadership the people of his country was so taken by his that they elected him by a landslide.  

During his first day in office he went to the losing candidate’s house and those who opposed him and offered them the olive branch of peace and reconciliation. He was always very respectful and gentle to his constituents thus he gained their respect and admiration.

After his term was over, he was able to transform his country; the formerly sleepy country was now bustling and full of business activities. His country enjoyed the best peace and order situation during his term for the simple reason that he reached out to those who were marked as trouble makers and was able to convince them to abide and respect the laws of their motherland.

Humility is a virtue that is lacking in many organizational managers and leaders because they see humility as weakness. Many managers and leaders prefer the swaggering type of a manager/leader for the reason that it creates a strong initial impression.

For the reason of the personality that they project, swaggering leaders and managers will have their own share of followers. But generally these kind of leaders/managers are actually abhorred by the silent majority.

Why? For the simple reason that subordinates and people in general do not like managers/leaders who projects an image of swagger and arrogance. They prefer someone who is humble and approachable for the simple reason that to gravitate towards the humble is human nature.           

For example, would you prefer a boss who would raise his voice when he gives orders? Of course not! You would prefer a boss who would give orders with a tone of humility and this we would know if the boss would give orders by gently saying, Could you pls. do this or that?

It pays to be humble in exercising your managerial and leadership functions because you will accomplish more and you will gain the respect, admiration and remembrance of your subordinates. – Marino J. Dasmarinas     

The many fruits of positive work attitude

Janice is a newly graduate young woman in her early twenties; thus she was very determined to land a job. Due to her persistence she was able to find a job opportunity in an information technology related organization.

When she was being interviewed by the human resource manager, she was asked: tell me why should I hire you? Janice replied: I always work hard, I have a positive mindset towards my work and for as long as I can do it I would never refuse a work assigned to me. She was eventually hired for the reason of her very satisfactory answer.

She was employed as an accounting clerk and true to her promise she indeed was very hard worker. She did the assigned task to her with utmost competence and she never refused work given to her even if she was loaded already.

Her positive work attitude was eventually noticed by her Manager, thus when there was an opportunity for promotion she was immediately considered and promoted. Two more years had passed by and Janice was already the section head of their department. After five more years she went to become the accounting manager. 

It always pays to have a positive mental attitude towards work no matter what kind of work we are doing in an organization. This is for the reason that when we have a positive work attitude we already make work easier even if it’s hard.  We always create and radiate an environment of positivity in our workplace.

We also attract positive fortune towards us, such as promotion and recognition. Sooner or later a hard worker or a worker with positive attitude will be promoted and be recognized by the organization. The worker who works hard also earns the respect of his subordinates, peers and managers.

Do you have a positive work attitude? – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

The Stubborn and Ineffective subordinate

Melanie is a thirty-five year old clerk in a government office with a permanent status. She is stubborn and she does her job with minimum efficiency and her reasons for having these irrational work behavior are the following:

1. She occupies a low position with a low salary, so why work hard?
2. She is satisfied with her job title
3. She usually doesn't want anybody to tell her what to do
4. For the reason of her permanent status nobody can remove/dismiss/separate her from her job unless she does something foolish

Do you have a subordinate like Melanie? Someone who doesn't immediately follow what is told her and someone who does her job with minimum effectiveness? Truth be told Melanie is a living character in many organizations most especially in government organizations. They are lurking in the organization simply going through the motions of their job.

They have no ambition to move up in the organizational hierarchy, they are already satisfied with their job title and they can even hold on to it until they reach the age of  retirement.

However, why does a character like Melanie exist in an organization? The reason behind is there are many leaders/managers who do not know how to exercise to the fullest their authority and responsibility. 

An effective leader/manager must know how to solve a problem like Melanie for the simple reason that to do so is his/her job. Therefore, how does a leader solve a character like Melanie? 

The following are the steps that he/she must do: 

1. Schedule as soon as possible a one on one meeting with her
2. In that same meeting hammer into her mind her duties and responsibilities
3. Let her know about your authority over her
4. Let her know about the disciplinary actions that would come upon her if she continues with her stubbornness and inefficiency
5. Motivate
6. Lead by example 

If after doing these steps you still have not solved the irrational work behavior of Melanie. It's time to consult your Human Resource Manager for the implementation of appropriate disciplinary action. - Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Positive reinforcement as a means to achieve organizational vision

A newly hired C.E.O is in quandary on how he would be able to achieve the five years vision of profitability in his new organization.  Considering that his new organization had been losing money for the last three years of its operation. He was asking himself: “How would I achieve this difficult task given to me by the board of directors?”

He therefore studied the current environment of his new organization most specifically the human resource. He found out that the HR has low morale which is understandable considering that the organization had always been losing money for the past three years.

Thinking that a motivated HR could be the main catalyst for the organization’s turnaround he offered the current human resource a generous early retirement package. Seventy percent of the current HR availed of the generous financial package. To replenish the void created by those who retired the CEO instructed the HR manager to recruit young and motivated workforce.

After the strict recruitment program was through the CEO through the HR manager crafted a motivational method called positive reinforcement that would specifically be used for the new crop of human resource. This method of motivation is used to strengthen a good work behavior so that it could repeatedly occur. 

They applied this to all deserving employees by giving them inexpensive but very effective rewards scheme such as: well publicized written citations, tickets that would be used as a permit for free lunch in the canteen and so forth. Those who were average workers took notice of this and they were motivated to work hard as well for the simple reason that they too would want to avail of this motivational incentive.

After five years of using positive reinforcement as a motivational tool the organization was back on its feet again. The financial statements were healthy again and most importantly the entire human resource was working to the best of their abilities.  

What does this tell us being executives or owners of organization? It simply tells us that it pays great dividends to motivate our human resource for the simple reason that they are the most important asset of the organization. 

If you are a leader, manager or someone who handles people in your organization. Think of an inexpensive yet effective motivational technique that you could harness to help your organization achieve its long term vision/s.

Perhaps you could consider positive reinforcement. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Input first before desired output

A company president was evaluating the yearend output of his medical transcription business. He found out that the outputs of his medical transcriptionists were not meeting the required quality standards. So he organized an online forum amongst his employees to thresh out the issues and problems that was bugging them.    

In the forum the medical transcriptionists were complaining about the poor technological and technical support of the organization. Such as online training to upgrade the skills of the transcriptionists, also mentioned was the need for swift technical support.

Many organizational leaders and managers’ today desire quality and sizable output, nothing is wrong with this. But you also have to ask yourself this question: Am I providing my employees their desired inputs?

 Inputs could come in many ways primordial amongst these are: reasonable salary next is good working condition, efficient technological and technical support, effective but not expensive motivational techniques that will help increase their motivation and productivity.

Appropriate human behavior in organization is always contingent upon the inputs or support that we give our human resource. If the inputs that we give them are less desirable we should never expect quality and sizeable output from our human resource.

However, the moment we give our human resource the needed inputs for them to productively behave in the organization. We now have the moral high ground to demand and expect desirable output from them; which they must comply.

Otherwise there should be parting of ways between human resource and the organization. -  Marino J. Dasmarinas 

The fallacy of superiority mindset

Have you encountered a person with a mindset of superiority? She/he is a person who thinks that he is above everyone else. When you talk to him he would always try to impress upon you that what he is saying is always right. That he knows more that what you know and that he is far more superior than you.

In an organizational setting many managers and leaders have this mindset of superiority. They deluge themselves that they are far more superior than their subordinates because they occupy a higher position than they are. Managers and leaders often times think that because of the position and authority that they hold they are automatically above everyone else in his organization.

Can authority, power and position automatically give a manager/leader sweeping superiority over everyone else in an organization? No, it doesn’t give a manager/leader sweeping superiority over everyone else in the organization.

For example in terms of job knowledge. A lower ranked employee who does his job everyday or who is a specialist in his field can easily have superiority over his manager/leader. Therefore it is not healthy for a manager/leader to have a sweeping superiority mindset over his subordinates.

However, where does this feeling and behavior of superiority comes from?  It emanates from the leader/manager’s exaggerated sense of self-importance and arrogance. It originates also from the leader/manager’s lack of humility and it’s his behavioral defense mechanism to conceal his feeling of inferiority.      

A wisdom filled manager/leader should discard whatever trace of superiority in his behavioral system. And he should never put himself in a pedestal for the simple reason that it will never help him effectively manage his office.

In hindsight, it has been proven again and again that great and wisdom filled leaders/managers are those who are humble and those who do not have any sign of superiority mindset. – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Building team spirit in your organization

How do you build team spirit in your organization? Many leaders/managers are leaders and managers that lack the ability to build effective and cohesive organization that works as a team. But how does a manager/leader build team spirit in his organization?

The first action that he should do is to ask himself these three questions: “Am I an effective communicator, do I lead by example  and the last is, do I prioritize the needs of my subordinates over my own needs?

On the aspect of being an effective communicator, what does this mean? This simply means that the leader/manager should allocate time to communicate with his people and what should he communicate? Every communication that is not prohibited for his subordinates to know.

 For example the mission and vision of the organization, the policies, objectives and the discipline of the organization, aside from that the leader/manager should also be able to communicate the targets and goals that he wants to achieve for his own department.

On a personal level, if his subordinate would allow it the leader should know about the family of his subordinates. Thus, the leader will not find it hard to empathize with his people when the situation calls for it.   When you do this you develop the I belong  mentality in the minds of your subordinates. 

On the aspect of leading by example, do you always lead the way for your subordinates and do you walk your talk? For example when you say that your subordinates need to render overtime work, are you there to render overtime work as well? Or you simply let them render overtime without you joining them.

On the aspect of prioritizing the needs of your subordinates over your own needs. For example during office parties or office gatherings/meetings wherein there’s a food to be shared/served. Who gets to eat first? It’s always the boss! He gets the first crack at the food and the subordinates and the lower ranked employees would normally come-in next after the boss.

The boss should reverse this kind of culture if he wants to develop team spirit in his organization. Therefore instead of him having the first crack at the food it should now be the subordinates and the other lower ranked employees who will eat first.

What message are you sending to your subordinates by doing this?  You simply are indirectly telling them that you value them dearly and that their need is more important for you than your own need.  So you can just imagine the team spirit and commitment that you’ll be creating in the minds and hearts of your subordinates. – Marino J. Dasmarinas