Should a Leader be vindictive?

There is a story of a man who was promoted to become the president of a big business corporation. Prior to his promotion he was first strictly evaluated by the Board of Directors of the organization. Those who were opposing his promotion were given the space to talk against him most specifically about his moral fitness for the position.

But because of his sterling performance the BD did not put much value to the valid accusation, thus the man was still promoted. Immediately upon his assumption of office he arrogantly cursed those who opposed him and he made life difficult for them in the organization.

Soon after it created a wedge in the company which resulted to the company’s missing its goals and targets. His arrogance also created factionalism among his subordinates: those who were for him and those who were against him.

After two months his attention was called by the board of directors and he was told to improve the organizational climate and achieve the targets of his organization. But the problem persisted and he was eventually told by the board of directors to resign from his position.

What if he did not become vindictive? What if he simply called for a meeting with those who were opposing him. And extended his hand in reconciliation and told them to move forward and let bygones be bygones? He could have effectively governed his office and in the process achieved its organizational targets.   

Vindictiveness is arrogance it's also power and ego tripping, therefore it has no place in an organization more so in leadership. The leader is only dividing his organization by being vindictive thus this will result in the polarization of his people which will result in the failure of his organization.   

A good and effective leader must be humble, he should be a uniting and not a dividing factor in his organization and most importantly he must not be vindictive. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

President elect Rodrigo Duterte’s communication style

After nine days we now have a new president in waiting in the name of Mr. Rodrigo Duterte. Why was he very successful in communicating his message of change, discipline and honest governance to the Filipino electorate?

Duterte employed simple and ordinary language, language which can easily be understood by the ordinary folks as well as the educated. He communicated himself with authority and conviction and as someone who understands the plight of everyone.

 He also presented himself as himself, in other words what you see is what you get. He presented himself as an iron fisted candidate who will not hesitate to combat, criminality and the menace of illegal drugs. This has been the identity of president elect Duterte even when he was still a mayor for many years in the city of Davao.

By presenting himself as a simple man, by using simple language, by not hiding beneath an identity that was not himself and by presenting himself as a strong leader. He connected with the Filipino people and he effortlessly communicated his message of change and discipline. Thus, Duterte was elected as the next president.    

What can leaders and managers learn from president elect Rodrigo Duterte’s communication style?

1   1.  Use simple language when communicating with your subordinates.

2      2. Be yourself and be sincere don’t pretend whom you’re not.

3    3.  Be simple in your appearance so that your subordinates can identify themselves with you.

 4. Communicate with authority and conviction. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Do you find it hard to connect with your subordinates?

Many managers/leaders find it hard to establish a connection with their subordinates. Connection means establishing a rapport wherein a manager/leader will have a healthy relationship with his people. where there is no barrier that impedes the flow of formal and informal communication between the manager and his subordinates. And if there is no barrier there is a smooth flow of communication that will result to an open and dynamic organizational environment.

How will a manager/leader establish a healthy connection with his subordinates? Here are three for your consideration:

1   1.) He should reach out to his subordinates – Reach out means that he should find time to mingle and talk with them. He should initiate the conversation and not wait for his subordinates to initiate it. If the manager/leader initiates the conversation it shows his humility and willingness to build bridge with his subordinates.

2    2.) He should learn their topics of interest - This means that if your subordinates love to talk about current movies by all means try to learn more about current movies. So that you will have a natural conversation with them.  If their interest is about God and strengthening of family values try to learn about these topics as well. In other words a manager/leader who desires to connect will not hesitate to walk the extra mile to achieve his objective/s.

3    3.)  He should learn to use simple language – This means that you should use simple and easy to understand words. It’s a mistake for a manager/leader to use complicated and hard to understand words, for the reason that this would create an environment of aloofness and egotism.

If you know how to connect with your subordinates you can easily communicate to them your ideas, visions and goals for your organization. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

The connection between humility and effective Leadership

Does humility have a role to play in effective leadership? Yes it does, for without humility there would be no effective leadership. Just imagine a leader who assumes and boasts that he knows it all. How would he be perceived by his followers/subordinates?

He surely would be perceived as arrogant and full of himself by his followers and by that perception the leader doesn’t earn the respect of his followers. And when a leader doesn’t earn the respect of his followers/subordinates there will eventually be a failure of leadership.

When a leader is humble he is always open to listen, always open to learning, to suggestion and so forth. He always creates a welcoming atmosphere in his organization where everyone is encouraged to talk and speak for the good of the organization.

Many leaders are afraid to engage humility in their leadership style because they think that this would weaken their position of leadership. On the contrary humility strengthens the position of leadership for the simple reason that it encourage participation and openness.

It opens the doors and windows of the organization and the position of leadership to fresh ideas and insights. – Marino J. Dasmarinas   

Are you an effective leader?

What defines an effective leader? An effective leader is someone who is followed, respected and obeyed by his subordinates. He very seldom employs fear as a vehicle for him to be followed, respected and obeyed. He simply uses simple yet effective leadership skills to influence and transform his subordinates.

For example, if a leader tells his subordinates to do or follow a certain organizational procedure or method. An effective leader should not simply be satisfied with telling them he should also be the first to lead the way for them.

He should not delegate this responsibility to somebody else no matter how busy his schedules are. He should find time and lead the way himself so that he/she will earn their respect.

Many leaders fail to inspire and influence their subordinates because they love to delegate and they don’t walk their talk. If this is the scenario there would be a failure of leadership for the simple reason that leadership is not about delegation of functions. 

Leadership is all about inspiring and transforming people, it’s about making them think that they could do things positively and effectively. All of these can be done by an effective leader.

Are you an effective leader? – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

I provide Lectures/Talks on Motivation, Leadership, Values and other topics under Organizational Behavior.

I provide Lectures/Talks on Motivation, Leadership, Values and other topics under Organizational Behavior. For more details please get in touch at: mjdasma@yahoo.com, mjdasma@gmail.com.

Tel no. 046-4303668

Ineffective managers vs. Effective managers

Aside from resignation could there be an instance when a manager is not a manager anymore? Yes! There are many instances when a manager is not a manager anymore. We all know that a manager is somebody who is in control of an office. Thus, he/she is the head of the office and every major decision emanates from him/her.

When does it become that an active manager is not a manager anymore or a manager in name only? It’s when there is no semblance of order and discipline in his/her office. It’s when his/her subordinates don’t respect him/her anymore. It’s when he/she fails to achieve the designated targets and objectives of his/her office. Therefore these kind of managers are incompetent or ineffective managers already.

Active or effective managers are those who create a culture of order and discipline in his/her office. This doesn’t mean that he would impose a military type of culture and discipline. But he should always see to it that order and discipline is always a pervading presence in the office that he holds. Thus he/she could do this by leadership by example. If the manager wants order and discipline he/she must first be an epitome of order and discipline otherwise there surely will be a failure of discipline.

Active or effective managers are those who are always respected by his/her subordinates. We all know that respect is always earned, it’s never given freely. Therefore if a manager wants respect from his/her people he/she should be competent in his/her job. It means that he/she should exert effort to know his/her job and it does not end by knowing his/her job alone.

He/she should also know the job of his/her subordinates. How could he/she effectively manage his/her office if the job that he/she only knows is his/her own job only? How could he/she earn the respect of his subordinates if he/she doesn’t know what they are doing?

Active or effective managers are those who always achieve or even exceed the designated targets and objectives of his/her office. This he/she could do best by harnessing the tools of management such as Planning, Organizing, Leading and Controlling.

Are you an Ineffective manager or an effective manager? – Marino J. Dasmarinas