Do you want to be more productive? Begin by trusting your subordinates

Gerry is a department manager in a semiconductor related organization. He is workaholic and a micro manager; he is always first to report for work and last to leave the office. He is very particular with every detail of the work of his subordinates. Therefore, it seems to him that there is not enough time for him to accomplish what he is supposed to accomplish.

Nothing is wrong with Gerry’s being workaholic but being a micro manager? A micro manager is a boss who is a control freak and obsessed with his power.  When a boss has this mentality it strongly signifies his lack of trust towards his subordinates. Lack of trust which constricts his productivity.  

When we throw out of the window our micromanagement styles, we also begin to invite trust to come into our doors. What can trust do to our workplace environment? Trust invites workplace productivity and our employees’ cooperation and engagement. Employees who are trusted are motivated to work hard thus they are productive citizens of the organization.

But how are we going to communicate trust? Is it enough to tell our subordinates that we trust them and that’s it already? Of course not! Among other things, trust is communicated by loosening overly restrictive organizational control mechanism.

By sharing vital but not classified information to our subordinates. This we can best do during staff meetings or even during ordinary workplace conversation. When we share information to our subordinates, we communicate to them that they belong and are close to us. This solidifies the bond amongst the manager and subordinates and it also creates an invisible feeling of responsibility.     

When we bequeath trust to our subordinates, we also eliminate our micromanagement and control freak styles of management. Which are counterproductive to an organization for it stifles productivity and growth. 

But of course, we have to carefully choose the subordinates whom we would bestow trust. We should not trust our subordinates simply because they are close to us. We should trust those who are competent, hard workers and those who have potential for growth. – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

How do you approach motivation?

The story is told about Romy, a forty years old supervisor in an online retail store. He had no negative and derogatory record in his almost twenty years of working. However, his manager noticed his lack of motivation.  He was simply going thru the motions of his work: no drive and no enthusiasm whatsoever.

So, the manager talked to Romy and asked him if he could help him if he has problem in his work or whatever is going on in his life. Romy curtly replied, “Nothing everything is ok.” Another two weeks had passed and his work behavior and performance were still mediocre. Considering that he was paid well and the non-monetary package of benefits was also excellent.The manager was clueless on what was the cause of his demotivation. 

Like the manager, many of us may think that money and benefits are the be all and end all of motivation.  Money and benefits are only a component of the motivational puzzle. Therefore, it’s not the be all and end all of motivation. There’s more to motivation than money and benefits.

Since these two were already out of the question of his demotivation. The manager engaged this former productive employee more often. This he did by talking to him more often, by giving him more responsibilities and giving him voice during staff meetings. Slowly but surely the performance of Romy rose up again and he was even promoted to the next higher rank.

Motivation is a complex thing, it’s not simply about money and benefits. It involves human relations and behavior. It involves employee’s social engagement inside and outside of their work. Motivation is the fusion of efforts and ideas by the employee and manager. Motivation is also about having a safe and conducive work environment and the like.

Motivation is dynamic and not static that’s why effective and good leaders think every now and then how to fuel the motivation of their subordinates.   

How are you as a motivator? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Do you allow pressure in your workplace to pressure you?

How are you handling pressure in your workplace? Do you allow it to pressure you or you simply let pressure be by itself?

Many managers and leaders allow pressure in the workplace to pressure them. Thus, it creates so many complications in their lives and health. When we allow pressure in the workplace to pressure us, we become stressed. We cannot function properly, why? Because we have allowed the pressure of work to pressure us and it results to stress at work.

Not only that it results to being stressed at work it also complicate our wellbeing. Our blood pressure shoots up, we become anxious. We unintentionally create conflicts with our subordinates and peers and so forth.

Some of us bring this pressure at work to our homes and what is the negative effect of this to our family’s wellbeing? Friction is easily ignited in the family. Sometimes there is shouting match between spouses and sometimes between parents and children. And who is the culprit? Our mishandling of pressure at work for we allowed it to stress us.

So, what is the cure? The cure is not to allow workplace pressure to pressure us. Let us let pressure exist by itself until it passes us. How are we going to go about it? We have to put things at work in its proper order and then simply work hard and leave pressure by itself alone.  

We can do this by concentrating in our work, pressure at work happens for the simple reason that we are not concentrating at work. By not concentrating we allow work to pressure us. For example, when we are given so many tasks by our boss, we become rattled and we already don’t know which work to do first.

So, what are we going to do? We simply have to concentrate on the work given to us according to its importance. Let us not allow it to pressure us otherwise it would create havoc in our wellbeing. We have to remember that we are humans and not machines. Even machines/computers break down when subjected to so much pressure.   

At the end of the day we have to remember that if not handled wisely and properly workplace pressure or stress can kill us anytime. We therefore have to manage pressure in the workplace by not allowing it to pressure us. We simply have to give it our all when we work minus the pressure and that is already enough.  -  Marino J. Dasmarinas 

On winning respect in an argument

Have you been involved in an argument in your workplace? Arguments occurs in the workplace every now and then. It happens during meetings, lunchbreaks and discussions. By virtue of their senior status in the workplace these arguments are normally won by the person who occupies the higher position. 

But the fact is not everyone who wins an argument earns the respect of the person whom they’ve argued with. So, how does one win an argument and respect at the same time? There are four (4) ways that I want to suggest:

1. Don’t bully your way to win an argument. By virtue of their higher status in the organization many managers/leaders would try to bully their way to win an argument. They are usually successful using this bullying tactic. However, when it comes to earning respect of their subordinate whom they’ve argued with, they actually fail. Therefore, don’t use any form of bullying tactic during arguments.

2. Be mindful when the person whom you are arguing with is talking. Listen and be present, in other words; don’t be physically present but mentally wandering elsewhere.

3. Acknowledge the thoughts and ideas of the person whom you are arguing with even if its wrong. And then in a gentle manner put forward your own thoughts and ideas.   

4. Close the argument on a positive note by saying, “Thank you for your time and ideas or any words to that effect.” – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Guidelines to become a good and effective leader

Joshua is a newly appointed company president of an information technology related organization. When he was appointed company president. The most senior member of the board of directors told him this: “Be a good and effective leader so that you could lead this organization as it marches forward to the 21^st century.

How does one become a good and effective leader of an organization?

1. To be an effective leader a person must have a vision for his organization. If he is a department/division head of an organization.  His vision must not be separated from the vision of his mother organization. It should be closely allied with his mother organization. For example, a big organization always has vision for itself. Therefore, an effective leader who leads one of the departments of the big organization should have a version of his own vision that is closely allied to the vision of his mother organization.

2. To be an effective leader a person should learn how to embrace vulnerability. This simply means that he must learn to accept that even if he is the leader of his organization, he still doesn’t know it all. Vulnerability simply means willingness to accept correction even if you are the leader. Listening to the inputs, suggestions and ideas of others and accept them if need be.

3. To be an effective leader a person should be mindful of the needs of his subordinates. Mindful means being sensitive to the emotions of his subordinates. Mindful means to always be ready to have a listening and attentive ear to the valid gripes, opinions and complains of your subordinates.

4. To be an effective leader a person must always lead by example. Remember the principle of the Domino Effect? A domino effect is the collective effect created when one occurrence results to a chain of similar occurrence. For example, a leader who tells his subordinates to report for work early should be the first one to report early. The occurrence/event is the leader’s coming to work early. The effect of his coming to work early results to a chain of similar occurrence towards his subordinates.

5.  To be an effective leader a person must know how to observe respect so that he will command respect from his subordinates. We have to remember that respect is always earned and not given freely. Imagine a leader who wants respect but doesn’t observe respect? How then will he be respected by his underlings? Imagine a leader who often uses vulgar language in his utterances. Would he earn the respect of his underlings by using vulgar language?

6. To be an effected leader a person should still be calm under a pressure packed situation. This simply means that even under a pressure packed situation the leader should remain calm. And not be rattled by the pressing event that surrounds him. Think of a police/military commander whose detachment is under attack by enemies. Would he earn the respect of his subordinates if he behaves like a headless chicken under that dangerous situation?    

7. To be an effective leader a person must always remain humble no matter how accomplished he is. Have you seen a bamboo tree? The taller it becomes the more flexible it becomes to bow or bend. An effective leader must be like that as well. The higher that he ascends the organizational hierarchy the humbler that he must become.

8. To be an effective leader a person must be a paragon of honestly. Benjamin Franklin once said: “Honesty is the best policy.” It’s still today, honesty is still the bets policy. Whatever we have accomplished in life if its tainted with deceit, corruption and dishonesty amounts to nothing. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

How do you modernize without upsetting your employees?

Leni is a newly assigned production manager in a manufacturing organization. During the first week of her assumption of office she noticed the need to upgrade and computerize the manufacturing department’s equipment and machines. But she was in a dilemma because the upgrade and computerization would require the displacement of half of the current manufacturing employees. She was asking herself: “How would I go about this?”

Leni’s dilemma is not her own only. In this age of modernization and hi-technological advancement. Many organizational leaders and managers are also in the same boat as Leni. How would they modernize without antagonizing their employees?     

Organizational modernization is like a force of nature that no one of us can avoid. If an organization wants to survive its journey toward the 21^st century it must embrace modernization otherwise it would be left behind. But the sad part of modernization is the need for organizations to shed a sizeable number of its employees.   

The Catch-22 filled question now is, how would a leader/manager go about it without upsetting the employees? Since the need to modernize is inevitable, the leader/manager must not do it abruptly so as not to antagonize its employees.

Why? For the simple reason that the leader/manager is inviting trouble to come in when she/he antagonize the employees.  Therefore, a good and effective leader/manager must do it in such a way that modernization should proceed as smooth as possible.

This smooth transition to modernity should be done slowly but surely. Therefore, employees should not be kept in the dark regarding this matter. This transition should be done with utmost transparency and openness. And the employees who would be affected by the modernization shall be properly informed and compensated.

In hindsight, this should also the method that ought to be followed. When a certain organizational department/division decides to embrace change to enter the door of modernization. It should transition slowly but surely so as not to immediately upset the current organizational set-up of its employees.   

As the saying goes, haste make waste. Same goes when an organization decides to hastily enter the door of modernization. Therefore, organizational leaders and managers must carefully balance the pros and cons of their decision. Vis-a-vis the most important resource of an organization which is its employees or human resource. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

On sustaining the gains of an off-site team building

A few months ago I assisted in the conduct of a two days team building session. Seeing the organization break the barriers of communication and alienation was very fulfilling to say the least. Before we ended the top executives of the organization imparted their views on how they appreciate the improved functional and cross-functional relationships among them.

They said that, the invisible walls which formerly isolated individuals and departments were broken. And they now have a one team one vision mentality.  However, as I was listening to them, I asked myself this question: “Would they be able to sustain the gains of the team building session and who will lead it?”

Who will lead the program and how will she/he keep the fire of the team spirit burning? The driver of course is the CEO/Manager. He should see to it that the gains of the team building session is sustained to the hilt. Until the next off-site team building session comes along.

To be able to sustain the team spirit gained in the off-site team building session managers/leaders may want take a look at these two guidelines:

       1. Encourage communication and openness in the organization – What makes an off-site team building exercise/game successful? It’s communication the team that communicates effectively is the team that wins the activity/game. The team that does not effectively communicates doesn’t win. Therefore, managers should see to it that this culture of effective communication is brought and harnessed inside the organization. Communication is like an oil being poured into a rusted bicycle chain. It eliminates rust which creates cranking sound, it strengthens the chain and it exposes the weak links in the chain so that can be replaced or repaired. This is also what communications does to an organization.    

         2. Make the hierarchical organizational structure invisible as the need arises – One of the effects of organizational hierarchy is it creates unintended division. Notice during lunch breaks, who normally are present on a table for lunch? It’s the employees who are in the level of the same organizational hierarchy. For example, lower level managers cluster themselves on a table during lunch time. Same case with the middle level, top level managers and the ordinary employees. They create their own clusters which is divisive and sometimes elitist.

It’s very rare to see lunch tables with cluster of employees from different hierarchies. But truth be told, its during this instance that the organizational hierarchy should be made invisible. Why?  To continue to promote cross-functional team spirit and openness inside the organization.

What do you think? – Marino J. Dasmarinas