Month: April 2021

Are you pushing your employees to stop caring for the organization?

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment

“The biggest concern for any organization should be when their most passionate people become quiet.”
Bridgette Hyacinth

Back in the day when Fast Bank and Trust (FEBTC) was one of the best banks to work for, I mustered up the courage to apply for a job in their IT Division. Four sets of interviews, and a month after, I received a list of hiring requirements. I was ecstatic about the opportunity. Only about 20% of the applicants got in.

There are numerous things to learn in the field of Information Technology. Before joining FEBTC, I gathered a good number of years of experience as a developer. I was gradually moving into IT support. The primary goal of my function is to maintain and support the software and hardware requirements of the Bank employees. I had a dozen support engineers who perform scheduled maintenance of the hardware and software in the Head office and the different branches across the country.

I was pumped up with passion, reporting to work on the first day. The team I was managing was also excited about their work. They clearly understood the value they bring into the Bank. We cannot afford to have our IT infrastructure fail us, especially during banking hours.

As expected from a new hire working for my dream company, my first few months were full of new learnings. I reported to their IT facility, eager to work and serve the Bank and the employees.

The first impression of my new manager was great. He said all the right things like, “We are all one team here,” “You can always come to me for questions, I have an open-door policy,” “We welcome new ideas in our department.”

As the months go by, I started noticing that his words did not match his actions. Every time I requested a bit of coaching, he would always politely say that his calendar is already full for the week. We can try next week. He would be quick to shoot down ideas raised by the team in several brainstorming exercises for essential projects. Not only were the suggestions shot down, but it was also unfortunate that the person presenting got a bit of scolding. 

In several meetings, he claimed that the successful idea was from him. He seemed to forget to give credit to the people who took his ideas and execute them. 

Six months later, I noticed that the team stopped suggesting ideas in meetings. People also started to fear raising bad news. The team stressed that the messenger of bad news would get shot. Unfortunately, this feeling also got to me. I started keeping quiet in meetings. We just allowed our manager to run it the way he wishes. We kept silent for another reason. Keeping quiet allowed us to gather information from the ensuing discussions, so it was not so bad.

You can feel the energy level of the team drop to the ground. Our manager managed to extinguish our passion for our work. Some of the team members started reaching out to head hunters.

Fortunately, our manager was promoted. Yes, he was promoted to another function away from us. His successor was a true blue leader. Our new manager walks the talk. In a few short months, our passion returned, our motivational levels went through the roof.

Leaders! Let us not push our people to stop caring for our organizations. As the old saying goes, “Employees join companies. They do not leave companies. They leave their managers.”

Stay safe,

Jordan Imutan
jordan@imutan.com (email)
@jordanimutan (social media)

Greatness is for others

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment
Photo by fauxels on Pexels.com

“Greatness is not for you — it’s not for your benefit. Greatness is not about being famous nor even about being appreciated by others. Greatness lies in being of service to others, participating in creating a better world, and calling others to greatness.” Jesse Lyn Stoner

“D” was a career Barclays Banker from the United Kingdom. The largest commercial bank in the Middle East hired him to lead a significant part of their Banking Operations. Our banking operations at the time had around 1,600 of the 10,000 employees. In 2019, the Bank generated SR11.4 Billion ($3,000,000,000) in net profits. In the same year, they reported SR507 Billion ($43,000,000,000) in assets. This 2021, NCB bought out the Saudi American Bank (formerly a CitiBank affiliate) despite the pandemic.

At this point in my career, I had the opportunity to report to a Filipino, American, Saudi, and New Zealand National. Yes, “D” has a dry sense of humor like most British nationals I have met. In hindsight, “D” has exemplified servant leadership, although he claims that he is an atheist.

Let me share this in the form of bullet points:

1. Clear Vision. He would take the time to explain to us the vision of the function. His habit of describing a particular goal or project objective is so easy that everyone in the room would understand what he expects from us. Most of the time, he would stand up and draw on the whiteboard. He knew that images tend to be easily understood. He was very keen on clear communication as well.

2. Leadership Development. Mentoring us came easy and intentionally from “D”. Feedback was immediate and fair. Praises were given in public. Reprimands were done in the privacy of a closed office or meeting room. In a tough feedback session, he would have the humility and control to hold his thoughts and allow us to explain our side. Unlike most leaders where you are guilty until proven innocent, he would make sure to hear us out first. Hearing us out was done genuinely. He wanted to understand. It was not your typical “hearing out the direct report” to find holes to shoot at.

You would see “D” spending most of his time on his people agenda. He would discuss, provide constructive feedback, hold interviews of new hires for his Division, and perform performance appraisals. He does not look to pass or fail people. He looks for ways to get his people to get “A’s”

3. Training. Dave is a firm believer in training and development. He would even get approvals for an additional training budget should we happen to consume the funds by mid-year.

4. Rules are never broken. D believes that once you start breaking or bending the rule, then you create chaos. Most of the organizational dissatisfaction stems from bending the rules for certain people.

Case in point, I had a direct report whose mother was in the hospital for a prolonged period. The health coverage limit was already exhausted. Her son, who reported to me, had to find alternative funding. He came to me asking for a top-up salary loan. Unfortunately, the rule we had was that we have to fully pay our salary loan before applying for a new one. It was an emergency.

I empathised with my direct report and signed the exemption form from HR.. It needed the signature of the Sector Head. I walked over to the office of “D”. I was confident that “D” also has a mom and sign the exemption form.

He looks at the document, reads it, looks up at me. He quietly handed me the unsigned form. He said that he could not sign it. He then explains that one of the biggest problems he had to fix when he joined was the low morale of the Division. The previous Sector head had signed for a lot of policy exemptions. He had a huge heart for his team, and his intentions were pure.

However, the exemptions lit up a lot of internal feuds. People are claiming favoritisms. One employee gets a gasoline allowance exception when another employee does not get it, even if they are in the same position. Another employee has his wife and children in the HMO as an exemption, while another employee does not.

Although “D” cannot sign the exemption form due to the HR policy, he passed the hat. He took out an empty brown envelope from his side drawer. He pinched a few bills from his wallet and placed them inside the envelope. I then understood that we would raise money to give to my direct report.

5. “Passing the credit.” I have never seen “D” take credit for any of the achievements in our Division. He would always thank the team in public. If the Bank CEO or the owners credit him for a job well done, he would be quick to draw and pass the credit to his team. He does not just casually give credit to the team. He would name the team member and what each has contributed to the achievement.

I can go on and on but let me leave you with a thought. “D” understands that the greatness of his Division does not come from him. “D” understands that greatness comes from his people.

We have to have a clear intention to develop our people. Now that is truly a servant leader.

Thank you very much “D” for everything I learned from your leadership.

Thank you and stay safe,

Jordan Imutan

jordan@imutan.com (email)
@jordanimutan (social media)

On Ken Blanchard’s article – Coaching and Servant Leadership go hand in hand

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment
Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

I never knew how to articulate the connection between servant leadership and coaching until I came across an article from Ken Blanchard. 

Come to think of it; coaching is indeed an integral part of servant leadership. Christ himself, the model for servant leadership, coached the twelve disciplines for a few years before giving them the “Great Commission” written in Matthew 28:19-20a

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

The twelve disciples then continued to use servant leadership in the development of other disciples. Over 2,000 years later, Christianity has 32% of the world’s population. On the other hand, the authoritarian leadership of the Roman Empire no longer has a stronghold of the world. The once-great Roman Empire ceased to exist in the 5th Century AD.

Leadership needs to prepare new servant leaders. Having a sense of the long game is the only way any organization can survive the test of time. Authoritarian leadership, on the other hand, will eventually destroy the organization. Worse, an organization collapses after the autocratic leader leaves because the remaining leaders are not prepared to grow the organization.

I will keep saying that leaders do not build organizations. Great leaders develop great people and fellow leaders. Great people create great organizations. 

A powerfully embedded coaching program wrapped in a servant leadership culture can ensure organizational longevity in the long game of what we call “business.”

I encourage everyone to read Ken Blanchard’s article by clicking HERE:

Thank you and stay safe,

Jordan Imutan
jordan@imutan.com (email)
@jordanimutan (social media)