Tag: Leadership

Get Ahead With EQ: How to Improve Your Emotional Intelligence Skills for Leadership Success

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment

If you want to make your way to the top of the corporate ladder, there’s one skill that is key: emotional intelligence (EQ).

It’s an important skill for successful leadership and can mean the difference between a promotion and staying stuck in the same position. EQ is all about understanding human behavior and emotions, being able to identify them in yourself and others, and using that knowledge to work effectively with others.

If you’re looking to boost your EQ skills, look no further. We’ve put together all the information you need to know on this topic. In this article, we’ll cover the basics of emotional intelligence and provide tips on how to develop those skills in order to get ahead in your career. Let’s get started!

What Is Emotional Intelligence in Leadership?

When we talk about emotional intelligence (EQ) in leadership, we’re referring to the ability to recognize and manage our own emotions, as well as the emotions of others. It’s an important quality for any leader and it can have a significant impact on how effective and successful they are.

Having strong EQ skills can help leaders make better decisions, communicate more effectively with their team, and build meaningful relationships with their colleagues. It can also give them insight into how best to handle challenging or unpredictable circumstances—such as motivating a team during difficult times or dealing with an emotionally charged situation in the workplace.

Ultimately, developing your emotional intelligence can help you stay ahead of the game—both professionally and personally. Not only will it lead to greater success in your chosen field, but it’ll also allow you to be a better leader by understanding yourself and those around you more deeply.

How Does EQ Impact Leadership Success?

It’s no secret that having strong emotional intelligence (EQ) skills can help you become a better leader. But why? To put it simply, EQ is about understanding and managing your own emotions as well as recognizing and responding to the emotions of others. When it comes to leadership, this means developing the ability to recognize and understand emotions in order to create better relationships with team members, find solutions to conflicts, and promote collaboration among teams.

Research has shown that emotionally intelligent leaders:

Are better able to make decisions and solve problems

Have stronger relationships with team members

Are more successful in leading change initiatives

Are more effective at motivating team members

Achieve higher levels of success in their roles

Leaders who possess strong EQ skills also have a greater ability to inspire trust among their teams. Trust is essential for any relationship—but it’s especially so between a leader and his or her team. After all, if you don’t trust your leader, do you really want to follow them? It’s so important that it’s been said that the most successful leaders are those who are able to build trust among their teams.

What Are the Components of Emotional Intelligence?

When it comes to understanding emotional intelligence, there are certain components to consider. These include self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, empathy and relationship management.

Self-awareness

At its core, self-awareness is about having a deep understanding of how you feel in different situations. It means recognizing your emotional states and how your reactions affect others. As a leader, this is important because you need to be aware of your emotions before you can effectively manage them and respond to others in a way that’s useful for the business.

Self-management

Self-management is about understanding and being able to control your emotions in difficult situations. As a leader, this is especially important to help you stay focused when faced with challenges or criticism. It also means being able to manage stress and take appropriate risks — something that’s key for success in any business environment.

Social Awareness

This component of emotional intelligence focuses on understanding the feelings of others — particularly those who report directly to you or are part of the team working on your projects. This doesn’t mean just tuning into their emotions; it’s being able to identify what they’re feeling so you can respond appropriately and support them when needed.

Empathy

Empathy goes beyond recognizing the emotions of those around you; it means having an understanding of where they are coming from on an individual level. As a leader, this helps create trust within the team by showing that you understand their perspectives, even if their beliefs differ from yours – essential for collaboration between team members.

Relationship Management

Being able to effectively manage relationships means being

What Are the Benefits of Emotional Intelligence for Leaders?

You might be wondering why it’s worth investing your time in improving your emotional intelligence skills. After all, there’s a lot of other aspects to being a leader.

Well, developing your emotional intelligence actually offers a lot of benefits for leaders, which can help you become more effective and successful:

Enhances Your Ability to Communicate and Connect

Having strong emotional intelligence means that you have better insight into yourself and others. This improves your ability to relate to people on a deeper level, allowing you to read peoples’ reactions better so you can adjust your communication style accordingly. This helps allow meaningful connections with people and improved morale amongst employees.

Makes You More Open-Minded

People with higher emotional intelligence often display more open-mindedness in their approach to problem solving, as they are more capable of understanding other people’s perspectives and empathizing with them. Having an open mind is essential for effective leadership and makes it easier to collaborate with others in decision making processes.

Improves Stress Management Skills

The self-awareness aspect of emotional intelligence helps leaders better identify sources of stress and take proactive steps to reduce it as much as possible. In addition, strong EQ skills also lead to increased confidence in dealing with stressful situations as they arise — effectively helping leaders stay calm under pressure.

How Do I Develop My Emotional Intelligence Skills?

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a step-by-step checklist to help you improve your EQ? Well, there is! Developing your emotional intelligence skills requires building awareness of both your own emotions and those of others. Here are a few strategies that can help:

Self-reflection

Start by reflecting on the situations in which you find yourself. Take time to pay attention to your emotion and how they impact your thinking and behavior. Ask yourself questions like: What emotions am I feeling? Why am I feeling them? How do they affect my decisions?

Improve Your Listening Skills

Pay attention to not just the words, but also the tone, facial expressions, and body language of those around you. Try to identify the underlying emotions that might be behind someone’s communications—and develop an understanding about why those feelings exist.

Improve Your Empathy

Empathy is a key component of emotional intelligence and involves understanding another person’s perspective. That means learning how to put yourself in another person’s shoes and listening deeply with an open mind and heart. This can be incredibly difficult, but it’s essential for successful communication with customers, colleagues, partners, etc.

Ask for Feedback

No one has all the answers when it comes to developing emotional intelligence skills, so don’t be afraid to get feedback from others—especially people who have skills you would like to emulate. Ask them what steps they took to develop the emotional understanding they have now. Use their advice as a roadmap for your own development journey.

Top Tips for Improving Your EQ for Leadership Success

A key factor for success in any leadership role is the ability to understand emotions, both your own and those of the people around you. Developing this emotional intelligence, or EQ, is essential in order to navigate both yourself and the atmosphere around you in the workplace. Here are some top tips for improving your EQ:

Listen actively

Listening actively involves not interrupting and focusing on what someone is saying intently. This useful skill also means repeating back what you hear to show that you have understood—this can be a great way to increase understanding, as well as building bridges with those around you.

Take responsibility

Being able to take responsibility for yourself and acknowledge when things have gone wrong is a sign of good EQ. Being prepared to stand up and apologize or make amends shows integrity, maturity and strength to those around you.

Show empathy

Empathy means being able to understand how another person feels—it does not always mean agreeing with them but rather acknowledging their feelings. When faced with a situation where someone else is angry or upset, empathizing will help diffuse tensions and avoid further distress.

Allow yourself time

If faced with a difficult situation in which emotions are running high it can be hard not to react immediately or get drawn into arguments that deal with only surface issues rather than the root cause. Give yourself time before responding by taking a step back, counting up to 10 if necessary, so that you can think rather than just act on impulse.

In conclusion, developing your emotional intelligence is essential for success in leadership roles. EQ allows you to better understand and manage your emotions, create relationships with your colleagues, recognize, and empathize with other people’s emotions, and better recognize how to respond to different situations.

Leaders who have a strong understanding of their emotions and those of others gain a greater insight into the team dynamics and are better equipped to make decisions that are in the best interest of those they lead. A leader with a high EQ is better able to get the best out of their team and achieve their goals. With the right guidance and support, anyone can sharpen their EQ skills and become a better leader.

Master the Art of Delegation: How to Empower Your Team and Get More Done

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment

Do you feel like you’re constantly running around in circles, trying to get everything done? Are there tasks piling up so quickly that you can barely keep up with them? It sounds like it might be time for you to master the art of delegation.

Delegating is the process of entrusting specific tasks and responsibilities to team members — and it’s an essential skill if you want to successfully manage a team. Sure, delegating projects can be intimidating — but it is possible to delegate without giving up control or authority over your team.

In this article, we’ll discuss a few tips on mastering the art of delegation. You’ll learn how to identify which tasks should and shouldn’t be delegated, what questions to ask when assigning tasks, and the best ways to empower your team members so they can succeed at the tasks they’ve been given. Let’s dive in!

What Is Delegation and Why It’s Important

Learning the art of delegation is key to unlocking success as a leader. It’s all about striking the right balance between taking responsibility for tasks and handing them over to your team. Delegation gives you a chance to empower your team and get more done.

So, what is delegation? It’s simply assigning tasks, projects or decisions to a member of your team, while clearly outlining the responsibilities and leave of absence associated with that task. Setting clear expectations helps make sure everyone involved knows what needs to be accomplished, who’s responsible for it, and how it fits into the bigger picture.

When done right, delegation can be one of the most powerful tools for harnessing collective creativity, leveraging the unique skillset of each team member and helping everyone grow as individuals and as a team. Not only does it free up your own time for higher-level tasks, but it also builds trust with your team members; by entrusting them with responsibility and boosting their confidence in their ability to make decisions in their area of expertise.

Preparing Yourself to Delegate Effectively

No one expects you to just jump into delegating without any preparation. Before you start handing off tasks, there are a few things you can do to make sure that the delegation process goes smoothly and yields good results.

First, make sure that you have a clear understanding of your role and goals as well as the roles and goals of each team member. It’s important to keep in mind the skills and abilities of each team member when deciding what tasks to delegate—you don’t want to give someone a task that they’re not equipped to handle.

Second, set expectations for the delegating process. This means being clear about deadlines, communication protocols, and expectations for feedback on progress. And if there are any resources or materials needed for a specific task, they must be provided in advance in order for delegation to work properly.

Finally, it’s vital that the person doing the delegating is available to answer questions or provide clarification when needed. Without this support, it can be difficult for team members to feel comfortable taking ownership of their tasks and succeeding with them.

Setting Clear Goals and Expectations

If you want to really empower your team and be successful in delegating tasks, it’s essential to set clear goals and expectations. That way, your team will understand what is expected of them and can work accordingly to make sure that the job gets done right the first time.

Here are some tips for setting clear goals and expectations:

Research & Prep

Before you start delegating tasks, take some time to research the task or project at hand so that you can understand what needs to be done. Doing this will also help you understand exactly what is expected from your team and make things easier for them.

Set Deadlines

Make sure to set a timeline for when each task needs to be completed by. This will help keep your team on track and keep them motivated. You can also hold them accountable if they miss deadlines.

Create Guidelines

Provide instructions or guidelines for how each task should be done, including any specific requirements or preferences that you may have. This will help ensure that the job is done correctly and help give your team a better understanding of what is expected of them.

Finding the Right People to Delegate To

Once you’ve decided what tasks to delegate, who do you delegate them to? Finding the right people is critical for successful delegation. Here are a few tips to help you find the best-suited people for the job:

Assess each person’s talents and skills

Take the time to assess each team member’s skills and talents so you can determine which person is best-suited for a certain task. Ask yourself which members of your team have the expertise necessary for a project or task, as well as which members have the capacity to take on more responsibility.

Ask around

Don’t be afraid to ask your team members what tasks they would like to take on. This will help you identify passionate individuals who may be looking for a chance to shine. Hearing their ideas can also help boost morale and make employees feel more empowered in their roles.

Leverage technology

If your team is remote or distributed, leverage technology and tools like polls and surveys to quickly identify who on your team has skills and experience in certain areas. This will help you quickly identify who would be able to take on certain tasks or projects.

By assessing each person’s talents and skills, asking around and leveraging technology, you can easily find the right people for delegating tasks — empowering your team to work more efficiently while freeing up your time too.

Monitoring Progress and Offering Support

Monitoring progress and offering support is an integral part of delegation. It’s not enough to simply assign tasks and leave your team to their own devices. You need to check in periodically and provide support where needed. Fortunately, there are several ways to do this effectively:

Create performance review procedures

Creating a system of performance reviews will help you monitor your team’s progress and identify areas where you may need to provide additional support. During these reviews, you can discuss any feedback or feedback, as well as opportunities for growth or improvement.

Set specific goals and objectives

Setting clear goals and objectives for each assigned task helps keep your team on track and ensures that they stay focused on the task at hand. When necessary, you can provide additional resources or guidance to help them meet these goals in a timely manner.

Provide ongoing training opportunities

Providing ongoing training opportunities is essential for helping your team stay up-to-date on the most current industry trends and practices. This not only helps them stay ahead of their peers but it also helps you ensure that they are knowledgeable enough to complete the tasks they have been assigned with confidence.

By monitoring progress, setting clear goals and objectives, and providing ongoing training opportunities, you can help ensure that your team is empowered and successful in their delegated tasks.

Tips on How to Reassign Unfinished Tasks

If you’re looking to master the art of delegation, one of the best ways to do it is to reassign unfinished tasks. If a member of your team has been assigned a task and can’t complete it for whatever reason, then you need to make sure that it gets reassigned to someone else.

Here are a few tips on how to reassign unfinished tasks:

Make sure that everyone on the team knows who is responsible for what tasks. This will help ensure everyone is aware of who needs help and will make it easier to reassign tasks if needed.

Communicate clearly when delegating new tasks and follow up regularly so that everyone knows what’s happening with each project. This will help ensure that no task falls through the cracks and gets forgotten about.

Have an open line of communication between members of your team so they can keep each other updated on their progress and any changes that may need to be made in order for them to complete their work on time.

Foster collaboration within your team by encouraging people to work together on projects when they are able to do so, instead of assigning individual tasks which can lead to delays in completion if someone runs into difficulty or has a question about the project.

Assign clear deadlines for completion of each task and make sure all team members are held accountable for meeting them, as this will help ensure progress continues in a timely manner even if there is an unexpected delay due to illness or other issues outside of their control.

By following these tips, you’ll be well on your way towards mastering the art of delegation and empowering your team to get more done with less effort!

Learning the art of delegation is essential for managers and team leaders. By delegating the right tasks to the right people and trusting in your team, you can create a culture of empowerment and enable your team to unlock their true potential.

It can be difficult to let go of the reins sometimes, but remember that delegating allows you to increase focus, maximize efficiency, and develop trust in your team to do the job as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Delegation is a crucial leadership skill, and when done correctly, it can have a transformative impact on your team and the success of your organization. Mastering the art of delegation is a great way to get more done and empower your team in the process.

Strategies for Building Resilience as a Leader: Don’t Let Setbacks Stop You

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment

As a leader, it’s your job to stay focused, motivated and resilient—even when faced with challenges and setbacks. That’s because resilience isn’t just a mental attitude; it’s an essential leadership skill that can determine the success of your initiatives.

We all go through times of difficulty and adversity, but how we respond to these moments makes all the difference. For leaders, this means having the right strategies in place to help you bounce back from difficult times and stay determined and focused on achieving your goals.

This article will look at what resilience is as a leader, how you can build up your own resilience skills to handle challenging situations, and give you practical advice on how to avoid getting stuck in a negative feedback loop when failures happen. Let’s get started.

What Is Resilience and Why Is It Important for Leaders?

Highly resilient people have an amazing ability to take on anything and come out on top. If the definition of resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties, leaders must absolutely embody this quality. After all, if you plan to manage a team and lead them successfully, you need to be able to manage setbacks with grace, learn from failures and keep moving forward.

Why is resilience important for leaders? First and foremost, leaders are tasked with motivating and inspiring their team. This requires leading by example—if as a leader, you give up easily or appear flustered by small setbacks, your team is likely to follow suit. Having a highly resilient leader fosters an environment of innovation, development and growth by setting the tone that it’s ok (and even beneficial) to take risks and be adaptable in the face of change.

Additionally, it helps boost performance: research shows that resilient people have better problem-solving capabilities and more effective coping mechanisms when faced with uncertainty or adversity. Finally, resilience strengthens relationships since it helps us handle negative emotions better.

Understanding Your Own Resilience Levels

When it comes to being a resilient leader, it’s not just about bouncing back from the hard times—but also understanding your own resilience levels. Building resilience starts with understanding where you currently stand, identifying your unique strengths and weaknesses, and then taking steps to make sure that you are ready for whatever comes your way.

The first step is to learn how to observe and recognize the signs of stress in yourself and others. This includes noticing physical tension, changes in energy levels, communication styles or emotional reactions. This can give you insight into when it’s time to take a break or shift focus towards something that is more manageable.

The next step is to build up a toolkit of strategies that will help you stay resilient during tough times. This could include meditation, breathing exercises, making lists or venting in a safe space with trusted friends. Knowing which techniques work for you will ensure that you remain calm and focused when faced with challenges or setbacks.

Challenging Your Beliefs About Setbacks

It’s human nature to want to avoid or deny hard times when they hit, but you don’t have to get stuck in a rut of negativity. Instead, you can use your setbacks as an opportunity to grow and develop.

One way to do this is by challenging your beliefs about setbacks. When faced with a challenge, it’s easy to label it as a “failure” and think about it in terms of what you didn’t achieve. But if you take a step back and look at the experience more objectively, you may find something of value in the lessons learned along the way.

For example:

Instead of seeing a setback as an ending point, view it as a springboard for taking further action.

Embrace the idea that becoming resilient is all about looking for solutions and questioning whether the setback was actually such a bad thing after all.

Change your perspective on failure by seeing it as an opportunity to learn and build on your current skillset or knowledge base.

Use your experiences – whether they are “successes” or “failures” – as stepping stones and create incremental changes that can lead you on to better things.

By challenging your beliefs around setbacks, you will be developing an essential life skill that will give you the resilience needed to continue pressing forward with your goals no matter what comes along!

Developing Strategies for Coping With Setbacks

One of the keys to developing resilience as a leader is understanding that setbacks and failures are inevitable. No matter how well you plan, sometimes things just don’t go your way. It’s OK—it’s part of the journey, and it’s how you choose to handle it that matters.

Here are some strategies for coping with a setback:

Acknowledge the failure or setback, but don’t get too hung up on it – take stock of what happened; reflect on what you learned and what could have been done differently; make an action plan for moving forward; and then focus on execution.

Reframe the situation – if something doesn’t work out, look at it as an opportunity to learn more about yourself and your goals, rather than simply a failure. This will help you stay focused on what needs to be done in order to move forward.

Prioritize self-care – when setbacks happen, it’s important to take time to process the situation and take care of your physical and mental health so that you can remain resilient throughout the process of rebuilding and continuing forward progress.

Reach out for help – don’t be afraid to ask for support from family, friends or mentors who can help provide perspective or resources needed for bouncing back from a setback.

Learning how to cope with obstacles and setbacks is an important part of developing resilience as a leader—learning not just how to survive them but how to become stronger from them is the key to success in the long run.

Modeling Resilience for Your Team

Being a leader isn’t just about dealing with your own struggles; it’s also about modeling resilience and strength to those that follow you. You need to be a role model, showing your team how to bounce back from setbacks.

If you’ve suffered a setback, how can you help lead by example and motivate your team? Here are some useful strategies:

Use humor

Humor can go a long way in helping people deal with difficult situations and find hope in failure. If you’re able to use humor as part of your response to setbacks, it will help lighten the mood and allow people to move forward with greater mental clarity.

Celebrate small victories

No matter how small the progress is, celebrating successes along the way will give everyone on the team something positive to focus on and remind them that there are still opportunities for growth amidst the setbacks.

Remain optimistic

The power of optimism is especially important during times of adversity when morale may be lowered across the board. Having an optimistic outlook can be contagious and often elevates everyone’s spirits as they try to tackle new challenges despite past failures.

Leading by example and modeling resilience is an essential part of being a successful leader—after all, if you don’t have the motivation yourself, who will? Keep pushing forward and maintain a positive attitude even when facing tough times—that’s true resilience.

Practices for Building and Sustaining Resilience as a Leader

Another key element for building resilience as a leader is cultivating practices that sustain resilience. This is important for any leader, because strategy and flexibility are needed to prevent an unexpected setback from derailing progress.

Here are some things that you can do to sustain your resilience as a leader:

Find support from family and friends: Support can come from many sources, including loved ones and trusted colleagues. It’s important to find people who can provide emotional support during difficult times.

Take breaks: Taking time off can make a big difference when it comes to staying resilient as a leader. Breaks help you step away from the intensity of the situation and regain clarity and focus on the tasks at hand.

Develop coping mechanisms: It’s normal to feel overwhelmed or frustrated when things don’t go your way — develop strategies for dealing with these feelings, such as deep breathing, yoga or even just taking a walk around the block to clear your head.

Be mindful of your wellbeing: Make sure that you’re taking care of yourself so that you’re in the best position possible to weather any storms that might come your way — eat healthy, get enough sleep and exercise regularly — this will help keep your mind and body in balance

It’s inevitable that you’ll hit setbacks as a leader, no matter how experienced or prepared you are. The key to succeeding is to find the right strategies to help you build resilience and stay focused on your goals.

Your resilience will be tested, but you can use strategies such as giving yourself space to process emotions, surrounding yourself with a supportive network, having a growth mindset and cultivating self-compassion to help rise above the issue and keep making progress. Remember that setbacks are never the end of the story—they’re just an obstacle to overcome on the journey of success.

Super employees maintain a positive influence

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment

The Chief HR officer (CHR) role in the company is a standalone function. The position does not have anyone directly reporting to her at the central or corporate level.

However, two HR managers are looking after the human resource operations of the three companies in the group. We also have a compensation and benefits function looking after the payroll of all employees.

Even though our CHR person does not have a direct line employee reporting to her, she still manages to get her assignments done. More so, if the work requires cooperation from other functions in the company. I was discerning her a few times as she took on new tasks.

She manages to get things done through others because she positively influences the people around her. It’s her influence on others. The following set of behaviors surfaces with her.

1. Humility. She is never rude or disrespectful when dealing with others.

2: Curious. She will ask questions about her assignment regardless of how it makes her look.

3. Inclusive. She makes sure that all relevant stakeholders are part of the discussion.

4. Helpful. When she notices someone struggling with an assignment, she is quick to lend a helping hand.

These are four simple behaviors I have noticed with our CHR that provide electricity for her magnet of influence in the company. She can get things done regardless of how big or small the challenge is.

How about you? How is your influence on your workmates? How strong is your influence in your organization?

Be kind to others

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment

How kindnesss changed my life.

I was sitting in front of my computer for an hour thinking about what to write. While I was staring at a blank screen, I got a message from a high-school classmate. That message gave me the seed to this article.

1985 was the year that changed my life. Jan 1985. two months before graduating from high school, my father left us. I did not know the reason then. Until the day he died a few years ago, I did not find out the reason. I would not want to ask my 75 year old mom about something that long been buried in memory.

A month after my dad leaves, my two brothers, mother, and I had to go separate ways to survive. My mom did not know how to apply for a job since she has been a housewife all her life. She went back to her parents home. My brothers and I started to look for work in our teen age years.

Primo, a classmate in Colegio San Agustin, where I attended school, asked me to go to the top floor of the Citibank building in Paseo de Roxas. He said that I should look for Atty Antonio V. Agcaoili. The senior partner of Agcaoili and Associates. Apparently, his dad works for the law firm. I took the bus the next day to the law firm.

I was asked to wait by a beautiful mestiza receptionist in the waiting area. I flipped through several old editions of Fortune magazines. After 30 minutes, I was led to the office of Atty Anva. The office smelled like cigarette smoke. It was a spacious office filled with picture frames.

Atty. Anva was a heavy smoker. My interview was just Atty Anva asking me what happened to my family. After a few minutes of sharing my personal story, he hires me. There was no job opening, but he hired me.

Atty. Anva then stepped our of his office for a few minutes. I can see him talking to his office manager. He comes back and says that I can photocopy documents for the eleven lawyers in the firm for the minimum wage of P1, 500 a month less government dues. On the side, I will also clean homes that they reposes on behalf of a Bank client. That will earn me an extra P100 for every home I clean with the company messengers and drivers.

The job may not be too glamorous or impressive. However, my photocopying job led me to other jobs, which landed me a computer programing job for FEBTC. The job in FEBTC landed me an IT Management job in Saudi Arabia. That IT Management job led me to other executive roles in the Bank with a career lasting 20 years. My last job was SVP for Strategy and Transformation before I decided to go back to the Philippines.

A few months after I came back, I went back to Atty Anva to thank him. I dropped by a wine store in Makati Avenue to get him a bottle of wine. It was his kindness that changed the course of my life. I was eagerly looking forward to seeing him again.

It was unfortunate that when I went up to his law firm, I found out he had passed away many years ago from lung cancer. His son sadly delivered the message.

However, his son said something interesting. When news of his dad’s passing away came out in the newspapers, hundreds of people dropped by their law firm to pay their respects to his dad. Hundreds of people, like me, were in gratitude to this remarkable man. Atty Anva touched the lives of hundreds of people even without the knowledge of his family.

What did we all have in common? What did Atty. Anva do that was so amazing? It was simple. He showed us a random act of kindness. He showed us the power of kindness. Kindness to a total stranger.

In today’s world, it’s easy to be sucked into selfishness. It’s effortless to cover your actions under the guise of a good cause. It is effortless to focus on our needs and ignore other people’s needs. It is effortless to justify our actions even if they are hurtful.

However, it was kindness that changed my life. It was kindness that changed the lives of hundreds of people touched by Atty. Anva.

Being kind to others is so powerful that it can change opinions and even lives. So, in this very challenging and sometimes painful pandemic, let us remember to be kind to one another.

Be kind no matter what.

A Wonderful Workplace

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment

Almost every day, I am reminded of how God has blessed me by placing me in PIMS. Cathy, the Executive Chair and owner, is such a great leader and person. She gives people the opportunity to grow. For her, having a family culture in the company is something that is taken very seriously. Family culture is at the core of everything we do.

Cathy reaches out personally and encourages her team members that are sick. She encourages them through scriptures that she shares. She makes it a point to check on them every day.

She would even go so far as to give struggling employees a second, third, fourth chance. In addition, she welcomes back former employees that have left her nest. In the last few months, I have witnessed great employees that left years ago come back to the company.

Cathy encourages leaders with Bible scriptures in group chats regularly. However, openly sharing scripture is not very common, especially coming from the highest executive in a company. Because of this example, other leaders openly share scripture in group gatherings and group chats. It is the norm rather than the exception.

The leadership team also lives this family culture. They are true servant leaders. There is not a single trace of arrogance in them. Everyone is treated fairly. Respect for each other is also the norm. The resulting performance in delivering the KPIs set by our clients is next to phenomenal. Commitments are executed on or before time. Productivity is very high.

People from different departments rally together to help solve an issue. Everyone is given equal opportunity to attend training. Development and succession planning is taken very seriously as well. The leadership team fully supports the execution of world-class frameworks, such as the 9box grid and balanced scorecards. It’s so supported that we rolled out the 9box grid in less than eight weeks for nearly 800 employees.

At the center of the culture-building is where I am seated. The function is aptly called the Corporate Management Office or CMO. I am genuinely grateful for the opportunity to help bring culture building, people development, preparing future leaders, automating processes, developing existing and new businesses to the next level.

Leading the shared services and business development is such a blessing. I am surrounded by a great team whose heart is to bring the group of companies to the next level.

This Tagalog term I recently heard resonated with me from a good friend of mine when I shared my experience with her – ‘Sana lahat.’ In English, this loosely translates to ‘I hope all companies are like yours.’

Let’s count our blessings instead of our challenges. Then, make a positive difference in our company.

A Family Culture in the workplace

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment

Several companies claim that their employees are their most significant assets. In addition, many companies claim that they have a family culture. However, what does a company centered on family culture look like?

Let me share with you how it looks like. 

  1. These companies will do everything to avoid laying off employees during the pandemic lockdown.
  2. They physically check on their employees when a calamity strikes. Their leaders call on employees that live around the area of a catastrophe. They check up on their employees to see how they are doing.
  3. They put learning and development at the center of their plans. 
  4. They systematically identify high potential employees, future leaders and put them on a leadership development track.
  5. They hold monthly get-togethers to inform their 1,400 employees what is happening in the companies. 
  6. The individual companies hold engaging townhalls on a consistently regular basis.
  7. The leadership openly shares leadership quotes and Biblical verses.
  8. They are courageous enough to have 360-degree appraisals.
  9. They are open to new ideas regardless of what level in the organization it is coming from.
  10. Anyone may politely provide an alternate view to any leader, and it is not taken personally.
  11. They emphasize the importance of work-life balance.
  12. They help employees put their children through a scholarship program.
  13. They provide scholarship programs to key employees.
  14. The leadership is truly a group of servant leaders. 
  15. Even after their impressive growth, the leadership is still open to new ideas and ways of doing things.
  16. The leadership is not afraid to challenge the status quo.

I can keep going on, but I hope that you get the point. Family culture helped catapult this company from a 30 employee workforce to a 1,400 strong organization.

Yes, actual companies out there walk the talk when it comes to having a family culture.

I want to honor these companies for genuinely recognizing the value of their people. So here, let us celebrate a particular company I used as an example. They have a strong family culture and core values of Respect, Integrity, Service, and Excellence. So may you continue to R.I.S.E. in the coming years. God bless you!

The Quiet Power of Kindness

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment

“Don’t underestimate the power of kindness in the workplace” is another genuinely insightful study from Harvard Business Review.

The article drives the point home that everybody wants to be happy. It’s a basic human instinct. The context of the article is todays new normal. A regular ‘Thank you, Garry’ or ‘Great Job’ recognition in the hallway is no longer the norm. It now seems like a practice from a distant era.

HBR’s study explains that showing kindness brightens the recipient’s day and brings happiness to the giver. Acts of kindness bring meaning to our life because we are investing in something much bigger than ourselves. Studies show that people giving compliments get more benefit from it than the recipient of the praise.

Kindness is like a boomerang. According to HBR research, kindness is paid back. Kindness is also paid forward—an act of kindness breed kindness. I read a story about the effect of a kind gesture a few months ago.

These two friends were walking in the streets of New York, catching up on old times. As they were chatting, the person in front of them had his backpack open. The person did not realize that some of the documents had fallen off his backpack. Without missing a beat, one of the two friends picked up the pieces of paper that had fallen on the street.

They reached the guy at a pedestrian crossing. The crossing light was red. As the guy stood waiting, the two friends tapped him on the shoulder. He looked back, and he was handed his documents. After the guy thanked them, he crossed the street. A bystander, who witnessed the entire incident, walked up to the two friends. He complimented them on their act of kindness.

Let’s see who benefited from this act? The backpack guy undoubtedly felt good that someone took the time to pick up his documents. The two friends felt good that they had a good deed for the day. The witness felt good after witnessing the good deed. All of them will probably find an opportunity to perform an act of kindness in the coming days.

At work, kindness fosters collaboration and teamwork. No matter the size of the gesture, big or small, people appreciate it. It helps create psychological safety in the organization.

If kindness has such great benefits to oneself and the organization, why don’t more people act accordingly? Why do we hesitate to show kindness to others?

I observe that, at times, people feel awkward to show kindness. We are more critical in the workplace. A toxic work environment promotes a culture of individuality. We are quick to find faults in others, but we are hesitant to find a good deed. At times, we dismiss good work as part of their job, so there is no need to show a kind gesture.

Sometimes, pride gets in the way. A gesture of kindness can be seen as a weakness by traditional managers. Some find it difficult to say a kind word, especially in public. Sending a private “thank you” email would be more comfortable for them.

Leaders, let’s set an example. The world is already challenging enough. Let’s not allow pride or awkwardness to get in the way of building an environment of kindness in the workplace.

It has always been a dream of many to wake up excited to come to work. A culture of kindness can help bring us closer to that dream. Let’s do our part and start now. Show kindness to the person next to you.

Stay safe,

Jordan Imutan
jordan@imutan.com
For more articles, please visit http://www.servantleadership.com

Great people have Mentors!

~ jordan ~ 1 Comment

I first learned about performance mentorship over fifteen years ago. The National Commercial Bank’s CEO has instituted a mentoring program across the different levels of the organization. The primary objective is to transfer best leadership practices to high-potential Saudi nationals positioned to succeed in critical roles in the Bank. 

All foreign executives, like myself, were trained on the GROW mentoring framework. Our HR Director flew in a British mentoring expert to teach us. The same expert mentored our CEO, CFO, and COO. Mr. Bryan flew from the UK to have his sessions in Jeddah every two weeks. 

Each Bank executive looked after the development of three to four high-potential Saudi managers to mentor. We were not assigned anyone from our departments or divisions. The set-up allowed the mentee to open up to the mentor fully.

Part of the program is a structured monthly report to the mentee’s direct manager. Of course, the monthly reports captured the progress of the mentee. We are not allowed to share anything confidential to make sure we maintain the trust of the mentee.

On the other side of the coin, we were also assigned more senior executives to mentor us. “You cannot give what you don’t have,” as the saying goes. I was fortunate enough to be assigned to our Saudi CFO, who studied at the prestigious Harvard University.

A few lessons I learned still resonates today.

  • 80% of a leader’s job is to work on the people’s agenda and not micro-managing. The agenda covers everything from interviewing candidates to mentoring and developing high-potential employees.
  • Mentorship requires a structure and intention. It’s not an ad hoc activity. There need to be clear goals, areas for improvement, and an action plan.
  • Never use sarcasm as a way to express yourself in public. You automatically kill the motivation of the person at the receiving end of your attack. The rest of the people in the room also lose the courage to voice out concerns and issues. They will all fear being at the receiving end of the next wave of sarcastic remarks.
  • Performance appraisals are never about passing or failing people. It’s about identifying areas for improvement. It’s about working with your direct report to get an ‘A.’
  • Never lose sight of the big picture. Sometimes we get dragged into the details that we don’t see the forest for the trees.
  • There is no such thing as a self-made man or a self-made leader. We all need someone else to succeed.
  • When my mentor needs to explain a project or task, he would often go to the whiteboard and patiently draw what’s on his mind. He makes sure that there is clear communication between us.
  • When making a mistake, my mentor would first process the events with me with no pre-judgment. He would instead try to understand what transpired. He would then address the situation and identify the learnings from it without attacking the mentee personally. At the end of the process, you come out more motivated and knowledgeable.
  • Something I learned from our Pastors is aligned to Servant Leadership though it’s not formally recognized as such. Everything we do should not be for our glory and boasting. Our achievements and work are to glorify the giver of our talents and opportunities. It’s all to glorify God.
  • There is no such thing as a silly question. There is such a thing as a ‘silly’ person who is too embarrassed to ask. If we don’t ask, then we will never know the answer. Therefore, we remain silly. Never attack what we may deem as a ‘silly’ question. Our people may never ask again for fear of embarrassment.

There are many more lessons learned from him and other mentors I had the honor to work with. I will share them in subsequent articles.

A few of the people I met when I came back also had mentors.

  • The President of a giant retail company has three mentors for the different aspects of his life.
  • A famous Pastor friend of mine also has several mentors he consults with.
  • The President of a small rural Bank I know has a mentor for over ten years.
  • I had the opportunity to mentor the Philippine Country Manager of a large Japanese company. We maintained the friendship even after he left the company. He started his own business, and we continued to keep in touch. He loves to travel so he can join marathons. 
  • I mentored the owner of a service provider in the Pharma Industry and eventually became good friends with her. She’s a great person, a great leader, a great mother, a great grandmother, and a great friend.
  • I had the opportunity to mentor several company executives, senior managers, the child of a high-ranking politician, children of company owners. Each was a unique experience that I am genuinely grateful for.

Mentoring works both ways. The mentor also learns from the experience. I understand more about people and what makes them tick. I also know more about the industry they work in.

I emphasize with my mentees to pass the learnings forward. Learn, use and teach others. This way, we can slowly grow the competencies of leaders across the nation. It may be one by one and take a long time. However, it’s better than complaining about the current leadership and doing nothing.

How about you? Who is your mentor?

Stay safe,

Jordan Imutan
jordan@imutan.com
For more articles, please visit www.jordanimutan.com 

Why is mediocrity common in most organizations?

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Source: Unique Vision / Shutterstock

“GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF GREAT. AND THAT IS ONE OF THE KEY REASONS WHY WE HAVE SO LITTLE THAT BECOMES GREAT. WE DON’T HAVE GREAT SCHOOLS, PRINCIPALLY BECAUSE WE HAVE GOOD SCHOOLS. WE DON’T HAVE A GREAT GOVERNMENT, PRINCIPALLY BECAUSE WE HAVE A GOOD GOVERNMENT. FEW PEOPLE ATTAIN GREAT LIVES, IN LARGE PART BECAUSE IT IS JUST SO EASY TO SETTLE FOR A GOOD LIFE.” -JIM COLLINS.

What I noticed after returning back to the Philippines.

“Good enough is not enough” was screaming at the back of my mind a year after returning from a 20-year overseas contract. In our language, this is translated as ‘Hindi pwede ang pwede na.’

I am blessed with the opportunity to work with different companies back here after being away for a long time. A few months after my return, I was catching with a high-school classmate over coffee. Most people my age tend to harp about how great our high-school life was. We also compare notes on what our classmates are currently doing. We updated each other on the lives of our classmates from the same batch.

My classmate suggested that I go into the “slash” business – “training slash mentoring slash management consultant.” He said that I could use the knowledge and experience I gathered working abroad. It took me some time to land a few clients. I was away for so long that my social media followers are mainly from the Middle East. 

As I gradually got into management consulting work for small to large companies, I noticed a pattern emerging among employees. What I saw was not particular to the rank and file only. My observation applies to management as well. 

I am not generalizing. Some employees genuinely live up to their fullest potential. Sadly, that is the exception instead of the norm. I am confident that several readers will react to this article. I apologize, but I am writing things as I see them. We can either be defensive or take it as constructive criticism. Of course, I am praying that most of the reader will take the second path. 

Many employees, staff and management, like to appear “busy,” particularly in front of their superiors. However, they are using only a tiny part of their full potential. For short, they are contented with mediocre work. 

That has always puzzled me until today. I had the chance to work with other nationalities for twenty years. Certain nationalities try their best at everything they do. They also make sure to work on their personal development so they can keep raising their performance bar. On the other side of the fence, some nationalities are okay with mediocre work. Work that’s just good enough to submit to their superiors. 

I am not making a sweeping generalization. The majority of certain nationalities do their best most of the time. In comparison, others do their minimum most of the time. 

I am not saying that try and do everything perfectly. That will result in the ‘analysis paralysis’ effect. Jeff Bezos of Amazon used the famous 70% rule in decision making. When he has 70% of the information he needs to decide, he goes ahead and decides. Getting all 100% of the data takes a lot of time and effort. The delay in the decision-making process causes more harm to organizations than good.

Why is that?

Having meals with employees during my consulting engagements prove to be informative. Chatting over lunch or a snack reveals the true heart of people. Here are some of the ‘water cooler’ comments.

“Go ahead and submit that report; that’s good enough for sir …’

“Why do I need to do my best? It’s not like my manager notices anyway.”

“I’m just here until I find a better job, so why bother?”

“Last time I suggested an idea, I was publicly humiliated. It’s better to agree with what my boss recommends.”

“I did not finish my college education. I don’t have that kind of skill.”

“I have so many things assigned to me. I do not have time to work on improving that.”

There are as many excuses as employees, if not more.

Most people think that it’s safer to let others make the decision. This is particularly true for employees that got burned making the wrong decision. Instead of being processed with empathy by their leaders, the leader uses the mistake to flex their superiority. The employee will never take it as a learning opportunity. An employee that’s publicly humiliated will refrain from trying to do extraordinary work. This is also true for people who witnessed the public beating. They would not want to be in his shoes.

Sometimes, the work is not explicit. Employees are thrown into an assignment and expected to swim like an Olympic champion. We promote people to their level of incompetence if we do not empower them. People need the tools of the trade. 

If your boss promotes you to be a highly paid carpenter but does not provide you with the proper tools and knowledge, you are bound to fail. Why do we throw a subject matter expert on one topic to fly with another job requiring a different skillset? It simply does not make sense, yet it happens a lot of times.

Then there is the round peg on square holes. These are employees that are placed in roles outside their level of expertise simply because they were available. 

Some employees are not satisfied with mediocrity. Some people I had the chance to work with believe their work is their worship. They think that running at full potential is an excellent way of thanking God for their skills and opportunities. Employees like these probably make up 10% of an organization. 

These are the people who are not afraid to jump ship. They are confident in their skills. They give their work everything they have. To top it off, they make sure that they continuously sharpen their saw even if the company does not invest in their development.

How about the rest? How can we help the others get out of the mediocrity shadow? Let’s see.

  1. Make sure that our employees are round pegs in rough holes. Employees should have the right skills for the right job.
  2. Make sure that they have psychological safety. Employees should be able to suggest ideas or give their opinion without fear of a public backlash.
  3. Make sure that high-performing employees are publicly recognized. 
  4. Make sure to process mistakes or low performance in private. Keep the discussion on the event. Do not attack the employee’s character.
  5. Assign your best leaders to mentor your high-potential employees.
  6. Develop your direct reports.

These are only a few examples of what we can do to help move our employees from mediocrity to greatness. 

Do not let employees wallow in mediocrity. It is our responsibility to develop them. 

“A LEADER’S JOB IS NOT TO DO THE WORK FOR OTHERS. IT’S HOW TO HELP OTHERS FIGURE OUT HOW TO DO IT THEMSELVES, TO GET THINGS DONE, AND TO SUCCEED BEYOND WHAT THEY THOUGHT POSSIBLE.” SIMON SINEK.

Stay safe,

Jordan Imutan
Visit my website for more articles www.servantleadersph.com
jordan@imutan.com (email)
@jordanimutan (social media)