Tag: Leadership

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?

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment
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)

My Origin Story on Leadership

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment

I am fortunate enough to witness several kinds of leaders through the ’80s, 90’s until today. Leaders I had the privilege to work for comes in different colors, sizes, and shapes. They come from diverse backgrounds, education, and temperament.

For over 30 years in the workforce, I have witnessed how the different leadership styles affected employee morale, productivity, and the organization’s success.

I started work during the Theory X era. Theory X states that “employees require heightened supervision, external rewards, and penalties.” A few elderly leaders would even go to the extent to say the employees are generally lazy. If their boss does not drive them, they will not work. They claim that employees only work if someone is watching over them.

It’s incredible to watch time go by and see many leaders in todays world still having that old Theory X mindset. It’s like they never moved forward with the times. In the past, most works were labor-related. In todays work, jobs require “knowledge” workers.

Stuck in the past, I call them. However, it’s not only the “seasoned” leaders that think this way. Younger Gen-X and the more experienced Gen-Y also carry the notion that employees are simply company tools. These tools will not work correctly if not closely supervised. Employees need supervisors looming over them.

From an employee’s perspective, this is a living hell. Employees are not propertly managed. Meaning they are not developed for their potentiality. They are the first to be blamed when something wrong happens, even if it was a leadership shortcoming. Employees are required to work at all times despite their struggles. Employees are not properly compensated. In the confines of meeting rooms, leaders sometimes talk about them like they are disposable commodities. In public, employees are heralded as the companies most important asset.

You will see employees waiting for the highly paid leaders to leave before they can call it a day. They fear that the bosses will think they are not busy. They will wait for an extra hour or two before heading off home and missing the chance to play with this child before bedtime. They miss tutoring their children because it was already traffic when the leaders go home in their expensive cars. The employees will have to fall in line to take the public transport going home.

They hold back on properly paying their best people. They will wait until a high-potential employee submits their resignation before offering them higher pay or better benefits. Employees put up with this simply because most of them think they do not have options.

I am not generalizing. Do not get me wrong. However, it is unfortunate that this is the situation in most companies. A great workplace should be the rule and not the exception. As Simon Sinek said, “people have the right to love coming to work.”

The sad workplace environment sparked my obsession to study great leaders I came across in my career. It is my mission to learn, apply then teach others the best leadership styles. It is why I am writing articles about great leadership. This is why I run leadership workshops.

I believe that most terrible leader is bad at leadership because they do not know better. It was something they learned or observed from previous bad leaders they had. A former manager used to say, “Monkey see, monkey do.”

Terrible leadership is like a genetic disease that is passed down from one generation to another. Of course, there are still a few genuinely evil leaders in the mix. However, most of them do not know better.

I have witnessed in so many instances employees promoted to leadership positions that are not properly equipped. Newly minted leaders are expected to “magically” morph from a great employee to a great leader. Really? Is it that simple? Come on, guys!

Almost everyone can list several excellent leadership competencies; having a clear and communicated vision, focus on their people agenda, developing direct reports, recognizing outstanding work in public, reprimanding in private, and so on. Yet, very few leaders behave this way.

I know that mentoring future leaders, educating them on leadership competencies, writing articles and books, blogging may not make much of a dent. However, I am at peace that I am trying to do my part.

I will always say that Great Leaders develop people. Great people build great organizations. Only with this can we have great workplaces. I would love to see this one day.

Stay safe,

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

How to process wrong decisions

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment

There are two types of leaders when it comes to dealing with their subordinate’s erroneous decisions. On the one hand, you have leaders quick to punish direct reports that make the wrong decision. On the other hand, there are the leaders that genuinely care for the learning of the direct report. The servant-leader is the second one.

When I worked as the head of Banking Operations a few years ago in Saudi Arabia, I made an erroneous decision. Actually, I made several but different wrong choices in my career. However, I also experienced different ways of processing by my direct manager.

Back then, I was reporting to a British direct supervisor. One of the departments reporting to me was payment processing. The responsibility included fund transfers both local and abroad. It also carried the responsibility of payroll processing for our corporate and government clients.

When I took on the new role, I was utterly dependent on my direct reports to walk me through the critical processes of their function. I depended on my manager in charge of payroll processing. 

The department was in charge of processing over 700 entities. The payroll we processed was a combination of corporate and government payroll. It was a sensitive process. We could not afford a single mistake. 

When we started offering the service, we only had about 20-30 payroll clients. The process involved the client preparing and sending a payroll file in a physical CD. The CD was delivered three days before the actual payroll run. 

As the number of clients grew, I should have questioned the manual process that the department was following. Manually processing payroll for 700 entities is different from processing 30. I had a feeling that the process might blow up one day. However, I decided to rely on the current manual process. I asked my payroll manager about the scalability of the process. He said that it still works.

One payroll day, we got a call from an angry CEO of one of the biggest companies in Saudi Arabia. He accused us of debiting his payroll fund twice. After the CEO investigated, he found out that his 18,000 employees received their payroll TWICE. Yes, twice. Everyone thought that they were given a bonus on that payroll run. We are talking about millions of Saudi Riyals in duplicate payment.

We quickly tried to resolve the issue by debiting their employees’ accounts. We can only do this with employees who had their payroll account with our bank. If the funds were already withdrawn, the system would automatically transfer any income fund to our bank account until the amount was fully recovered.

The problem was with employees with accounts from another bank. We do not have control over their system. The only thing we can do is practically beg the payment operations of the other bank to retrieve our funds.

In the end, it took us a grueling three months to recover 95% of the overdrawn funds. The bank took the hit for the 5%. We needed to pay back our corporate client.

Through this entire ordeal, my direct manager was calm. The priority is to come up with a recovery plan. As we implemented the recovery plan, he talked to me in private. We spoke calmly through the series of events. As expected, I took responsibility for what happened. I decided to trust my payroll manager and stay with the status quo. My British manager highlighted the flaws in the decision-making process and the lessons learned. We also agreed on preventive measures. The incident did not happen again.

The beauty of all this is that my manager did not look at my performance from a single event. He used the event as a learning opportunity to show me how to make better decisions. I respected him more after that incident. 

Let me compare that to another event. This friend of mine was slowly rising in his company. He was getting more assignments. However, instead of deciding to push back when the load was too much, he decided to keep accepting them. The challenge was that he was expected to excel in his additional assignments quickly. Years of experience from the previous manager must be rapidly learned in a week or two.

One day, the load was too much, and he made a mistake with two decisions. His direct manager was a very successful entrepreneur that he looked up to. My friend also wished that one day he could be like his manager. He learned a lot from his direct manager with the time he worked with him. He was ever so grateful for everything.

The decision to keep accepting new assignments was flawed. My friend should have requested a gap between appointments to have the time to assimilate the added responsibility. The resulting two erroneous decisions have stripped him of his additional responsibilities. My friend was fine witb the reduction of responsibilities. He understood his limitations. The sad part was that the fault sidelined him. He no longer has a bright future in the company. All the potentiality he previously showed does not matter anymore.

These are two different approaches to processing wrong decisions. Indeed, failure is part of success. 

If I may add, a failure correctly processed is part of success. Not only do we learn from it, but we also build others with it.

Stay safe,

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

We don’t have a monopoly of great ideas

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment
The beauty of Simon Sinek’s quotes or lessons is that deep inside; we already know most of the lessons he shares. If you watch his brief talks and read his books, you will think, “Hey, I already know this.” The value Simon brings is articulating the insight. 

This particular insight has already been at the back of my mind for a long time. Every time I witness someone trying to take credit for the companies or departments’ best ideas, I get this nagging sensation. I feel that something is off, but I cannot put my finger on it. Simon finally helped me put into words this thing that has been bothering me.

Walt Disney is a shining example of this quote. He created an environment where the best ideas would trickle upward. The leadership created an environment where no one person holds the monopoly of great ideas

If you step back and observe what a leader needs to do to set up such an environment, it’s not that complicated. The only speedbump is willingness and humility. Is the leader comfortable allowing others to come up with great ideas?

Ashley Head, the former Systems and Operations Director I used to report to, would keep quiet in all meetings he attends. He would encourage everyone to participate. Ashley would seek a quiet person in the room and ask him what he thinks. He has this knack for getting people to share. 

I asked him one day why he was so quiet in these meetings. “If I speak first, chances are, the people in the room may not put forth their ideas. It is a typical organizational dynamic. People are shy to suggest after the highest-ranking person in the room speaks.” Ashey replied. “I always recommend my leadership team to speak last in meetings. Another advantage I realized is that I get to learn from others.” he continued to say.

The lesson I learned from Ashey is quite profound. Allowing others to voice their ideas and suggestions is a powerful way of getting the best out of our team. It’s also an excellent way for leaders to learn new things. It’s a win-win situation. Ashley then joked in closing that leaders who like to dominate discussions should write a book instead of overpowering everyone from sharing their thoughts. Some leaders love the sound of their own voice.

Never attack any idea brought to the table. If you do, the person you embarrassed will no longer suggest anything again. Think about it, who wants to be shamed for presenting an idea? Unfortunately, I witnessed such events where the leader even goes further. After attacking the idea in public, he attacks the person who suggested the idea. There is never a justification for this. Everyone in the room stopped offering ideas for fear that they might be next on the hit list.

How do you create such an environment? Simple, leaders should have the humility to speak last and encourage others to speak up. That’s it.

We don’t have a monopoly of great ideas.

Stay safe,

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

8 Things Leaders can consistently do to create a great culture

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Leadership is not always about grand gestures. It’s not about mega-deals. It is not even about trying to be the hero of the day. Authentic leadership is about the little things as well as the big things. It’s the small yet consistent altruism. The keyword being “small” and “altruism.”

After years of observing leaders of different nationalities and ages, daily servant leadership gestures create a great work environment. Of course, the opposite holds as well. Self-serving, egotistical leaderships make for a fearful and toxic work environment.

Allow me to list a few small behaviors that the great leaders I had the privilege of working with exhibit every day. 

1. Be generous with your “thank you.” This simple act of gratefulness goes a long way. Martin, a former department head of development I know, is an excellent example of a grateful leader. He would never forget to give thanks even for the smallest of things. On the flip side, I met leaders who would only show gratitude when they are in a good mood. True servant leaders are consistent.

2. Ask for people’s opinions and LISTEN. Have you ever had this uncomfortable feeling with leaders you worked with that would ask for your views and dismiss them? If your opinion is similar to theirs, they get hyped and excited. If your idea goes against the grain of their views, then it’s ignored or dismissed. These leaders are simply trying to validate their ideas. True servant leaders have a genuine ear for others. When they ask for your opinion, they listen.

3. Be true to your word. Matthew 5:37 of the English Standard Version Bible states, “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.” Some leaders would tell you something to keep you in your place. They do not mean what they say. There was this manager I worked for in my early 30’s who goes around professing that he has an open-door policy. That was the leadership buzzword in the ’90s. I tried walking into his office on five different occasions to seek his opinion; his response is “I am a bit busy. can we have this discussion tomorrow?” After five failed attempts, I decided not to bother. All that talk about having an open door was lip service. It was just for show.

4. Stay true to the vision. Without a vision for the better good of society, where is your organization headed? How do you rally your team? What direction are you pointing to when you are rallying them? I had a client claiming to have a great vision. After a few weeks of insightful personnel interviews, it became clear that 99% of their employees do not know the company vision. Let me correct that. They do not recall their company vision because the owners used difficult words in crafting it. The Vision Statement became a display piece in boardrooms and hallways.

5. Stay true to the core values. Funny how leaders have an ironic set of values. Core Values apply to everyone except the executives or chosen few. Of course, this is never said in public. The funny thing is that the executives think they are getting away with it. Of course, people will notice. There was this company I know that has equality as a core value. The funny thing is – the executives have their own “restaurant” type area on the corporate top floor for their lunch breaks. Lunch was catered daily by a famous restaurant nearby. Food was free. Only C-Level and VP’s are allowed to dine there. We would usually share a big round table with the CEO. The rest of the 2,000 employees in the building goes to the 2nd-floor cafeteria. Food was paid for by employees. Where is the equality in that?

6. Catch people doing right and not just doing wrong. Have you ever noticed managers that are so quick in finding faules in you? These managers are always on the lookout to catch you violating a company policy. Why not try and catch people doing that right thing? The corporate world would be a better place.

7. Do not sacrifice your employee over an abusive client. When your leaders quickly side with a harsh and disrespectful client, it’s time to seek employment elsewhere. When leaders shout, “our people are our most important asset.” and put arrogant clients first, then employees will know they are not “first.”

8. Smile. A leader’s mood determines the work environment temperature. A visible foul mood puts employees in a “flight, fight or freeze” state of mind. People would be checking on the Leader’s “mood” coming into work before planning what to do for the day. “Is it a good time to speak to him?” “Should I raise this idea now?”. “Is it a good time to request for my vacation leave?” This is such a waste of time and energy. Instead of channeling energy to productive endeavors, employees channel their energy to protect themselves. Smile when things go your way. Smile when things do not go your way. The need to smile is more important in times of challenges. 
The list above does not require tremendous effort. These are small things leaders can do to create a great culture. All it takes from servant leaders is humility and a mindset of servitude. 

Culture is what a leader allows to grow.

Stay safe,

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