#04 - Speak out clearly
This is one of the important traits that a boss must have.
Why?
Can you imagine when you reach a situation e.g. a crisis, and you report back to the boss.
His reply was "Please do the needful."
What do you make out of it?
What exactly is the NEEDFUL?
It is a crisis or an urgent situation that needs to be dealt with but the boss failed to see the implications of such situations, hence issue such an ambiguous instruction that leaves the staff wondering what must be done.
A boss must spell out the instructions clearly so that it can be implementation at once. Failure to provide instructions, he can ask for a recommendation from his staff on the possible solutions.
There must be nothing ambiguous in a situation like this.
Staff are meant to be the extension arms of the boss. The boss is the mastermind. If the brain and limbs cannot coordinate, nothing can be done or completed.
Clear instructions save the trouble of speculation, the vexation among staff and reinforce the leadership quality of the boss.
Afterall, the wasted manpower will be reflected in terms of amount of work done and the overheads.
It is a sin to waste resources.
Life is full of peaks and valleys
One second - floating in the sky
The next second - hit rock bottom
Happiness - What does it mean?
Showing posts with label leadership. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leadership. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Things that a boss does - Sit up, listen and understand
#03 - Listen and understand
A boss must possess a strong listening ability to hear out what employees has to say before passing judgment or making decisions.
One must give the employee some airtime so that they can reflect and inform you on the feedback and anything that could potentially undermine the operations.
Staff are actually the extended arms of the boss. They will do things that the boss can do but have no time to take care of it.
One will soon realise the power of the ability to listen. Once you hear someone, the following are some of the benefits:
a) Suss out serious potential threats because staff are eyes and ears on the ground.
b) work more efficiently as you know how things are operated and can count them in during the planning stage. E.g. the delivery time process, the timing for requesting funds and the actual date of fund delivery. Minor details can help to smooth a lot of unneccessary bumps in the plan
c) a sense of the staff performance - whether the person is a whiner, complainer or even a serious worker by judging on the things they told you.
d) know the staff well - as the interaction increases, the staff knows what you want as well as you know whether to trust that staff or not.
e) Staff loyalty - everyone wants recognition and a sense of contribution. By giving a little time for the employees to air their views, they are very much appreciative of the willingness of their boss to hear them out.
If it is not done well or not done, the threats are enormous.
1) The boss do not know what is going out. If anything goes awry, the first head to roll is the boss.
2) The high turnover rate. The boss does not even care what is being done so why bother to stay behind and be invisible?
3) Difficulty in reporting to top mgt - do not know what is going on so there is difficulty in planning. The top mgt will not tolerate that.
Of course, you may ask how to listen well.
Let's look at the famous analogy of how to listen well, by referring to the ancient chinese word for Listen.
Did you know that it takes 5 characters to represent “listen” in Chinese? Eyes, ears, heart, you and focused undivided attention.
The Chinese philosopher Chuang-Tzu said, "The hearing that is only in the ears is one thing. The hearing of the understanding is another. But the hearing of the spirit is not limited to any one faculty, to the ear or to the mind. Hence, it demands the emptiness of all the faculties. And when the faculties are empty, then the whole being listens.
"There is then a direct grasp of what is right there before you that can never be heard with the ear or understood with the mind."
Besides listening, your body language must be correct.
Match your speaker's body posture.
Maintain some eye contact.
The tone of voice is humble and kind.
Learn also to read their facial expressions so that one is able to anticipate the things that will be told and will be prepared for it.
All these can be used with family members and children. You might realise that what you are doing can be practised and will benefit children by imparting them this lifeskills from yount.
A boss must possess a strong listening ability to hear out what employees has to say before passing judgment or making decisions.
One must give the employee some airtime so that they can reflect and inform you on the feedback and anything that could potentially undermine the operations.
Staff are actually the extended arms of the boss. They will do things that the boss can do but have no time to take care of it.
One will soon realise the power of the ability to listen. Once you hear someone, the following are some of the benefits:
a) Suss out serious potential threats because staff are eyes and ears on the ground.
b) work more efficiently as you know how things are operated and can count them in during the planning stage. E.g. the delivery time process, the timing for requesting funds and the actual date of fund delivery. Minor details can help to smooth a lot of unneccessary bumps in the plan
c) a sense of the staff performance - whether the person is a whiner, complainer or even a serious worker by judging on the things they told you.
d) know the staff well - as the interaction increases, the staff knows what you want as well as you know whether to trust that staff or not.
e) Staff loyalty - everyone wants recognition and a sense of contribution. By giving a little time for the employees to air their views, they are very much appreciative of the willingness of their boss to hear them out.
If it is not done well or not done, the threats are enormous.
1) The boss do not know what is going out. If anything goes awry, the first head to roll is the boss.
2) The high turnover rate. The boss does not even care what is being done so why bother to stay behind and be invisible?
3) Difficulty in reporting to top mgt - do not know what is going on so there is difficulty in planning. The top mgt will not tolerate that.
Of course, you may ask how to listen well.
Let's look at the famous analogy of how to listen well, by referring to the ancient chinese word for Listen.
Did you know that it takes 5 characters to represent “listen” in Chinese? Eyes, ears, heart, you and focused undivided attention.
The Chinese philosopher Chuang-Tzu said, "The hearing that is only in the ears is one thing. The hearing of the understanding is another. But the hearing of the spirit is not limited to any one faculty, to the ear or to the mind. Hence, it demands the emptiness of all the faculties. And when the faculties are empty, then the whole being listens.
"There is then a direct grasp of what is right there before you that can never be heard with the ear or understood with the mind."
Besides listening, your body language must be correct.
Match your speaker's body posture.
Maintain some eye contact.
The tone of voice is humble and kind.
Learn also to read their facial expressions so that one is able to anticipate the things that will be told and will be prepared for it.
All these can be used with family members and children. You might realise that what you are doing can be practised and will benefit children by imparting them this lifeskills from yount.
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Things that a good boss does - Be impartial
This is the 101 rule of any leadership. Do not side any staff due to whatever reasons.
Often, bosses side staff due to very silly reasons like
a) The boss of the boss likes a certain staff
b) cronism
c) The boss wants to be a nice guy
d) The boss wants to get things done which only this staff can do well
e) The boss is trying to impress the staff to obtain favours
And the list goes on.
In any organisation where the above are prevalent, competent people will leave, leaving only the empty vessels singing praises of the boss.
How can anyone survive all these?
It means that the work done by the other staff are not important or meaningless because it cannot be seen. It is not the utmost reason why the boss score points with his boss so it is irrelevant.
Every job role has its benefits and disadvantages. And this is what make an organisation works. Yes, adm and finance can be quite draining on the boss. But without all these supporting roles, how do you even get the important work done?
One would probably still searching for stapler or paper to print the report.
There must be a balance between the two of them. Give both ample and equal listening time and will find that work gets done more efficiently and delivers on time.
Of course, there are staff whom are overdemanding, psychotic and petty. That will be the sensitive issue to handle with care. Any wrong turn will result in being call partial to someone else for the wrong reason.
Be impartial. Take a stand and live by it. People around you will appreciate.
Sunday, March 06, 2011
Things that a good boss does - Meant what he says
An article on the Yahoo! mention that as an employee, it is important to keep an account of what your boss does, the actions taken, in order not to repeat the same mistakes that he made.
I find this rather useful, have been intending to note this down but all these comes in bits and pieces.
I shall blog it down and please give me your feedback on this.
#01 - Meant what he says
A good boss actually kept his promises.
He would have spoken to his staff after careful considerations on what needs to be done before giving instructions.
He would already had the information and data from his boss either during a discussion or a meeting.
In the case, he cant keep his promise, he must have a valid reason to explain, way in advance.
Yes, he needs to give an explanation and not simply brushing off and just tell the staff of his decision at the last minute and leave them floating helplessly in the open seas.
Of course, he cant help it but break the news that the promise cannot be kept at the last minute, he should listen out to his staff's requirements before issuing out new instructions so that it is timely and relevant.
I find this rather useful, have been intending to note this down but all these comes in bits and pieces.
I shall blog it down and please give me your feedback on this.
#01 - Meant what he says
A good boss actually kept his promises.
He would have spoken to his staff after careful considerations on what needs to be done before giving instructions.
He would already had the information and data from his boss either during a discussion or a meeting.
In the case, he cant keep his promise, he must have a valid reason to explain, way in advance.
Yes, he needs to give an explanation and not simply brushing off and just tell the staff of his decision at the last minute and leave them floating helplessly in the open seas.
Of course, he cant help it but break the news that the promise cannot be kept at the last minute, he should listen out to his staff's requirements before issuing out new instructions so that it is timely and relevant.