Some thoughts to Share

I need to plan my time effectively for the coming months as I just took up another 2 key projects on training and consultation. Well, now my new hobby is "making money", interesting enough? haha.... And when you are so passionate about your work, there comes the money. So you know why I seldom write in my blog lately huh! lols.

After getting few reminders, the last one is Sam, so I decided to write something here to give you some tips!

One of my student gave me a set of questionnaires to answer and I want to share with you some of them here. (somehow I modified certain questions to make it easier for you to understand).

Q1: In leadership, do you tend to be more people-oriented or results- oriented?

It is important to have a balance between this two. I would say that most of the time I used "situational leadership". I will tend to be more results-oriented when the person already had good attitude but lack of method and achievements. So I will tend to stretch him a little bit more, let say 10-15% of his ability to see how far he can go. Sometimes I will tend to be more people-oriented when he can produce results but his personal values, attitude or personality is not in line with the organization. Thus, 121 coaching and advice to him is necessary to make him aware of his behavior.

Q2: Which communication style and channel you prefer to use when communicate with your subordinates?

I like to communicate with my subordinates using democratic style, whereby they are encouraged to provide own ideas and solutions, I will provide coaching and guidance. I believe the saying that "dealing with people, slow is fast and fast is slow". Some leader want fast results and push very hard for it. He might achieve short-term results, however in the long run sometimes these organizations lost more. Open communication is good as long as their argument is right. My mentor reminded me that he only accept the highest level of authority, that is "Mr Logic". So, I always accept new ideas openly.

Face to face communication is the best method among all other methods. Nowadays many people tends to use sms, email, messenger to convey their decisions which sometimes causes communication breakdown. In an organization, if permits, face to face communication is the best way to resolve problems. Email, sms or other form of messenges I would consider it as follow-ups activities.

Q3: What are the skills lacking among fresh graduates nowadays?

I believe they are lacking of good "survival" skills at the actual work place due to our education system is too exam-oriented. They tends to be more focus on academic results rather than involving themselves in social actitivies (universities clubs, sports and activities) which will enriched their self-confidence, enhance their interpersonal skills, build their leadership skills and so forth. They might be good at memorising the facts but do not understand how actually it operates in the actual work life situation. Next, i see many of my students do not have their personal goals (be it short term or long term). Understanding own weaknesses and strengths is important for them to know how to perform and act at the workplace with a clear directions, unfortunately many doesnt actually know what they want in their future careers. Of course, there are some that want to take charge of their life in university by exploring ways to improve oneself. And I know that with such experience, they are more confident entering the workplace.

I welcome your feedback as long as you are "Mr Logic"