Foundation

In Franklin Baker Co. of the Philippines, I had a manager whom I learned a lot. He is also the main reason why I chose to pursue to stay in Engineering and Maintenance. I kept many things that he said and followed what he showed me. People treat him with respect and follows without questions.

His name is Danilo M. Reyes, better known as DMR. He’s the Maintenance Superintendent at that time. He knows detailed mechanical things and understands civil and electrical works. He is the type that would pull his sleeves up when needed and do hands on job in critical issues. He is very keen on documentation and follow rules.

He is the one who told me “In maintenance, you have to be a generalist and not a specialist”. I understood what he meant and have been following this for years now. As an Electrical engineer, this is the main reason I am delighted if any tasks other that electricals are given to me.

I dreamed of becoming like him managing both Mechanical and Electrical divisions and after 5 years of hard work, it came to life when I accepted the job here in PNG as a Plant Engineer. Even though the department I am in is a very challenging one, I know that the foundation he has given me, along with the other knowledge I acquired since then, will get me thru the coming challenges. I will be imparting other things that I learned from him in the coming blogs.

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The Rule II

After a year, I have a chance to drive to the other factory with James and asked him on the difference on the working environment that he has from his first year and when I boarded in K.K.Kingston. I am very pleased when he said that it has been a better place to work after I made some changes in the maintenance system. I also told them the next steps that we will be making and the opportunities in the factories we are working in and is very interested in the coming challenges.

On the same day, I have to go to a meeting with Chemical factory personnel where the topic is to have our maintenance fitter to work fully all on fitter’s job and to be relieved of production set-ups. We called in Tony, the fitter and the supervisors who will have to train people to take other jobs of Tony. They look nervous because of the additional jobs and I had an idea why. While giving people their respective new job, Tony is relaxed because he can do what he really has to and the supervisors aren’t. We at Maintenance also told them positive sides of the change but they are still speechless.

More talks, then I told them that I knew their previous manager and how he works. I told them that transition is not easy and that there can be failures at first but Tony as we promise will not leave them as long as they need him and until the operators are ready. I told them that there will be no blaming when mistakes are made and we will be there to help them when needed. They brightened up when I said about the no blaming rule that we made in the Plastics department that we implemented when I came. With that, they began to give suggestions and they reacted positively.

It has been months since then and Tony has been doing what he does best. I haven’t received any complaint and no major breakdown since the change was made.Case closed again.

Click here to see the post: The Rule.

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Strategy

Godfather: Mob Wars is a game in PSP that I have finished. It is composed of two parts, on of which is the Role playing, and the other one is a board game. The role playing is a common thing that is almost same as the other games in terms of controls. The main thing that has gotten my interest is the board game. Seeing how the board game is played, I easily recognized what to do as this type has happened to me a lot of times already in real life, only in different forms.

In the board game, the territories are divided into groups, which are controlled by mobsters. The rule is that in order to win I must capture all the other 4 clans’ territories. With this, the main thing I looked is how I can reinforce my territory and improve my men first. I know that it is easy to attack other places if have total control and have an established initial territory and then I plucked the others one by one.

As for my experience, I would like to learn other things. Doing this, I made sure I have to become highly knowledgeable and experienced on Electrical first, as it is major in college. After that, mechanical stuffs came and it was easier then as I only have to translate some electrical into its mechanical counterparts. Adding new knowledge became easier and easier for me, through the years.

Here in PNG, as Plant Engineer handling Equipment Maintenance of 5 manufacturing sites, I chose the most critical factory, which is Plastics. We implemented some policies and forms and motivated our personnel. After establishing it, we then use them in other factories and easily, we have expanded our territory.

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2 Things

On my first job, I have seen lot of things that I do not like such how the manager handles people and the working environment. Back then, I lived in Manucom residence in Quezon City. As I was saying my complaint then to my cousin EJ, my late uncle, Efren Manucom heard me and told me, “sa kumpanya, di ka dapat magreklamo” (translation: in a company, you should not complain), and he continued that there are only two things you can do in case you don’t like the company and those are <>(1) build your own company or (2) look for a company that will give you what you want. Because he is a good father and a successful Meralco employee, I followed what he said. With that, I saw that there are too many things I do not like in the company so I planned to leave. But approximately a month before leaving, I tried to gather all the knowledge I can get. I did not get much for a short period of time.

In the next job as an Electrical supervisor in Franklin Baker, since I began working, I tried to learn all that I can so I can be prepared should there be problems that I will see in the company. I even ventured on the things that are out of my territory such as mechanical equipment. After almost 2 years, as I gained a lot of knowledge plus experience, the time came for me to leave as I realized then that the company cannot satisfy my needs, no complain – I just left. And the cycle goes on and on but level of learning gets higher every time. Thanks to him, I rarely procrastinate.

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Book #3: How to Win Friends and Influence People

This has been my foundation in terms of dealing with people. Dale Carnegie has compiled a great collection of experiences and examples from him and thru research to make them easy for us to understand and follow. This is a great start for people who would like to lead or just simply make friends.

From my post: “problem”, the answer I told me friend came from this book. It is from the first chapter of the book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People”.

As he said in it, all the principles can be written down in a piece of paper but giving real examples is one thing that can motivate the readers to follow. The big difference between this and other books on dealing with people is that he imply for us to do them sincerely. I learned a lot out of reading this book and learned more when I applied what I read.

I have been successful in sincerely dealing with people and I would always give credit to this book and the author. With this I read 2 more books he wrote which are also big help for me.

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Sticker

In Philippines, we have a means of transportation called a tricycle. It used to load 3 to 5 person and is used mostly in short destination only. When going to other places alone, I would rather commute instead of using the car. Going out of the subdivision or compound in Cainta, Rizal where I previously lived and worked, would require riding it. In it, there are stickers of jokes and quotes and there is one that I liked and is still in my head up to now.

In that sticker are the words: “There is no useless person; you can use him as a bad example.” I just smiled at the first time that I read it but as I see that quotation for some time, and as I see some bad habits of some of my co-workers, I began to change... just a bit though. I would promise my self then, not to do the things that I think are not good habits. The words are a bit rude that is probably why the phase were not written in books that I have read, but this one has changed me a bit on how to see people with bad habits. One thing that is advised when talking to difficult people is to ignore them, but with it I see them differently. I would usually tag them as a bad example. Especially if it is procrastination, I would check how they do it and do the opposite.

Before, it was not easy for me to tell if I don’t like other people’s attitude so I keep them and just tell my self not to do as they do. Nowadays, I would try to tell people their bad habits so that they would be aware. It is up to them if they will change them or not. I already have ways of telling it to other people without offending them.

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Deaf?

When I was a kid up to a time when I was already working, I know that I have problem with my sense of hearing. I have to repeat what my relatives tell me and due to that, they tagged me as deaf. Whenever I do not hear what they said, they would ask me, in a loud voice, if I did not hear any words they said, then, I would just smile at them.<>

It was until I read communication books and articles when I became aware that I have no problem with my hearing and that what I lack is focus and confidence. Reflecting on the events that happened, I realized that there were probably just too many things that go into my mind, too many what-ifs. I have not much confidence in myself then that probably caused it and I am also very cautious on everything that I will do.

Learning to focus and adding confidence in me came from communication stuffs especially on the ones regarding Listening. Listening is a very serious stuff and needs hard work in attaining to ba a good one. It is one of the things that a good leader should have and so I did my best to work on it. I can say that I am successful in this area as I have many people that are happy when talking to me because of this skill that I have.

When I passed the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) in Philippines, my wife was very surprised that I got 8 (9 being the highest) in Listening (Part I). I just told her that I already sorted out the problem and that I do not really have a hearing problem.

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Number 2

I thought of making a post out of my stay here in PNG and I got very excited as I already imagined what contents I will be putting in it. I had lot of things on my mind and told myself to write them down before I forget them. I have pictures also to back them up so it made me more enthusiastic in starting it.

When I am encoding my words, I got carried away and continued writing until it became more like a novel. I already saw that compressing them would not be good that I decided to make a new site out of it. I already spent one and a half years in PNG and already have lots of things to share already. It may start boring but it can also be like a guide or primer just in case anybody will be going to PNG especially in Lae, Morobe.

Yes, it was supposed to be just mu Life here in PNG, but before I released the blog, we had a chance to go to Australia. Though just for a short period, we had taken lots of pictures, had lots of funny memories and of coursed learned new things. I also have been in other different places so I decided to share all of them thru this new blog.

The title is “Life - Places/ Faces/ Things”. Click here to view my other blog. Happy New Year!!!

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