Book: Fish!

This thin book is a fable about a demotivated and weary people and area in a company and how it was transformed into a happy and inciting one. This is a simple leadership book that can help not only leaders in offices but also in any type of workplace -  and outside of it too!.

The ingredients based from it are:
1. Choose your Attitude.
2. Be present
3. Play.
4. Make their day.

The said ingredients to a better workplace are basic and inside the book are explication of them. On our Toastmasters meeting, "Attitude" was used as a word for the day and what is catchy is when he said that "it is contagious so be careful what you catch". The author made is easy for us to understand the importance of it and that the other 3 are nothing without it.

The first book about leadership that I have read is also a fable - "The Monk who sold his Ferrari" by  Robin Sharma and I will follow other coming fables that is about self help and leadership.

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Toastmasters

I am fortunate to be a part of the Toastmasters International Club as part of training provided by K. K. Kingston Ltd. I was not a first choice but I really wanted to have training on public speaking that I made my way to become a member of this club.

The Toastmasters International is a company sponsored club which carries the goal of improving communication and leadership skills thru public speaking. Here in Papua New Guinea, it is currently the only group as the first one has just been dissolved. It is listed in District 69 together with Australia and New Zealand.

I have read Dale Carnegie's public speaking book and other communication books. I have also tried most of the things that are written in them and have made good progress in communicating with my subordinates and to my superiors as well. I know that I have a lot more to learn when it comes to communication and needs more confidence in speaking in front of other people.

When I learned that there was a club formed for such, I told myself that I have to become a part of it. I just saw that getting there will already be a challenge and I made my way by asking the president on how to become a member. Though I was not given attention, it did not stop me from trying more and my eagerness prevailed.

I seek for other way such as asking the members. Experiencing my enthusiasm, a close friend of mine, Leah, invited me to be her guest. I was her guest for 2 sessions and I can only observe. From their meeting agendas, I already saw how it can build confidence in people that I told them that I want to become a member. Fortunately, most of the people in that group are my friends so they voted me to become a member.

On August 28, 2010, I had my first day as a Toastmaster and I had fun while learning. I had my opportunities to speak and with the studies that I already made on communication, I performed a step ahead from the beginners. I knew that this club will be my way to more development. Their website is: www.toastmastersd69.org.

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Ninoy Aquino

When I was young, I remember seeing this guy on TV speaking in front of a big crowd. I did not absorb most of what he said except for a joke in it  and since then, every time I read or hear the name Ninoy, the lines in bold just comes out of my mind :

”As you very well know the Japanese have a difficulty pronouncing their R's. Manila becomes Manira. And so this Japanese gentleman stood up and said, My dear Piripino pipor, you are very raki, and I consider he said the Filipino people the most raki in Asia. And the people were of course surprised and they wanted to know why they are very lucky. He said you know why you are raki? You have a president who robs you, and you have a first lady who robs you more!”

Just yesterday, I saw chunks of this speech at National Geographic’s presentation of Ninoy Aquino’s assassination and the investigation that was done. Seeing that, I then searched for his speech and learned that it took place in Los Angeles in 1981. I believe it was aired on Philippine TV after the reign of the dictator.Videos are available on Youtube and the website http://hawaksatun-og.webs.com has a written article of this speech.

I was amazed by the wisdom he has and powerful words he used. He looked at things in so mature and sincere way. He also has a great sense of humor. And even with his wisdom, he is humble enough to say that he still seeks for sage advice. A very wise man indeed. I am a fan of wise people and he is probably one to follow.

Simply amazing, he would have been a president of the Philippines and with his bravery, he was assassinated then people woke up, fought and had freedom back. Now I have more lines from that speech to think about in addition to the joke he uttered almost three decades ago.

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Efren "Bata" Reyes

This morning, I watched a replay of a game which starred Philippines' best billiard player ever Efren "Bata " Reyes with Rubilen "Bingkay" Amit. It is a Mixed double match which happened last December 3rd at Nuvo City, Libis, Quezon City in Philippines. Bingkay is a fan of him and plays well also. Young and aggressive, their opponents also looked very confident and they don't have reason not to be as they dominated the early stages of the fight. Bata and Bingkay won over the Korean who looked very much in control in a race-to-nine finals match.

In that match, those that catched my attention are the following:

1. One very obvious thing about Efren is that he is not getting any younger. He already misses shot he would easily sink before, but he can easily recognize the situation and what to do in each situation he is into. I remembered an interview with Efren where he said that he may miss long shots but billiard [strategies] are still with him.

2. Thanks to the high quality sound of the mic during recording, I can hear Efren give options to her but find it hard or maybe it was something she haven't tried even in practice. Maybe he used some strategies that are beyond her capability. I know she has learned a lot from Efren thoughout the tournament.

3. She makes mistakes but still Efren can just easily laugh at it. He probably knows that they can still manage to get back after some mistakes and it takes away nervousness knowing that she won't be blamed.

4. There was also a time when he just told her that she can just place the cue ball where ever she want it. This is a very motivating thing to hear - showing that he is confident to whatever move she will make and that in case anything wrong happens, he can find a way to get it right.

Having a leader with a lot of experience spells the difference. I had experienced superiors and mentors, I gain a lot from them and it made my life easier. Herein are some of the reasons I want to talk to people with experiences expecially those which I would not want to harness. I listen a lot and implement the things that I know can help me also.

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The Least?

Still from our last (third) Badminton Tournament this year, based on skill level, as a group, all other teams considered us the least. We are a group with 3 pairs. Men’s double, mixed double and women’s double. We are mostly expats so we have to make the tournament a bit short to prevent conflict with holidays.<>

Our team captain is good and has a lot of experience in this game; I just helped him in coaching and motivating our other team mates. And the other four are mostly new players but the main thing is that they listen. What I did was to focus on their strengths. We gave chance for the beginners to be a part of the fun and because they listen, they managed to win games even if their opponent is better.

The team captain, Mang Jun usually tells them what to do with their racket and I focus on their mind setting. My team mates would usually say at first that they will lose because their opponents are better than them, and that is my cue for motivating them.

The team captain scouts the next opponents and gives instructions to our team mates. I do the analysis of the points we have earned and needed to get to the finals. As I see it, because of the efforts we have given while not playing, it makes it easier to handle things on the court. The champion team just had a lot more experience and talent than our team but we made it to the finals and nobody expected us to make it as the runner up.

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Habit #3

As the production side of the plant is running fine, I thought of giving lectures again to my personnel on technical matters. With it, I reviewed the things that I taught them when I was just starting here in K.K.Kingston. I then realized that it is better to ask them first what they want to become instead just giving them any technical mini-seminars.<>

Habit 3 from Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly effective people is Put first things first. In that situation I knew that it is better to know what they want first and giving them sense of direction first before giving them any technical trainings. From my posts Habit #2, I knew where they wanted to be and asked them for the steps that they have to make in order to achieve it. These steps I told them are the things that we have to focus first to attain their goals.

Putting the 3 first habits together, I told them that we have been proactive in keeping the Saturday meeting/seminar/training work and that we have a vision of what we want to attain. In order to attain them we have to put first things first and focus on the things that have big impact in reaching their goals. I have been saying these words to them over and over and as I see, after that, I know that they are more than ready for the electricals, mechanicals and other things that may help them to reach their destination.

“The main thing is to make the main thing the main thing”
-Stephen Covey

Read post: Habit #1 and Habit #2

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Book #4: 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

The first book by John Maxwell that I read is “21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership”. I remembered that I read this book from the plane going to China as we have to go to a paper company and finished it on the plane going back three weeks after. I had fun time reading this as John has led some ministries. Yes, he is a church leader. He has a lot of experience and the contents of his book are something worth reading.

This is the first book for leadership that I read from cover to cover. Before this, I would just read articles in the internet or listen to audio books. It was easy for me to relate as I have been practicing leadership beforehand. I am very much encouraged because I can relate in many of his experiences and I learned a lot of new terminologies and motivational quotations from this book.

I would use the learnings I have from him as I have used it in my other posts. The way he presents the laws is different and as I read, I can sense his decision making and firmness even if his experience is more on ministries. Same with other books, I will be jotting down more experiences not only at work but also in my personal life that coincides with his teachings.

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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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Habit #1

I am very fortunate to have a seminar on Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. In Glaxo, all employees especially the Med-reps have to undergo this seminar. It was very meaningful and I practiced them for some time. I forgot it easily as it is not a technical thing. I have to read the book when I remembered that can help me in my new endeavor. Nowadays, I would teach them to my men based on His words and with my experiences. <>

The first one of which is “be proactive”. We would hear managers tell their people to be proactive, but usually means to work, to work, and to do more work. As a leadership advocate, I would tell them to be proactive in Stephen Covey’s way.

When I am with personnel of mine, I would give them advice depending on their needs. I ask them what they would like to be. When I hear their answer, the initial thing I would be telling them is to be responsible for what they want to become. This is Covey’s words with moving out of the comfort zone. Those words are powerful especially when I give them my personal example on how I made it to where I am now. I may not have gone very far, but far enough to motivate them.

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AAAA

Engineering and maintenance is where almost all the problem in a factory is blamed to. Whether it is on machines, quality of utilities and sometimes basic structural, we are the personnel to call. I had to deal with almost all the people in the factory and hear a lot of complaints, even in times when things are going smoothly. How I got through it? <>

Years ago, as I looked for leadership articles, I then bumped into an article which says “4 A’s on how to handle complaints smartly”. The title is too tempting for me not to read them so I took note of it. I wrote them in my notebook so I would not forget them and also wrote them in a post-it note which I pinned at the cork board in front of my desk. I kept on reading them and I have no idea of what the outcome will be should I use them. Reading it from first to last A, it seems that it will work but I still have doubt on it and so are my personnel as they thought that those words are not fair for our team.

I practiced few words for me to use just in case there will be complaints. And when that time came, looking at the note I have, I followed them as written from the first A to the fourth. It was never easy then but I am very proud that I followed them and made a positive result out of it.

As I have practiced those 4 A’s, whenever and wherever people tells me complaint, I now know that there is no need to flinch because I already have it and have been using it for years now. I sometimes forgot those words in order and the words themselves, but I know that I can handle them smartly now even without the note I had.

The 4 A’s are as follows: (1) Agree with the complaint (2) Apologize (3) Act to remedy the problem (4) Appreciate being given the complaint. Unfortunately, I forgot to write down the author’s name and cannot find it now. Thanks to him anyway.

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Jerry

Jerry (right) and Roy (middle) are friends we had when Roberto and I went to China for Factory acceptance of a Paper machine on July to August, 2007. Jerry, a Mechanical Engineer, is one of the few people in that factory who can speak English well. He is a bit older than me. He is a very serious person but became a bit jolly person when he was with me and Robert. He was our tour guide during our stay there. Before I left, Jerry confessed a problem he has on their factory. <>

Being new to the factory, Jerry really wanted to learn how the machines are made and how everything in it works; trouble is that the designer won’t let him get close to the machines whenever there are critical things to be made. He narrated his resentment regarding this matter that he is always told to go far whenever the designer has to make changes on the machines and would never tell him what the amendments done.

I understand why the designer doesn’t want him to see things and one thing is that machine is yet to be patented. I told him that if he cannot learn when the designer is working on the machines then ask the people who are near it at the time installations and changes are made. I recalled telling him “I have been with people who hoard knowledge but I never stopped looking for other options until I learn them and nobody can stop people who want to learn.” I remember telling this to him in a tone of a wiseman. He was very motivated with my words and promised to do what I told him to.

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Angry?

I would like to share how I deal with angry people that confront me. It doesn’t mean that I usually make enemies but there are other reasons such as envy, jealousy and I making mistakes led some people to be angry with me. Nowadays, I would resolve such incidents at once instead of pending it at making it worse. Sometimes some people would just talk to me to release their anger from another person or things.<>

The basic thing that I do is listening attentively to them. I see angry person as an automatic machine gun loaded by ammo and is triggered by anger. Listening attentively to them is like unloading the ammos. In my experience, giving any form of advice, sometimes no matter how great it is, is just a means of reloading or refueling anger. When the magazine is emptied, that should be the best time to talk about the issue. Try it!

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Obama won!

Too late for this? Not quite ‘coz what I will tell you is something that happened before the election. This article is made possible by Obama’s win. Hooray for Obama! <>

Months before that day, my friend Billy thinks that Obama will win. Our other 2 friends think McCain will win simply because he is “white”. With that Billy bet 12-packs of beer each with the other two guys and they agreed.

We watched them whenever we see them on screen. It was a see saw battle then, but the more they speak, the more I liked Obama's way. A month or so before the election, Billy approached me and asked me who I think will win? I answered that for me, it will be Obama as he has more sense of leadership than McCain. Also, the type of leader he is is close if not same as the people I am following. He just smiled and left knowing that we are on the same side. But if he asked how I saw leadership in Obama, I would simply answer what John Maxwell said: “The more leadership ability a person has, the more quickly he recognizes leadership, or the lack of it, in others.”

Good thing he won, otherwise this won’t be written!

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The Rule

During my first days at the Plastics factory in PNG, I was introduced to some not very happy electricians and fitters. I easily saw that there is a problem in the work place. One of my first jobs was to know the people I will handle and how to motivate them.<>

While James, a fitter, was working, I approached him and ask how things are going? He honestly answered that production is blaming them for the machine breakdowns....always. This is almost the same answer I had from most of my other fitters, electricians and so is with my superintendent. For years, they have been accepting blames given to them. I had a rule given to them which is the “no blaming” rule. I told them that if any blame is handed out to them and/or if they make mistakes as well, as their superior, all they have to do is tell me and I will handle them.

Checking at the history, there has been no regular maintenance for machines. There are policies but are not implemented. So, when the next problems occurred, I would always be there at once to help them solve the trouble or machine problem. After some occurrence, I saw that the problem is usually on the operations side. Set up is the usual cause then as I and all personnel present has been witnessing then. The other department never heard any criticisms from me whenever we prove that it is their fault. Operators are in doubt of giving us information on what happened before the machine breakdown because they themselves are afraid to be blamed also. I then told them that we need to work hand in hand to finish issues and stop looking who’s to be charged.

I requested that all causes should be written down and be more specific. They have it already in the system but were not implemented, so they did. After some time, the data would rarely say that the machine problem is due to lack of maintenance, especially when we have already stabilized the preventive maintenance system. Problem still occurs once in a while and I would tell my men to just work on it and look for the root cause so we can prevent them from happening again. With that operators co-operated well as they no there will be no one to be blamed and we will just sort the problem out.

My men felt relieved with this and worked happily since then. My superintendent was very happy also as his chronic headache was gone when the issue was resolved. Case closed.

Click here to see the post: The Rule II.

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the console

I loved playing video games since the time of famicom or family computer made by Nintendo. Today, what I have is a black slim PSP. I just finished a game which has a title: “Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core.” The scenes are amazing and I really adore the animation. The game is about Zack, a 2nd class soldier who wanted to be 1st class and he got it early on. The main issue that story wants to disseminate is embracing dreams and protecting honor. It was stated a hundred times by Zack and his mentor, Angeal. Unfortunately, he died but his dream came true – to become a hero.<>

Playing the game, Zack battles enemies, levels up and had to finish lot of stages. The story is a long and complex one (I finished it in about a week at least 4 hours a day.) In it is an option that is called missions. There are certain areas only where you can play them. This option is a training ground where the character can also level up, gain some points and get other things he can use as well. With them, when he goes back to the flow of the main story, he will be stronger and more armed to face the enemies. I would finish some missions whenever I can so no monster can be big enough to stop me inside the main phase. Sacrificing some time for those missions, I knew I would finish the game easily.

Compared to my own flow of story, reading books and talking to experienced people are some of the options I am taking so that there would be no monsters such as problems that will be big enough to stop me from achieving my goals. These are things that I do to make me more armed to face the real world. What are your missions?

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problem

One of my friends told me he has a problem with his board member in his small organization. He said that the person always comes late during their meetings and that he causes delay because he has an important data which should be presented early in the meeting. He is a bit angry already to his fellow. Surprisingly, he asked me how to handle a person like him. Surprising, because he is 10 years older than me. Hearing this I got excited as I will be giving advice just like the leaders I am following.<> Fortunately, the answer came in an instant as I have read issues like this on the previous books that I finished reading. Confidently, the exact phrase I told him was: “tirahin mo yung problema at ‘wag yung tao” (Focus on the problem and not the person.) He asked for an elaboration. In a very calm way, like a teacher to a student, I told him that he should not take things personally. I continued and told him that if he will tell the person that he is wrong for what he is doing, he would probably just defend himself and create an argument. I told him that in my opinion, the better approach is to tell him that being late is wrong because he is needed to come early so that the data will be presented on the right time. I also added for him to tell the lad that if he comes on time, then the meeting can also be adjourned on time. I have to leave the company then that is why I did not know what happened during their next meetings.

Just put yourself into the shoes of the guy who comes in late, would you like to hear your leader tell you that you’re wrong because you’re always late? Or would you rather hear him tell you that being late is wrong?

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