Bulletin No. 21 | May – June 2004
REMARKS FROM THE EDITOR
People do not pay attention to what You know, unless they know how you care for others, then You can ask them to do something for you. People give responses if someone is sincere. It does not mean that You give something. It really means that You have your personal interests so that you treat them well.
Your people are able to ‘read’ You. If You are not sincere, they do not only think that you don’t care, but you are trying to cheat them. You gain no respect from them.
Positive attitudes, behaviors, and language are the most critical ingredients, supported by consonant application, interpretation, and example provided by organizational leadership. Virtually all studies of employee satisfaction show that influencing employee attitudes is more effectively done by local managers and supervisors than by any other force within a business or organization.
Reading, talking and trying will play a role in your learning process. It’s really a matter of leading with your strength. Make it easy on yourself and go with what works best for you. Enjoy your reading !
Best wishes,
Elizabeth Goenawan Ananto
Editor
TIPS OF THE MONTH
Self Investment – How to Build Your Employment Value
Suppose you are an office employee, in whatever level you are assigned, you will be running the risk of losing your job if you do not follow the trends and do not consider that self investment is necessary to keep up with the tremendous change in office routines.
To be in demand
- Office support staff need the skills to do graphics for presentations, manage complex communication systems, need strategic thinking and employ all efforts to work more efficiently.
- If you are a middle manager, you need more knowledge and skills of office management in dealing with unpredictable events in such instability of political and economical situation. Possible strike due to increase demand of employees will have a significant impact on product delay or service distribution, let alone financial risks.
If you are an entrepreneur – you will lose your money. If you are an employee – your career is at risk. - If you are manager, you have to be ready in dealing with unexpected events inside and outside your organization. Be prepared with handling issues and crisis management.
Organization reputation is number one, but your personal integrity is somewhat dominant. You will lose your chance of getting higher position just because you pay no attention to your ‘personal enterprise’ – you employment value.
- Today’s career is frightening, like a game with the unexpected moves and rules, often random, twists and turns. A mistake can mean that game – your career – is over.
If you are not ready to leave your present job in the next three years, you need to learn the tips from C.D. Peterson in his book Staying in Demand, on how to increase your self-investment
- Commit yourself to never ending education and training
- Evaluate what you are now and what your employment value to be
- Decide your self investment strategy.
Either become expert in one field or a generalist in several. - Achieve balance between expertise and flexibility
If you become a generalist, stay flexible. If you choose to be an expert, totally focused. - Always be ready to recycle your skills, adapting them into newly marketable forms.
- Develop tour hard and soft skills.
Hard skills such as language, science and mathematics, quantitative technique, statistical analysis, computer-based knowledge. Soft skills such as interpersonal skills, leadership, team building, timely decision skills, information gathering, political skills and versatility : board competence and adaptability.
LEADERSHIP
Development and human resource empowerment are the two challenges of today’s leadership. There are some methods on how to assess the success of a leader
- You can predict a leader’s intelligence by looking at the people around him. This is not a matter of IQ, but he believes that a growing successful leader will improve personally and organizationally by exercising his/her influence towards more people and develop more variety of his team. (Niccolo Machievelli)
A good leader will avoid these seven deadly sins:
- Trying best to be popular, rather than to be respected
- Ignoring internal advice and assistance of team
- Developing personal characteristics by stressing rule and regulations, not competence
- Avoiding criticism even if it is constructive
- Applying top down management style
- Treating each personnel equally
- Controlling information as to his people’s interest.
- A good leader will employ the best staff. The ‘eagles’ do not flock together. He has to find them one by one. He cannot make a strong team with weak personnel.
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