Monkey See, Monkey Do

Lead by example is a very common management strategy followed by many. Set an example, show up early, work your ass of all day, never break the rules and by all means act like an little angel.

My reaction to this is "BULLSHIT". I feel that if you have any management skills what so ever you do not need to show an example for other to follow in order to become a good leader.

I have a line that I say to all of my new recruiters which is "A monkey will never eat a red berry unless he sees another monkey eat one first, Let me ask you, are you a monkey?" I drop the conversation their and let them think.

Now you may say, " I think you are a lazy, irresponsible leader." To be honest you may be right, but the point of me writing this blog is to prove some people wrong. This is an attempt to give a theory to my practices.

This is very common of me, when I do something I like I start thinking on how to defend these practice so that I have an excuse to do it. I am thinking of how to write my defense as I go along so forgive me if it is confusing. Believe me, we are on the same page.

1. Create a sense of responsibility...

If you have read the One Minute Manger you would understand that this is very important. It creates people who can stand on your their own two feet when the situation arises. I turns the people that you work with from useless into people that you can trust.

A few months back I was put on suspension for complaining about a mistake in our payroll. The boss said that he was taking away the money that they overpaid us. I said that it was unfair. I told them that the people in charge of the payroll should stop making mistakes. He said well I didn't hear you complaining when they paid you two days extra. I replied' well I can live with one mistake, two in a row is too much"

Anyhow, moving back to our subject at hand, I was away from work for a week. The thought passing through my mind was that my account was going to be a mess when I came back. My astonishing discovery when I got back was that it seemed as if I never had left. My team had created that sense of responsibility that I was pushing for. They didn't crash when I was out but the stood up to the situation and kicked ass.

I was sad at first with the thought that I was not needed but then I thought of the One Minute Manger and remembered that he found greater happiness when he saw that the people who worked for him grew while they were with him. This made me feel better.

They were not doing what I was doing. They were not monkeys.

2. Do what I say, don't do what I do.

I do not want monkeys. I also do not want to come off as a hypocrite. I make this clear from the beginning.I want them to understand that I am attempting to make an mold of success for them.

If my team listens to what I say it does not only benefit me, it gives them the opportunity to grow, individually. Not monkeys.

3. Why do everything your self when other can do it for you?

I heard a comment in my office a few weeks back. Apparently I was not a good worker. At first I was pissed off. Later on I realized that I wasn't, it hit me that I was probably the worst worker but I was a sexy queen bee. I created an environment in which I did not have to work my ass off, others did that for me. As long as everything was on the right track I didn't have much to do.

A manager at MEPZA showed me an example. He said that if I put a piece of paper right up against my nose there was no way that I could read it. He said that you have to distance yourself in order to get a better view of what was going on. It was true. Try the example.

That is it. I am rushing to post this. My blog has no basis but the fact that I am hands on doing this. This is what I see and what I believe is right. If you feel I am wrong, read something else. If you feel it helps, let me know.

Rock Hard, Rock On...

My First Blog

My manager said she was working on her blog for a number of reasons. First, it was something to add to her resume. Some kind of professional blog. Second was to make money, according to her if she posts a blog that has a link to a website the owner of the website would pay a fee. $$$ I am not interested in that, yet.

I said a number, two is enough. I think.

Well in my attempt to create my first blog I think I am supposed to find a topic. I have many interests that I could blog about. I love music. I would like to thank Mike Hayden for my knowledge in this field. Thursday evening talks about the history of rock opened my eyes to a whole new world. 'Til this day I still can not believe that I once was a fan of hip-hop music. I am also a big fan of leadership. I enjoy educating myself on the philosophy of a number of great leaders. Hitler, FDR, Castro, Marcos, Saddam and many other. I know this may make some people feel that I am sick and would contradict me in saying that they were great leaders but in my defense these are examples of individuals that rose in to power and held on to it. Rising to power is one thing but holding on to it is a whole different ball game. The level of charisma held but these individuals is astonishing. Hitler lead a whole country in a goal to dominate the world, actually he lead two countries if you include Italy. FDR lead the United States for the longest time, the United States. If Americans were given the chance they would change Presidents faster you could change your shirt. Castro had the US against him and stayed in power long after they gave up trying to kill him. To get Marcos to step down the Filipinos had to protest in the streets, nearly every single Filipino had to shout at the top of their lungs. And Saddam, Bush had to lie and persuade nearly every country in the western hemisphere to help before they could pull down his statue. Now that is interesting, right.

But they don't seem to topics that anyone would be interested in. I am still stumped. I do not know what I am going to blog about. I bet Obama and the recent election has been blogged about a million times. I doubt that my knowledge would be any use to any one reading this blog. ( If any one does.) I think I will blog about what my next blog will be about. In my next blog I will write about my management strategy that has no basis at all.

I work in an outsourcing company that specializes in recuiting. We are very different compared to most outsourcing companies. We cater to small recruiting companies. Most outsourcing companies work for the Majors like Microsoft, Dell and Time Warner. This difference creates a number of problems between us our clients and the people we work with. I manage a small team of recruiters. My client is based in the Beautiful city of Boston, home of the Celtics. I am based in Cebu, Philippines. I could right a book on the number of challenges that I find myself in everyday. I promise, I make things look easy but sometimes I feel like my head is going to explode. I am going to attempt to put the major ones in bullet points and discuss on how I solve them. I will also discuss my Monkey see Monkey do Theory.

That will all come up in my next blog. This is my first one and I do not want to over do things. My last words will be my first words to each of my new recruiters.

Monkeys in the jungle will not eat the red berries until they see another monkey eat them first. Question! Are you a monkey?

Rock Hard, Rock On!