Knowing Where You Are and Your Role Play

End of last week I was on a 2-day training assignment. The programme was aimed at developing participants' skill in using tools and tactics in order to improve their capability. I was least concern on the quality of the contents. Quality of contents is essentially influenced by individual intelligence, exposures, experiences, the amount of information an individual has and more importantly the person's level of motivation. It also requires effective nurturing and coaching at workplace by leaders in the organisation. Tools and tactics can only structure the thought process that will enhance the quality of the contents. Besides, it is beyond scope of my training .

At the end of the 2-day programme, I was pleased to see that everyone had demonstrated the expected level of competency in deploying the tools and tactics shared. Such competency was manifested by their group work and presentations. I am must say that everyone had taken home more than they had carried into the training room and much more than I had expected. The objectives of the programme were met.

The participants ranges from junior executives with as low as 3 months experience to general manager with more than 20 years of experience. Pitching, though challenging, was not a problem . Presentations on the first day were dry and dragged. I had noted that except one, the rest of the participants were not too willing to open up. This one person though analytical was exceptionally critical on group work. Later in the day I had understood the environment as there were instances when I too felt uneasy.

The second day was supposed to start at 8.30am. By 8.35am the training room was still half-full. Two out of four groups had only 2 participants each. Someone senior in position had insisted that I start the programme right away as it would be unfair for him who had come early. I saw he valued compliance more than commitment. True leaders value commitment more than compliance. The other group members were as important to me as the rest. I recalled J.C. Maxwell's: "Leaders need to give up (their pride) to go up". This is humility. I did not see such quality in this person. He is not even willing to give in for 5 extra minutes to others. I had but to assert that we need to give another 5 minutes grace. Less than 2 minutes later four more participants came in. One group was still short of 2 participants. We reorganised the groups. We had 3 instead of 4 groups like in the first day. The participants had indeed went through the team dynamics of forming, storming, norming and performing.

As the participants left the room and shake their hands (except the ladies whom I do not shake hand with) at the end of the 2 day session , I could feel their tight grip except one person. I had however left some souvenirs for them to share - 12 Angry Men and Difficult People.

There are several points to learn from this experience:
1. Regardless of our position and authority, in a training sesssion we attended, we are just another participant.
2. We need to lock in our position and authority before leaving our office. In Rome, do as the Romans do. A local parable suggested "masuk kandang kambing mengembek, masuk kandang lembu menguak."
3. We may manage and lead our organisation, but the course leader/ facilitator leads the training session we attended. This is the law of connection (Maxwell).
4. We should not only be willing to learn but also should be willing to be taught.
5. Regardless how authoritative can we be, our skills in leveraging the reward power motivates others. The use of positive words will make a positive difference.
6. Leaders need to be 'good-finder' instead of being overly critical on nitty-grity, for we will end up with no one contributing any ideas in the future.
7. Learn to recognise small improvements as these are building blocks for bigger successes.
8. To motivate others, is to make them feel good about themselves and others.
9. At times, we need to play dumb and ignorant to excite others to give more information and show their 'colour'

Take note that these lessons learned too demand analytical thinking capability. I have to keep reminding myself of these lessons when presenting a paper in an upcoming logistics forum this October 2008 in Penang.