Frontliners in time of crisis…

I read somewhere that Doctors and Nurses are not really “frontliners.”

Before you have your “violent reaction” to that statement, read on first.

With the fight against this virus (NCoV-19) and disease (Covid-19), WE, the general public, are the frontliners. What we do will dictate how fast this crisis will end, or how long this will last. If we choose to stay at home, this can mean two things: 1) if you are infected, then you will not infect other people. Thus, not spreading the virus; and 2) if you are not infected, then you keep it that way and do not add to the burden of the health system. These are the first lines of defense – PREVENTION. Even as kids, we’ve heard the saying “An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.” Listen to your elders!

That being said, this means that our dear Doctors and Nurses are actually our “last line of defense.” They have to jump in because it means we are already sick and our symptoms can’t be managed by just “staying at home” and “riding the virus out.” This means their expertise and care are already needed to make us better and survive the disease. When they get involved, it’s already serious.

However, if each of us will do our part in preventing the spread of the virus – such a simple thing being asked of us compared to the huge responsibility and burden the health care professionals take on when they HAVE to be involved – then, we do our part as “frontliners” too.

I know it’s not possible for literally everyone to stay at home. The “essential workers” – the health care providers, the food service providers, the pharmacy staff, the food delivery services, the garbage collectors, the security guards, the police force, our military officers, the REAL public servants/politicians – have to be out there in order for us to survive through this pandemic with the bare essentials. But if you can stay at home and do nothing else, or work from home, or find a way to help others while staying at home (donate, connect people who have supplies to those who need them, check up on family and friends you haven’t seen in a while because you were so “busy” before, or just simply pray), that will already be a huge help to our best and last line of defense – the Doctors and Nurses – who, know the risk they are taking each time they step out of their homes to go to work. May the good Lord bless them and protect them.

So please, stay at home if you can. Stay at home if you are a PUI/PUM. Stay at home if you have the symptoms. Stay at home if you have been exposed to someone who tested positive for Covid-19. We need to look out for one another.

Philippians 4:2 – Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interest of others.

And when the time comes when we can go outside again:

Galatians 5:13 – For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love.

 

Reflections on Leadership 1

One of the first lessons I learned as a leader is that you can’t have one singular and universal leadership style. With the different backgrounds, personalities, life goals, career plans and maturity of the people you lead, you, as their leader need to adjust to each individual as necessary.

“Isn’t that tedious?” you might ask. Well, yes and no.

Yes, because you really need to take the time to get to know each person over a period of time. Regular coaching sessions – whether formal or informal – should include a “personal histories” exercise where you find out who they are outside outside work: their hobbies, interests, where they like to go on vacation, do they play sports, are they religious, are they into video games or sports or arts…the list goes on and on. This is not just a good exercise between a supervisor/manager and a direct report, this is also a good exercise among team members. To get to know one another on a more personal level, you will have a better understanding of who this person really is and what he/she stands for.

And no, because doing this at the beginning and throughout your relationship with your direct report, will make your job as their leader, easier in the long run. You already know possible reasons why someone’s performance is slipping – maybe he has health issues, or they have problems at home, or a family member is going through something. No, you don’t have to meddle or provide the solution to these things. But you could me more understanding and supportive if they are going through a tough phase in their lives whether personally or professionally.

I believe that these things create a better workplace culture and better working relationships among everyone in the team, not just the manger and direct report.

Leadership is not much different from other relationships. Trust, respect and sincere concern for another are key pieces in leadership. With these, your job in helping them develop skills, improve their performance and contribute to the growth of the organization will be easier and more meaningful. And just as in any other relationship, you deal with different people differently.

The Meaning of Life

I have been having a hard time sleeping lately which gives me an opportunity to reflect on a lot of things – mostly about life in general. One of my recent thoughts was about the meaning of life. I was watching a TV program and the plot was about a young boy diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and was given a few months to live. His parents didn’t want him to know so he can live as normal as possible. However, the boy was pretty smart and researched his symptoms, and he figured it out himself. He didn’t tell his parents that he knew because he didn’t want them to worry more than they already did. The boy told the young doctor that he knew about his condition and that he’s okay with it because he realized that we will all die – it’s just that some die sooner and some die later. He said he doesn’t want to believe in God or a Higher Being because it would make him hate Him or question Him. He said it was easier to not believe and just accept things as they are.

But even when he didn’t believe in God, he didn’t want his parents to worry about him. That’s him taking care of his parents. The parents didn’t want him to worry about his diagnosis and just live as normal a life as possible because they loved him. The young doctor taking the time out to listen to this child and be his friend and his confidant not because it’s his job but because it comforted the boy to be able to talk to someone.

This made me think – really think. I am a believer. And though I don’t want to go into any debate about religion or faith, just let me express my belief and take it with a grain of salt. I was born and raised a Roman Catholic. My parents, my brothers, sisters and I are spiritual and some more religious than other family members; but we share the same faith and we pray. I have experienced the Lord in my life many times and I know He uses the people around me to bless me; and uses me as an instrument to bless others. So how can I not believe?

Going back to my reflection: so if we all die, then what’s the point of living? What’s the point of growing up, of learning, of dreaming, of working, of relationships, of loving…of everything? I am pretty sure I am not the only one who has asked this question and I certainly won’t be the last. So I prayed for discernment because, gosh, if there’s not much more to living and dying, then why even bother? And here is what the Lord told me (I know He told me this because I couldn’t have figured this all out myself). I might have read it somewhere before but it didn’t make as much sense as it does right now. I realized that THE MEANING OF LIFE IS TO LIVE A LIFE OF MEANING, and it is up to us to define and create a meaningful life. This usually involves other people (love and relationships), and because people have different backgrounds and personalities we need to grow and learn to be able to relate to one another. I really believe that we go through tough times in life because it makes us more compassionate to others.

The point of living then is to be able to leave a good legacy that will outlive you. To be able to have a positive influence in the lives of others. To be able to make a positive difference in the world – it doesn’t matter if it’s just one life or two lives or millions of lives you impact. I believe that a meaningful life is one that is of service to others. Being a source of optimism, of hope, of inspiration, a reason to live. That’s how you live a meaningful life..and that, my friends, is the meaning of life.

And you don’t have to be a doctor or a policeman or a lawyer or a religious leader to be able to live a life of meaning. If we all wanted to be just these four professions, who will make our delicious meals, who will teach in schools, who will come up with all these innovations in technology and communication, who will design and build our houses and buildings, who will create wonderful works of art, who will man the stores and deliver our goods, who will grow crops and flowers – the list goes on and on, because there are a myriad of ways that you can live a life of meaning and make a positive difference in the world.

Isn’t it amazing to be alive and have this wonderful opportunity to love and leave the world a better place?

 

Random Thoughts – Nothing Else Matters

Experiencing failure is a part of life; but you are really only defeated when you refuse to go back up.

Challenges are a part of life. “You have to take the good with the bad,” so they say – because the good would mean so much more when you now what “bad” is like.

Challenges are meant to strengthen our character and make us more compassionate to others. That’s what gives meaning to our lives. Not the money. Not the fame. Not big houses and fancy cars. These things won’t make you happy. If it will then we won’t hear of rich people destroying their lives with alcohol and drugs to the point of (literally) death.

So find out what really makes you truly happy and go for it – just know that it’s not in material possessions. Knowing and going after what makes you truly happy would be worth it…and nothing else matters.

A New Chapter – The Best is Yet to Come!

After months of contemplation and discernment, I have made the decision to leave my job. I know that this is not the “popular decision” and some people probably think I am “crazy and stupid” for leaving such a promising job and a really good company. The thing is, I am at a phase in my life where I want to be able to do something different but still make a positive impact in the world. I believe that I will still be able to accomplish that by doing something else. Do not get me wrong, I loved my job and the people I worked with, and being in Customer Service Operations for more than 16 years has been such a fulfilling experience. Also, over the last 4 to 5 years, I have made financial investments and grown my savings that would allow me to be temporarily unemployed.

In my previous post (albeit some time ago), I talked about resilience and change and I realize now that I am taking my own advice by taking this time off to recharge, to focus on other things, to focus on myself. I am hoping to be able to do more reading (stay in the learning zone), some traveling (experience new things), and also do some more writing (applying and sharing what I learn and experience). So I am hoping I will be able to be more active in my blogging.

When I talked to my team that I will be leaving, one of my team members said excitedly, “You will now have time to write your book!” and that night I received an email/newsletter from Brian Tracy about….”How to Write a Book & Become a Published Author!” (See link below if you are interested in writing your own book too.) The universe is telling me something and I need to listen. It would be really nice to be able to be able to write a book and I already know what my book is going to be about!

So, I guess my message this time is really a reinforcement of my last post about embracing change but do make sure that it is a change for the better. Continue the learning but start applying what you learned and pass on the lessons to others. Nobody benefits from what’s in your brain if it just stays there and does not get exhibited in your daily life. You know that you are learning something new and growing when you become uncomfortable. That’s the universe telling you that something needs to change, and most of the time it is YOU that needs to change – your mindset, new skills, new environment, etc. Be excited instead of being anxious about change. Stay positive and know that the best is yet to come!

http://www.briantracy.com/blog/category/writing/

 

On Changing for the Better

They say the only constant thing in this world is change. I know it sounds cliché but it is so true. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, you experience change in the seasons – whether it’s from summer, to autumn, to winter to spring…or from dry summers to the rainy seasons…it changes. As we grow old, our bodies change and our mind becomes less and less…sharp. Change.

A friend recently posted a story on Facebook (one that I have read before but suddenly had a different impact on me). It’s a story about a frog who was put in a vessel of water that was on a stove. As the temperature of the water rises, the frog was able to adjust its body temperature. The frog keeps on adjusting with the increase in temperature. By the time the water reached its boiling point, the frog realized he was in trouble and tried to jump out but he couldn’t. He lost all his strength adjusting to the change in temperature and he died.

Initially, I thought it was a good lesson on resilience. What’s wrong with being able to adjust to his surroundings? Nothing really. But the truth is, what killed the frog was it’s own inability to decide when it was the right time to jump out.  The post explained: “We all need to adjust with people and situations, but we need to be sure when we need to adjust and when we need to confront/face the issues. There are times when we need to face the situation and take the appropriate action. If we allow people to exploit us physically, mentally, emotionally or financially, they will continue to do so” until we do not have any strength anymore to jump out of the situation. We have to know and decide when to jump out!

Resilience can be a good thing but there are times when adjusting to the situation does not really help you grow anymore. That’s when you decide to jump out. Make sure though, that you bring the lessons with you. These lessons will equip you in future life challenges. They say that when you find yourself in similar situations, life is telling you the you haven’t learned the lesson. What are these “similar situations”? Falling for the same type of guys/girls who are losers, or when you find yourself in the same financial pit as you did just a couple of years ago, or when you always end up in one miserable job after another – always blaming the company, the boss, the office mates but you’ve never looked within….maybe the problem is you. Look back. Be honest and exercise candor with yourself. What brought you there again? Take responsibility for your life and be the change that you expect to see.

It also helps to know what your core strengths are. These lead you to your true “calling.” I have read many thought leaders and business leaders talk about this. What were your interests as a child? What do you enjoy doing? What are the things you would do even when no one asks you to? What are the things and situations you’re drawn to? What are your interests, talents, skills? What are the things and events and situations you’re typically drawn to? Listen to yourself. These will lead you to you life’s purpose.

For me, I’ve always like to make people feel at ease…unless they give me a reason not to. My instinct is to make someone feel comfortable and welcome. I like figuring people out – learning about them, their personalities, their interests, their culture if they’re from another country. I guess this is also the reason why I like traveling. It puts me in situations where I get to be immersed in a different culture and meet different kinds of people. I like sharing my experiences too and hoping that people will learn something from them, and inspire them, give them a better perspective of life and their situation. I like talking to people who like to share their experiences too. No matter how similar or different our experiences are, it’s always a learning experience. You come out of the conversation learning something new…you step away CHANGED for the better.

It’s a matter of choice..

I can’t believe it has been more than two years since my last blog entry. So much has changed but a lot has stayed the same too.

I now work for a different company in the same industry but what’s also different now is that I have even more opportunity to share what I know, my experiences and my ministry to my new team. I’ve been with this new company for a year and a half now and my team’s performance is at a state where I can now do more leadership sessions with my team and other teams in the company too.

I started the formal leadership sessions about 3 weeks ago and just completed another series this week. As I was sharing with them the books I have read that talked about leading people in an organization and how we, as leaders, have the opportunity everyday to change and influence our people’s lives for the better, one participant asked me if I have written a book my self. I was flattered but no, I haven’t written a book. I told him I have thought about it and then I remembered about this blog (that I have neglected for more than two years!!! Shame on me!). So that innocent question brings me right here, right now. Writing this new entry and telling myself that I need to be more disciplined in my writing. I’m reminding myself of why I started this blog in the first place: I wanted to reach out to people that I wouldn’t get to meet face-to-face. If there’s a disheartened leader who is at the brink of giving up and happens to just make one last effort to search for answers, chances upon this blog, relates with what I have been sharing and it gives him hope to give it one more try, then I would have achieved my purpose.

I still remember where it all started almost 6 years ago (https://thecuriousleader.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/how-it-all-started/)  and I am thankful that by having experienced job misery myself I was compelled to ask questions and learn more and more about leadership and how much power leaders have to make life better for the people they lead…as much power, unfortunately, to make people’s lives worse too. It’s just a matter of choice. Everyday in our lives, we have a choice to make life better. No one can take that away from us. I chose to respond positively to my job misery and that choice has opened up a lot of doors for me.

Today, I choose to be thankful for the opportunity my immediate manager is giving me to conduct these leadership sessions. I am thankful for the trust and participation of the leaders who attend my leadership workshops. I am thankful for the business leaders and thought leaders who chose to share what they know through books, online articles, blogs, podcasts, etc. I probably will never get to meet them (some have passed away) but I still am truly thankful. They have shown that, as leaders, it’s not enough that we know these things, it’s even more important to pass on the learning to others.

Thank you…

Zig Ziglar, John Maxwell, Jack Welch, Jack Canfield, Steve Jobs, Howard Behar, Marcus Buckingham, David Cottrell, Patrick Lencioni, Oprah Winfrey, Antohony Robbins, Arianna Huffington, Dr. Kevin Leman, William Pentak, Ken Blanchard, Dr. Tasha Eurich (I actually met her in a Conference in Las Vegas last February), Bo Sanchez, Francis Kong, Anthony Pangilinan, Boris Joaquin….

Blessings in Disguise

As Managers, more often than we are willing to admit, other responsibilities get in the way of our being a Leader. What are these responsibilities? Reports? Financial planning? Meetings? All of the above? Unfortunately, most Managers fail to realize and admit that these responsibilities usually have schedules and deadline; while people managing is something you do everyday.

I was also (and it still happens from time to time but I recognize it much easily and much faster now) a victim of these responsibilities as a people manager. I can make all kinds of excuses not to talk to someone until I, or they, forget about it.

So, a little over a year ago, since I was “busy with other stuff,” I didn’t realize that I haven’t really spent much time with my team. I didn’t know what was going on in their lives, or how they felt about their job or working for the company, or if they needed any help on something. I was a blind leader. Until I received an e-mail from my boss that his boss sent him. As I was reading the thread, I knew it wasn’t good news. The client was complaining about the Manager who reported to me. The client was telling my boss’ boss that he felt that the Manager has not “grown” in the past 3 years and is “doing the same thing he has been doing.” Ouch! As this Manager’s Manager, that was a slap in my face. It didn’t end there. The client also said that he hasn’t really felt my presence much and that he only remembered me joining a couple of conference calls and didn’t contribute much. Second slap! It was true. I couldn’t argue with that. No excuses. I had to agree with him.

That simple thing, agreeing with the client about his observations, was the push I needed. I took ACCOUNTABILITY. I knew that the Manager wasn’t doing a good job. I knew he was slipping in his performance. I knew he started to have attendance issues. I knew his team of Supervisors wasn’t getting the right support from him. How could he support them when no one is supporting him…when I wasn’t supporting him? He was just getting by. Surviving one day at a time instead of living a full life.

If you have read my previous post (https://thecuriousleader.wordpress.com/2012/10/05/slow-start/), you already know that I tried getting help from our L&D head to create a Leadership Training module based on the book “The Three Signs of a Miserable Job” by Patrick Lencioni. I didn’t get the help that I needed.

At this point, I knew my team not only needed my help, they were expecting it. As a matter of fact, the should be demanding it from me. But I still lacked the second piece of the puzzle: the follow through. As if on cue, my brother bought me the audio book I asked him (months prior!) to look up for me: “8 Monday Morning Leadership” by David Cottrell. As I listen to the audio book driving to and from work. I knew this was it! I found the “follow through!”  The topics in the book supported the ideas and concept of “The Three Signs.” I felt the embers being fanned and the fire was lit again!

This time though, instead of asking somebody else’s help, I decided to create the modules my self. I put together what I called “People Management Culture Workshop” which is about these two books and I added input from other Management and Leadership books I have read before like “Break All the Rules” by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. I also included topics from seminars I have attended before like the one organized by “Investors in People.” I realized I already have all the information I needed but as I facilitate the workshop for my team, I continue to read and research and added activities like: DiSC profiling (http://www.tonyrobbins.com/ue/disc-profile.php), the Passion Hexagon (from the O Magazine, Nov 2011 issue; http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Whats-Your-Passion-Exercise-Find-Your-Passion), among other things. These activities supported the topics we discussed.

Combining all these things resulted to a 9-week Workshop. My team would meet every Monday and discussed the “Three Signs” and went over one lesson every week from the “8 Monday Morning Leadership.” Before we reached the 9th session though, I came across another audio book on Rewards and Recognition entitled “The Carrot Principle” by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton. This last book became added a 10th session to the “People Management Culture Workshop.”

What seemed like a “bad” thing, being criticized by the client (and telling my boss’ boss about it!), became my ignition to start this journey on becoming a better people manager myself. I knew I can only teach what I know and that meant I had to continue learning, share what I have learned and practice what I preach.

In my next posts, I will talk more about the topics included in the workshop. So stay tuned!

Slow Start

Reading and learning more about the “Three Signs of a Miserable Job” – Immeasurability, Irrelevance and Anonymity – and realizing that that was what I was experiencing at that time saved my life…or at least my sanity. It gave me hope. It all made sense! Another realization was that, if I were going through this “job misery” at least one other person out there is and if I can find a way to reach out to them and to their managers/supervisors, then I have found my purpose.

When my old company called me back, I immediately said “Yes!” It was unfortunate that I didn’t have the chance to share all this to my team in the other company. I also didn’t have the time. I choose not to dwell on that though. That’s all in the past. What’s important is that the experience made me look for answers and gave me this inspiration to never stop learning and sharing what I learn along the way. I wouldn’t be here writing about this now if it weren’t for that experience.

This idea of “eliminating job misery” was among my first discussions with my boss. I told him I want to be given the chance to share this to the supervisors and managers in our team. He thought it was a great idea and, as always, supported me on this project.

I started with my immediate team. They all loved it! They were too happy to start working on their teams. Now, this team didn’t have any issues on Immeasurement. Starting from the pilot team of around 50 representatives, we made sure that the Key Performance Indicators, targets and client updates are clear to them. We reviewed the KPIs and targets every quarter. The supervisors, though, agreed they can improve on Anonymity and Irrelevance. Team huddles and team building sessions were encouraged. Focus Group Discussions/Brown Bag Sessions were done by the Operations Manager and myself. We used this as a way to get to know the front line and also to remind them of how important their jobs are: that they actually have the opportunity to help someone in need, to give peace of mind to a home-maker figuring out her phone bills, to educate a customer with a policy, and so on and so forth. We reminded them that the better jobs they do, the more time their supervisors can spend on grooming them for a promotion or help teach them a new skill or task.

Although we felt a general sense of improvement in the team’s overall mood and the atmosphere in the workplace, we didn’t have a way to measure if what we were doing was really the one making the difference. For a program who had no issues with results in terms of scorecard, employee engagement or employee retention, how do we measure the success of this project? At this point, we experienced, sad to say…immeasurability. We hit a brick wall.

Before we were able to figure it out, some changes took place. The program had to be moved to a new site. The company just acquired another company in Latin America. Since this program has Spanish speaking agents, it was chosen to be the first to be transferred there. Most of the team members chose to stay and moved to another program/client here in Manila, but the others opted to move on and resigned.

The next step was to give an orientation to the other leadership teams within my VP’s vertical. I experienced two challenges: 1.) I still had to figure out a way to measure success of the project and 2.) I didn’t know how I can follow through. I knew that knowing about the three signs wasn’t enough. They have to believe it and I need a way to support the concept and continue discussions with them about topics supporting the concept. I didn’t have any. I did the orientation anyway to introduce the concept to them.

So my quest continues….how can I face these challenges?

I decided to go to our company’s Learning and Development Head. I gave him an overview. I lent him the audio book so he can listen to it and maybe he can figure out a better way to share it with the rest of the leadership team, and I was hoping he can shed some light to my challenges. I was sure he was going to be blown away with all the information in the book like I was. Well, to say that I was disappointed is an understatement. I doubt if he even listened to the book after keeping it for months. He didn’t even tell me what he thought of it. I couldn’t brainstorm with him. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a good guy and he was working on a project at that time that took most of his time and energy. I don’t blame him. It’s just that, I felt like if he can’t help me, if he can’t get interested in something like this, who in the company would be able to help me?

So I went back to the old drawing board….

How it all started….

Let me tell you a story.

This is a story of my humble quest as a leader to find answers to questions I couldn’t even articulate at that time. It was frustrating, to say the least.

Back in 2008, I was Senior Operations Manager for a well known Call Center. I was promoted to that post in October 2007. I was managing 2 programs – a Canadian Energy company and a US based Billing and Clearing house, each with a dedicated Operations Manager who reported to me. Each program was close to 100 employees. Work-life was good, but not without challenges. And I welcomed all these challenges as part of the job.

However, despite all these achievements, I felt something was missing: A boyfriend? I have been single for some time by then. A promotion? Director for Operations is the next step up for me but it wasn’t clear to me what I needed to do to get to that level. Directors have Operations Managers reporting to them. “Isn’t that the set up I have now?” I ask my self. How different is a Director’s job from mine? I didn’t have the answers; and I didn’t have the courage to ask my boss, the Vice President. Why? Because I didn’t want to seem ungrateful for all the support and opportunities and responsibilities he had trusted me with.

So I just concentrated with work and waited for another opportunity to come though I didn’t really know what I was waiting for exactly. This has caused undue stress and eventually took a toll on my health. I was getting sick a lot. I was always tired. I was getting depressed. I realized I miss my family in the US and wanted to be with them so bad.

I love to travel and I thought it would help me get refreshed and recharged if I could go visit them in the US. But this time, I wanted a longer break. I needed a longer break. I decided to resign from my job and take a mini-retirement. I knew the best place would be with my family. The US will give me a different perspective of things and will literally be a breath of fresh air. So I gathered enough courage and talked to my boss and told him I wanted and needed to resign. Because he is also a very good friend of mine, he understood my situation and gave me his blessing.

Two months after I was on the plane to New Jersey and I was already relaxed despite the 21-hour trip. Needless to say, I enjoyed the close-to-six-months mini-retirement that I took. I saw new places. I spent Christmas and New Year with my family there. I experienced winter for the first time. I met new friends. But then, I had to come back home. My stay in the US had to end and I knew I had to go back to reality. It all went too quickly but I do not regret a single second of it.

When I came back home, I started looking for a job. My old job wasn’t available anymore. The programs I used to handle down-sized while I was away and didn’t need a Senior Manager. So I looked elsewhere. It took me 5 months to land a job! Wow! I didn’t realize it would take that long. But it all came just in time as I have spent almost all my savings.

A former supervisor referred me to a job and became my boss again. He was also new at the company and was still trying to learn the ins-and-outs. I found it a challenge to get immersed in the culture. The client I was assigned to was on “crit-sit” – Critical Situation! And they expected me to turn things around. There wasn’t time to get on-boarded and I hardly knew anything about the company’s policies outside managing the operations. A lot of the processes and chain-of-command was so different from what I was used to. I am not allowed to deal directly with the clients? It takes so long to get approval to hire new agents when I needed them yesterday? Who do I need to talk to? Who can make the decisions? I felt so lost and I could not blame my boss because he was also lost and we were both figuring things out as we went along – a recipe for disaster.

We were reactive and not proactive. We were fire-fighting instead of preventing fires to start in the first place. I hardly had enough time to get to know my direct reports and the front-line agents because I was always in meetings or doing reports or doing interviews or watching the “queue” or looking for reasons why we failed service level yesterday. All excuses… and I didn’t know any better back then despite the years of managerial experience. I was being a manager but I wasn’t much of a leader.

And then a typhoon came, as if all the “storms” in the office was not enough. The typhoon brought a month’s worth of rain in less than 8 hours. I didn’t even make it home from work that morning. I got stranded 2 kilometers from our house and was lucky enough to have parked my car on a sidewalk parking such that the flood waters didn’t reach the engine. Praise God! Our house was under flood-waters until the next morning. My parents and older sister made it to a neighbor’s house with a third floor. My eldest sister and 2 year-old niece didn’t make it to my aunt’s house but were blessed to be near a building and the owners let them stay, along with other stranded neighbors. That’s where I found them at 3am and was glad to see them safe. All my love ones and friends were spared. I can’t say the same for our properties. A huge lesson was learned about faith, gratitude, counting-your-blessings, generosity and that life is more important than any material possession.

Life went back to normal quickly enough, thanks to the resilient nature of Filipinos. We had to temporarily move to another city and I went back to work a few days after despite developing emotional trauma from getting stuck in the car when there are heavy rains. I had to work. I needed the job and my team needed me.

Not long after the typhoon, I started asking myself if this is still what I want to be doing. Is all this stress and long-hours and frustration all worth the monthly pay I get? One thing I know for sure: I didn’t want to be in this situation much longer. Either I needed to change and make changes around me, or I leave. But if I leave without really learning the lessons I needed to learn, the experience will just repeat itself in another company, with a different team, with a different client. I knew I needed to look for answers and not just wait for the answers to come to me. I decided to give it another shot.

One weekend, I was telling my eldest sister about my sentiments and she lent me this audio-book entitled, “The Three Signs of a Miserable Job” by Patrick Lencioni of The Table Group.  Just the title itself already spoke to me! I started listening to it on the drive to and from work. Every night and every morning. There were too many light-bulb moments that I stopped counting. I could relate to almost every single scenario presented in the book. Not only did I find the answers to my questions but also found the words that helped me express my questions! A breakthrough!

I must have listened to the book, especially the last part, hundreds of times. Just the simple clarity in my head gave me some hope. There are answers to my questions! There is a way out of this! There is hope!

I realized, that was all I needed. Hope. Hope that there is a solution to my problem. Things can get better, but not without some action on my part. I needed to be able to address the three signs of a miserable job: Immeasurability, Irrelevance and Anonymity. I will try my best to explain these concepts:

Immeasurability simply means that you do not know how your performance is being measured. You do not know what a “good day” looks like. It could also mean that what you consider measures for your success are different from what your boss or the company considers as success measures. There’s misalignment between what is expected of you and what you think is expected of you. The reason why this is important is because, you, as an individual, need to be in control of your results so that you will feel more accountable. Having accountability for your own results allows you to look for ways to improve and contribute more.

Irrelevance is when you do not know WHO you impact. I emphasize the word WHO because, no matter what our job is, our tasks will always impact someone else: whether it’s a customer, a colleague, a client, and more than likely, your own boss. When you do a good job, it allows your boss to use his/her time and attention in helping you grow. When you do a bad job, not only does he/she need to help you catch up on your performance, he/she will need to find out why you are not meeting the expectations first. It takes more time and energy to help a non-performer than it is to help a performer. You know what they say about it takes more muscles to frown that it does to smile? The same concept applies.

Addressing anonymity is a task of Supervisors and Managers. Collectively, I call them People Managers. Anonymity is when you feel invisible. Not necessarily to your direct Supervisor/Manager but to the Senior Management. All employees need to feel that they are known, that someone pays attention to them, that someone knows them as a person and not simply as a part of the payroll. As a People Manager, you need to take time to get to know your team members personally. Know what their hobbies are, what makes them tick, what kind of music they listen to, do they play any sports, where do they like to go when on vacation. It is not enough, though, that you simply ask them. You will have to want to get to know them. You will have to care about them and their welfare.

This is how it all started. My quest to find answers didn’t end with just knowing what and how to address the three signs of a miserable job. After knowing all these, I had this deep desire to share them. It made so much sense to me that I knew it would help another person who’s experiencing the same things as I was. Unfortunately, the company I was working for at that time could not allow me this great opportunity. I was still busy fire-fighting and was not empowered to make decisions. So I decided to leave when my former company called me back.

I realized that if I went through job misery, at least one other person is too. My purpose is to help as many people as I can to be fulfilled in their jobs by helping leaders become better at leading their team. My passion is teaching what I know and what I learn in my journey through life. This is what my blog is all about. I would like to reach out to more people out there and simply share my experiences as a “Curious Leader”.

My next blog posts will be a story of this journey. A journey to become a better leader and not just a manager. A journey to help other leaders recognize job misery when they see it and how they can address it. A journey of learning, teaching, living a life with purpose. I pray that sharing my humble experiences will help at least one person find answers to their questions and find that fulfillment in their work.