30 June 2017 marked the end of my 6 years journey with my beloved firm and 10 years in Singapore. It was not long nor short but it represented a turn in my career. The Firm was my first and also my last oneI have worked for in Singapore. During my tenure with it, I have learned a few lesson that I would like to note down as a reminder for my future self
WHY MAKE YOU A GOOD MANAGER?
Personally, I have been working for the past 6 years (maybe I should include my part-time and internship to make it more dramatic to make it 9, whatever) and have met countless of managers from different teams, departments or clients. Therefore, I can say that I have witnessed the good and the bad one, either by myself as staff or by hearing from other friends and colleagues. Still, I can’t seem to decipher the secret of becoming a good manager. However, I probably know what I do not want to become in order to be a good manager.
- Backstabbing your staff:
This should be obvious. Personally, I have seen this numerous time especially when the time is bad or when there is discord between the 2. I have seen manager sabotage staff project just to undermine his credibility with other managers and enhance hers. I witnessed manager spread rumors on staff loyalty to boot him out of the team. In each case, as the team found out about manager’s motive, their morale collapsed and resignation letter started to fly in. What was once a high-flying and energetic team was reduced to a ghost of itself.
- Stealing your staff credit:
Haha, do I need to explain any further on this? I personally faced this so yes, tell me about how I felt when realizing that all the credit for my hard work was accrued to my boss who did not do anything but was able to brag to higher manager regarding her vision.
- Running for shelter during bad time:
Let’s start with the basic question, what is a manager? Personally, I feel that even though you are a manager, in a team, you are just another staff who has a privilege of managing other peers. Why? You probably start your work as a staff and work your ass off to earn that “manager” position. However, without your peers ( or now your staff) support, you will not attain that rank or won’t sustain at that rank for long. Hence, though in the organizational chart, you are at the higher level than others, you are in fact, just an employee. People will look up to you when things are bad and it is when you hone your leadership and crisis management skill.
NEVER BE AFRAID TO BE THE FIRST
Despite whatever people might argue against taking the lead and being the first in the market due to high failure rate, you should always embrace the challenge. Being the first offers you limited downside since nobody has ever done it before. Hence even if you screw up, it is simply because you are inexperienced or the market requires time to adjust to your products. However, if you are successful, the upside is unlimited since you now will be able to capture sizeable market share. I have done it and it is one of the best moment in your life 🙂
Anyway, it has been a long post after a long absence. I have now enrolled in an MBA course and probably will update this more regularly :P. Till next time.