If this was a romantic relationship, I should've been married by now. š But this anniversary I'm celebrating has nothing to do with romance. Last year, I wrote about six valuable lessons I learned at work in two parts, Part 1 and Part 2. This year as I turn another year wiser and more mature than ever, I'll share four Naked Truths that I finally learned to acknowledge and even, embrace.
No more long introductions, here goes!
Iāll be forever grateful for landing a job that trained me to be a leader or rather working with a boss that believed in my capability and tenacity to lead. I've always been a firm believer in paying it forward; I passed on the same trust that my immediate head gave me; the belief that if only given the right chance people could take leadership roles by heart even with eyes closed.
But along the way, this overconfidence in peopleās skills gave me false hopes for years. Then one day, I finally concluded: There are people who excel in their field say creating things from scratch or solving a difficult math problem but at the end of the day, not all could effectively lead a team to success.
It's been seven (7) years since I started managing teams. I started managing two people and now, the number has grown to twelve (12) and counting. For seven years, I've encountered all kinds of employees, but it still disappoints me whenever I encounter people who donāt want to take any leadership roles for two reasons, namely: (1) fear of accountability and (2) lack of self-confidence. With these two, to begin with, I've seen great employees lead half-heartedly.
Great performance at a transactional job doesn't always give anyone a ticket to effectively and efficiently lead teams to success. But with the right mindset, a growth mindset to be more specific, everything could be learned.
When I lost a great member in my team who refused to fully commit to a leadership role I prepared for him, I finally acknowledge that at the end of the day, it still takes two to tango. And in this case, the mentee and the mentor should fully be committed to learning and training.
In the last two weeks alone, Iāve received three (3) resignation letters from my team. Two of which I received on the same day, the day I went back to work after my weeklong Eastern Samar trip. "Is this the price I have to pay for a week's worth of adventure?" I asked myself. As if that was not enough, two (2) key personnel, from the same team I'm managing, initially expressed their intentions to look for the greener pasture somewhere else.
Have I let my emotions take the better of me, I wouldāve ended up knocking on my doctorās clinic asking for a prescription for my anxiety again (which I haven't been taking for almost a year now). I wouldāve completely melted like an iceberg relocated somewhere in the center of the Pacific Ocean.
At first, it was hard to swallow the fact that you were setting up your team perfectly. You are excited for the next things to come but for some reason outside of your control, one leaves after the other. If this was the old me, the emotional, immature one, this couldāve destroyed my day, my week, my month. Perhaps I would've resigned, too. What could I possibly accomplish alone, right?
But I couldn't help but be proud of how I handled the situation. Calm and collected, I took the more logical approach and managed to create a proposal in order to keep my teammates. Have it submitted to my boss and HR and at the moment, they're deliberating on the next steps.
Whether they approve of it or not, I know I did my best to keep my team's key personnel and there's always Plan B for a good-old fallback. In times like this, the last thing one could do is succumb to one's anxious thoughts and be paralyzed by them.
I have been promoted twice and now leading a national scope of work. When I was promoted from one position to another, my main concern has always been, "Whoās next in line?" As I climbed up the corporate ladder, I focused more on decision-making, policy-making and systems implementation. But the question remains, "Who's going to take care of the transactional work now?" That's when I started to lay out a career succession plan within my teams, discuss the plan with those involved, and got their input as well.
The entire process felt like replicating another Pat who could do the job the way I did it or way better than how I did it in the past. Training or what I love to call "knowledge and skill transfer was painstakingly implemented thereafter. But once systems are in place and people get familiar with them, it felt great to see people work just fine and take on bigger roles.
If you are leading a team, always have a succession plan in place. Not just for yourself but for key people within your teams, too. If you have an answer to "If Employee A resigns, who's next in line?" you're on the right path.
The pandemic taught me this: I am replaceable. Yup, you read it right! I understand I play a vital role in the company but should I decide to stop working (which I did during the pandemic), the business will run as usual. Someone will be there to temporarily fill in my absence. Moreover, there are always workarounds and in these workarounds, I won't be needed. Of course, this is in the short run. The company will survive in the long run but will massively suffer without my team.
The thing is, we always feel entitled and important that it's difficult to acknowledge our dispensability. But I tell you, the earlier you accept that in the grand scheme of things, you are not important, the easier things will become for you. It's easier to work only for work, with no emotional attachment and those kinds of things. It is hard to reach this level; in fact, I'd say it requires a certain level of maturity to reach this state. But if you ever reach it, you'll attain peace of mind.
Living life intentionally every single day, she believes that thereās no limit to oneās potentials. Right now, sheās on the loose for the pursuit of endless holistic self-growth and development. She wants to light the way for others. She believes thereās no better way to leave a legacy than to pay it forward.
Her ultimate goal in life is to reach the state of enlightenment where thereās nothing but peace, love, happiness, and contentment - nothing more, nothing less.
If you are captivated by what this girl just wrote here, an upvote is pretty appreciated. Follow her as she tells her stories full of positivities. The next story might be for you! ā¤ļø