How to be a Good Leader

• Remember: leadership skills and techniques can be learned. You don't have to be a natural leader. Very few people are.


• Care for your team. That means knowing what matters to each member: their health, their partner, their children, their relatives, their interests, their hopes, their fears.


• Stay close to your team. At some point, every day, walk around the office and say "Hi" to everyone who works for you. If you're not in the office that day, call and see how people are. This gives you a chance to enquire or encourage and gives them an opportunity to raise issues or make suggestions.


• Meet your team. Regularly - daily, weekly or monthly, depending on your place and type of work - have meetings of all the members of the team. Keep these meetings short, focused and action-orientated. Make sure every member of the team contributes in some way and acknowledge that.


• Train your team. Every team member should have at least two days training a year. Newer and more senior colleagues should have more. If they don't ask to go on training sessions, suggest some suitable courses.


• Grow your team. Through varied experience and regular training, you should be developing each team member to be more and more confident and more skilled.


• Inspire your team. Consider making available a motivational quote or story every week or month [for lots of good quotes click here].


• Celebrate with your team. This might be a personal event, such as a member's birthday or anniversary, or a professional occasion, such as completing a project or winning oa contract.


• Socialise with your team. Have lunch or an after-work drink with them, especially when a member has a birthday or there's another reason to celebrate.


• Set objectives for each team member. As far as possible, these objective such be SMART -Specific Measurable Achievable Resourced Timed.


• Review the performance of each team member. At least once a year - at least quarterly for the first year of a new team member - have a review session where you assess performance, give feed-back and agree future objectives and training.


• Thank constantly. The words "Thank you" take seconds to say, but mean so much.


• Praise constantly. The words "Well done" take seconds to say, but will be long remembered and appreciated.


• Communicate constantly. Don't assume that people know what you're doing, still less what you are planning or thinking. Tell them, using all the communication tools to hand: team briefings, electronic newsletters, organisational newspapers.


• Eliminate. Too often we do things because they've always been done. Life changes. Consider whether you could stop doing certain things altogether.


• Delegate. You don't have to do everything. Develop your team members by training them to do more and trusting them to take over some of the things you've been doing.


• Empower. A really effective leader sets clear objectives for his team members, but leaves detailed implementation of these objectives to the discretion and judgement of individual members of the team. As Second World War U.S. General George S. Patton put it: "Don't tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results”.


• Facilitate. A confident leader does not try to micro-manage his team, but makes it clear that, if team members need advice or assistance, he is always there to facilitate and support.


• Be on time. Always start meetings on time and finish them on time. Natural breaks keep people fresh. Short meetings concentrate the mind.


• Be seen. Don't just talk the talk, but walk the walk. So visit each unit or department for which you are responsible on a regular basis. Don't do this unannounced - you are not out to undermine other leaders or catch out staff. So arrange with the unit leader or departmental head when you'll visit and ask him or her to walk round with you.


• Make time. Managers are often very busy and this can deter people from approaching you, so make time for people and be approachable. People will appreciate you taking five minutes out of your busy schedule, especially if you act on/listen to what they say.


• Really listen. Many of us - especially those who think they are important - don't really listen, but instead think about what they're going to say next. Give the person speaking to you your full attention and really take on board what they are saying. [For more detailed advice on listening click here]


• Accept honest criticism. Criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance or a stranger - but it's a powerful tool of learning. Above all, assess criticism on merit, without regard to its originator.


• Think strategically. The doers cut a path through the jungle; the managers are behind them sharpening the machetes; the leaders find time to think, climb the nearest tree, and shout"Wrong jungle!" Find time to climb the trees.


• Have a mentor or buddy, someone doing similar work in the same or a similar organisation with whom you can regularly and frankly discuss your progress and your problems as a leader.


• Have a role model, someone who can inspire you to be a truly great leader. If you can't find one, study Jed Bartlet as the American President in any episode of the television series "The West Wing".


• Constantly revisit and review these tips. In his seminal work, "The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People", Stephen Covey puts it this way: "Sharpen the saw".


• Plan your succession. You won't be there forever and you may not be in control of the timing and circumstances of your departure. So start now to mentor and train at least one colleague who could take over from you

How to Start Fish Farming

My parents bought a Fish Pond property in Pampanga years back but just had the farm rented for 10 years. This year, 2012, my parents ended the contract for the pond and now it is just there, unutilized.

I am on the look out for great business opportunities for this property and I need help! My parents and relatives were not that risky and most are in the corporate world or are employees so they do not want to explore business and farming. I have a little budget to work around with.

Our property is a 7-hectare land which was dug out into one whole pond. It is big and wide as a river and was used before for tilapia culture. Source of water will be from the irrigation and it is surrounded with other ponds and rice fields.

If you can share your ideas and somehow help me find financial/developmental support to do this venture, please let me know. I am looking at Hito, Pangacius or Tilapia farming.

Thanks!

Doing Invitations with Photoshop

I've been using Photoshop for about 8 years now and through experience along the years, I've learned to navigate the program. I can't say I'm good at it but i can make decent designs out of it. See my sample works below:

Climbing Up

A co-worker told me the other day, "There's no way but up"

Read between the lines :)

An Act of Kindness

I just read a blog made by one of Our HN dealers and It makes me proud that a lot of dealers are patronizing Human Nature and its advocacy. Little did they know that these positive feedbacks are read and dwelled on by people behind thier emails and phone calls.

I applied in Human Nature as part of the Sales Team. Later on, I was delegated to be a Customer Service Officer, together with another collegue and soon after, the Customer Service Department was born. Being in front of the computer all day may seem a routinary job but what makes this job so special is the variety of people and situations we deal with every single day.

Being in the Customer Service Department is not a slice of heaven. We suffer the first strike of anger and irate-ness of customers via email, phone call or worst, face to face. We have to provide answers to questions and solve problems through thorough investigation and coordination with other departments. It's always been stressful and I go home everyday feeling drained and consumed.

I am not complaining nor whining. Fact is, I love what I am doing. Despite the regular stressors we face everyday, We, in the customer service department, go through it with a smile and unlimited patience.

The other day, one from our sales team passed me a phone call of an irate customer. She is upset about the dealer terms we currently have, which they are required to make a minimum purchase every month to keep their dealer discount. Her complaints branched out from discounts, to minimum purchases, to dealer terms then to product prices. She's saying things like, "Ang gusto nyo lang e kayo ang kikita." or "gusto nyo lang e pasok ng pasok ang kita sa inyo.". I have encountered much worst attacks and trouble from customers but what pains me with this particular customer is her inability to see the bigger picture behind Human Nature.

Human Nature was born out of love by its founders. The lack of natural skin care products that are affordable and readily available in the country has been their initial drive. We provide opportunity for people, not only to the wealthy ones, to live a healthier lifestyle. Next to it is the genuine care of the founders to our country and our fellow Filipinos by providing opportunities to poor farmers so they can also live a better life. We source our ingredients from these local farmers and buy it at fair market prices. Marketing is through networking so others may earn extra income by selling our products. You see, in every single thing we do, we make sure it has an impact to our society and in line with our advocacy. The founders of the company does not live a grand life. In fact, they do not wear flashy clothes, do not own fancy cars and practice an open door policy with their employees. More importantly, they work harder than most of us in the company. On holidays, when we are required to report to work, they're also there. They come to work earlier than we all do and leave when most of us have left. Of course, things like these are something we don't usually say to our customers. Human Nature is not ripping money off our customer's pockets nor beg for it. Most of our profits goes to our Gawad Kalinga Partner Communities.

Human Nature makes sure that every department are doing their best to provide the best quality service and products that our dealers and customers deserves. We want to give value for their money by continuously improving and making sure that every single customer are given our utmost attention.

Human Nature also care for its people. I must admit, I feel very lucky to be a part of this company. They give salary at above industry standards and ramp it up yearly or bi-yearly. So us, here in Human Nature, are always looking forward to our appraisals (hehe)! We also have employees that are from Gawad Kalinga, our partner, and other poor communities. They also hire the best people for every department to ensure that tasks are done efficiently. So if you ask me how I feel about being with Human Nature, I would say that it's a blessing and an answered prayer. :)

I just hope and wish that our customers would understand the heart and the effort we put into our work so we can give them all the good things they deserve. We are not asking for too much. A simple thank you and gratitude is something that means a lot to us. Having known that we are successful in making our customers happy is enough to keep us going.

So to those who are grateful and make an effort to share their happy thoughys about us and our products, a big thanks! You don't know how much your positive feedback means a lot to us. :)

Condiments

I will be putting up my own condiments company. That's a promise!