Part 1: Management Skills - lessons learnt from a group of 18 year olds

Introduction

I would like to pen my first blog article on a recent trip to Vietnam (Hanoi) with a group of 18 year olds. This was a voluntary study trip I agreed to lead as the team leader. And the reason why I chose to describe this trip to you is because I have observed (or re-learnt rather) certain lessons on management skills from this lively group that I hope will be useful to you as it is for me by penning it into a blog entry.
I will split this article into 3 Parts:

Part 1

#1 - Management Skill Learnt: Select the Influencer in Your Team to be Your Assistant
#2 - Management Skill Learnt: Earn the Respect of Your Influencer/Assistant and You will Gain Respect from the Team

Part 2

#3 - Management Skill Learnt: Listen to Your Team…..And Set the Stage for the End in Mind
#4 - Management Skill Learnt: Integrity as a Leader - People are Constantly Watching and Evaluating You Especially Your Team

Part 3

#5 - Management Skill Learnt: Leading by Example – Pushing Your Team to Their Potential
#6 - Management Skill Learnt: Be Humble

My first meeting...

Although I had past experiences in leading youth groups, I was a little 'rusty' as I have not been engaging youths for some time. I certainly felt that way in my first meeting with the group.Before every and any meeting, I will ensure that I am prepared.

"My rule of thumb before entering any meeting is this; have the end in mind (many thanks to Stephen R. Covey!)"

The end I have in mind is simple:
(1) I will introduce myself to the group for them to get to know me
(2) I have to get to know the group (at least remember their names)
(3) Details of the trip will be explained
(4) My expectations of the group and the trip (ground rules)

Simple and straightforward right?

When I first saw the group, I was apprehensive and, to be honest, a little fearful that I will have major problems in controlling them. This group was rowdier and appeared more 'rebellious' than the rest of the other teams going elsewhere. One had his hair dyed and styled like a punk rock-star complete with striking purple. A few others were joking and laughing loudly completely oblivious of the ruckus they were causing. And then there were two youths who looked at their rowdier trip-mates with disdain.

There were 15 of them.

"If I can lead and manage a cross-cultural team, I can certainly tame these fellas!", I said to myself.

#1 - Management Skill Learnt: Select the Influencer in Your Team to be Your Assistant

From my past experiences to observing my ex-bosses and handling teams of people from across the globe in consulting projects,

"I have learnt the benefit of delegating control and responsibilities to one of your team members."

I’m quite certain most people know and practice this. The question I am often asked is, “Whom should I select from amongst my team to be my assistant?”.Through experience and learning from others,

"I always make it a point to choose the most influential person in the group I manage to be my assistant."

This practice has helped me tremendously especially if the person you choose to be your assistant has a strong personality and extremely capable or talented. More on this later.

So I size up the group of 15 youths and identified the person I believed to be the influencer in the group to be my assistant. I delegated certain responsibilities to the person and made clear that I needed him to step up to those responsibilities.

Later, I realized that my assistant was not the dominant and real influencer in the group. In fact, there were two others who exerted dominant influence amongst the group. But there is always one who is usually the ‘leader’.

The guy with the rock-star purple hairdo? He is the real influencer.

#2 - Management Skill Learnt: Earn the Respect of Your Influencer/Assistant and You will Gain Respect from the Team

Alright, so I have made a slight mistake and selected someone who is not the real influencer to be my assistant. Regardless, I knew I have t0 start earning respect from the guy with the purple rock-star hairdo.

"Respect from your team is important because with respect comes trust and with trust comes good quality work produced."

If you work with someone whom you give a lot of respect I am certain the quality and the efficiency of your work will be vastly and positively different.

And know this;

"I have learnt from observations and experiencesthat most people want to give you respect and trust. You just have to earn it."

There are many ways to earn the respect of your people. Having more knowledge and experience usually earns you the right to speak and quickly gain the respect from others. I have found 2 qualities that earned me respect from every team I have led. They are integrity and a genuine caring attitude.

I will explain how I put these two qualities into practice on this group of youths.


End of Part 1

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Part 2 - Management Skills: lessons learnt from a group of 18 year olds

Part 2

#3 - Management Skill Learnt: Listen to Your Team…..And Set the Stage for the End in Mind

I listened to the youth group by having each individual share their reasons for participating in the study trip, their objectives and what they hope to achieve. I made sure I remember each of their objectives vividly and made a verbal and public commitment to help them achieve their goals as best as I can. I was sending a message to them;

"I was telling them that I care about them enough to make a commitment to help them achieve their objectives."

Caring is a decision and I made the decision to care about these youths.

"My ex-bosses taught me not to stop at caring and listening to the people you manage and lead. You have to help them understand the end in mind"

what you as a leader want to achieve with the group. Every group wants to know the eventual outcome and the goals they are striving towards. A clear and consistent focal point is, really, half the battle won.

Hence, after listening to each individual I began to explain my objectives and what I want to achieve with and for the group. I explained the end I had in mind.

More importantly, I had set the stage for the end in mind.

#4 - Management Skill Learnt: Integrity as a Leader - People are Constantly Watching and Evaluating You Especially Your Team

"The people you manage and lead are constantly evaluating you and finding reasons to give or withhold their respect and trust."

I knew this fact and I’m sure most of you in managerial positions will agree with me. However, I was reminded again of this point in a most refreshing manner.

Being teenagers, this group of 18 year-olds are constantly observing the way I conduct myself and the degree to which I keep my commitments. In other words, they are evaluating my integrity as a person. In the most refreshing and telling manner, the youths told me one morning that they were disappointed with our local liaison (who is a Singaporean living in Hanoi) who did not seem to keep to his promises and commitments.

They saw how I had kept my integrity and did the things I said I will do, and this built enough trust for the youths to confide in me their views of our local liaison. This episode made me re-discover and re-learn the importance of integrity. Without integrity it is really an uphill task leading your people and doing business with others.

"Keeping to your commitments will help you earn respect and trust from your people."

Remember; people are constantly watching and evaluating you.

End of Part 2

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Part 3 - Management Skills: lesson learnt from a group of 18 year olds

Part 3

#5 - Management Skill Learnt: Leading by Example – Pushing Your Team to Their Potential

To have credible integrity means to lead by example. I demonstrated integrity and thereby earned the youths’ trust through leading by example. If I want them to exhibit the desired behavior, learning attitude and values throughout the study trip the best way is to show them by living out those behaviors, attitude and values.

"When I manage and lead teams of people, I always ensure that I live out the high work standards I would like my people to exhibit. What you are speaks louder than words."

In the context of this study trip, I showed the youths how to ask the right questions during companies’ visit, the value of being punctual, giving help to others before they request it, the importance of being curious and being humble.

I did not tell them I was teaching them these values and habits. I showed it to them consistently everyday in the most practical ways. For the rest of the trip, every single individual started to exhibit some, if not all, of these values and habits.

"What you are speaks louder than words. What you are sets the potential of your team."

#6 - Management Skill Learnt: Be Humble

I was fortunate to have mentors who taught me the importance of being humble.

"To be humble means to remain teachable for the simple reason of continuous learning and development."

It was natural as a team leader to think and feel that I knew it all and I was able to handle every circumstance.

"This attitude is the very opposite of teachability and the opportunity cost to it is that I will miss out lessons that will help me grow as a person and consultant."

We were doing our shopping at Hanoi’s most famous and busiest street market. I negotiated and agreed with the owner on the price of a packet of sugar-cane drink. However, the spouse of the owner disagreed with the amount when I returned later to pay for and pick up my sugar-cane drink. We haggled for a while and just as I was about to give in to the owners’ higher-than-agreed amount for the packet of sugar-cane, the youths appeared and asked if I needed help. They were by then quite an expert in price negotiation and very street smart.

I didn’t reply because my natural instinct as a team leader prompted me not to ask help from my team members.

The youths eventually helped me and pulled me out of that embarrassing situation. It was a small incident but I was reminded on the lesson of being teachable.

"There are times as a leader when I do not have answers to certain situations."

This is when the strength and unity of the team comes into play; we overcome difficulties together as a team.

"I have learnt from past experiences that it is not unbecoming of a leader to admit that he or she needs help from the team."

I usually find the responses from the people I lead very encouraging; they are always ready to offer their help and it builds rapport.

For me as a leader, such times are golden opportunities for me to learn from my team members and thereby further develop my skills and knowledge. For the team, it brings them closer to their leader because they find the opportunity to contribute and overcome their leader’s predicament.

Can you imagine the opportunity cost for not being humble?

Management Skill Learnt: Conclusion

Towards the end of the study trip, the youths invited me into their party room and told me what they thought of me initially. In a nutshell, they accepted me into their ranks. This was evident in their willingness to exhibit the values I have showed them and through the questions they raised during companies’ visits.

I have achieved the end I had in mind and it really made it worthwhile to spend 2 weeks in Hanoi with this group of youths.

The management skills I had re-learnt certainly enriched my own management experiences. After the trip, I was even more convinced that I must continue to exhibit the best credible integrity I could and genuine care for my team.

"I have observed and learned that these six management skills are applicable universally. "

They worked for me and I hope they will work for you too.


End

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