Recently, a letter reached my desk that seemed to me like a nicely wrapped, surprise package. It was the notice of the Philippine Society of Training and Development (PSTD )informing me that they were giving the award of “ Leader Extraordinaire” to me in our field of work.
It was a surprise for me, because 22 years ago when I decided to shift my career with large companies, to teach for a while at the Asian Institute of Management, then heeded the call to found a training and consulting company, Ancilla Enterprise Development Consulting, getting extrinsic rewards like awards and recognition was no longer important. For in our work, we view our work with passion, as one pursues a work of art, the joy is in the process of doing and serving well our learners as we design and conduct learning interventions. Most of the reward was intrinsic in nature.
Then, the joy of responding to the call to be part of a global movement of enterprises that are part of the economy of communion founded by Chiara Lubich, of the Focolare Movement was enough to inebriate the soul. It is finding meaning and fulfillment, when one’s profession and occupation goes beyond self to helping the poor in a spirit of solidarity and reciprocity and helping create structures that contribute to spreading the gospel to form “new men” through our enterprise profits. It is also living the gospel truth, “So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty”.
On the other hand, I understood that the call of the moment was to , “ Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” It is in this spirit that I wish to share with our readers, our personal lessons in work place learning and performance (WLP) being the fresh perspective to view training and development.
WLP Lesson 1: Every person has to be treated with dignity and respect. We have to view man as God sees him, as a creature created after his image and likeness. This means every person, whether rich or poor, Catholic, Muslim or an atheist, man, woman or child, sick or healthy, deserves respect. This should operate in the work place and during learning sessions. Sometimes, people can be difficult, they can irritate, they can offend, let us recognize that every person has a unique journey of becoming and at the proper time s/he is drawn into that design of love destined for everyone. If this person is beyond the reach of learning and development, then prayer is the powerful solution. Today, I keep a list of people I pray for regularly.
WPD Lesson 2: Go for relentless improvement and innovation at the service of the people. The words,“Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” resound in our ears. In today’s world when knowledge is exploding exponentially every year, we have to continuously update and improve, refresh our materials and methodology. We also have to grow in wisdom to discern thewhat and the how in terms of techniques that work. It also means casting our net of influence wide to discover learning partners who share our values and can help us improve.
WPD lesson 3: The core value of every successful leader, group or organization is teamwork. I agree with Dr. Robert Bales on this. It is no wonder that team building is the forever intervention. But more than the two day outdoor, fun intervention, it means, forming systematically team members over time. It is the ability to balance task accomplishment with personal joy of working in a teamover a given period, discovering and leveraging strengths, growing synergy and continuously working on improvements. Teamwork means the readiness to lose our ideas, to listen to the other person, then together to receive the gift of new breakthrough ideas. This for me is the height of team work that spawns excellent teams and organizations.
In Theory U, this means getting to the fourth level of listening, called “generative listening”. It is the team feeling connected to something larger. It is the type of listening that “moves beyond the current field and connects us to an even deeper realm of convergence and possibilities”. It is an altered state, an experience that practitioners call “communion” or “ grace”. Working with leaders, teams and organizations capable of generative listening has created many learning moments for me as a consultant.
WPD Lesson 4: Successful leaders are humble and self effacing as described by Jim Collins in his book “ From Good to Great”. And the opposite is true. The greatest flaw that cause the downfall of leaders is what the Greeks call “hubris”. Wikipedia describes for us its ancient and modern versions. In ancient Greece it referred to “actions that shamed or humiliated the victim for the pleasure of the abuser”.In modern times, it denotes “overconfidence, pride and arrogance often associated with the lack of humility, though not always from a lack of knowledge”. It is most typified by sayings like “pride that goes before the fall” and “pride that blinds”, denoting a mix of overconfidence, condescension and pride. Hubris happens, when man forgets that he is man and not God. The gospel says it clearly for us, “He who humbles himself will be exalted. He who exalts himself will be humbled”.
WPD Lesson 5: Open Space Technology works. During the early part of my career working in organization development and effectiveness, I delighted in undertaking organization design work that helps create order and sense in organizations. I still love this kind of work. However, I am starting to become a believer in open space technology based on social science theory, that believes in the ability of people for self- organization. Learning from nature, such as a swarm of bees, or a flock of birds or a school of fish, use of open space gets things done better and faster. In the last convention of the People Management Association of the Philippines, the technique was used participated in by 350 people. It catalyzed thought and ended up with excellent ideas and solutions that were creatively presented.
In closing this column, once again, thank you to all those responsible for packaging my surprise gift, specially the officers and members of PSTD. It was a gift for all our associates and consultants in my enterprise as well. It was for me a precious gift and a moment of reflection and therefore a time of God’s Providence and grace.
(Tita Datu Puangco is Founder and President of Ancilla Enterprise Development Consulting, a leading provider of innovative organization development and training services in ASEAN. These solutions include strategy development and execution, managing change breakthroughs, brand management, innovation and human resource systems. For your letters/ feedback, kindly email: tita.datu76@gmail.com, For other inquiries, please call 8810-3129/0920-9218332/0917-8348176)
