Cebu Regis Leader Reflection Paper #2 - Internal and External Factors that Shaped me by Leader Ivy Eleanor U Ko

Cebu Regis Leader Reflection Paper #2 -  Internal and External Factors that Shaped me by Leader Ivy Eleanor U Ko

Good day Professor, submitting my reflection paper #2 which is a continuation of my life story.

External - what are family, environment, school and work experience that shaped you today?

I am the second among 4 female siblings. You can imagine how we make Papa's world go round with 5 ladies (6 if you include my Ama) at home. The house is never boring with 4 active and inquisitive daughters who share similar topics of interests. The four of us siblings share almost everything, from books to clothes to even friends which made my social circle very big! Since papa was always on travel, we don't have a male companion at home, so the 4 of us siblings learned to be each other's sense of security and independent at a young age. This made our bond very solid, that we know we have each other's back on times of need. There is an unspoken agreement that if we grow up and have our respective families, we know we can depend on each other to take care of our kids. 

While growing up, I am closest to my Eldest sister, who I call Atsi. She wants to be the "leader" in almost everything. She has experienced most activities ahead of us being the first one to start almost everything. I enjoy listening to her teaching and sharing with us her learnings and adventures. So almost always, family occasions were never boring as we have each other to keep us company. We never ran out of things to do or topics to discuss. When she got married and went to live in Sydney and started her own family, the family dynamics she left certainly changed as our "leader" has transferred base. Missing one sibling was a new feeling for all of us, as everyone grew up together in Cebu. There were opportunities that were offered for me to join her in Sydney, so I can try living outside the comforts of home, but I ignored all these as I prefer to stay with Papa and Mama, enjoyed my work and I have my social network in Cebu. Having travelled for work, I always look forward to going home, so I know living away from home is something I would not enjoy for long.

Another person who has anchored me to base is Ama. I've remember seeing her enjoy simple things in life. She loves to cook and keep the house spic and span. She is very close to her children whom she calls almost everyday to check on how they and their family are. She is very caring, and never forgets the birthdays of her grandchildren. She is generous, yet very strict. For her, you have to be home before meal times, and take your responsibility of a parent seriously. You must walk the talk and lead by example. I feel very lucky to have grown up in the same house as her and saw the sides of her that none of my cousins saw. I could say I got some values and traits from her, especially my sense of responsibility.

At work, I grew the wings I never knew I had before. Being financially independent enabled me to be more generous with myself, buy and enjoy the things that I want without being too budget conscious. I got to travel, see and explore the world. Experiencing to lead and manage a team taught me to plan, to organize, to lead, to communicate, and to motivate.  Planning, Organizing, and Communicating is very important to be able to convey to the team the organizational expectations and relay to them how the team is faring. Are we near our target? What did we do right or wrong? How do we correct ourselves and achieve our goal? I also learned that there is one size fits all approach in managing an employee, most especially the high potential ones. Feedback is very important. Being a friend, and finding a good friend at work is vital. 

Being sent on trips for work has been a blessing. Yes, it is difficult to be travelling all the time, but as long as you still enjoy it, you will learn a lot from it. You will also get to have more things done rather than just following things up with your counterpart on email and telecons. I got to experience all types of travel, be it land, sea, or air. Sometimes, when I get lucky, I get to have the same trip arrangements with the boss. Yes, it is sometimes stressful to travel with the boss, but the benefits further outweighs the costs. You get to have first class treatment, you observe and learn the way they travel, your get to see the other side of them. These are the things not everyone has the chance to do. Of course, it's not all the time you talk about work, but you also share stories on personal lives. I got to learn a lot of stuffs on how to succeed in life from my former bosses during the numerous travels we've done together. 

Now that I am on my own, and do consultancy with SME's, I have encountered different personalities and their different approaches on how business owners manage their business and handle their people. This is a new experience for me as I have been used to dealing with higher level management, but with this time, it's more of like multi-tasking for all levels of the organization. Yes, all the skills I've learned in the past is very useful, but this time, EQ, patience and humility is much more needed to get things to work. And yes, because I get to have my own time and my own boss, I am very happy to how things are playing out to be.

These are learning experiences I will never forget.

Internal  -  your values, strength, weakness and how do they affect on how you decide act

Values

Willingness to help people

Being the type 2 Helper that I am, I always enjoy helping people who asks for assistance. When I train, I am not selfish and I don't keep secrets. I share everything that has made me to where I am today. I always believe that the best measure of success is when you see your team and subordinates succeed in their own fields.  It is my happiness to see people I've trained succeed, and this is something I want to do as long as I can.

Integrity

Once I commit to something, I do it with passion. I am trained to always search for better ways of doing things, don't accept mediocrity, but constantly challenge status quo. 

Frugality

At an early age, I saw my mom being very cost conscious in all activities at home, thus she is also very resourceful in ensuring family budget is enough and save for rainy days. I've carried the same principle while growing up, until working and have my own family. I often frown when I see too much lavishness, especially if expenses does not come from their own pocket. I am amazed at how rich business tycoons with the likes of Warren Buffet and John Gokongwei keep a very simple lifestyle despite the wealth they have amassed. 

Strengths

Competent, and works effectively

I don't mind starting from scratch to be able to get things done. In my opinion, getting the feedback from the ground up is one way to get the accurate information.  I pay equal attention to peers' and superiors' information to be able to get things done. When I need to work on something, I put my full time and attention to it, giving importance every to the minutest detail. 

Cheerful, approachable, and upbeat

Being friendly and charming enables you to get difficult things done, from getting a parking space in a full car park, obtaining a meeting schedule with the bosses' jam packed calendar from his executive secretary, to surviving traveling alone (and befriending a hunk in the plane who ended to become my husband), and most especially being the youngest member in a tough Archaic ExCom. If you can talk to all levels of the organization, initiatives will be fast tracked, communication and feedback will be more efficient, and of course, you achieve your faster.

Ability to see the big picture

As much as I can, I keep myself updated, research, read the news, learn what is going on. I enjoy being aware of the general and fundamental information of things. I guess this also comes in complement with the Financial acumen I have learned over the length of my career. It is easy for me to come up with a story out of financial statements, and I enjoy doing detailed analysis as the need arises.

Weaknesses

Struggle between wanting to spend time with their children and wanting to get more work done

Now that I became a mother, I am always at a struggle whether I maintain my individuality, continue my career, study or just drop everything so I can be with my child 24/7. Being a mother is a full time career itself, but I also want to feel productive and earn my own income. These days, I often feel torn apart, but I know with time management and planning, this matter will be resolved.

Impatient with inefficiency and incompetence

I have the Japanese culture when it comes to timeliness. My dad is annoyingly on time, even 30 minutes earlier. We were trained to be that way. I have also carried this in my professional career, which became an advantage. With this principle, I also expect the same from collegues and subordinates which sadly is not the Filipino culture. When I don't get to receive things committed on the specific timeline, I get impatient, and tends to affect my regard of the person. 

Self - Critical

Over the years, I've learned that my greatest critique is myself. I grew to up be compared to friends who do better at school, and sometimes, I tend to doubt myself and still gauge myself to people who do things better than me. The good side of it is that it taught me not to be mediocre, but always challenge status quo

How do they prepare you for your future challenges.

• Start with the end in mind. In every new task, big or small, always be clear on the outcome and the objectives of every project. Specify who is accountable for carrying it out, when it must be implemented, and who will be affected by it. 

• I need to work on my collaboration and communication strategies. Actively ask for assistance especially on things I am not confident about. Inquire the right questions from the right people. Expand my network of mentors so I will comfortable sharing my sentiments.

• Nothing in the world is constant but change., especially now that the world is getting smaller, we must be quick to adapt to transformations that is happening in a blink of an eye. I am a bit of a technological dinosaur and I find it difficult to cope up with all these new models, and programs. I should learn how to fit in and be familiarized if not, I will get left behind.

SELF-REFLECTION

What is the new learning?

Everyone has diversified background and skills with different priorities and outlook in life. I need to be more adaptable, flexible, and patient, especially when dealing with the lower level positions as they not get intimidated.

Humility and Respect. Being on top doesn't mean you are right all the time.  Listen to your superiors, subordinates, and peers. Let each know what information you need to get a job done. Your authority comes from your organization's trust in you, so it Is best that you maintain that trust with you.

What is the relation to what I already know?

Travel. Be it for work or on your own. What you learn the moment you decide where to go, or arrange for your trip is already a learning itself. Observing the different travelers, passing thru different airports, check in and immigration counters, dealing occasional concerns while on a trip is already an experience. How you are able to manage it and improve your strategy on your next journey is your application of the things you have learned in the past trip. My mentor told me that travelling is an education, and I totally agree with him. 

Never Burn bridges. The world is small. In one way or the other, you will reencounter people you have met be it in a party, a conference, or a meeting. It is always wise to never put an end in any relationship (business in nature). In this digital day and age, communicate. Send an email, do Linked in, or add him/her as a Facebook. As long as you are connected. You never know, this contact may be a key to your future success. 

Build a network, having a friendly relationship within your circles of influence is where you get inputs that are useful in life, be it your professional or personal life. Identify the direction you want to achieve in life, search for mentor, a goal coach who you can exchange ideas with to gauge and confirm if you are in the right way is very helpful. Keep yourself busy. Find your passion. Continue learning. Life is a never ending learning process. If you stop learning, or if you think you don't need to continue learning. Then you stagnate and get old. I certainly don't want to feel that way in any stage of my life. 

What have I done, am doing, will be doing for this topic?

Being leaders, it's really knowing myself more. This is the combination of the values, external and internal forces that have shaped me. I am aware of what my strengths are and what are the areas I need to improve on. I need to continually assess if I am achieving my mission in life, if I am moving forward, or what are the hindrances making me go backward. I need to set SMART Life goals for me to constantly check if I am on the right track or not, and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.