WEAK MOVE: AGRI SEC MARCOS JR.

 

It was a typical day. My wife, son, daughter, and I were having lunch.

“Where can I buy a kilo of cement, Dy?” my daughter Dionne asked.

Her question hinted at her bursting into a new project and bringing me on board as her financer, purchaser, and consultant rolled into one.

“What’s that cement for?” I asked high-handedly since cement is one component of concrete – a building block of my civil engineering profession.

“I will make concrete planters, Dy,” she eagerly replied.

“Concrete planters? How will you do them?” I asked with a straight face. “I think it will not be easy.” All at once, the mood over the dining table turned subdued.

“I can do it, Dy,” she cut in with confidence.

“To make concrete planters, you need formworks. Since, at first, concrete is in fluid form, you need formworks to contain it before it hardens,” I stressed. Dionne seemed unable to believe her ears and at a loss for words.

“If your planter is thin-walled, it could turn into a potato chip -- brittle and will break easily if it falls to the ground. You may need a very fine mesh to reinforce it. I could only imagine its messy process.” Puffing up, I wised up with technical jargon turning our usual family bonding into a power lunch pep talk. Dionne looked at her Mom obviously for her backing but got no word.

“How about plastic planters? They are cheap. You can simply buy them anywhere.” I tipped her off in earnest.

With tears welling up in her eyes, Dionne stood up and left the dining table without even touching her food.

Caught off-guard and mixed up about what broke out that day, I Google “concrete planters” that very night. Whoa, the images on the screen unfolding before my eyes struck me dumb – an array of colorful concrete planters in fine-looking shapes and diverse sizes with accompanying how-to-do instructions. In the same breath, I got an “aha” moment: I found the vital piece I had missed during my power lunch pep talk – the silicon mold – the cutting-edge recyclable substitute for conventional formworks available online in various shapes and sizes. The next day I drove to the nearest hardware store and bought the cement Dionne had asked for her concrete planters project.

In essence, what took place during our lunchtime?

MICROMANAGEMENT

Dionne, a proponent then, proposed a project – concrete planters. Being a prospective financer, purchaser, and consultant, right there and then, I assumed the role of being the project head. No problem with that. Here’s the crux of the matter: I micromanaged it – even as the project was still in its early proposal-making stage.

What is micromanagement?

Wikipedia defines it as “a management style whereby a manager closely observes and/or controls and/or reminds the work of their subordinates or employees. Micromanagement is generally considered to have a negative connotation mainly because it shows a lack of freedom and trust in the workplace.”

“Interference and disruption” – that’s what micromanagement is all about for Harry E. Chambers, author of “My Way or the Highway: The Micromanagement Survival Guide.” He wrote, “It occurs when influence, involvement, and interaction begin to subtract value from people and processes. It is the perception of inappropriate interference in someone else’s activities, responsibilities, decision making, and authority… the excessive, unwanted, counterproductive interference and disruption of people or things.”

Headline: "Marcos will be agriculture secretary at least for now."

He intended to “reorganize the Department of Agriculture in the way that will make it ready for the next years to come.” All at once, PhilStar Jarius Bondoc took issue with it in his in-your-face column head: “Stop reinventing the wheel.”

To borrow from chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer’s words in one of his matches: “This is a weak move already.”

Yet, Marcos Jr. may say: “I’m not micromanaging” which squares with the character his father wrote in his diary: “Bongbong is our principal worry. He is too carefree and lazy.” Besides, Marcos Jr. can’t micromanage because he’s not even an agriculture specialist -- Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas has considered him as “grossly unqualified.”

Marcos Jr. could even say, “I’m only trying to help. I’m only doing what is necessary to ensure success.”

Fair enough. But, here’s the bone of contention: When does headship become micromanagement? Chambers explained:

“When they interfere with performance, quality, and efficiency. When they become barriers to achievement or impediments to getting things done. Micromanagement and micromanagers do not add value to individuals or processes. Regardless of the intent, the results are subtraction, not addition.”

Trinity Solutions’ survey on micromanagement revealed the following: 7 in 10 workers said being micromanaged interfered with their job performance and 8 in 10 said being micromanaged impacted negatively their morale.

The crux of the dilemma: Perception. The gap between the perceptions of Marcos Jr.as a micromanager (true or not) and his Agriculture department as being micromanaged (real or imagined) in the words of Chambers, “is the breeding ground for misunderstanding, morale problems, high frustration, and declining productivity. The broader the gap, the less job satisfaction there is for everyone involved.”

MACROMANAGEMENT

Here’s the other side of the coin: Macromanagement.

Macromanagement leadership delegates authority and responsibilities to people while focusing on the long-term strategy. A macromanager uses a hands-off approach and allows subordinates to perform their tasks independently.

Former US President Ronald Reagan’s leadership style seems to fit the macromanagement definition above like a glove. Ben T. Elliot of National Review wrote that he “led a great American comeback. He not only achieved what his critics said would be impossible; he made it easy. His leadership transformed a sputtering U.S. economy into a rocket of growth that led to a generation of prosperity. He restored a neglected U.S. military and its alliances, engineering the eventual defeat of the Soviet empire, without starting a war and without firing a shot.” The essence of Reagan’s following words could be the key to his leadership style:

“Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don’t interfere as long as the policy you’ve decided upon is being carried out.”

Sign of political will. Strategic. Fearless. These are among the many honeyed words Marcos Jr. gained from his Agriculture move. But the statement of his Super Ate Imee (as written by PhilStar Ana Marie Pamintuan) is a fly in the ointment: it acknowledged that “BBM faces frighteningly high public expectations – highest in his most remarkable aspiration for P20 per kilo rice.”

Not only will he micromanage (perceived or not) the Agriculture department, but also he will shell out a chunk of his limited time to deliver on his campaign promise of P20 per kilo of rice. The Manila Times Marlen Ronquillo “sees no credible, viable path” of such promise within Marcos Jr.’s full term. Like in chess, not only is it a weak move, but it's also a dubious one -- pre-emptive for an expected loss of a piece: "I did my best" as the popular line of a song goes.

It was a typical day. My wife, son, daughter, and I were having lunch.

“Where can I buy a hamsters’ cage, My?” Dionne asked her mom.

Her question hinted at her bursting into a new project and bringing, this time, her Mom on board as her financer, purchaser, and consultant rolled into one.

I just kept quiet. I learned my lesson in micromanagement: do not stifle her growth and creativity.

Head still photo courtesy of Rhalf Ryan Gejon of pexelsdotcom