“Philippines’ Marcos Gives Up Agriculture Post, Names
New Head” – Bloomberg
The headline above tells of the President ultimately throwing
in the towel after 16 months of concurrently carrying out the role of Secretary
of Agriculture amid food security and other agriculture-related problems such
as supply shortages and price spikes in basic commodities, among others.
I am reposting my past ATABAY article Weak Move:
Agri Sec Marcos Jr. about the issue, not to pat myself on the back with
I-told-you-so hype for having seen the handwriting on the wall, but to hopefully
turn a crucial mistake into one valuable lesson.
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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 it anywhere.” I tipped her off in earnest.
With tears welling 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 planter 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 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 says, “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 “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 explains:
“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: Macro management.
Macro management leadership delegates authority and
responsibilities to people while focusing on the long-term strategy. A macro manager
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 macro management 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 micro-manages (perceived or not) the Agriculture
department, but also 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 – preemptive
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 hamster’s 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 had learned my lesson: do not stifle her growth and creativity.
Head photo courtesy of Bulk Quotes Now
Video clips courtesy of YouTube
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