Collection of Corrections: August 2015

DOs

Get to know the staff. Their family background & interests.
If possible, make the staff participate in some decision making. Make them feel the ownership and thus give their support
Appreciate opinions from the staff . Explain reasons for rejection of any ideas.
Motivate the staff to improve their knowledge and skills by obtaining more certifications.
Explain the purpose & reason of an instruction.
Lead by example. Being a leader means you should be a role model to your subordinates.
Make full use of the office hours by focusing on urgent matters and works that needs to completed in group.
Create positive & fun working environment. We can be productive and having fun at the same time.
Meticulous in producing high quality & value adding reports. It shows your professionalism.
Create portfolio for each staff. This may require the staff to be involved in the same scope for some time to get familiar with the process, sop etc.
Make the staff understand that their main role is to assist & protect their superior. Do not work in silo with your superior.
Show your appreciation on extra work/effort by the staff. It can be in the form of material (not necessarily expensive) or verbal communication.
Spend some time with the staff talking about something else other than work.
Give more than you should. Do not promise for something that you cannot deliver.
No favouritism. Obtain feedback to check whether you are seen as being unfair. Bear in mind that you cannot please everyone.
Explain clearly to staff what is lacking and how to improve.
Obtain feedbacks on your performance and learn from mistakes including from your staff.
Anticipate questions to be thrown at you by the top management.
Upgrade a staff only when they reached the minimum expectation for the position.
Celebrate your promotion or raise with your team. They are your backbone.
Give the company its rights and not forgetting the rights of the family of yours & your staff.
Conduct sessions to learn from each other by sharing mistakes made by the teams and improve on soft skills.
Allocate some time to do other activities other than work.
Emphasis on value creation and practical solution.
Consider all possible angles as early as possible when reviewing the work of the subordinates so that mistakes can be patched up.

DON'Ts

Listen to only one side of the story. Some people may not be telling you everything.
Challenge the staff to leave the company. It shows your arrogance and selfishness.
Shout at a staff in front of others. Do not embarrass your staff with your negative comments in attendance of others.
Overthink and take too much time to make decisions. Make sure you are productive during the office hours.
Focus only on the negative side of a person. Some people may be lacking at something but good at something else. Do not exaggerate something to the extent that it can demotivate your team.
Instruct the staff to respect you. Just as the saying goes, 'respect is earned not given', you cannot force people to respect you.
Think that you are the most knowlegeable & always right. Learning is continuous process. Your subordinate may be more knowledgeable than you in certain areas.
Highlight issues that could affect credibility of top management. Such issues nees to be treated differently.
Raise issues that are subjective in nature unless they are agreed by audit clients.
Plan to work after office hours unless due to urgency.
Hold department meeting or discussion unless it is really necessary. Don't waste your time and other people's time with something not important.
Criticise the staff without giving any guidance.
Underestimate comments from the board & top management.
Take action against a staff unless it is confirmed that it was not an honest mistake and the wrongdoing was done intentionally.
Text the staff regarding work during weekends/ holidays unless it is really urgent.
Add burden to the department by volunteering to do something not so important to the Company.
Show to your staff that you don't trust them.
Depend on your authority & create fear. Work motivation needs to be instilled to the staff through encouragement.
Stop learning & educating. Learning is a continuous process. Sharing knowledge is also part of learning.
Invite the staff to come forward if they have any difficulty but blame them for the problem when they come to seek opinion.
Focussing too much on who is to be blamed instead of how to deal with the issue moving forward.
Think that everyone likes you and agrees with your decisions. Whatever decision you make must not be based on your selfishness.
Burden your staff that performed well with more work without any commensurate reward.
Overcriticise a staff for a few mistakes you detected when he/she had already corrected hundreds of other mistakes.
Do your personal matters during working hours by using the Company's resources.

A King had a meeting with his Ministers. Suddenly, he heard his dogs barked at something. It was so noisy that he could not continue with the meeting. "Can someone check what happen? Yes, you... Minister of IA! please do your job!" the King instructed. The Minister stood up and went out immediately. The following are the possible different scenarios that could happen:

Scenario 1 - After a few minutes the Minister came back and reported, "Your dogs are barking at something. We need to check what happen!" The King replied, "Tell me something i don't know!"

Scenario 2 - After a few minutes the Minister came back and reported, "A bear had entered the castle. That is what the dogs are barking at!" The King replied, "But how did the bear get into my castle?". Minister responded, "Err... I need to check..."

Scenario 3 - After a few minutes the Minister reported, "Currently, you have 3 dogs by the name of Tony, Sony & Corny. They were purchased last year in June. Personnel in charge of the dogs is Mr. David. Based on our analysis on samples found at the location, it was found that all the three dogs were involved..." The King interjected, "Please understand! I have another meeting shortly..."

Scenario 4 - After a few minutes the Minister came back and reported, "A bear got into the castle. The bear broke the fence and got in. We are still using the fence that was built 20 years ago. No maintenance on the fence was performed. Your dogs are in danger. They may die if we do not do anything. Security Department has been contacted to handle the situation. The fence need to be replaced. Facilities Department has been informed and started the procurement process."

Scenario 5 - After two days analysis, the Minister met the King and reported, "A bear got into the castle. The bear was so huge and strong. The fence was broken. We are still using the fence that was built 20 years ago. No maintenance on the fence was performed. All the dogs were dead and the bear escaped!"

Which scenario is yours?