The fragility of power

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BUSINESS MATTERS (BEYOND THE BOTTOM LINE) - Francis J. Kong (The

Philippine Star) - March 30, 2019 - 12:00am
Management fads come and go. Yesterday, the buzzword in business was
empowerment and the twin brother of this is enablement. While many companies have
taken on the necessity of employee empowerment and employee enablement, and HR
have implemented, and help execute the programs brilliantly; an unforeseen factor that
has become a game-changer is the proliferation of technology that has both enabled and
empowered people in the workplace.

This has resulted to an unprecedented distribution of power all across the levels of the
business organization and even outside it. And while employee empowerment and
enablement has been provided and practiced in the past, could this not have given way to
employee entitlement especially among the younger millennials who are not acquainted
with process of success, but insist and demand instant success similar to what their
technology can bring them?

Could this also be the reason why you find young people in the workplace after a mere
two years of employment and not yet fully grasping the nature and operation of the
business demanding a promotion and an increase in salary as they feel so… there is that
word again… entitled to it?

With a growing economy and a fast-expanding organization, young people are pushed into
positions of leadership and voila – you have problems and complexities that plague businesses and
rob it of its valuable resources.

Here is the key. Disengaged employees are the ones who contribute to such problems and they have
power today that many of the early employees do not have. The workforce today finds it easy to
quit their jobs, and find another one. Technology easily helps them find new jobs and in a growing
economy, the attraction. Recruitment and retention of talents raises the bar of competition higher
and many are pronged to settle for the least of the best; especially the ones that cannot afford to
offer high and attractive packages.

While this is taking place, another dynamic force permeates the workplace. This involves
leadership and power. Leaders still wield authority and power, but many realize that power has
become fragile. Hierarchical power has given way to network power. While in the past, it was
wealth and resources that define power; today, power has to include networks and attention
attraction as famous author and professor Adam Grant would say:

• Big companies may be disrupted by a college kid with a cellphone with imagination and vision
hungry to scale their business and make money (and retire at age 30). Notice the craving for instant
gratification.

• One wrong word, and one offensive action can cause a hurting employee to resign and try
freelance work at best, or post an interesting video that sends a negative message that goes viral in
seconds, stressing out big time corporate communications officers and sending them into a frenzy.

• One kid with a smart phone can reach a wider audience than a corporate communications officer
backed up by the most powerful PR agencies in the country.

The old model management is still command and control, while what is needed today is leadership
that collaborates and learn. Traditional companies are still very hierarchical, the result of which
leads to management by command and control. This creates silos. And silos produce disengaged
employees. Disengaged employees waste company resources and they drive good and gifted talents
away or worst; they foster a culture of mediocrity and everyone is shaped by the system. Believe
me, if you find that recruiting talents today is challenging, just wait till you see the difficulty that
will face you in the next few years.

This is why effective leadership is required. Leadership that does not command and control, but
positively and inspiringly engages and influence their people. The type of effective leadership that
makes talents say:

• “I don’t want to leave this company because my leader brings out the best in me.”

• “This company is great because it has a great culture.”

• “I am appreciated and fairly rewarded for the work I put in it.”

• “This company provides me with the training for my own personal growth and development, and
my boss makes sure that I get it.”

• “This company does what is right and this is evidenced by the integrity my leader shows in his
daily life and work.”

It is so hard to label these ideal qualities and talents we are looking for today, so we just
conveniently label them as “soft skills.” But trust me, these skills are nowhere soft. Soft skills
training today is in an even greater demand today. My daughter Rachel, whom I now call “Boss,”
explains: “Dad, the challenge in soft skills training is that the young workforce today are so
intelligent, informed, and articulate such that they do not easily believe “gurus” who do not exhibit
what they preach. Another challenge for companies is that internal officers who teach and train soft
skills are perceived as delivering sermons and reprimands to the consternation of the leaders. This
is not new. Even Jesus Christ said that “a prophet is not without honor except in his own
hometown…” (paraphrased)

Empowering, enabling, and engaging our people should not neglect the important part of educating
them with values to make them use their powers correctly not only for the company that employs
them, but also for themselves.

Yes, power today is fragile and so is everything else. Yet when it comes to the fast-changing times,
values should never change, and these young people need to know and live.