A Leader with a Heart

By: Mary R. Gamboa

What does a leader look like? Think of two leaders, famous or not, whom you admire and
respect. What do they do that is so different? What traits do they have that help them excel at a
high level? Leadership is not a great mystery. Great leaders have specific traits in common. These
traits can be learned and developed—by you!

If we want to be good leaders, we should not only think of ourselves; we should not think
of our personal interests but we have to promote the well-being of each person in our organization.
We have to practice proper stewardship. One of the many ways to promote this is to ensure that
each person is happy in his or her working environment. If people are happy in their work, they
are not stressed and have good relationship with each other, tendencies are they will be more
productive. Our actions as leaders have great impact on the people around us. As leaders we
practice proper stewardship whenever we work to ensure that individuals within our organization
interact well with each other. We have to motivate our people if we want our organization to
succeed. It is a fact that sometimes there are personality conflicts in the organization which
translates to poor performance. In this case, good leaders have to manage the interaction
between the individuals by setting up codes of conduct, promulgating policies, periodically
explaining to them the goal and mission of the organization and ensuring that they have equal
working hours. This will improve their effectiveness and avoid future misunderstandings among
the individuals. If we ensure the well-being of individuals, it will transition into team effectiveness.
We also have to ensure that the organizational values and missions remain appropriate. A leader
is also a servant. We have to take into consideration the needs of our people, their growth and
well-being. We have to assist our people and not think only of ourselves or our interests. We have
to subordinate ourselves to the tasks, we should not be complacent, we should be humble and
appreciate that there still room for improvement. When we help other people and solve whatever
problems they have, we should not be attention seekers. We have to make things done even if it
would involve considerable sacrifices for us. Servant leaders put other people before themselves.
We have to learn to listen to their complaints, suggestions or recommendations. With this, people
will feel that they matter and assured that they will be heard so, this makes them more willing to
share their innovative ideas which will consequently improve their efficiency. We have to show
to them that we are approachable, personable and willing to model the behavior that we want
them to display. In short, we have to set by example. We have to put ourselves in their shoes,
so to speak.

As professionals, we aim to be leaders in our own field. We have a mission that we are
passionate about, we have a vision and a goal that we envision to reach and we believe that our
goal is attainable. Yes, we will meet obstacles along the way but we have to be open-minded to
new avenues of reaching our goals. We have to explore these avenues. We have to take risks
if necessary, to achieve what we want to achieve in our life. We have to think outside the box and
not confine ourselves to just one possible solution to any problem. Leaders are not afraid of
failure. How will you encourage others to come up with new ideas to reach their goal when you,
yourself is afraid? Of course, not every time things will go well and if that happens, we have to
prepare ourselves to view the issue from a different perspective and seek alternate paths on how
to achieve our goal. If the circumstances call for us to revise our plans, then we should do what
we think is necessary because sometimes there are opportunities that may cause a deviation
from our plan but still make progress towards achieving our goal. If we aim to be good leaders,
we have to learn to motivate ourselves and other people.

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
BICOL UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL