And the truth will set you free

Why do people seek for truth? Is it because it could be a solution to a problem? Or could it be a new-found knowledge to scientific discovery? Or is it the answer to an intriguing mystery? We search for truth to make a sense of what exists around us. Sometimes, the searching may take some time or may lead into unexpected surprises. No matter what measures are to be taken in the search, it will always come out as a work in progress.

How do we deal with truth in caring for people? In a hospital setting, we encounter patients who are also seeking for truth about their illness. And so, there is need to handle the giving of truth of their condition and prognosis in a tactful way as to result into a positive acceptance by the patient on his ailment. While the act of such needs skillful maturity and wisdom, this can only be achieved through much experience for the nurses.  Patients have a right to be informed properly on the medical procedures, administration of medications, and other pertinent matters that are related to the recovery of their health. 

Denying them the truth or giving them half-truths on what are being applied on them may be detrimental to the wholesome understanding of each patient on his illness. It is therefore the job of any healthcare provider to let them understand their health condition as best as possible.

In some instances, truth is kept at bay. When the situation is critical and the patient is in extreme pain and has delusional problems, sometimes it is best that the truth of his illness be left to the doctor. On the other hand, when patients hide the truth of what they are feeling or do not fully inform on what medications they have taken in, the outcome of the doctor’s prognosis may not be helpful in the detection of what’s really ailing them. People find it difficult to tell the truth because maybe they are afraid or fearful of the truth. They can’t accept the reality or are unprepared to face the truth.

The essence of truth in the health status of a patient aids doctors in the decision making process. It is the basis for interpreting the manner of dealing with the patient’s ailment. One particular situation is when a physician instructs a nurse to give a terminally ill patient a very large dose of narcotic. The nurse must decide whether she will tell or conceal the truth. Anything that corresponds to truthfulness will always lead to a decision.

Truth is what it is. Accepting it with a positive attitude relieves us of much anxiety and stress no matter how critical is our health condition.

Manage your own ship

A manager is like a captain of a ship. He steers the wheel and takes it with full responsibility to where the ship should go. 

As a captain, he utilizes every potential tapped from his team to meet-up the expected outcome of the company accompanied with perseverance and dedication. A manager focuses on the work plan, the production, and the capabilities of his men.

In order for the vessel to arrive at its destination, it also takes unity, perseverance, flexibility and trust from his men. Thinking about it, it takes great amount of time and trial and error for both the captain and his crew to work their way up. To become an effective manager, there are several qualities that he needs to bring up to his team.

Integrity

A manager must do his best to earn respect from his men. Having integrity brings forth trust and loyalty. Knowing a manager that you can trust and depend on, a subordinate would definitely be submissive to the instructions and plan of actions implemented by the manager. He would also be more confident to bring out his own abilities because he knows that he has the full support from his manager and that with that the expected output is duly attained.

Motivation

A good manager studies the capabilities of his men. By that, it is expected that an effective manager knows how and when to approach his men to motivate them to do their best.  Other times, a manager may put up challenges to his staff by providing achievable goals to measure their weaknesses and strengths.

Communication

A manager must learn how to communicate to his staff. Exploring the different forms of communication and choosing which are the most effective transforms into a harmonious relationship with his staff and results into a good working relationship. It is the manager’s responsibility to satisfy reasonably questions that his workers would want to know. Conducting an opportunity for his work force to discuss their ideas, opinions, and even thoughts can provide a communication channel between the manager and staff to build up trust, confidence, and a healthy working atmosphere.

Adaptable

A manager must learn the ropes of flexibility to meet necessary changes in the daily work operations and even in the circumstantial state of his workers. Learning how to adapt to different work situations can help train a manager to deal with each challenging work problems with wisdom and good insight. The resulting experience can provide an opportunity to be trained in the appropriate decision-making.

Role model

An effective manager must be a good example to his staff, setting a high standard for one to pursue. If respect has to be demanded from the staff, this can only be followed if the manager, himself, knows how to respect his men. Disciplining oneself to be a leader in following the rules, setting good work habits, and establishing harmonious work relationship is definitely role-modeling to earn effective leadership qualities among his work force.

To be a manager is never an easy task. It requires patience, understanding, knowledge, good decision making and critical thinking. The presence of work problems, meeting short and long term goals, evaluating daily productivity are just among the daily challenges that make up a good manager. It all ends up to what and how a manager really values people.

reference: http://voices.yahoo.com/what-makes-effective-manager-six-qualities-8180939.html

leadership: servant-leader

“Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. “  Mark 10:43

To many of us, we define a leader as one who possesses power, wealth, position and prestige. We, somehow, think that being in a high position would have the right and authority to demand from others to serve us. If this manner of belief would then persist then it’s extremely dangerous as it may lead into a dictatorial form of leadership.

And the danger there is the total control of the subordinates and may lead into abuse of power if the leader has an ulterior motive over his subjects.

Many of us take power very lightly. We always prefer to be a general than a private, a boss than a regular worker, a king than a citizen. Never has it crossed our minds that the concept of being a servant-leader is subjecting oneself at first to be a servant to others. In a biblical point of view, God characterizes a leader in terms of the willingness to serve without even a shade of thought of greatness or popularity.

Servant-leaders prioritize their time to dedicate themselves to their people. They always ask of themselves, how they can be of service to the people. How they can help achieve their constituents’ needs? A good leader looks after the welfare of his followers as his first priority before himself. He inspires, teaches, and reaches people’s hearts to motivate, encourage and fulfill to their set of expectations. For me, it takes one’s initiative and decision to become a leader, a decision to sacrifice to be available to serve not only to a leader’s convenient space but even when it’s not.

In every leadership, there will always be problems and unexpected circumstances that will be encountered. This is the time for a leader to test himself how he will be able to solve such problems and how he can still hold on to stand up for his people. There is no question that a leader can also commit mistakes, fail in his duty or responsibility. Sometimes people regard leaders as perfect people, the highly chosen, but fail to realize that they are still people, people like us who can commit mistakes. But it is a characteristic of a great leader to take this mistake as a challenge to make it a realization of his limitation, and learn from it and seeing it as a humbling reminder that there is greatness in humility. This is absolute servant-hood.

We can all be leaders in our own way. We have the power to choose whichever path we choose to lead, which road to develop, and which lifetime can we give our service at its best. Sometimes, we just don’t know that we are considered as an inspiration from dreamers, an influence for the undetermined, and a goal for the risk-takers. And circumstances like these may lead us to become a leader, always inspiring, always at its service and always reaching out to people.