Overcoming opposition

In business, one frequently encounters opposition. In the market place, your competitors will fight you to get the market lead or eat into your market share. Even in getting the best human resources, one has to compete with other companies. The most difficult situation is when one has to deal with opposition within one’s enterprise. It could come from fellow managers, top executives or from the workforce. Wherever it is from, you have to deal with you fast as a divided organization will be no match for competitors.

Thirty- three years ago, I got appointed to chair the Board of Overseers of a 4,000 hectare rubber plantation in Basilan. On my maiden trip I was met with a workers’ strike and held a general meeting surrounded by placards forcefully expressing their concerns. The major one seemed to be their doubts over the sustainability of the enterprise as it had suffered losses for a number of years and the meager compensation and benefits they were getting.

I immediately assured them that I had come with instructions from the president of the mother company to turn around the plantation and with their help and support, it would be done. Finding out that they did not have a union, I advised them to form one to protect their interests and to help them out I would invite resource persons from the University of the Philippines School of Labor and Industrial Relations to run a seminar. In the meantime, I asked them to halt their strike and get back to work as well as attend the training sessions.

Lucky for me, they agreed. I believe it was because of the assurance that I was there to help them make the plantation run better and start earning. It addressed their major concern since it was now clear the plantation would not be closed down and that we would exert all efforts to make it self-sufficient. Uncertainty about the future is often the root of opposition and dispelling the doubts was a good beginning in winning over the opposition.

Having a seminar conducted and getting speakers from a prestigious university helped to enhance the credibility of my intention to make the plantation profitable. The workers must have reasoned out that I would not have invested in a training program for them if I had reservations of succeeding. Getting qualified and high caliber resource persons meant that I considered them important enough to give them the best.

I spent a week meeting with groups of workers based on their shifts, which meant having breakfast with groups at 6 in the morning and late merienda almost near 7 in the evening. Breaking bread for me made the meetings a little less formal and the shared experience of eating together created a bond which made our discussions friendlier. I also spent more time listening rather than talking. Not for me were the usual talk and then a question & answer session. Rather I started out by asking them what they thought could be done to make the plantation productive, their family needs and concerns (to get an appreciation of living expenses and appropriate compensation levels) and how the nearby plantations were doing (to get them to make comparisons and to benchmark their performance). I left with quite a number of very good suggestions as well as valuable insights. I introduced and implemented many of the suggestions, not waiting for all the scheduled meetings to conclude. It enhanced their trust in me that not only did I listen to them but I also acted on their sharing’s.

By the way, in all my discussions with them, I emphasized the need for them to support their union by getting involved and paying their union dues. However, when the certification election came, they voted not to have a union, to the relief of top management, who later told me they were worried that they had sent a “former activist” to the plantation when they learned of my encouraging the workers to form a union.

On the first semester of my term, the plantation began to make money and continued to do so in the coming years until I left. With no additional investment coming from the mother company, I proposed a joint venture with Sime Darby which was done ensuring funds for investments in a going concern.

Lessons learned: take away the doubts, listen and implement and always have the best interests of the workers and the company (they are not mutually exclusive). Then the opposition becomes the supporters.

melito.jr@gmail.com