In the thick of things

A young ensign had nearly completed his first overseas tour of sea duty when he was given an opportunity to display his ability at getting the ship under way. With a stream of crisp commands, he had the decks buzzing with men. The ship steamed out of the channel and soon the port was far behind.

The ensign's efficiency has been remarkable. In fact, the deck was abuzz with talk that he had set a new record for getting a destroyer under way. The ensign glowed at his accomplishment and was not all surprised when another seaman approached him with a message from the captain.

He was, however, a bit surprised to find that it was a radio message, and he was even more surprised when he read, “My personal congratulations upon completing your underway preparation exercise according to the book and with amazing speed. In your haste, however, you have overlooked one of the unwritten rules – make sure the captain is aboard before getting under way.”

I laughed so hard when I read this funny story courtesy of the web site: Laugh and Lift as I focused on the enthusiasm of the young ensign in getting things done and the punch line that he had accomplished so much but leaving out a very sensitive yet important fact which is to make sure that the captain was aboard the ship.

But this got me thinking. Where in heavens name was the captain when all the action was taking place? How could the ship be going through all these activities without the leader on board?

And then it occurred to me that similar situations do happen in business organizations.

There are leaders who are not there when the action is happening and while it is a blessing that the organization does have good people that get things going, this however, is not a good thing.

Leaders who are not in the “thick of things...” Do you know that the idiom to be in the “thick of things” literally mean to be “completely involved in an activity or a situation.” The truth is, many of the leaders are not on-board when things are happening in their organization.

While crucial business transactions are going on, the leader is out there having lunch outs, exchanging pleasantries with friends and away from all the action. While business is ongoing the entrepreneur is out there playing golf, mahjong or enjoys traveling the world. Away from all the action that is taking place and give plenty of reasons why they are away.

One would say he or she is doing research, another would say, he or she is on client call. Leaders rarely call in sick, that excuse is usually a line used by those a little bit lower down the corporate food chain but the absentee leaders use fancier excuses that would cover up for their irresponsibility yet sounding so important in doing so.

When confronted, they reason out that the business is doing well, they are in touch with their people through technology tools, and they are “on top of things…” I personally wonder what things they are on top of. And then the most humiliating thing of all happens is when while their people are working diligently on the project, these irresponsible leaders who are out there somewhere doing their own personal “thing” (most usually on company expense) cannot resist but post pictures and “selfies” on their Facebook pages for the world to see.

These escapades do not only cost the business a lot of lost revenues they cost the business as well in terms of opportunities and potential businesses. And when these absentee leaders come back to home base, they quickly assess the accomplishments that have been done by others and claim the credit for doing it themselves that lead to demotivation and disengagement from their people.

Things like these happen all the time, because there are just so many of the real workers sending me private messages on my Facebook page asking for advice because they are all fed up and are on the hunt for another employment.

Sometimes businesses do not need to be disrupted by technology, outperformed by competition or be on the receiving end of tumultuous economic upheaval to make them fail, all they need is to ignore these absentee leaders from doing their job and causing havoc within. Check your ranks. Make sure they are there “in the thick of things.”

Through this line credited to Benjamin Franklin on money matters… “Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship” how is your ship doing and are all your captains on board?

(Experience two inspiring days of leadership training with Francis Kong in his highly acclaimed Level Up Leadership on May 17-18 at the Shangri-La Hotel Makati. For registration or inquiries contact April at +63928-559-1798)