WASHINGTON — Depending on the job being applied for, job applicants may be asked to write about their ability to make decisions.
In most instances, they’d immediately cite situations where they thought they used their ability to make decisions. But were they really making decisions or were they simply told how to decide by their bosses?
What I have seen a lot of are people in supervisory or managerial positions unable or unwilling to make decisions, immediately citing policy (or hiding behind them) in most cases, even if the situations were of such innocuous nature, that it makes them come across as bull-headed and ignorant.
In government, it boggles my mind how section heads, managers, and supervisors ever got to such levels without ever developing the ability to think on their own, to think outside the box, to know the extent of their authority, and the ability to make decisions in favor of efficiency, expediency, and the satisfaction of customers.
It looks to me like they are just afraid the decisions they make may be wrong, which, in my book, should have already disqualified them in the first place. They should know that no one can make the right decision every single time.
To me, the most qualified persons would be those who have the guts to make decisions, accept the ones that turned out bad, but know how to make the best out of them.
To be able to make the right decision every single time is to have the ability to see into the future, and we all know that’s impossible.
As I go around Dumaguete, what I mostly see are people in positions, unable to decide on their own at all. They are the ones who instead say that their hands are tied by policy, in every situation, so they do not have to make decisions.
To them, there is no such thing as case to case basis; no extenuating circumstances; nothing, even for the sake of savings. They are so afraid to make even little decisions regarding little things under their purview and yet they receive salaries for a job that includes the ability to make decisions in its description. Such crock!
Recently, someone I know had a special power of attorney to take care of some real estate business for someone else. When the buyer’s loan was finally approved and the funds were ready to be released by Pag-IBIG, and after so many delays due primarily to the inept handling of otherwise simple technicalities, an official of the agency gave them a hard time and was not going to release the check because the Special Power of Attorney, according to him, did not specifically say that the representative was authorized to pick up the “check”.
Below is what the SPA says, in part: (does not say check)
2. To ask, demand, sue for, recover and receive all sums of money, debts, dues, accounts, legacies, goods, wares, merchandise, chattels, effects and things of whatsoever nature or description which now or hereafter shall be or become due, owing, payable or belonging to me in or by any right, title, ways or means howsoever, and upon receipt thereof or of any part thereof, to make, sign, execute, and deliver such receipts, releases , or other discharges for the same respectively as he shall think fit or be advised.
Additionally, in part:
3. …as fully and effectually to all intents and purposes as I could do in my own proper person if personally present.
I was going to ask that same official to explain to me how a SPA should be worded to his satisfaction.
I still might, when I have the time to look for parking outside their offices. I could then share his explanation with lawyers and SPA preparers, so that they may in turn know how to word SPA’s in the future to help alleviate his fears when releasing funds to duly authorized representatives bearing such an instrument.
I believe it would help terribly to improve their efficiency, satisfying clients who may have already waited long months for something they have submitted all the correct required documents for.
What else could it be but fear? That official was so afraid to release the check because he did not have enough self-confidence. He was afraid that he may have “misunderstood” the SPA.
In his work, he should have been very familiar with such a document unless it was the first time that he saw one.
Could that be possible for a government employee with so many years under his belt? I don’t think so. It’s easy enough to guess that he’s got so many years in government because if he didn’t, he wouldn’t have been in the position to do the final release. He tried to be “hard” for his own security even though he knew everything was in order. Something was making him insecure and afraid and it wasn’t the clients. He could not at first decide until the client argued and sounded right and very informed.
I’ll borrow an old English word that is not used much nowadays–vacillation.
The word means: dithering, indecision, indecisiveness, irresoluteness, uncertainty, unsureness, doubt, wavering, teetering, temporization, hesitation, oscillation, fluctuation, inconstancy–all words that when found in a government official, could only mean inefficiency, delays, waste, and customer dissatisfaction.
The ordinary citizen may not have experienced this or a similar situation, but it doesn’t mean it is not prevalent.
In fact, indecision can be seen all over this country. It is in government, the private sector, even among individuals. It exists predominantly among employees because a culture of micro-management is so entrenched in the Filipino workplace.
That is why, in selecting the best candidates for promotion, a person’s ability to follow always takes precedence over the ability to lead. Result–leaders who cannot make decisions, who do not know how to own responsibility. This would have been useful if selections were done for demotion rather than promotion.
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We put so much emphasis on education and most of the time insist that a person must have some college background even for the most mundane jobs.
Yet, we do not realize that even more than a person’s educational attainment, is his or her potential to learn, to grow, to become an innovative member of a team, able to develop better ways of improving processes, procedures, and policies, that would translate to an all-around better system, fertile enough to support development and progress.
These are the people who need to be taught how to decide and be given some leeway to make some errors in the process.
How else would they ever become their own responsible persons, like the ones above them? Or did the ones above them ever learn it themselves?
If all we do is micro-manage employees because we do not trust them, they’ll never grow, and stuck with them are the rest of us, and a system that will always remain antiquated. What we have is something that could not even pass an idiot-check.
Even to a newbie, this way of doing things gets old fast, and becomes so very irritating, serving only to test our patience. It really makes one wonder how those involved cannot smell their own s–t.
I am not saying here that they must bend rules as a rule of thumb (although some rules need some bending) but rather know how far to the right or left of it they can go, and then make decisions at least up to those boundaries, and only when necessary for the sake of efficiency, expediency, and also to give the customer a sense of satisfaction.
The way it is now only satisfies the system, whereas the way it should be would satisfy the customers, the public. There are many others endowed with the courage to make decisions who can’t seem to secure positions of responsibility even though they can run circles around some of those who are in those positions now and who refuse to step aside for the go-getters. Those f—heads continue to give people a hard time, just to blatantly mask their own inadequacies.
Come to think of it, those people may have decidophobia or the fear to make decisions. In that case, they should voluntarily disclose it. It is insane for them to continue in positions where they must make decisions but are afraid to do so.
Come on, give it to someone else and give the rest of us a break.
It seems the way it should be is still too far from the way it is.
I hope we will all be granted the patience to wait as they continue to take their sweet time vacillating.
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Author’s email: [email protected]
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