NU12 #3, New Professionalism - Camille A. Dela Cruz

Ateneo Innovation and Entrepreneurship "New ideas create more and better new products and services; create more wealth."

ENTREP S20

Mr. Jorge Saguinsin

NU 12 Week 3 – Professionalism

Camille A. Dela Cruz

Just before the Christmas vacation, my boss and I discussed my Individual Development Plan in Kimberly-Clark. The Individual Development Plan (IDP) is an activity wherein a subordinate discusses his/her career plans which includes short and long term goals to his/her superior. One of the important things discussed during the session is how I can further improve or develop myself to become a Key Accounts Team Manager in a year or so. She mentioned that Kimberly-Clark recognizes how much I’ve given and contributed to the betterment of the company and they are seeing potential in me to become a Key Accounts Team Manager, wherein I’ll be leading a small team. However, promoting to the position involves preparing myself for the role. My boss then told me to start acting like a Key Accounts Team Manager which entails I have to breathe and live like it. After the IDP, I decided to research about leadership and read books about it.

One of the key takeaways from my reading and research is that bosses/superiors should always put their people first because happy employees eventually lead to better results. Putting employees first requires taking care of employees, ensuring they have the perfect working environment and looking out for their best interest. I then realized the reason why my boss puts much weight and prioritization to us (her team) rather than focusing on the specifics of each of our roles. Given the way she manages actually resulted to a more bonded and focused team compared to other sales teams in the company.  Entering the New Year, I decided to practice and demonstrate what I’ve learned from the discussion with my boss and all the readings and researched I have done about leadership. I acted more like a leader rather than a boss to my coordinators by changing a few things on how I treat them. For example, when cascading a certain activity, before I would just tell them what to do, now I would tell them the reason why we are doing such activity and gave them more information and reason to it. I realized that this helps them feel more involve and make them feel that what they’re doing has a greater purpose. I also asked them to create monthly reports of their key learning and how else they can better improve themselves. This forms a learning environment for them.

The biggest learning here is really treating subordinates like human beings who have emotions and a life to live and not like robots who will do anything what you say. Second, is that becoming a leader is a huge responsibility and that it should not be taken lightly but rather with great attention and value. 4