Six Principles At Work

1. Everything is personal because we are persons.
We cannot escape the fact that all human beings are persons. That is why in dealing with persons in the office or elsewhere, we cannot use the principle, “walang personalan, trabaho lang”. We must at all times consider the fact that we are dealing with persons, not with things.

The “walang personalan” principle is wrong, and even dangerous. It was culled from a movie starred by the late Rudy Fernandez wherein before he would kill his target he would say, “trabaho lang, walang personalan”.

Of course, we are not out to target persons. If we mean by such principle that we must impose the rules on everyone regardless of who they are, by all means we must do so; but still, we cannot forget or disregard the fact that the ones to whom the rules are supposed to be imposed are persons who have feelings and reactions. For if we disregard that fact, we will not be effective in our office management; and sooner or later, it will cause problems among our co-workers.

2. Respect every person. The golden rule applies here. It goes without saying that since, as persons, we want to be respected, we must accord the same respect toward others, whether they are of higher or lower rank.

3. “Wag ismolin”. Never belittle any co-worker. Even the lowliest janitor plays an important role in the office.

4. Let everyone find his kingdom. In this sense, the janitor’s kingdom includes the little areas he is in-charge of. Therefore, we must acknowledge that he is the king in those areas. Hence, if you want to know certain things about those areas, he is the one to turn to.

5. Map the process. It proves to be of great help to let everyone in the office understand how things flow within, what goes on, and who does what. One of the best ways to do this is to come together and draw a map of the process flow.

6. Let the chismis remain a chismis. Like any other institution, there will always be unconfirmed reports coming from the grapevine. In many cases, those pieces of information are usually nasty and damaging to someone’s reputation. Since a “chismis” is defined as a kind of unconfirmed report, let it remain to be classified as such, until confirmed. Once confirmed, decide whether to keep it or relegate it to the archive of oblivion.