Today was one of what I consider a bad day for work. It's the last shift date of the month for my team and we have lots of target to hit - there's no complaint, we did it to ourselves. Every month we have these targets and before the month even begins, we will strategize on how we can work on achieving these targets. I'll have to admit, I'm not the best leader there is. Oftentimes, I am at the bottom of the ranks and I'm not proud of it.

So, today was a bad day. To ensure everyone from my team are committed, I woke up an hour earlier prior to my shift, prepare the recent data/report we have and look for metrics that were feasible to achieve by end of month. I conduct a huddle and made it light so there won't be pressure and everyone would be more engaged and inspired. 

As a person with OCD, whenever I plan something out, I need it done and I know every detail of how it should be done - but life is joke sometimes, y'know? Even if you're a 101% committed and prepared, things may still change if one factor will be compromised. We ended the day hitting only 1 metric and awe failed in all others...on the last day of the month! 

So how do I deal with it? How did I take it? How do I feel about it?

Let me share with you what my manager used to tell me....

First, don't be too hard on yourself. As a leader, you are expected to do great things and deliver good numbers, but it is also expected that you are NOT perfect, you will continue to make mistake and that doesn't make you less of a person. You made mistakes, you learn from them, and you do better.

Second, this is NOT completely just your fault. There's no I in team, as they say, and so it is a shared responsibility. If everyone from the team will do what they're ask for, then you don't have to worry about failing. As a member of the team, your task is to deliver what has been asked of you, as a leader, your task is to guide and lead your members. Failures can't only be blamed to one person.

Third, being a leader is NOT always about telling your people what to do. Treat everyone from your team as a person who can deliver. Instead of telling them what to do, help them figure out what to do and how to do it on their own. Your task is to lead them, NOT to boss them around.

Lastly, you do NOT need to be right all the time. As a leader, you do NOT have to know all the answers. Same thing with, you do NOT have to do all the work. That's why it's called a team - there are people to help you and you can work together with. Doing everything on your own depicts you do not trust your people to do their job right. One way or another, you need to let others do it so that they will learn and be reliable even if you're not around.

Now you all know why I stayed - Good management. A great leader is always better than a great company. :)