Leadership

Have you ever had the experience of being the leader of a group but the group has no respect for you? It's tough. Especially when your boss expects results from you as a leader.

Well, there's this poor guy. I'll just call him @ in my Company. He was our IC since Day 1. He is a Corporal, the highest rank among us Trainees. Hence he was appointed as the IC. However, his drills and commands are not very impressive. That's the main reason why no one seems to respect him. Furthermore, when I ask other people for their opinion on him, they say things like "He is very wayang (acts in front of superiors)" and "He claims credit for other people's work". For these comments, I am not very sure whether they are real or not. But one thing I know. That is he needs to really improves on his drills, commands and even his turnout.

I have been a leader before and I know that it is not easy for people to follow you. Not only must you set an example for them to follow (lead by example), but you must also show care and concern for your men under you. It can be disastrous if your men refuse to follow you, or worse, go against you. Maybe @ has not been an IC before. Or maybe he has not been exposed to regimentation before. Or maybe he is just being nervous commanding 100 Trainees. Giving him the benefit of doubt, I think we all should support him instead of jeering at his mistakes. He is only human, just like all of us. To err is human, to forgive is divine.

Today is Day 3, the worst Day for @. He made mistakes and was pumped in front of us. Sad case. I just hope that nothing bad will happen in this course. Hopefully everyone will understand the difficulty that he is going through and give him the support he needs.

I guess a successful leader is not all about the leader. It is about the men under him too.

Tags: National Service, Singapore