Pos Malaysia: Leadership Lessons in Crisis Management

Viral post - it can make someone famous instantly and it also can kill a brand instantly.

There has been a viral post recently about some of the Pos Malaysia general worker throwing some Poslaju parcel while shipping it to the consumer. It creates a mixed reaction towards the general public and majority gave some bad comment about it.

Recently, Pos Malaysia created a video to counter the viral post that has shifted the perception towards their brand. However, the way the CEO handles the situation provides us (or at least me) some lessons in leadership.

Here are some of the lessons that come to my mind after viewing the video:

7 Rahsia komunikasi oleh Dr. Zakir Naik

Kebelakangan ini Dr. Zakir Naik telah menjadi sebutan oleh kebanyakkan rakyat Malaysia. Semua ini gara-gara pembatalan program beliau di UTeM setelah diumumkan oleh ketua polis negara atas sebab-sebab tertentu, dan ia menjadi viral di laman media sosial.

Memang Dr. Zakir Naik merupakan salah seorang communicator yang hebat. Beliau dapat berbicara dengan persuasif sehingga ramai orang pasti akan terpegun dengan cara beliau berdebat dan berkata-kata. Mungkin ramai yang gemar mendengar beliau berhujah secara langsung dihadapan ribuan penonton. Kali ini saya ingin mengupas video dibawah dan berkongsi beberapa isi penting dan teknik yang digunakan beliau dalam berhujah, semoga ianya akan menjadi pengajaran buat kita, Inshaallah.

1. Listen attentively - mendengar dengan penuh perhatian dan minat
Apabila seseorang bertanyakan soalan, kebanyakkan orang mendengar untuk menjawab soalan tersebut. Apa yang Dr. Zakir lakukan adalah dengar dengan penuh perhatian dan minat di mana anda boleh lihat daripada 'eye contact' beliau kepada si penanya soalan. Kemahiran mendengar bukan sahaja memahami apa soalan yang ditanya, tetapi juga memahami perspektif si pendengar.

2. Acknowledge the question is good - mengiktiraf soalan yang dikemukakan itu adalah bagus.
Soalan yang baik adalah sangat subjektif. Walau apa juga soalan yang diajukan, tiada istilah soalan bodoh. Ini kerana perspektif seseorang itu sangat berbeza dengan perspektif kita. Dalam erti kata lain, kita mempunyai realiti kehidupan yang berbeza. Mengiktiraf soalan itu soalan yang baik menunjukkan kita faham kenapa beliau bertanyakan soalan tersebut dan penting untuk ianya dijawab.

3. Repeat the question - Ulang semula soalan yang ditanya
Mengulang kembali soalan mempunyai satu kuasa yang sangat persuasif. Banyak kajian telah dijalankan tentang perkara ini. Dalam NLP ia dipanggil matching and mirroring. Social scientist pula memberi gelaran mimicking. Dalam satu kajian yang dijalankan terhadap restoran, mereka membuat kesimpulan bahawa mereka yang ulang kembali menggunakan perkataan (keyword) yang sama dengan pelanggan yang membuat order, mereka mendapati kadar tips yang diberikan meningkat sebanyak 70%. Ianya seolah-olah memberitahu subsconcious mind - "you understand me!"

High Income Nation - Are we training our people in the right direction?

Malaysia is moving towards high income nation. To realize the vision 2020, we set our target to achieve GNI per capita of US$15,000. One of the initiative is to train our people. Training has been seen as effective method to upgrade the skills and knowledge of the people. However, are we training our people with the right skills?


Upskilling and Reskilling
Malaysia is focusing so many initiatives to produce high income workers. Among top initiatives of the government including upskilling and reskilling. This is expected to produce a high income workforce through high skill workers.

The linkage between technical skills and soft-skills

According to Carnegie Institute of Technology, 85% of financial success is depends on one personality and the ability to communicate, negotiate and lead. Shockingly, only 15% of it due to technical knowledge. In other words, success in financial depends very much on soft-skills or what I called leadership skills.

This is not the only studies that has been done related to skills. In my previous post, I have mentioned that skills contribute on 14% - 22% (based on industries and descipline). Attitude plays a bigger role, which is the personality part.

Knowing this facts, are we in the right direction of building a high income nation with high income people?

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Dale Carnegie has wrote the classic How To Win Friends and Influence People. I find it was an excellent book to read and the content is still relevant up-to today (not sure if in future, the way people communicate will be different).

To read a book might be a problem to some people. Not just lazy factor, busy with others activities and family commitment also makes reading more difficult. The easiest way to grab all the summary is by having somebody who have read it and understand it to explain to us.

By utilizing the modern technology and stuff, I would like to share with you guys on how I get the summary (at least I can revise some of the topic discussed in the book) with all of you guys. At least after watching this, you might want to decide whether to read the full book, or leave it at the bookshelves at the book stores.

Happy watching!