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Motivational talk for new members of the Student Representative Council at the Student Affairs Division on 4th February 2009 by Professor Omar Hasan Kasule Sr. MB ChB (MUK), MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard) Deputy Dean and Professor of Epidemiology and Islamic Medicine Institute of Medicine University Brunei Darussalam EM omarkasule@yahoo.com WEB: http://omarkasule.tripod.com
1.0 LEADERSHIP
1.1 WHAT IS LEADERSHIP?
Leadership is influencing people to do certain things or to move in a certain direction. Leadership can be learned. Good leaders persuade and do not rely on command, fear, or authority. They serve and do not dominate. They use leadership power to improve and make a change. They pull and do not push. They empower followers by coaching and delegation. Good leaders rely on personal power (character, expertise, charisma, and personal relations) more than positional power (formal authority, decisions, rewards, punishments, information, and organizational resources). Leadership credibility is based on competence, character, self-confidence, activity and drive, boldness and assertiveness. Leadership is a necessity and its absence means chaos. Good leadership leads to success; bad leadership leads to frustration and failure. One of the harbingers of doom is to place leadership authority in the wrong hands.
1.2 WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A LEADER?
Leadership is exercised by almost everybody. Its effectiveness is increased by formal training or job experience. Its success depends on follower consent. Leaders face problems of loneliness, taking responsibility for failures, follower problems (disloyalty, poor values, dissent), external threats, and lack of privacy. A leader as a human has strengths and weaknesses. Leaders can be autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire. They can be transactional, transformational, or charismatic. They can be task oriented or people-oriented. The appropriate style of leadership is determined by the situation on the ground. Some situations require combinations of leadership styles. Management and leadership skills and functions are different but are found in an individual in varying proportions. Leadership is about effectiveness, intuition, long-term vision, change, challenging the status quo, innovation, development, originality, and motivation of others. Management is about rational problem-solving, efficiency, process and mechanics, stability, harmony, status quo, short-term view, following and not innovating.
1.3 THE ROLE OF FOLLOWERS IN LEADERSHIP
Followers are described as lazy or hardworking, taking or shunning responsibility, 'yes people' following whatever is moving, survivors avoiding trouble, alienated and do not caring, and obedient or rebellious. Followers differ in intelligence, education, experience, honesty, respect for leaders, and gratitude. Followers are part of leadership situation, they play an important function in a leadership situation, and are not passive spectators. Books of history ignore follower. Followers close to the leader can guide or misguide him. The duties of the followers to the leader are obedience, respect, advice and correction, feedback, and loyalty. Leader must rely on the followers and make them know they are trusted and are valued. A good leader discourages false praise by followers and development of a personality cult.
1.4 FUNCTIONS & ACTIVITIES OF LEADERS
A leader may play one of the following roles/functions: clarification of vision, goals, and objectives; making decisions and solving problems; strategic and tactical planning; training; coordinating and integration; representation the organization; managing and resolving conflicts; motivation of followers; assigning tasks; maintaining positive and smooth working relationships; participation and not being aloof; evaluation of self and of followers; forming groups, coaching them and delegating responsibility to them; and communication (the most important function of leadership).
1.5 ATTRIBUTES OF LEADERS
Most leadership personal attributes and skills (conceptual, practical, and human) can be learned. Personal attributes are character and personality. Conceptual skills are intellectual functions (analytic, rational, and intuitive) needed for planning, coordination and integration of activities. Practical skills are needed for technical performance. Human skills are needed to understand and motivate followers. Allah gives authority to whomever He wants among many qualified for leadership. Since not everybody can become a leader, everybody must be prepared to be a good follower. The best leaders have no ambition to lead, they lead when called upon but will equally be happy as followers.
1.6 DISEASES OF LEADERS
Disease related to the personality of the leader are pride and vanity, petty-mindedness, uncompensated weaknesses, ignorance, and lack of creativity. Diseases that manifest in dealing with followers include seeking excessive veneration, oppression and injustice, manipulation, dishonesty, seeking false reputation, and abandoning followers. Diseases of followers include hypocrisy, insincerity, bad advice for leaders, disloyalty, and flattery.
1.7 FAILURE OF LEADERSHIP
A leader fails due to several often inter-related causes: refusal to admit mistakes; feeling indispensable; dictatorship; fear for position and not developing replacements; disloyalty to superiors, peers, followers and the organization; lack of creativity; lack of common sense; lack of human skills; failure to produce results; following the crowd and not leading; condoning or tolerating incompetence; failure to recognize and reward good work, and hatred by the followers. A leader is hated for impersonal behavior, not listening to followers, self importance, wrong decisions, claiming credit for followers' work, blaming followers for his mistakes, secretiveness, withholding information, not protecting followers from external attacks and criticizing them in public, not consulting followers, and over-working followers, being arrogant and feeling indispensable, putting people down, mistrust and disloyalty, inaccessibility, poor human relations, and following the crowd. A leader hated by followers should resign in the interests of the organization.
2.0 TEAM WORK
Group membership has benefits of integration, stimulation, motivation, innovation, emotional support, and endurance.
Group performance is superior to individual performance.
Group formation has 4 stages: forming (acquaintance and learning to accept one another), storming (emotions and tensions), initial integration (start of normal functioning), total integration (full functioning), and dissolution.
Mature groups have group identity, optimized feedback, decision-making procedures, cohesion, flexibility of organization, resource utilization, communication, clear accepted goals, interdependence, participation, and acceptance of minority views.
Groups fail when constituted on the wrong basis, when members cannot communicate, when there is no commonality (interests, attitudes, and goals), and when they have diseases of envy, hypocrisy, rumor mongering, back-biting, lying, show-off, pride, love of leadership, spying on one another,; and negative thoughts about others. In an effective group members feel secure and not suppressed, members understand and practice sincere group dynamics, members are competent and are committed to the group and the leadership.
3.0 BEHAVIOR
3.1 PROJECTING A POSITIVE IMAGE
Projecting a positive image helps build credibility and leads to success. Be careful in how you conduct yourself because the perceived image may not be the intended image. The difference is crucial. Self- confidence and self-discipline are ingredients of a positive image. You have to start by discovering your strengths and enhancing them. You have to acknowledge your weaknesses and compensate for them. A positive image needs maintenance by regular self-evaluation and taking corrective action where needed. Keeping company with people who have a positive self-image will help you develop your own image. Your communication with others (letter, fax, telephone, and conversation ) is an exercise in image projection. Physical appearance (clothes, hair, cleanliness) also project image. Dress well but not for arrogance. As a professional dress conservatively and remember this is a medical school and not fashion house. Muslims should follow the Islamic dress code while non-Muslims should dress in what is considered serious and formal in the Brunei culture. Be smart at all times. An image of seriousness and maturity projected now will stay in the mind of those who will work with you professionally 30 or 40 years later. Good manners, correct etiquette, and sensitivity enhance the image. Your voice, handshake, smiles, body language, and eye contact can make or unmake your image. Your posture and manner of walking can tell a lot about you. Solving your personal problems and keeping out of depression, anxiety or stress help maintain your positive self-image.
3.2 THE IDEAL STUDENT'S ETIQUETTE:
The etiquette between the student and the teacher should be followed. In general the student should respect the teacher. This is respect to knowledge and not the individual. The prophet taught admiration and emulation of the knowledgeable. Students should be quiet and respectfully listen to the teacher all the time. Students should cooperage such that one who attends a teaching session will inform the others of what was learned[i]. Students can learn a lot from one another. The student who hears a fact from a colleague who attended the lecture may even understand and benefit more. Students should ask questions to clarify points that they did not understand or which seem to contradict previous knowledge and experience. Taking notes helps understanding and retention of facts. Study of medicine is a full-time occupation; students should endeavor to stay around the hospital and their teachers all the time so that they may learn more and all the time. They should avoid being involved in many other activities outside their studies.
4.0 COPING WITH STRESS
4.1 DEFINITION OF STRESS:
Stress is a psychological, emotional, and physiological reaction to a stressor. It is considered part of normal human adaptation if it is within certain limits. It becomes abnormal or pathological in situations of over-reaction such that the adverse consequences of the stress reaction cancel out the advantages. The stress threshold varies from person to person and from stressor to stressor. What stresses one person may not stress another one. The same individual could react to the same stressor in different ways depending on the social and personal context. The underlying cognitive and spiritual qualities modulate reaction to stressors.
4.2 CAUSES OF STRESS
Stressful events are traumatic, uncontrollable, and unpredictable. Examples are: trauma, temperature, emotions. It is part of human nature to be inpatient. Thus when confronted by a problem that cannot be resolved quickly they become stressed. Life is full of difficulties.. Each difficulty is accompanied by what makes it easy. Patience is called for in moments of difficulty. However many people when in trouble forget this and fall into stress.
4.3 VARIOUS REACTION TO STRESS
Psychological reactions to stress is anxiety, anger, aggression, apathy and depression, cognitive impairment. The physiological reaction to stress manifests as the usual signs of adrenaline releases. Long-term stress affects good health.
4.4 COPING WITH STRESS
People cope with stress in different ways. Coping with stress may be by denial, projection, repression, rationalization, or reaction formation. The type of reaction also depends on the personality type, spiritual preparation, and experience in life.
4.5 REMOVING THE STRESSOR
The quickest treatment for stress is to remove the stressor. This however does not always succeed in returning the person to the normal state because memories of unpleasant stressors may continue eliciting stressful reactions for a longer time. Cognitive approach to stress is to make the person realize that there is no rational basis for the stress over-reaction. Spiritual approaches involve repairing the relation to the Creator so that the victim feels empowered to cope more effectively with the stressor or even ignore it altogether.
4.6 ELIMINATING THE TRIGGER
Emotional disequilibrium is a disease that must be treated. Every disease has a treatment. Once emotional disorders have occurred, the best approach is to remove the cause if it can be identified. Then we undertake the task of rebuilding, repairing, and restoring faith. This is supplemented by supplication,
4.7 RESTORATION OF FAITH
The most effective approach to dealing with emotional disorders is to correct the faith. This requires clarifying certain relationships and clarifying the issues of causality. A person must know the correct relation with God, with his own body, with other humans, and with the eco-system. Any defect in any one of these relationships will lead to emotional disequilibrium. Understanding causality removes a big burden of guilt from a person for what has gone wrong. Nothing happens without God’s permission. This however does not remove personal responsibility for actions.
4.8 COGNITIVE APPROACH
Empirical analysis of the problem may lead us to conclude that it is not worth worrying over. We need to understand that problems are a test. The final result is not having a problem but knowing how to deal with it. Ignorance of human limitations (physical, cognitive, sensory) makes humans stress themselves over failures. If they were wiser they would not blame themselves because they would known that some tasks are beyond their ability. Human perception is not accurate. What is perceived as a problem may not be a significant problem or may not a problem at all and this would become obvious with passage of time.
4.9 SUPPLICATION
Supplication is very effective in dealing with emotional disturbances. Its effects are dual. On one hand there is supplication to God to relieve the stress. On the other hand there is the feeling of relief because the problem has been referred to a higher and stronger power
4.0 TIME MANAGEMENT
4.1 TIME: PLANNING & PRIORITIZING
Good time management assures success. Events can be classified into 4 categories depending on their importance and urgency. Urgent and important, urgent and not important, not urgent but important, and not urgent and not important. Some activities like salat are time-sensitive and must be put on the schedule at the right time. Important things even if not the most urgent should be given most priority. Priority is given to essential needs rather than wants. Ibadat has the first priority. Next are biological needs such as sleep and food. Time must be allocated for the family, rest, recreation, and earning livelihood. Prioritization decisions should be maximizing gains and minimizing losses. Stakeholders must be given priority in time allocation decisions. All time prioritization decisions must be by conscious choice and not passive following of others. A diary or calendar should be used to schedule the day’s activities. Proper scheduling requires attention to transitional time, discretionary time, and functional linkages.
4.2 Balance in time management:
The following balances must be observed in time management: self and family, self and community. Imbalance among various acts of ‘ibadat should be avoided.
4.3 PROBLEMS IN TIME MANAGEMENT
Manifestations of poor time planning are: poor scheduling, poor prioritizing, lack of contingency plans, trying to do everything and not delegating, poorly kept diary that is incomplete and with conflicts, overwhelming work, changing priorities, and too many meetings. Managers get overwhelmed with too much work to be done in a short time. Meetings waste time and achieve little if they have no objective, no agenda, no time limits, and late coming. Many mistakes in time planning arise out of failure to anticipate events such that emergencies get out of control and deadlines are missed. Other problems in time management are: procrastinations, inflexible routines and habits, reactive and not pro-active behavior, punctuality, and interruptions (visitors, lengthy conversations, and the telephone.
4.4 SPEED READING AS A TIME SAVING TOOL
General ideas for improving reading speed: Have a purpose for your reading; it will motivate you. If all you want is to get a general ‘feel’ for the material then all you need is to skim through. Read for ideas and concepts. Adjust your reading speed to the material. Some material can be read faster than other material. It is a mistake to read everything at the same speed. Do not read for isolated words. Concentrate on what you are reading and try to stamp out all extraneous matters. Aim at reading a passage once so make sure you concentrate to comprehend and do not rely on re-reading again. This will waste time. As you read test your self on your recall like what did I just read? If you can nor answer then you know you have a problem. The reading environment also matters. Make sure you are seated comfortably. Have enough light. Use a books-stand to angle your reading material at 45 degrees to decrease eye strain. Avoid interruptions. Remember that having a big vocabulary is a necessity fort faster reading. Improve your vocabulary in a systematic way. As general advice, the more you read the faster you will read. So try to read a lot and select diverse reading material.
Specific for improving reading speed: (a) Fixate on a piece of text without moving the eyes until you ‘read’ it. Aim at reducing the fixation time and to expand the fixation zone. Avoid focussing on one word,. Try to focus on a group of words. (b) reduce sub-vocalization which is sounding out words as they are read. Sub-vocalization could be done in your head and not necessarily by the mouth. Sometimes you may not be aware that you are sub-vocalizing. Make sure that your lips do not move during reading (b) Use tracing which is smooth movement of the eyes over the page because quick and unorganized movements decrease reading speed. Do not skip back (c) Pre-review the material to have a general bird’s eye-view. This includes reading the outlines, the sub-headings and where possible some capitol sentences (d) Note key words as you read. Ignore unimportant joining words that do not change the meaning (e) use an index card, a ruler, or a pencil to move along the lines that you are reading. This enables you to concentrate more.