This is the brilliant reply from the MD/CEO. I am sharing this to rest of the world because the gist of the reply is relevant to all organizations in this planet. Enjoy::
I also received feedback on the note that I made about the younger generation in Part 4 of this column. Thank you for your feedback and for speaking out your mind. However, I wish to clarify here that the note was a reply to a comment by a senior technician in our plant. I think his concern about the younger generation being “less committed and not obedient” is a sincere concern from actual experience and was meant to see our beloved company continue to sustain high performance for many years to come.
My view is that we should stop segregating our staff according to their generations ie., the baby boomers, Gen X and Gen Y - because if we keep segregating ourselves, we will never understand and appreciate each other. We will never be able to close the so-called generation gap. We will forever think that we are different from each other and mentally incompatible. We should not blindly follow the Western values and thinking. It is the West who started segregating their generations into baby boomers, Gen X, Y and Net. This sort of mindset is dangerous and unhealthy and will not do any good to ourselves and our organisation.
In achieving top performing organisation, our focus is on keeping up with and upholding the organisation’s values. It is not about the values of the individuals. If you look at a winning organisations, each one of them have distinctive values that their employees must subscribe to.
These values are translated into organizational culture, behaviour and mindset. In this Company, the values that we must subscribe to are the PETRONAS shared values i.e., Loyalty, Integrity, Professionalism and Cohesiveness.
I also wish to stress here that “Loyalty” does not mean that we have to do the things we are told to do without knowing why. In fact, I don’t encourage such kind of “loyalty” in this Company. This kind of loyalty is what I called “blind loyalty”. Can you imagine what will happen if a staff who is not equipped with full PPE blindly follow instruction to work in a confine space? We do not need this type of loyalty in this organisation.
In this Company and PETRONAS, we always encourage freedom of expression. We like people to express their opinions. However, in reality “diverse or individual opinions” alone cannot drive any organization to achieve its goal. To succeed as a group, we must have confluence and consensus. Decision must be made collectively and once a decision is made, we must put aside our personal opinion, uphold the decision and work together to achieve its goal. Another word, we must be loyal to the direction that has been set to achieve the business target. I am not aware of any other successful organisation in this planet that does not have the “loyalty” value ingrained in their staff.
And to describe the IDOL Learning programme and other initiatives as “fixed their mindset” approach is to me is a wrong perception. I do not believe all young people in this Company share this view. To put this matter into proper perspective, all leadership programmes organised by this Company are never intended to brain wash the staff. In fact, they are intended to improve the staff soft skills and leadership skills to prepare them to become good leaders in the future. Even Apple, Google, GE, Ikea and AirAsia runs leadership programmes for their staff and there are also substantial populations of older generations in these companies.
In this Company, we are also working hard to harness the potential of the younger generation through, amongst others, nurturing their presentation skill and sharing ideas at the plant management level.
We also encourage creativity and greater participations from younger generation in decisions making process. At the same time, we want everyone to understand our vision and values in order for us to be able to achieve our business goal. If everyone subscribed to our values and committed to the cause, This Company will go very far in our quest for greater achievements.
We always welcome good suggestions and brilliant ideas. So if you have any better suggestions to improve our soft skills programmes in mind, please recommend to the management.
I also received feedback on the note that I made about the younger generation in Part 4 of this column. Thank you for your feedback and for speaking out your mind. However, I wish to clarify here that the note was a reply to a comment by a senior technician in our plant. I think his concern about the younger generation being “less committed and not obedient” is a sincere concern from actual experience and was meant to see our beloved company continue to sustain high performance for many years to come.
My view is that we should stop segregating our staff according to their generations ie., the baby boomers, Gen X and Gen Y - because if we keep segregating ourselves, we will never understand and appreciate each other. We will never be able to close the so-called generation gap. We will forever think that we are different from each other and mentally incompatible. We should not blindly follow the Western values and thinking. It is the West who started segregating their generations into baby boomers, Gen X, Y and Net. This sort of mindset is dangerous and unhealthy and will not do any good to ourselves and our organisation.
In achieving top performing organisation, our focus is on keeping up with and upholding the organisation’s values. It is not about the values of the individuals. If you look at a winning organisations, each one of them have distinctive values that their employees must subscribe to.
These values are translated into organizational culture, behaviour and mindset. In this Company, the values that we must subscribe to are the PETRONAS shared values i.e., Loyalty, Integrity, Professionalism and Cohesiveness.
I also wish to stress here that “Loyalty” does not mean that we have to do the things we are told to do without knowing why. In fact, I don’t encourage such kind of “loyalty” in this Company. This kind of loyalty is what I called “blind loyalty”. Can you imagine what will happen if a staff who is not equipped with full PPE blindly follow instruction to work in a confine space? We do not need this type of loyalty in this organisation.
In this Company and PETRONAS, we always encourage freedom of expression. We like people to express their opinions. However, in reality “diverse or individual opinions” alone cannot drive any organization to achieve its goal. To succeed as a group, we must have confluence and consensus. Decision must be made collectively and once a decision is made, we must put aside our personal opinion, uphold the decision and work together to achieve its goal. Another word, we must be loyal to the direction that has been set to achieve the business target. I am not aware of any other successful organisation in this planet that does not have the “loyalty” value ingrained in their staff.
And to describe the IDOL Learning programme and other initiatives as “fixed their mindset” approach is to me is a wrong perception. I do not believe all young people in this Company share this view. To put this matter into proper perspective, all leadership programmes organised by this Company are never intended to brain wash the staff. In fact, they are intended to improve the staff soft skills and leadership skills to prepare them to become good leaders in the future. Even Apple, Google, GE, Ikea and AirAsia runs leadership programmes for their staff and there are also substantial populations of older generations in these companies.
In this Company, we are also working hard to harness the potential of the younger generation through, amongst others, nurturing their presentation skill and sharing ideas at the plant management level.
We also encourage creativity and greater participations from younger generation in decisions making process. At the same time, we want everyone to understand our vision and values in order for us to be able to achieve our business goal. If everyone subscribed to our values and committed to the cause, This Company will go very far in our quest for greater achievements.
We always welcome good suggestions and brilliant ideas. So if you have any better suggestions to improve our soft skills programmes in mind, please recommend to the management.
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