LEADERSHIP | Mastering your human relations skills

LEADERSHIP | Good human relations is a key determinant of success in both our personal and professional lives.

As social beings, we cannot escape from human interactions in our daily lives and in most matters, we need the assistance and cooperation of other people to attain our goals. In the words of Theodore Roosevelt, “The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is the knack of getting along with people.”

Richard Wong (not his real name), graduated with a first-class degree in civil engineering 10 years ago. He had no difficulty in securing a job with a leading construction conglomerate. At the beginning, he gained rapid promotions due to his technical expertise and ability to deliver results on time.

Unfortunately, his performance began to falter when he was subsequently promoted as a senior project manager. Richard was preoccupied with producing results; he cared very little about the “human side” of management. He regarded employees as machines to be knocked about or tools to be made use of in attaining work goals.

Due to Richard’s poor human relations skills, he became extremely unpopular with his subordinates. Richard often reprimanded his subordinates in public and took superior work performance for granted. He also seldom gave serious consideration to the opinions and ideas of his subordinates.

Worse still, Richard adopted the “know-it-all” attitude. Not surprisingly, several of his highly capable engineers quit the organisation because they could no longer tolerate Richard’s “toxic” and abrasive manner of managing...