Leadership in Thailand needs to be improved!
Often, I have been invited to conduct a training session about “personality development for the leaders” particularly for educators from various universities; I have gathered the like and dislike Thai leadership styles or behaviors from Thai subordinates. And I am pleased to share with you the top 5 of both aspects and I hope you find them interesting and valuable.
Top 5 preferred leadership styles:
Top 5 un-preferred leadership styles:
The most remarkable is the number 1 of both liked and disliked modes, most Thai subordinates in educational field views that being a good leader, one must be brave in making decision but in the mean time the bosses must be empowering as well.
Some Thai managers / leaders in universities do not have management background, this made them sometimes very self-centered but for some matters, it takes 100 years to make decision. Most managerial positions in Thai education grow from their research outputs and years of teaching, they are knowledgeable in their field but not quite about managing people. Because they are rich in their knowledge, some of them are over confident and very self-centered. But this should not be transferred into people management as normally they have many knowledgeable educators / lecturers under their supervision. In general, people who choose to work in universities or educational institutions; they must hold certain field of knowledge and skills, therefore, everyone is somehow very good at certain field no matter he or she is at a managerial position or not. Thus, managers in educational settings need to listen more to their people and understand much more WHEN to empower and WHEN a sharp decision needs to be demonstrated by the managers, as a good role model.
Simple ordinary example: observations from many training sessions I conducted, people are mostly looking for an ethical leader who is very sharp to make a remark when certain person who has a connection with the top management is un-qualified to teach or to be a role model due to some unprofessional behaviors. A simple comment like this would surely enhance Thai educational quality a great deal, of course, only if it is accepted by the top management. However, I think top management at present century is much more open-minded anyway, what is lacking is simply; “bravery” of their managerial workforce to constructively make fair and honest comments for the betterment of any institution.
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A consultant’s intention should NEVER be to keep hotel owners and investors ‘in the dark’! A true consultant must educate advice and provide samples of good and bad practices. A hotel consultant must also be a good teacher – not a lecturer! We must guide and use all channels of communication to pass on knowledge to others. We choose to write articles in a hope that it helps and inspires others.