In the vibrant city of the Far East, two managers worked for a major tech company, Crescent Holding. They were famous for their dedication, professionalism, and exceptional competence. However, their management styles were as different as night and day.
Manager Hung, a strict and disciplined man, was famous for his tireless perseverance in the pursuit of excellence. He was always hardworking, steadfast, and demanded the same from his team.
Hung’s motto was “Excellence is not an act, but a habit.” Hung possessed an almost “supernatural” ability to spot errors, even the smallest ones that most others would overlook.
However, his style was quite harsh and unforgiving. He often questioned his subordinates with words like “Why don’t you know this?” or “You did it all wrong.” Hung also frequently interrogated his staff with a barrage of questions and rebuttals until Hung’s employees had to stressfully admit their mistakes or shortcomings.
Hung’s team lived in constant fear of making mistakes and receiving criticism from him. This relentless pressure began to weigh heavily on them, their self-esteem gradually vanishing with each critique. Many chose to resign, feeling that no matter how hard they tried, the quality of their work and their competence would never be good enough for Hung.
In stark contrast to Hung was Ngoc, a leader full of compassion and boundless patience. Ngoc was also very perfectionistic about work quality, but possessed a unique way of guiding her team. She emphasized change and improvement over perfection. Her motto was “Efforts and progress are first.”
Whenever a team member made a mistake, Ngoc would start by acknowledging their efforts, showing appreciation for the work they had done, even when the final result was not as she had wished. Instead of pointing out errors with sharp, bitter words, she would spend time modeling and illustrating how to perform the work correctly.
This made Ngoc feel exhausted and even drained her health. There were times she was hospitalized due to physical exhaustion.
But Ngoc believed in the value of learning by setting an example. Her team members, inspired by her patience and empathy, always felt motivated and empowered.
They felt valued not only for their skills and achievements, but also for their commitment to improvement. Under Ngoc’s guidance, they grew and transformed, both professionally and personally. And gradually, as she empowered them, Ngoc reduced her workload, spending more time on her health and family. Ngoc significantly improved both her personal life and her career.
The story of Hung and Ngoc is an important lesson for all leaders. Each of the managers above was an undeniably outstanding person through their dedication, devotion, and excellence at work. But their team management styles led to completely different results.
While Hung’s demanding style created anxiety and self-doubt for his subordinates, Ngoc’s empathetic and supportive guiding style fostered self-esteem, trust, and alignment within her team.
This is a story I tell from my own management experience. Both characters are who I once was, and one is who I am striving to become.
I used to be a “Hung” like that more than 10 years ago, deeply hurting my employees when I was overly harsh with them in the name of perfection. I feel immense regret when some employees later recounted: “You made me so terrified, and every time I think back to that period, I don’t feel happy.”
Whereas becoming a manager like Ngoc seems to take too much time for those who cannot remain patient, especially with an organization’s rapid pace of development. Therefore, many managers often choose the “autocratic, harsh, and imposing” path simply because “autocracy” is the easiest and seemingly fastest way of management.
You must possess boundless patience and a humanistic philosophy to be able to manage like Ngoc. But when you manage to do so, your work will be much smoother, and you will have an entire dedicated team helping you move forward.
As a leader, your actions and words can shatter your team’s spirit. Even without intending to, you can make subordinates feel inadequate and incompetent. That is extremely disastrous because you will inadvertently create a spirit-weary team and people who will not live and die for you.
It is important to remember that you manage not just work, but people. A motivated and appreciated team will always accomplish work better than a team that is constantly discouraged and stressed.
Ultimately, the true manifestations of a good leader lie not only in the ability to achieve results, but also in the capacity to inspire, nurture, and help one’s team and followers.
Because in truth, building an average team to become great together is far better and far more effective than waiting in vain to search for a dream team.
Nguyen Quoc Toan
