Yes, I am watching Pinoy Big Brother snippets overseas, yet this week’s task is a lesson about leadership
I have to be honest. Pinoy Big Brother becomes quite interesting as it became one of my way of keeping up with Pinoy entertainment once in a while. Although there are multitude of social interplays in this “reality" program, I am kinda interested at times on the beef between the housemates. But the task this week reminded me of a leadership exercise I did more than a decade ago that left a huge mark until now.
Just to give you an overview, the current scenario was Big Brother has made five out of ten housemates “leave" the house. But this is partly true, because they (the “evicted" which became just “nominees") are just staying on a secret room (something like a purgatory) where they’re in the mercies of truly being evicted out of the house. These people were tasked to leave their presence inside the house by getting food, cleaning, and pasting their faces on the walls and putting an red X mark to those who they did not want to stay in the house.
In their weekly task, Big Brother asked the nominees to deliver the secret tasks as silent ninjas, spawning at different areas of the house. In the end, the remaining housemates felt threatened because they have a hint that the ones that left the house were not totally evicted. Some of these housemates even felt competitive thinking that the nominees oppose them, which is supposedly not. (I just watched until the one aired this Thursday, so I’m not sure what happened next…)
Upon watching this weekly task unfold, I remember a team building exercise we had. Our group were split into two groups, the first half went outside. I was on the group inside the room. We then were blindfolded. Then he told us, “please form a circle.” Then I noticed that people are starting kicking me, pushing their bodies into me. I felt threatened by their actions and starting to kick and punch aimlessly to deter their actions. I shouted, “What are you doing?” Then I heard another voice saying, “Just let them do it and move accordingly.” After she mentioned it, the time is up. By the time we put off our blindfolds, I realize that the ones outside were with us, with their hands tied and were told not to make a sound. They were part of the same task I have and I am forcing them out. I was ashamed of what I did.
When I saw the housemates having the same reaction as I am, I realized that this is normal, especially if people are highly into competition. But this exercise gives me a clear perspective about leadership. Competition, although it levels up the quality of work, destroys the required unity to achieve the goal. In the end, the success of all cannot be just a success of one. This must not be in the mind of a leader at all, especially when he handles a team with diverse attitudes.
The second and also important lesson is that a leader must also have discernment in looking towards people around him. We never know what they are experiencing unless it is revealed to us. By just looking at an individual stereotypically or on the first impression is something a leader should avoid. By this, we still need to put our trust first in the people we lead upon and let them shine for what they can do. We lift these people up for the hopes we can be lifted together. As we remove the blindfold, we will realize how pleasant it is to trust someone that in the end can be reliant and be able to lead the team to progress.
It’s true that people have tendencies to just speculate and overthink on the things they cannot understand and perceive. This is a defense mechanism, a survival instinct. But it jeopardizes the strength of humanity to achieve a similar goal. In the end of it, we need to have faith, hoping that something we cannot perceive would materialize at the end. At least, our belief can make us move forward. Hopefully, the tasks can be accomplished not because of one, but because of everyone.
