Managing Filippino Teams - eBOOK

MANAGING FILIPINO TEAMS
MANAGING
FILIPINO
TEAMS
without needing to micromanage
WHAT EVERY WESTERNER

NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT LEADING
A TEAM IN THE PHILIPPINES
MIKE GROGAN
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID
“In this book, Mike Grogan has absolutely nailed it. There is no
other book or resource that goes anywhere near dealing with the
management challenges encountered when developing effective
Filipino workers.“
Mike O’Hagan
www.mikesbusinesstours.com
Author, Entrepreneur, and Investor
“Mike Grogan’s deep knowledge of Filipino language and culture

enables him to effectively describe how leaders can succeed in
conducting business in the Philippines.“
Victoria “Vicky” Carlos

International School Manila
Filipino Language and Culture Expert
“In my eleven years in the Philippines, this book has helped me

understand my Filipino team far more than any other literature I
have read in the past.“
Marc A. Daubenbuechel
www.raintreecare.com
Managing Director
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID
“I started to read a few pages just to have a taste of what’s inside,

and I couldn’t put it down! The insights are awesome. It’s great
that someone has finally explained in detail that managing in the
Philippines is not like managing in the West.“
Dave Mark Vallega

SEAOIL Philippines
Training Manager
“I have done a lot of reading on Filipino culture over the years, but
this is by far the best! The case studies are incredibly helpful.“
Fiona Kesby
Go Virtual Assistants Inc.
CEO
“Although initially for a foreign audience, I highly recommend

that fellow Filipinos should also read this book. It is a useful and
enduring record about Filipino culture—not just for today, but for
the years to come.“
Professor Xiao Chua
De La Salle University
Filipino Historian, Columnist, and Educator
Philippine Copyright © 2022 by Mike Grogan

WITHOUT NEEDING TO MICROMANAGE
What Every Westerner Needs to Know

About Leading a Team in the Philippines
By Mike Grogan
ISBN 978-179-7594-66-8
Cover Design and Layout: Genesis Emilly Asuro and Albert Cudal
Sketch Artist: Kristele Sy
Editors: Shiela Mariz Pantaleon, Genesis Emilly Asuro, Kring Talladen,
Denz Calamba, and Angela Schloer
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, except for
brief quotations, without the written permission from the author.
www.kaizenleadershipasia.com
SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
AND DEDICATION
This book has been made possible by the input of hundreds of business
leaders (both Filipino and non-Filipino) whom I have collaborated with since
I started working in the Philippines in 2015.
Even though many people will agree

that there is extraordinary potential in the
Filipino workforce, readers of this book
will know that managing Filipino teams is
not without its challenges.
That is why I want to honor the leaders who have gone before me, and
who have openly shared their insights and best practices in making their
Filipino staff more proactive and accountable without needing to become
a micromanager.
These are the leaders who did not give up on their Filipino employees
and instead were able to succeed in helping their staff overcome those
unproductive cultural mindsets that were holding them back from becoming
the best version of themselves.
The Philippines and its amazing people are made better because of you!
This book is dedicated to you.

CONTENTS
Introduction • 1
Why So Many Foreigners Fail in the Philippines • 5
Chapter 1: Status • 13
Case Study: How a Small Change Had a Radical Impact on His Team • 21
Chapter 2: Family • 27
Case Study: Why He Had to Stop Giving Negative Feedback to His Team • 36
Chapter 3: Shame • 42
Case Study: How He Stopped the Blame Game • 51
Chapter 4: Punctuality • 56
Case Study: How She Instilled a Culture of Discipline • 62
Chapter 5: Confrontation • 67
Case Study: How He Fixed One Major Root Cause of Underperformance • 74
Chapter 6: Bahala Na • 80
Case Study: How He Created a Culture of Accountability • 87
Chapter 7: Nationalism • 92
Case Study: How He Finally Got His Team to Start Thinking for Themselves • 100
Conclusion • 106
Appendix A • 108
Three Proven Best Practices for Creating More Effective Filipino Teams
Appendix B • 122
Sample Scripts for Handling the 13 Most Difficult Work-Related Conversations in the Philippines
References • 166
Recommended Reading • 167
About the Author • 168

Introduction
As I am sure you can grasp from the subtitle, Managing Filipino Teams
was written primarily to help Western leaders better understand the
mindset of their Filipino employees so they are in a better position to
drive more impactful and sustainable business results.
This was not intended to be an academic study, a travel guide, or a

management theory book. My intention was to create a practical guide
full of real-life ideas and tactics that leaders of Filipino teams could
immediately apply to their situation.
However, to my surprise, this book became more popular with Filipino

readers than with Westerners.
To be honest, I did not expect this. But after I read the dozens of messages I
received from Filipino managers, supervisors, consultants, freelancers, and
executive assistants working in multiple different industries around the
world, I started to understand more deeply why the content of the book,
especially the case studies, was so powerful for them.
Exposing Cultural Blindspots
These Filipino readers told me how the cultural insights in this book,
although initially written for a foreign audience, really helped them see
things about themselves, their teams, and their culture that they never
realized before.
After all, the simplest definition of culture is the set of assumptions people
use to make decisions and solve problems.
1
Many of these assumptions are things we pick up from our childhood—

that we just accepted as fact—spending most of our adult lives assuming
that everyone thinks the same way as us.
Thus, for many Filipinos, when they get exposed to other cultures, whether
by working closely with foreigners, by living overseas or by reading a book
like this, it can be shocking, surprising, or even liberating when they come
across beliefs and opinions that differ from their own internal belief system.
The Dangers of Stereotypes
However, as we start to go through the key cultural assumptions that hold

many Filipinos back from performing to their potential at work, I want to
stress that the purpose of this book is not to imply that Western culture is
somehow better than or superior to Filipino culture.
I am aware of the many flaws and hypocrisies of Western culture. I believe

there are many parts of Filipino culture that must be admired—and in
specific instances, are even more advanced than Western countries.
It is also important to clarify that the content of this book is not under the
presumption that all Filipinos are the same.
The Dutch are known to be the tallest people in the world, but you will find
some Filipinos who are taller than the average Dutch person. I’m sure you
also know at least one Filipino in your network who is more individualistic
and self-confident than most Westerners you know.
I will be the first to agree that there are many outliers to the key cultural
observations you will read in this book. However, these exceptions do not
disprove the general principles you’ll be reading.
2
This Book Will Offend Some People
This book is a result of the lessons my team

and I have learned from working with dozens
of organizations in the Philippines to increase
the output, efficiency, and engagement of
their teams, as well as thousands of hours of
personal study of Filipino history, culture, and
language since 2015.
This country has become my home. Many of my closest friends, mentors,

and family members are Filipinos (I am married to a Filipina and our son has
both Philippine and Irish passports). I really do believe in the potential of this
country and how Filipinos themselves can be role models of positive change,
not just in Asia, but for the entire world.
However, I know that for some people, it may seem elitist or arrogant for an
“outsider” like me to share any negative observation on Filipino culture,
especially since the Philippines is such a young country many times forced
into a history not of its own choosing.
Culture, for many, is a very sensitive topic.
Speaking negatively about a person’s nationality often provokes the

same type of emotional reaction as if you were speaking negatively
about their mother.
By highlighting the negative parts of Filipino culture, I am going against the

Filipino value of delicadeza (honor and saving face), which discourages people
from raising unpleasant topics directly or, better still, to not raise them at all.
That is why my team and I have made a massive effort to present the critical
observations of Filipino culture, especially the negative elements, in the most
factual and unbiased way.
3
There are statements you will read that most Filipinos will 100% agree on and
there are other statements that many Filipinos will be embarrassed to admit are
true.
Confronting the Uncomfortable Truth
Nevertheless, to make any progress in business and society, we must have

the courage to talk about both the positive and negative sides of culture and
discover the real root causes of the challenges that are holding this country
and its people back from developing to their full potential.
For those who might get offended by the directness of this book, I ask for your
forgiveness in advance and restate that my intention is to make things better
and not to hurt.
However, hurt feelings are not always a bad thing. As with many of the most
important things in life, we all know that sometimes, it’s better to be hurt by the
truth than to live in the comfort of a lie or false assumption.
I hope that you find this book as helpful as what past readers have
experienced. More importantly, I hope that you discover some new ideas
and insights that you can immediately apply to your situation to create
more win-win opportunities for both you and your team.
To your continued success!
Mike Grogan
Principal Consultant
Kaizen Leadership Asia www.kaizenleadershipasia.com
4
Why So Many Foreigners Fail

in the Philippines
It is estimated that up to 50% of all international work assignments end in

1
failure. This means that, potentially, 50% of Westerners who are currently
working in the Philippines or managing Filipino teams virtually might end
up looking back on their time with their team primarily with disappointment
and frustration.
Now this is a depressing statistic to reflect on. Despite all efforts and the
investment of time and resources, the promised impact and results have not
been realized.
Instead of celebrating a turnaround in business performance or the

transformation of their Filipino staff into a highly engaged and productive
team, a cloud of anxiety and stress overshadows the duration of the
leader’s time.
If they work for a multinational company, it’s common to hear that the
leader is eventually forced to transfer to another assignment or gets fired
completely from the organization.
If they run their own business or work for a SME, it’s common to find out
that these Western leaders end up becoming overwhelmed with their
workload—work that they thought they would be able to delegate to their
Filipino team. Regardless of their circumstance, the Westerner ends up
feeling very bitter and resentful, thinking:
How could this happen? Why did the company not do a better job in setting
me up for success? Where did it all go wrong?
5
Failure to Understand Filipino Culture
There are many reasons why an international assignment fails. But certainly,
we can conclude from research that one of the biggest root causes is the
Westerner’s failure to understand the local culture itself: failure to get inside
the mindset of the people they are expected to lead, to understand their
motivations, to leverage their strengths, and to
coach and guide them in overcoming the local
cultural norms that are in direct conflict with
global high-performance business practices.
What is most surprising is how so many

Westerners make the mistake of not educating
themselves about the critical few cultural
differences that, if not managed correctly, will
have a significant impact on how their team
communicates and responds to change.
They usually make this mistake not

because of laziness, but because of the belief that focusing on the
individual differences in their team will be enough. Many Westerners
have such a strong belief in the power of the individual and the
importance of equality that they do not like the idea of “putting
people in boxes” or that people are “products of their environment.”
At first glance, that argument sounds like a very noble idea. If used
incorrectly, we can all agree that cultural stereotypes and generalizations
can be a very unfair way of judging people. It’s nice to believe that
no matter what the external environment or historical context, the
individual human spirit has the power to make their own choices and
can resist and overcome any negative influences that surround them.
But to allow your ideals to blindside you from the reality on the ground is a
massive error of judgment.
6
Westerners who ignore cultural differences tend to go into every

interaction with their Filipino team, assuming that their Filipino staff see
things like they do. But once problems in performance start to become
apparent, these Westerners are not able to effectively empathize or
understand why their team is not behaving as they are supposed to.
They assume their Filipino team will be able to use the same critical thinking
skills and “outside the box” thinking that come so naturally to them—but
they are wrong.
The Westerner desperately tries to come up with some fixes that may make
some of the symptoms disappear for a few weeks, but the root causes of
the underperformance still exist.
As frustration and stress levels increase, the Westerner resorts to

micromanagement or firing their team—that is if they don’t resign first.
Neither of the parties involved are happy with the outcomes.
Thus, unless Westerners who work with Filipinos know how to decode
Filipino culture and to avoid falling into traps, they are easy prey to
misunderstanding, needless conflict, and ultimate failure.
The Leadership Crisis in the Philippines
But it is not just Western leaders who have this problem.
Any intelligent and progressive Filipino will be the first to tell you that their
country needs more great leaders—leaders who deeply understand and
empathize with the day-to-day struggles of the ordinary Filipino worker.
We are not just referring to politics here. We are talking about all areas of
society—government, business, education, healthcare, NGOs, religion, etc.
7
There are not enough leaders who are leading by example for their people,
and the traditional style of autocratic management (and sadly, many times,
corrupt) is still dominant in most organizations.
This is not to say that there is no progress being made at all in the
Philippines. But we all know the rate of change is not fast enough and so
much human potential is still being wasted.
Roadblocks to Progress
High levels of employee discipline, proactiveness, and willingness to

engage in direct conversations with their boss are not the norms in
Filipino society.
So don’t feel bad that your past attempts at initiating positive change
in your organization completely failed to make a significant long-term
difference in the mindset and performance of your team.
There are so many training programs, learning events, and resources out
there that promise to help you out. But if we’re being honest, roughly
around 95% of them are a complete waste of time.
Your staff may claim to have “learned” new things, but then they go back
to work the next day with the same old mindset and attitude. Nothing
really changes.
They continue to do what they have always done, and your organization
still ends up with the same mediocre results.
For many leaders, it seems that Filipino culture is constantly fighting

against them.
8
Too Busy to Change
Many leaders confide in us that they sometimes feel helpless to change

the situation in their company.
They tell us that they spend most of their time drowning in mundane
business tasks—meetings, emails, reports—that prevent them from
getting to the meaningful work that will move the organization forward.
Sadly, for most organizations, the bigger it is, the slower it tends to
move. So for leaders in these organizations, it’s only when they see
their competitors take away their market share or steal their talent from
them do they start to get serious about change.
Sometimes, it’s already too late to act as the damage is already done
and their competitors are too far ahead. These organizations then either
go out of business entirely and become victims to a hostile merger or
acquisition, or if they find some way to survive, they linger in mediocrity
and irrelevance.
Proof That Change Is Possible
If you’ve thought in the past that it’s impossible to get your Filipino team
to consistently meet your expectations of world-class performance, allow
me to put any of those fears to rest.
The good news is that it is possible to achieve outstanding results working

with Filipino teams!
Hundreds of successful leaders (both Westerners and Filipinos), many of

whom were in far more difficult circumstances than you may be facing,
were able to figure out how to empower their Filipino employees without
having to become a stressed-out micromanager, an exhausted workaholic,
or a frustrated dictator.
9
What to Expect from This Book
This book is divided into seven chapters. At the start of each chapter, I will
share with you critical insights on Filipino culture that every Westerner
needs to know to get the best out of their Filipino employees. It makes
sense to read the intro first. But after this point, you have the option to
head straight to a particular chapter which best resonates with you.
The insights in these chapters were selected based on the most common
challenges that leaders face when working with Filipino teams, including
those employees who are working virtually.
This will give you a better understanding of the root causes of the most
critical mindset and behaviors of Filipino employees, which directly relate
to their performance in the workplace.
In fact, I would go as far as saying that failure to grasp all these seven
insights will guarantee the failure of your leadership with your Filipino team.
Real-Life Case Studies
At the end of each chapter, you will read a real-life case study from an
experienced leader of a Filipino team in their own words, which I believe,
will be the highlight of this book for most readers.
These are leaders in their fields from around the world who had to learn the
hard way and are generously passing on these learnings to you, so that you
don’t have to learn the hard way too.
Here, you will learn directly from the reflections of Western CEOs, business
owners, and managing directors about their experiences in leading
Filipino teams—including the mistakes they made, the challenges they
faced, and the things they would have done differently if they had the
chance to do it again.
10
These case studies provide proof that in spite of all the culture
challenges of leading Filipino teams, many business leaders have been
able to change the way their Filipino employees think and act and, thus,
significantly improve the performance of their business.
It is my belief that after reading these case studies, you will have at least
three to five golden ideas that you can start implementing immediately
in your business.
Since many of the stories in the case studies are sensitive and confidential,
for obvious reasons, I changed some details to protect the identities of
the companies and individuals involved.
Warning: Some Opinions Are Controversial
The goal of these case studies is not for you to agree with everything these
seven leaders say.
The solutions that worked for them are not a one-size-fits-all approach, nor
are the leaders claiming that they have created the perfect work culture.
Some of the leaders’ opinions are controversial. Indeed, even some of their
comments conflict with my own beliefs about the Filipino culture and how
to get the best out of Filipinos.
To make this book as neutral and unbiased as I can, I intentionally decided

not to censor their answers and instead let you make your own conclusions.
11
Bonus Content
Toward the end of the book, I have included appendices that were not in the
original version of this book:
Appendix A: Three Proven Best Practices for Creating More

Effective Filipino Teams
Appendix B: Sample Scripts for Handling the 13 Most Difficult

Work-Related Conversations in the Philippines
I added this content based on feedback from past readers who requested
that I include even more actional tips and tactics that they can immediately
apply to their situation. For some readers, I won’t be surprised if the sample
scripts alone are the most valuable takeaway they get from this book.
With that said, let’s start with the first chapter to learn how status is one of
the biggest factors which determine how Filipinos behave and perform in
the workplace.
12
Chapter 1: Status
“I may not have much, but I have more than you.”
The subject of the class system in the Philippines can be quite

a difficult one for most Westerners to comprehend, especially
those who have never been exposed to such social and economic
inequalities in their own countries.
For example, the typical Westerner is encouraged by their culture to

stand out, be innovative, and give equal respect to all. The typical
Filipino, on the other hand, is encouraged to blend in, not to go against
the status quo, and above all, to treat people differently based on their
position in the hierarchy.
The class system in the Philippines is something that was ingrained

in the culture long before the arrival of the Spaniards in 1521.
In those days, the Philippines was under a monarchical system with

several small kingdoms in place. Within these kingdoms, people
were divided into different social classes, which reflected their
status in the community.
When the Spaniards arrived, these kingdoms were slowly crushed

and replaced with the Spanish hierarchical system. During this era, the
Spanish authorities believed that they (the peninsulares) were racially,
intellectually, and physically superior compared to the locals (the indios).
When Filipinos tried to go up the ladder by becoming priests, business

leaders, writers, or artists, they were continuously discriminated against
by the Spanish authorities.
13
In due course, the Spanish intermarried with the native Filipinos, giving
rise to the Mestizo class. They (and later the Chinese Mestizos class) were
the only ones treated with some level of respect by the Spanish authorities.
Injustices still prevailed.
Even today, discrimination is prevalent.

It is common to see middle-class
Filipinos look down on poorer Filipinos
and the rich looking down on the
middle class. In most cases, primacy is
given to the class system—no matter
how democratic the political system
claims to be.
We Cannot Play with You
Mixing with people from other classes is rarely encouraged. At an early

age, Filipinos are exposed to the class system—children of the rich are not
generally allowed to mingle with the children of the poor.
In the workplace, unlike most Western countries, bosses in the

Philippines have a disproportionate amount of power versus those
under them. They are expected to have all the answers. They are
expected to act differently from the frontline staff. They are not
encouraged to cross the line dictated by the hierarchy.
As a result, it is very common to see autocratic styles of leadership

in many Filipino organizations, where leaders give the orders and others
are supposed to follow. Managers are not supposed to be vulnerable or
show any signs of weakness in front of their teams. In return, they expect
their staff to never contradict or interrupt them, especially in front of others.
Of course, the biggest downside to this style of leadership is that

suggestions on how to make things better are suppressed and, worst
of all, problems that need to be escalated remain hidden.
14
As a consequence, it is common for frontline employees to be very

reluctant to share ideas or even socialize with senior managers who, in
many cases, they perceive as being from a higher social class than them.
The simple act of eating at the same table as the boss can create massive
anxiety on the average Filipino employee.
This hesitance to mix is also rooted in not wanting to be perceived

negatively by members from your own social class. Especially in colonial
times, those who dined with the colonizers often provided intelligence to
the colonial government and were viewed as traitors by their fellow Filipinos.
Sucking Up to the Boss
In companies that try and promote an

open-door policy, many times, there
is an unspoken rule shared among
employees to not report or tell on
(sumbong) their coworkers.
Accordingly, those who become too friendly with the boss risk being
shunned by their teammates. In most cases, loyalty to the group is
valued more than loyalty to the company—regardless of who is right or
wrong.
Keeping Up with Appearances
Many Filipinos will go to great lengths to put on a show for the neighbors
to achieve or maintain a perceived level of status.
The most dramatic example of this is during fiestas (or festivals) where
many will stretch the family budget well past its limit just to keep up
with appearances. This becomes another reason why so many Filipinos
find themselves in financial trouble—requesting emergency loans and
becoming victims of high-interest loan sharks.
15
In the workplace, many traditional Filipino leaders love to display their

power and status. They tend to be smartly dressed, often with expensive
accessories signaling to others the position in society, and expect
others to acknowledge, compliment, and address them formally. To
do otherwise is considered disrespectful. They are rarely contradicted
or interrupted, especially by anyone below them in the hierarchy.
The House Help
Perhaps one of the most evident examples

of the conflict of the class systems is how
a rich or middle-class family treats their
domestic helpers (“kasambahay”) who
usually come from the lower class.
In most cases, the kasambahay is treated

significantly different from other family
members. Some of them are asked to
wear uniforms and sit on another table
when in public so others would see that
they are not part of the family unit.
Above the Law?
At the beginning of their assignment in the Philippines, many Western

leaders are easily deceived and label all Filipinos as kind and friendly.
But we usually see only one side of the picture. One can get an insight into
the true character of the person by how they interact with the people from
a social class lower than them.
Many Westerners have been shocked by how cruel some Filipinos can be
to their fellow countrymen. Some foreign observers have gone as far as
2
labeling the Philippines as one of the cruelest countries in the world.
16
This is the ugly side of the culture that most Filipinos don’t want to talk
about—but is one of the root causes of the social injustices that continue
to hold back the development of the country.
It is common to hear stories of people from a higher social class continually

getting away with unethical and immoral behavior. In many cases, the
offenders will remind others (especially those from the lower social class)
of their position in the social hierarchy to avoid being held accountable for
their actions.
This fear of holding people accountable—especially those from a higher

social class—is one of the underlying reasons why a blind eye is turned to
corruption in all levels of Philippine society.
The Importance of Titles
The importance of status to most Filipinos is one of the reasons why

addressing people with both formal and informal titles is so prevalent.
It’s no surprise that at public events, invited speakers are given very
long introductions that will list all their past achievements. Filipinos
are inclined to be very sensitive to every person’s need for self-esteem.
Thus, great care is exercised in language to preserve this self-esteem
in public.
Status is one reason why initial meetings between locally owned

companies in the Philippines have so many people attending. For
example, if two Filipino-owned companies are exploring a possible
business partnership, both sets of bosses want to show how important
they are, so they bring their subordinates with them to these meetings
to secretly emphasize their position in the hierarchy—even if their
subordinates have no role in the negotiations.
17
Fear of Being Perceived as Weak
One of the negative consequences of a class mentality in the

workplace is the effect it has on communication between direct
reports and their managers.
Many Filipinos have a great fear of being perceived as weak. An

example of this is when a Filipino supervisor intentionally prevents
their team members from asking help from outsiders, especially the
supervisor’s direct manager.
If the situation worsens, the supervisor would then try to cover up

the problem and blame someone else, rather than taking personal
responsibility for their failure to ask for help.
Fear of Being Perceived as Stupid
This leads to the second potential problem: the fear of being

perceived as stupid.
In the event that a boss delegates a task or a project and some

instructions are not clear, very seldom would there be someone asking
for clarification. Instead, employees will often respond with a “yes,
sir,” a “yes, ma’am,” or a silent nod without fully knowing the rationale
behind the task.
To combat this mindset, many Western leaders would ask their team
to repeat their instructions back to them and then ask them why they
think the task is important.
Although it may seem patronizing and time-consuming, this can save

a massive headache, until you start to discover the capabilities of
your team and they start to feel more comfortable opening up to you.
18
Changing Times
For some Filipino supervisors and managers who are more used to
the traditional Filipino business model where the general mindset
is that the boss gives the orders and the employees follow (no
questions asked, no objections, and no attempt in asking for any help),
transitioning into a more equality-oriented and collaborative culture
can translate into a very difficult change for them.
However, the situation is not as hopeless as others would suggest.

Although both local and international media tend to focus on the
negative side of Filipino culture, there are still far more inspiring stories
than negative ones.
As culture evolves, both by education and exposure to new ideas of

equality, more and more Filipinos are beginning to realize how self-
defeating the class system is.
The reality is that social divisions still exist. However, that does not mean
that everyone is following these social norms. Many Filipino managers
who have been exposed to more progressive leadership approaches
have proven to be greatly effective at building stronger teams and
driving better business results.
And in the efforts to eradicate poverty, there are many amazing Filipino
individuals and organizations from different social classes who, by their
own initiative, are doing extraordinary work to give the most vulnerable
and disadvantaged members of society a helping hand.
19
Guide Questions for Management Teams
1. What surprised you most about this chapter?
2. How do you get your team to share with you what they are
really thinking and feeling? What tips do you have for other
leaders who are struggling to get inside the mind of their people?
3. What do you think are the nonfinancial things we can do as a

leadership team to make our employees feel more appreciated
and valued?
20
CASE STUDY:
How a Small Change Had
a Radical Impact on His Team
Background
Frank has been working with Filipino teams for three years and
is currently the operations manager of an Australian company,
outsourcing work to a total of 350 Filipino employees.
1. What is a controversial belief that you have about the Filipino

workforce that others may strongly disagree with?
I noticed a big difference in mindset between Filipinos who have worked

overseas and those who have not left the Philippines.
For example, Filipino nurses are famous all around the world for their
outstanding care and empathy for their patients—except for the Philippines.
I wish this was not true, but the standard of healthcare in most hospitals
in the Philippines is shockingly low.
I am saying this not to criticize the nurses in the Philippines—but to

highlight the toxic work cultures that most of them work in. This is the real
reason why these nurses are demoralized and show a lack of empathy
for their patients. They are simply not valued and respected enough by
their employers. The excuses you will hear from the hospital owners and
government officials about not having enough funds and being victims of
the “brain drain” are all diversions from the reality of how they are actually
treating their staff. It’s yet another sad repercussion of the Philippine
class system, which continues to slow down the country’s progress.
21
So when you’re hiring new talent, especially for leadership positions,

prioritize those who have international experience. It’s a huge advantage
as it’s more likely that their exposure was able to help them break free
from the negative aspects of Filipino culture that get in the way of a high-
performing mindset.
2. When you first started managing Filipino teams, what was the
biggest cultural challenge you faced, and how did you solve it?
I admit that in the beginning, I didn’t have the nicest things to say about
the Filipino work culture.
When I first came here, I had a real problem with the motivation of
the team. Not to criticize my predecessor, but I inherited a really
disempowered culture. It seemed that the team really didn’t care about
their work. The attention to detail was not there, and there were very few
who were being proactive and taking initiative by preventing problems
from happening and improving the way we did the work.
But I got it wrong. When I dug deeper, I found out the root causes
of their demotivation.
I discovered that there was no appreciation of their work from the

head office in Australia. Many times, the employees had no idea why
they were doing certain tasks. There was so much misunderstanding
between the head office and the local operations. The Filipino
workforce felt intimidated by their foreign bosses, thus were afraid
that they would be punished if they openly admitted they did not
understand or that they made a mistake in their work. So instead of
asking questions or asking for clarification, the employees kept quiet
and just followed orders out of fear.
The biggest thing I did to change this was to intentionally introduce a

culture of appreciation into the team. We changed how we started all
our team meetings by dedicating the first few minutes just focusing on
22
something we could celebrate, or to simply appreciate employees for

something they did well.
We also introduced an “Employee of the Week” award, with three different

categories—best output, best quality, and best example of living our
company values. We have this little virtual ceremony on Mondays with the
entire team, dedicated to celebrating the winners, presenting their gifts
and photos on the Wall of Fame, and hearing their acceptance speech.
I know this may seem like a very small change, but I was completely
shocked by how big of a difference this particular initiative made. In the
space of just six months, our engagement score went from below 60% to
more than 95%.
I learned that mere acts of giving appreciation goes a lot further with
Filipinos and Asian cultures, in general, than it does in Western countries.
Because of their cultural norm of shaming, most Filipinos are not used
to being authentically appreciated—this is probably one of the reasons
why so many Filipinos have very low self-confidence, which is one of
the biggest obstacles in getting them to become high-performing
employees. Thus, giving appreciation became one of the biggest
discoveries I made on how to motivate my team to drive positive change.
3. What was your biggest professional mistake in working with

Filipinos, and what did you learn from it?
Not using a “go-between” sooner.
As a foreigner in the Philippines, you are always being watched—not in

a scary way, but more from a point of curiosity. So as much as you can
encourage your team to ask you questions and state that your door is
always open, most Filipinos will not tell you what they are really thinking
because (1) you are the boss, and (2) you are a foreigner. Rather than going
through the torture of the guessing game, my HR manager became my
trusted “go-between” for the rest of my team.
23
She is like the “mother figure” in the office. Oftentimes, I would

confidentially send her on mini-assignments to find out what people are
really thinking. Instead of spending too much time trying to decode the
body language of my team, she would tell me within minutes what was
really going on inside their heads. This approach guided me to make
many wise decisions and prevented me from making terrible mistakes.
One specific example was when I was considering offering a small

financial bonus for those who were able to hit their monthly targets. It’s
something that I have seen work in Australia before. But thanks to my
HR manager’s advice, I realized that it would have been a very bad
idea. What works in Australia doesn’t automatically work here in the
Philippines as well.
She told me that in the Philippines, you should never reward an employee
financially for meeting the “basic requirements.” Bonuses like that would
eventually lead to an entitlement culture where some employees will look
for more financial bonuses for meeting other basic requirements in the
workplace. When this is not given, they will start to sulk, complain, and
slow down in their output—an overall plummet in their productivity.
Thus, any financial bonuses to your team must be directly connected when
a team member has “exceeded” basic requirements, and you must make
this reason for the bonus clear to those involved. This was a big eye-opener
for me.
4. What is the smallest change you made to your personal

leadership style that had the biggest impact on your Filipino
team or your own peace of mind?
Many Westerners who live in the Philippines rant about the corruption,
the traffic, the laziness, and the lack of discipline of the people. They
like to compare the Philippines to their own countries and lament how
inferior the country is.
24
They say Filipinos are hopeless and claim that you are naive if you think
differently.
So having a daily gratitude practice helped me fight against the

pessimism that is so prevalent with expats who work here. For example,
every morning, I would spend five minutes writing down the things I
am grateful for. And then at the end of the day, I spend another five
minutes writing down all the things that went well today.
Sometimes I would share these positive things with my partner over

dinner. Having a daily gratitude practice is not about ignoring reality, but
about being open and willing to see things from a different perspective.
This daily practice has really helped me stay more optimistic about the
potential of the Philippines—seeing it as a young country with a unique
heritage, possessing a distinct culture, many times forced into a history
not of its choosing—yet still very early on its journey with so many exciting
possibilities ahead of it.
5. What is your #1 advice to a Westerner leading a Filipino team for

the first time?
Despite all the American and European influence you see in the streets,
the food, and the culture, Filipinos are not becoming Westernized!
You would be foolish to think so.
They speak English not because they want to emulate us, but because
they want to understand us. They are selecting successful ideas and
ways of thinking from the West and then integrating them into their
existing ways of working. But at the heart of it, they are an Asian
society where conforming to tradition, respect to hierarchy, and loyalty
to family are far more valued than any western concept of freedom,
equality, and liberty.
25
Yes, there are many Filipinos who admire and look up to Westerners—
those who believe that expats have the answers and want to be led
by them. However, on the other side of the spectrum, there are a lot
of educated Filipinos who secretly hold a deep mistrust of the real
intentions of their expat boss; they believe that many Westerners who
manage Asian teams are entitled, that foreigners get opportunities in
their country because of the color of their skin, and not because of
their talent or hard work.
My advice is, before you start telling people what you know and giving
them advice, share with them your own humanity first. Take time to show
them that you are not just another entitled, ungrateful white guy. Let them
see how you worked hard to get where you are. Be vulnerable—tell them
that you have made mistakes in the past, that you have fears, and that
you are a human just like them.
Humility in a Westerner is viewed as a kind of superpower. It’s

something that will really help you significantly increase your
influence with your team.
26
Chapter 2: Family
“We sacrificed for you,
and now it’s time for you to sacrifice for us.”
Unlike most Westerners’ definition of family, it is quite normal that a

Filipino’s definition of family can include anywhere between 150 to 250
members.
In the majority of cases, the extended family—grandparents, uncles,

aunties, cousins, in-laws—are considered as one family unit, and not
something external to the nuclear family (father, mother, and children).
It is quite common to see families living in “family compounds” where

multiple nuclear families of the same clan live together. This living
arrangement goes back to the communal nature of Philippine society,
when families stay close to each other primarily for protection from rival
groups.
In contemporary times, if you ask any working Filipino what their number
one motivation for going to work is, in most cases, their answer will be “to
provide for my family.”
While the trends are ever-changing and we are seeing more and more
Filipinos being independent of the financial needs of their families, the
majority of today’s workforce still considers providing for their family
as their primary motivation for working.
From childhood, it is impressed upon every Filipino that their elders

are owed a debt of gratitude for raising them. In the Filipino family unit,
children are expected to obey and follow the recommendations of their
parents, not just when they are young, but right into adulthood.
27
And even when these children become parents themselves, the

influence of the now grandparents plays a massive role in the upbringing
of the next generation.
This may seem strange to most Westerners, where typically the

influence of the parents diminishes once their children get into their
twenties.
In contrast, many Filipinos are shocked by how some adult Westerners

distance themselves from their elders later in life. That’s something that
they consider unthinkable.
The Breadwinner Employee
In poorer communities, where there has been little to no education or

access to family planning, having large families is the norm.
As a result, poor parents not only struggle to feed their large families
on a daily basis, they also have to make difficult decisions about who
gets educated.
For this reason, it’s quite common for one child to be favored over the
rest and given all the support by their parents and other relatives to get
educated—with the expectation that when they finish school, they will
play a big part in helping to bring their entire family out of poverty.
In many cases, the child becomes the first member of their family to
get a higher education by going to college. So when the time comes to
find a job, they are expected by the adults in their family to provide for
the financial needs and sometimes the nonessential lifestyle desires of
everyone else in the family. Hence the mindset: “We sacrificed for you,
and now it’s time for you to sacrifice for us.” What is considered best
for the family is considered far more important than what is considered
best for the individual.
28
Reproductive Health
The last few years have shown an

increased awareness on reproductive
health, but there is still a mindset of
financially poor parents—that having
more children is associated with
increasing their chances of getting
out of poverty and having someone
to take care of them in their old age.
This is further escalated in the

Philippines where the Catholic
Church continues to discourage
its members (around 86% of the
population) from non-natural methods of birth control. This is
one of the reasons for the exponential population growth in poor
communities and more people sinking deeper into poverty.
Many Filipinos feel they have no choice but to submit to the wishes
of their family, even if that decision is counterproductive to their own
career development. The downside, of course, is that this way of thinking
promotes a culture of mediocrity where corruption is tolerated and is one
of the reasons for the deep resentment that exists between rival political
groups.
Family Emergencies
When crisis strikes, members of the clan are expected to help each other out.
For example, when someone gets acutely ill and is confined to a hospital,
the family members take shifts in going to the hospital and attending to the
needs of the sick. As there is, in almost all cases, no insurance coverage
29
or savings to cover 100% of the expenses, breadwinners will be expected

to send financial assistance to their relatives in need. This is why a family
emergency is the most common reason Filipinos employees give when
seeking emergency loans from their employer.
A predominant mindset in the Philippines is to focus on the “here and

now” rather than think about the future. This is one of the reasons why
it is estimated that only 2% of Filipinos have comprehensive private
4 And with public health coverage insufficient to
health insurance.
meet all medical bills, it is a sad but a very common scenario for many
Filipino families to be driven into crushing debt to pay for the healthcare
expenses of sick family members.
Alternative Ways to Reward
It is critical for every Western leader to know how much pressure and
expectation lie on the shoulders of their breadwinner employees.
Many times, a huge percentage of their salary—or in some cases, all of it—
goes directly to their family, especially when they receive a salary increase
or bonus, as they are expected to share their fortunes and blessings with
their family. To not do so would risk them being considered extremely
stingy or, worse, labeled as an ungrateful son or daughter—perhaps the
greatest sin in the eyes of Philippine society.
Many Western leaders have had to be creative and look for additional ways
to reward their employees (new job title, increased flexibility, free food, extra
vacation time, team outings) so that the employees themselves feel the
benefits of their hard work and not just give everything away to their family.
Exploitation from Within
The dark side of family loyalty is that this system is prone to abuse—any
family member who wishes to take advantage can easily do so by hiding
behind the image of “family first.”
30
The exploiter can just approach the breadwinner for an emergency loan
and never pay it back.
Many times, this money is instead used on vices like alcohol, drugs, or
gambling. As there is a cultural norm to avoid conflicts (to be discussed in
detail later), many breadwinners opt to keep silent and not speak up against
abusive family members, as the perception of harmony is valued more than
“rocking the boat.”
Many Filipinos working overseas or in the big cities of the Philippines will
privately share that one of the things that they are not looking forward to
when they return to visit their families in the province (the countryside)
is the sense of entitlement of some of their family members. These are
the toxic-minded family members who expect to be showered with gifts
(pasalubong), yet at the same time show very little interest in the welfare
of the person who is making all the sacrifices.
Never Wanting to Be Alone
Most Filipino employees take this “tribe mentality” with them into the
workplace.
One obvious observation is that most employees will prefer to do things

in groups versus on their own, even if this means an unproductive use of
members in the group. This is partly because of the population density,
but also because having always been surrounded by people growing
up, there is a great fear of breaking away from the comfort zone of
group-thinking and the need for validation of each other’s ideas.
The typical Filipino will never try anything new or different alone, without
his barkada (peer group) to back him up. The majority of Filipinos
consider loners and those seeking alone time as weird, and consequently,
society exerts massive pressure on them to conform.
31
The Padrino System
The Padrino system is an open

secret in Filipino politics and
traditional Filipino businesses,
where one gains favor or
promotion not because of one’s
ability or merit but because
of family ties (nepotism) or
friendship (cronyism).
This practice may be frowned upon by most Westerners. However, it is

important to understand why it is actively encouraged in Filipino society.
In the highly chaotic and unpredictable day-to-day life in the Philippines,

it is more favored to stick to the devil you know rather than take a risk
with someone you don’t know—even if the person you don’t know,
both on paper and during interviews, is a lot more capable and qualified.
The fear of the unknown is enough to make most Filipinos look

within their inner circle rather than take a risk with an outsider.
With someone you know, there will be fewer surprises, you will have
more stability, and they are less likely to betray you. In these cases,
loyalty and predictability are valued more than talent and fairness.
The downside, of course, is that this way of thinking promotes a culture

of mediocrity where corruption is tolerated and is one of the reasons
for the deep resentment that exists between rival political groups.
32
This is one of the reasons why so many Filipino employees have

struggled emotionally while working from home. Westerners easily
forget that, especially for Filipinos from lower socio-economic situations,
working from home results in very little privacy from the prying eyes of
their family. Many are eager to escape to the office where they can mix
with people their own age and be in a conducive working space.
Choosing a Different Path
Modern times have seen more and more enlightened Filipinos no longer
tolerating the negative elements of family life and tribalism that for so many
years have kept Filipinos back from their potential.
There are a growing number of stories where Filipino breadwinners

have made some extremely courageous decisions—in spite of cultural
pressures to conform—to no longer allow exploitative family members to
take advantage of them. Their example continues to be a role model for
others to follow.
The Greatest Strength of the Filipino
For a lot of Filipino families, the memory of poverty is very real and alive.
Even families that are considered very successful or economically stable
are most likely still just one generation from poverty.
These elders remember the pain and suffering caused by not having
enough to eat or not having enough money to pay for medical treatment.
Therefore, they are extremely motivated to protect their children and
grandchildren from what they have had to endure. They realize the
importance of the family’s role as a safety net, especially in times of
trouble, so they make sure they keep it strong.
This is compounded by the fact that the average Filipino has very little
trust for their own institutions or government. Family becomes the only
support network that they can truly rely on.
33
It is more important than the individual. It is an institution to be

cherished and respected.
This is in direct comparison to most families in the West who are

usually multiple generations away from real poverty. Most have no
real memory of suffering or hardship on the level that is commonly
experienced in developing countries today.
Also, in most Western countries, there is considerably more trust in

local institutions and governments to effectively do their job. That’s
why most Westerners, in comparison to most Filipinos, typically don’t
feel as vulnerable or exposed to future uncertainties. Therefore, they
don’t see the need of having their extended family around them. Family
relationships beyond immediate family members, for most, are merely
transactional.
So while many foreign observers have identified some of the norms of

the Filipino family as the greatest weakness of the culture, there is also a
strong argument to say that family values in the Philippines are also the
greatest strength of the culture.
It is humbling for Westerners to see how much love, sacrifice, and loyalty
Filipinos express to their families, especially when compared to the slow
disintegration of family values in most Western countries.
In spite of more economic opportunities and continuous exposure to

both the positive and negative sides of globalization, the majority of
Filipinos still consider it their duty to ease the suffering of their elders
and give their own children a better life than the one they had.
This powerful motivation to provide for their family is something that

can be used to build stronger teams in the workplace and create levels
of cooperation, unity, and loyalty (what Filipinos call bayanihan), which
would be the envy of most businesses in Western countries.
34
1. As you read this chapter, what insight shocked you the most?
2. Can you relate to the struggles of the breadwinner employee?

If yes, can you share your personal story with the team?
3. What sacrifices do the Filipino employees in your company

make every day in the name of their family that would shock
most foreigners?
35
CASE STUDY:
Why He Had to Stop Giving
Negative Feedback to His Team
Background
Ian is an American serial entrepreneur, living in the Philippines for

eight years, and is currently the co-owner of an online business with
a total of 80 Filipino employees.

Every time I hear a leader describing their Filipino team as a second

family, a part of me wants to throw up.
You don’t want your employees treating each other like family
members. Especially in the Philippines where, just like most developing
countries, people like to publicly claim that family is important, but
very few people want to talk about how toxic and corrupt some of
their own family members are.
Domestic violence and child abuse are prevalent in Filipino culture.

Stories of fathers treating their drinking buddies with far more decency
and respect than their own family members are all too common. But due
to the shame associated with these experiences, very few Filipinos feel
comfortable opening up about what their family is really like, thus the
spiral of silence and culture of pretending become the norm.
For a business to be effective, your leaders need to have difficult

conversations with their team. There needs to be accountability.
36
You can’t have people walking around being afraid to hurt people’s
feelings, tolerating mediocrity, corruption, and excuses, and that’s exactly
what happens when workmates are told to treat each other as family
members. For me, it’s a big red flag.
I think the biggest challenge I faced at the beginning was how to give
feedback to my team.
The direct way of giving feedback that I was used to did not go well with
Filipino teams. I even had people who never showed up for work again after
I gave them my honest feedback on their work performance. Those who did
not quit would sulk for days. It really frustrated me as I could not understand
how emotional some Filipinos could be. I considered it childish behavior.
Learning how to deal with this was a big revelation for me. Today, I rarely
give my frontline employees negative feedback. All my critical feedback
is now directed to my two Filipino managers who run the entire business
operations for me.
Investing in the right Filipino managers to run my business has been the
best management decision of my career. They are the ones who handle
the day-to-day performance of their teams, without me having to constantly
follow up.
To be honest, I don’t think I would have been able to grow my business if

I didn’t take the back seat and started delegating. The inability to find the
right person to delegate to has to be a significant failure point of Western
bosses managing Filipino teams.
Many times, I would let my Filipino managers use me as the “fall guy” for some
of the more unpopular changes that we needed to make. They would tell the
team, “Guys, we have no choice. This is what Ian wants.” And it actually works!
37
The employees comply a lot faster with the changes when my

managers used me as the “bad guy” behind the change. Now, this may
seem manipulative, but you must not forget that a Filipino employee’s
expectations of a Filipino manager are generally very different from that
of an expat manager.
It’s a lot more difficult for my Filipino managers to drive change on their own
without my support. So I would happily volunteer to be the “bad guy” if that
made things easier for them.
For some, it may seem like I am avoiding my responsibilities by delegating

too much, but all my past experiences taught me that this is the best long-
term strategy for growing your business here in the Philippines.

This one is easy for me to answer—it’s trusting the wrong people.
I had a business failure, where I lost all my savings. I partnered with

the wrong people and got cheated on. It was the lowest moment of my
career. I have only myself to blame, since I rushed in to a partnership
without getting to know the people first and truly understanding their
motives and values. Never assume that you share the same values and
motives with someone else just because you enjoy their friendship or
share the same interests and hobbies.
In the Philippines, foreigners must be aware of the influence of the social

class system on how people think. Being nice to people from a social
class that is lower than you can be a big risk if you are not “switched on.”
What I mean by this is that some undereducated employees have no

terms of reference when someone like an expat, whom they perceive
as being from a higher social class than them, is being nice to them.
This is mainly because, in their own country, they are used to being
38
treated disrespectfully by fellow Filipinos from the higher social classes.

Sadly, like in every country, some bad apples interpret your kindness as
a weakness and use it as an opportunity to exploit you.
Thus, learning to read people and being able to select who to trust
are perhaps the most valuable skills you can have in a country like the
Philippines. It became a massive learning for me to get better at this.
Today, I use many psychological assessment tools on my own

employees to make sure we are hiring the right people and growing
them to their potential, as well as staying away from the ones we know
will not be a right fit for our culture.
In the Philippines, one’s educational background is a big factor when it

comes to job applications and internal promotions. So you may have to
be very direct to your staff who are involved in the recruitment process,
to challenge their normal recruitment practices, which most Westerners
would consider as blatant acts of discrimination, so that everyone is given
a fair chance.
If you don’t have a proper hiring system in place, your HR team usually
prioritizes applicants from top universities, not because they think only
the best talent can be found here, but primarily to save themselves time—
as they receive so many applications and don’t have time to evaluate and
read everything.

Not being the “smelly foreigner” in the room. Kidding aside, there is some
wisdom here.
39
A few years ago, after almost a year of working in the same office
together, my EA nervously came to me and “gifted” me a can of deodorant
spray that she thought would help me improve my relationship with the
rest of the team.
After some confusion on my side, I slowly realized that in the kindest

way possible, she was telling me that I have a distinct body odor and
that everyone in the office noticed it. It was embarrassing to admit, but I
guess many Westerners make the same mistake in underestimating how
much we sweat in a tropical country.
For Filipinos, personal hygiene is extremely important. No matter how

bad their living conditions are, children as young as three are taught
the value of cleanliness and looking respectful in front of their elders.
So when foreigners come into their country with terrible body odor,
everyone notices it—it’s one of their biggest pet peeves. But 9 times
out of 10, they will never say it to your face. This advice may not be as
applicable now that most of us are working from home, but it’s still an
extremely important point to consider next time you interact face-to-
face with your Filipino friends and colleagues. Smell yourself often or
even get someone you trust to do a smell check for you—it will save
you a lot of grief.

the first time?
When it comes to creating change and breaking free from the status quo,
Filipinos have a lot more to lose than you.
Most Westerners really don’t know what it is like to grow up in a culture

influenced by shame and hierarchy. We see the smiles and assume that
all Filipinos are happy. But I have learned that this is not always the case.
It takes time—a lot of time and effort—to get out of that mentality. For
example, many managers and supervisors in the Philippines are pushed
40
into achieving leadership roles, not because they are passionate about
the work, but because their families pressure them to look for ways to
increase their salary. They are the breadwinners and have the massive
burden of providing, not just for their immediate family, but even to their
extended family as well.
I also discovered that it is quite common for one of their family members
to take advantage of this situation. It is an emotional burden that is
directly impacting their performance at work.
What worked for us was setting up a customized leadership development

program that focuses on creating a safe space for my leaders to open up
about their private struggles and learn from each other’s best practices on
how to become more effective both in their work and their personal lives.
This program really pushed my team out of their comfort zones—to get
them to challenge their false beliefs and fears that have been holding
them back for years. It was only when I compared the results before and
after did I realize how much our team desperately needed this type of
support. It was like a massive weight was taken off their shoulders and it
had a big positive impact on how they performed at work.
So my advice to Westerners is to never assume that your Filipino leaders,

especially your frontline and mid-level leaders, know what effective
leadership is about. Don’t just send them off to attend some generic
management seminar where their primary motivation is to get a certificate
that they can add to their CV. Instead, be really intentional and hands-on
with their development to ensure that real learning and real change is
happening in your organization.
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Chapter 3: Shame
“Ano na lang ang sasabihin ng mga kapitbahay?”
(What would the neighbors say?)
In a class-based society like the Philippines, shame is used as a weapon

to control unpopular behavior and also to keep people from breaking
away from their status level.
The expression “Walang hiya ka!” (“You are shameless!”) is considered

one of the ultimate insults you can give to a Filipino. To be shamed, to not
be able to “show your face” is unbearable.
Westerners may think that any loss of face, such as damage to reputation
or the loss of credibility, is only temporary. Yes, it can be painful in the
short term for them, but after a few hours (or days), they will most likely
pick themselves up, wipe the dust off their feet, and just move on to the
next challenge.
On the other hand, for the average Filipino, face is everything. The loss
of face can be so damaging. It may take some of them years to recover.
For some, it could spiral them into weeks and months of depression
and self-pity, making them even more reluctant in the future to take
a risk to break free from the status quo. It is no exaggeration to say
that some Filipinos never fully recover because the story they tell
themselves is that they are unworthy and powerless to create positive
changes in their lives.
In situations when someone is trying to do something that is not

perceived to be appropriate for their class, that person can be shamed
by those from higher classes and even from those within the same class.
42
Phrases such as “Wala akong mukhang maihaharap”

(“I have no face to show”) reveal that most Filipinos
put great weight on what others will say behind their
backs. Not bringing shame to your family, friends, or
clan generally takes precedence over doing anything
else. This includes potentially highlighting unethical
and immoral behavior.
Innovation Barriers
Regardless of market pressures or the uncertainty and risk associated

with not continuously improving, most organizations in the Philippines
are not able to habitualize the behaviors required to make innovation the
norm within their team.
There are many reasons why this is the case. But there’s no doubt one of
the biggest factors holding teams back is cultural.
In Asia, there is generally less appetite for risk and uncertainty. When
facing the same choice as a Westerner, Filipinos are more likely to decline
the opportunity. Rather than seeing the chance for personal glory and
success, they see the potential for embarrassment and humiliation.
There is an embedded reluctance to take a chance, even when the

opportunity for a positive outcome far outweighs the possible
downsides. Many times, resistance to change and lack of initiative
are really a deep-seated fear of potentially losing face.
In most schools in the Philippines, students are expected to memorize

content without asking questions to their teachers. When they enter
the workforce, they are encouraged to defer to their boss. One is told to
never question authority or be too assertive for fear of being seen as
disrespectful or arrogant. If someone asks them a question about their
opinion, they fear that they would not be able to answer it correctly and
thus, lose face in front of others.
43
That is why most Filipinos are very cautious about giving

recommendations or ideas, especially those that challenge the status
quo or contradict their boss, in the fear that if someone higher up is
dissatisfied in the future, they somehow will be the one to blame.
For many, especially the traditional leaders, admitting that they need
to change will also mean that they will somehow need to admit that
they were wrong in the first place.
That is why they will often see change as a threat to their own identity and
prefer to be risk-averse and stick to established ways of working, even if
these ways are unproductive and inefficient. If changes have to be made,
rather than studying the real root causes, these leaders would prefer to
add more bureaucracy—for example, sign-offs and verification checks—
to the existing process, in the hope that it would reduce the likelihood of
the mistakes reoccurring, often at the cost of reducing your team’s speed
and flexibility.
One of the Worst Things You Can Do to a Filipino
Reprimanding someone in public is deemed as one of the worst things

you can do to a Filipino (even if that person is 100% in the wrong), as they
interpret this as public shaming and a direct attack against their identity
and the honor of their family.
This is the reason why most Filipinos rarely complain openly in public
to situations that visiting Westerners would often find completely
unacceptable. They don’t want to risk publicly shaming the offending
person, especially when that person is perceived to be of a higher status
than them.
The shame culture can also kill the spirit of volunteerism in your
company. For example, a team member may want to help out a
struggling member of the team but is hesitant to offer help because
they don’t want to risk offending that person.
44
Receiving help from others can be perceived as an admission of

weakness, thus unintentionally shaming that person in front of the
group.
Smart Shaming
One big disadvantage of a Filipino group that controls unpopular

behavior by shame is that it tends to create a crab mentality within its
members, where people become jealous of the success of others. So
instead of being inspired by their success, they try to tear them down.
This shows up in many ways, and one example is smart shaming.
This occurs when a person expresses an idea or an opinion that is

considered “too intelligent” or maybe riddled with jargon that others
in the group could not comprehend. The group would then respond
sarcastically with phrases like:
• “Sige na, matalino ka na!” (Fine, you’re the smart one!)

• “Oo na, edukada ka na!” (Yeah, you’re the educated one!)
• “Heto na ang korona!” (Here is your crown!)
The purpose of these remarks is to embarrass that person in front

of the group and discourage them from speaking up in the future.
Standing out from the group (which some members of the group
interpret as a direct reflection of their own ignorance) is considered
as being mayabang (arrogant); thus, shaming is a way to keep people
on the same level as everyone else in the group.
Thinking for Yourself Is Considered Too Dangerous
It is safer to try and blend in, to follow expected norms as advised and
approved by your elders, rather than risk standing out as an individual.
The primary motivation is not to fail, to not fall behind, to not disappoint
your family.
45
Even in scenarios where it is very clear to you that the positive

opportunities and potential glory far outweigh the risks, the average
Filipino employee may still show signs that they are reluctant to take a
chance. Instead, they become frozen by the fear of uncertainty. A story
they tell themselves is that if they step out of their comfort zone, they will
end up being exposed as not good enough and they will be rejected by
the group—that they will be humiliated and punished for failing.
Thus, the fear of failure paralyzes them to take positive action. They
only change when they see others in their group changing first.
The Suppression of Individual Thinking
Most Filipinos are trained from an early age that to be happy, successful,
and popular, you must be able to instantly feel the emotional pulse of the
group and take responsibility if your actions or inactions (regardless of
how insignificant they may be) hurt anyone’s feelings in the group.
Perception becomes reality.
This expectation creates the massive burden of being constantly worried

about what others are thinking and feeling—to the point that you would
rather not do anything that could potentially rock the boat in order to not
risk offending anyone.
So as the feelings and wants of the group are valued more than that of the
individual, this has indirectly resulted in the suppression of those who
try to think for themselves. In this aspect, more vocal members of the
group sometimes suppress the creativity and opinions of individuals,
especially if it directly conflicts with the thinking of the group.
For these reasons, a worker might purposely withhold sharing a

brilliant idea in front of the group for fear that colleagues might take
it the wrong way.
46
At best, if this worker is really determined for change, he or she may

approach the boss in private with their ideas, rather than risk being
shamed by their colleagues.
The other side of this is the fear of being perceived as dumb.
So in a meeting, when someone asks if there are questions, on one side of

the table, you have a group of people with brilliant ideas not speaking up
because they are afraid to be smart-shamed; on the other side, you have
employees who may hold back their questions and clarification because
they are afraid their colleagues will think they are slow to understand.
For many Western leaders, this has been a source of great frustration and
the root cause for the lack of innovation within their teams, as their Filipino
employees will not share their honest opinion of what they are thinking
and feeling.
Instead, the average Filipino employee will first look to their group,
hear what the majority has to say, and then adjust their answers to
match the group’s answer—even if the group’s thinking is completely
in disagreement with the individual’s inner thoughts about how
things can be made better.
English Language Shaming
In a country where most people think that

speaking good English with an American
accent is a direct measure of intelligence,
it is typical for a Filipino to be teased by
their fellow Filipinos if their English is poor.
So if someone speaks bad or broken

English, some people would perceive him or her as dumb and
uneducated and therefore not accorded the same level of
respect as those who can fluently express themselves in English.
47
Skin Shaming
The Philippines is the number one consumer of whitening products in

the world, with around 50% of the population using whitening products
3
on a daily basis.
During the Spanish occupation, Filipinos were told that their brown
skin means they are second-class citizens compared to the white
skin of their colonial masters. European missionaries then presented
Jesus as a white man, even though overwhelming historical evidence
indicates that first-century Jews living in Palestine would have looked
more like brown Filipinos than white Europeans.
When the Americans came in, as part of selling the American way,
a massive influx of American products, fashion, and entertainment
flooded the marketplace where the endorsers, models, and actors
were almost always white. So for almost 500 years, Filipinos have
been conditioned to think that being white means that you are more
beautiful, more powerful, and more superior to those of darker skin.
Exploitation of Colonial Mentality
The promotion of whitening products is

one of the biggest advertising spends
in the Philippines. On social media,
billboards, radio, and TV, you will see
countless advertisements for whitening
products that primarily target Filipinos
from lower socioeconomic status.
Ironically, the models used in the

advertisements are almost always mixed-
race Filipinos (who don’t even use the
products themselves).
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On the extreme side, some Filipinos consider brown skin as a sign of

poverty, ugliness, and inferiority.
This runs so deep in the Filipino psyche that even if someone is of a

perceived higher class than them but is not light-skinned, that person
will still be indirectly ridiculed for their dark complexion.
In many cases, regardless of how successful a person will become,

some Filipinos will still choose to focus on skin color as the reason why
someone should not be trusted or respected. This unspoken secret is
one of the common causes of dysfunction within many Filipino teams.
One highly educated call center agent once shared with me, “I want to
be whiter because that’s what employers are looking for. My Filipino
bosses will overlook me for a promotion because I am too dark and look
like I belong to the lower classes.” She sincerely believed that consuming
whitening products was an investment in her career growth and would
help her standout despite the invisible nature of her work.
Victim Shaming
One of the most dangerous consequences of the culture of shaming is the

effect it has on those who are victims of mental, physical, and emotional
abuse.
In extreme cases, victims of sexual abuse and those suffering from

depression stop themselves from speaking out and seeking help. Instead,
they are somehow told by certain voices in society to blame themselves for
their troubles.
In the workplace, this can mean that when an employee is being bullied, the
victim will choose to stay quiet rather than report the issue to management
to preserve the perceived harmony among colleagues and not bring shame
upon themselves or their abusers.
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This is a scary thought because it promotes the shift of blame to the victim.
It makes them silent on things that should be spoken out loud, and worse,
the perpetrators of the inappropriate behaviors are able to get away with it
when they should be held accountable.
Changing Trends
To end on a positive note, the culture of shame in the Philippines can actually
yield positive results as well.
People are afraid to do unethical things that could result in bringing harm
to their family’s honor and reputation. So in a culture where harmony is
favored, shame can be an element of maintaining peace in the community
and workplace.
In some cases, public shaming is considered the best way to hold people
accountable for inappropriate and unethical actions, especially those in
public office who are abusing their position. With the advent of social
media, it has been easier for Filipinos to call out these corrupt practices
resulting in some (albeit slow) changes in governance and society.
1. What shocked you the most about this chapter?
2. Do you think we have elements of blaming and shaming

culture in our company? If yes, how is it negatively affecting
our people?
3. As a management team, what are the steps we can take to

put an end to (or at least significantly reduce) the blaming and
shaming culture in our company?
50
CASE STUDY:
How He Stopped the Blame Game
Background
Kevin has been in the Philippines for 16 years and is currently the
general manager of a European multinational company with around
850 Filipino employees.

Eighty percent of the time when I hear an employee complaining that

their work is causing them to burn out, I think, is bullshit.
Now to be clear, I am not saying that employers should be cruel or

unsympathetic toward their staff’s concerns. I am all in favor of looking
for ways to make things better for them, especially while working
from home. However, the most common reason for employees feeling
stressed or burned out usually has very little to do with their employer—
and everything to do with the employees not looking after themselves
properly. Very few people will admit this because the easiest excuse in
the world for not meeting expectations is to blame someone else.
As an employer, if you tolerate this mindset, you are going to let mediocrity
creep into your team, which is something that is very hard to shake off.
Excuses can become contagious. Just like how they use “traffic” as the
usual excuse for being late, they can also use “stress” and “burnout”
while working from home as an excuse for underperformance. It is
my opinion that it all boils down to lack of personal accountability,
something that is so prevalent in the Philippines.
51
What has worked for us at our company is doubling down in our training
on stress management but more importantly self-management—not by
bringing in a motivational speaker or hitting them with 100 PowerPoint
slides, but by getting them to switch their cameras on and by using the
breakout room feature in Zoom (or Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, etc.)
so they can share with each other best practices on how they are coping
with challenges and be reminded that they are far much more in control
than they think.
More knowledge is not always the answer. There are really brilliant and
highly-productive Filipino workers who have already mastered their
personal habits to make working remotely effective for them. These are
the guys you should showcase to influence the rest of the organization
to follow their example. Leveraging them in the right way is the key to
ensuring you fight off mediocrity and continue to grow the professional
maturity of your team.
It amazes me that so many problems that Filipino employees complain

about can be solved by providing them with a safe place to open up and
learn from each other.
Definitely the blaming culture!
When I first arrived in the Philippines, every manager easily resorted to

finger-pointing, blaming someone else for being responsible for their
department’s poor performance. There was so much infighting between
my managers, and there was no personal accountability.
The culture of blaming was like cancer, slowly killing our vision of having
a high-performance culture. It was all very unprofessional, and I really
hated it.
52
The best thing we did to change the culture was running a series of
rapid improvement workshops attended by multiple departments, which
exposed the team for the first time to the scientific problem-solving
method.
Most of the training they did in the past was theoretical and classroom
based—just overloading people with information, or what we call “death
by PowerPoint.” In stark contrast, the training we did in these workshops
was hands-on and “learning by doing,” addressing some of the most
urgent problems that we faced in our business.
I think the light-bulb moment for them was when they realized how their
own behaviors were the very ones contributing to the problems they
were trying to solve. It was great to see them make such a significant
mindset shift during these sessions.

Sharing my opinion on Philippine politics.
There are a lot of things that we, Westerners, do not understand about the
Philippines. At the top of that list is the politics of the country.
It is so sad to see how these corrupt politicians are exploiting people. It

is something that makes me very angry! However, sharing these opinions
with Filipinos is something that is very risky for a foreigner to do. What
you say can be taken out of context, which leads to emotions taking over.
Some of your Filipino team members will start seeing you as the enemy,
not someone who is actually trying to help the country improve.
I have learned that it’s best for everyone if I stay apolitical and be neutral
on topics of politics, religion, and even local superstitions.
53
There are quite a large number of Filipinos who believe in spirits, or ghosts
of some sort, so you need to take care not to offend them, regardless how
ridiculous you may think it is.

I think allowing myself to be more comfortable with my team expressing

their emotions to me—especially when their tears start flowing.
In my first three months in the Philippines, I have had more people cry
in my office than the 20 years I worked in Europe and America.
It really shocked me in the beginning—something that really made me

uncomfortable—but it was part of my learning curve of working in a
different culture.
So when my team is getting emotional, I don’t try to suppress it like I

did in the past. I am the first one to tell them it’s okay not to be okay.
5. What is your #1 advice to a Westerner leading a Filipino team for the

first time?
Many business leaders spend a lot of time and effort unsuccessfully

trying to overcome problems in their Filipino team with band-aid
solutions, which do not address the real causes.
In most cases, the real problems are invisible and almost always
psychological—deeply-rooted fears and beliefs your staff got from their
society that keep them locked in mediocre and unproductive ways of
thinking.
54
For example, most Filipinos are encouraged from their childhood to have
a low opinion of themselves—the lower your expectations of what you
can achieve, the more satisfied you get with how your life turns out. In
comparison, most Westerners grow up with the mentality that you should
always seize the opportunity to take the spotlight as this is your chance to
stand out from the crowd and show others what you are made of.
Just like in most Asian countries, fear is a stronger motivator than

reward. Many students are motivated to succeed in class not out of
their desire to top the class but out of their fear of failure and not
being able to meet the expectations of their parents. This is why many
Filipinos will shun the spotlight or opportunities to speak their mind in
front of others, as they see it more of an unnecessary risk of exposing
their weaknesses that may bring shame on their family rather than an
opportunity to grow and contribute.
So my advice is to take time to read about Filipino culture. Watch

movies and documentaries that will help you better understand how
your team thinks.
This Eastern-Western relationship is a two-way street. The better

we understand and appreciate each other’s deepest motivations
and perceptions, the more likely we are to find effective solutions
together to the pressing problems we face, both in business and in
society as a whole.
55
Chapter 4: Punctuality
“We are only 30 minutes late…still early.”
Most Westerners think that deadlines exist to be hit and rules exist to
be followed, unless there is a very good reason not to.
In the Philippines, just like most other countries in Asia (with the notable
exceptions of countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea,
and Japan), deadlines and rules are more often seen as a target or a
suggestion, something to aspire to, but not necessarily set in stone.
To put it another way, if you fail to hit a deadline or follow the rules to the
letter, don’t worry, it is not something worth getting emotional over. The
mindset of many Filipions is that if circumstances and context change,
then the timelines and the rules of course must change accordingly.
However, for most Filipinos, being late is not considered rude or bad
mannered at all. They do not see it from the perspective of Western
business practices that a lack of punctuality is a direct disrespect to
other people’s time and effort. It has become so ingrained into Filipino
culture that it’s just accepted as the way things are done here, to the
absolute frustration of most Westerners.
Filipino Time
The term “Filipino time” was coined by the Americans in the early 20th
century upon noticing the Filipinos’ compulsive lack of punctuality.
Existing before the term though, was a habit of a relaxed attitude toward
time that was reinforced by 333 years of Spanish colonization.
56
During the Spanish occupation, Filipinos were accustomed to the

Spaniard dignitaries arriving at meetings and gatherings fashionably
late. In fact, the last person to arrive is assumed to be the most important
person in the room.
Jose Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines, satirized this in one of
his novels, Noli Me Tangere. In one passage, a Spanish official named
Linares deliberately arrives last to seem the most important person in
a gathering:
“Linares had not yet arrived, for being an important person, he must
come much later than the others. There are people who are flattered
that for each hour of delay because they have not yet arrived, they
become more significant.”
Events typically do not start until the guest of honor has arrived, and
Filipinos have to bear with this on almost every occasion.
Being on time for a social event is considered as giving the impression

that one is too eager for social acceptance or too eager to feast (i.e. that
they don’t have enough food in their own home). Later on, the upper-
class Filipinos, the Mestizos, adopted this habit as a way of showing
they were at the same level as the Spaniards and, consequently, better
than everyone else.
The Measure of Time
Pre-colonial Filipinos had no definite measure

of hours and minutes. This was only adopted
during the Spanish occupation. To this day,
most Filipinos prefer to tell time in Spanish,
not its Filipino translation. For example: one
o’clock is “ala una,” half past six is “alas sais y
media,” and so on.
57
The Loss of Productivity
The existence of “Filipino time” has made some progressive Filipinos

more creative and proactive in terms of ensuring that everyone gets to the
meeting on time.
For example, if a meeting were planned to start at 9:00 a.m., one would
tell the participants that it starts at 8:00 a.m.
In addition to this, they would send text messages to each participant the
night before and the morning of the meeting to remind them to be on time.
While those steps may appear creative, they are just workarounds
of a negative cultural trait that is a real cause of inefficiency and
ineffectiveness in the workplace.
Filipino Farmers
One reason given for the casual

attitude toward time in tropical
countries like the Philippines is
that farmers in these regions only
have two seasons —wet and dry.
This means that Filipino farmers

are less sensitive to the pressures
of time changes compared to their
European, Japanese, or North
American counterparts who have to battle four season changes every
year, thus having more practice in organizing people for short periods
of time.
58
Infrastructure Doesn’t Help
Looking at the local infrastructure, it is easy to understand that the over-

congested roads and uncompleted transportation network doesn’t help
Filipinos break their habit of tardiness.
Metro Manila and Metro Cebu, in particular, have been consistently ranked
as two of the worst cities in the world for commuters. And it is for that
reason that “traffic” is the most common excuse you will hear employees
giving for being late.
In addition to the traffic delay, in many cases, drivers of buses and jeepneys
are not incentivized or encouraged to even depart at the scheduled time.
The driver’s salaries are not fixed, as they are dependent on the number of
passengers they carry. So it is quite common for a driver to wait for thirty to
forty-five minutes for his bus to fill up before taking off.
This is a system that drives Westerners crazy, and it is one of the most
common complaints expats have about using public transport in the
Philippines. As a result of this variation, many Filipinos who use public
transport are compelled to leave home two to three hours earlier just
to get to work on time.
Pagtitiis para sa Pamilya (Suffering for the Sake of Family)
Aside from traffic as a factor to coming in on time, many Filipinos working

within the business districts or industrial zones choose to remain living in
their family home rather than living closer to their work.
This is usually for practical reasons as rent can be more expensive closer
to their workplace. However, Filipinos who can afford to move still choose
to live in the family residence, preferring to bear the stressful commute
(which can be up to five or six hours every day) rather than live away from
their families.
59
Underneath this preference is solidarity in the family, but this affects many
in terms of punctuality, considering the commute and the heavy rush-hour
traffic.
Accept Mediocrity or Become a Dictator?
Many times, progressive Filipino managers’ attempts to change this

crippling culture are met with resistance from negative elements within
their team.
For example, when trying to get people to work on time, a Filipino manager
may be shamed in front of their peers as someone who is mayabang
(arrogant) or elitist for trying to instill the discipline of punctuality that is not
part of mainstream culture.
In some cases, the pressure to conform and “just let things be” makes Filipino
managers just swallow their frustration, allow the problem to continue, and
thus, accept the mediocrity of the status quo.
These negative elements within the team use the group mindset of
“everyone else is late” to justify their lack of punctuality and avoid
addressing their own lack of personal accountability and disrespect for
others.
It’s a vicious cycle and possibly one of the reasons why some Filipino
managers have adopted a more autocratic approach in their dealing with
difficult employees that can solve one problem while creating another set
of problems at the same time.
Positive Changes
There is still hope though.
While the majority of the population still needs to shake off the
“Filipino time” mentality, there are several steps that Filipinos in
60
schools, government, and private industries are currently taking to

educate their students and workers on the importance of respecting
time. There are many successful case studies of companies in the
Philippines who have been able to instill that discipline into their
employees without creating a culture of fear, proving that Filipinos are
not resistant to positive changes. Given the right support, progressive
companies can make “Filipino time” a thing of the past.
1. How does “Filipino time” negatively impact our company’s

performance?
2. Out of 10 (1=terrible, 10=perfect), how do you think others

would rate your levels of punctuality? How does this score
affect your reputation as a leader?
3. A s a leadership team, what new commitments about

punctuality are we going to make today?
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CASE STUDY:
How She Instilled a
Culture of Discipline
Background
Kathryn has been in the Philippines for 10 years and is currently the
plant manager of a European multinational company with around
550 Filipino employees.

You can’t hire your way into a high-performing culture.
When I first arrived in the Philippines, I was frustrated with the low
standards that I saw in most of my managers. My tendency was to
think that I needed to replace them with experienced leaders who fully
understand what world-class performance is all about—leaders who
are not afraid to drive out the entitlement and mediocre mindset that
are such a dominant part of Filipino work culture.
However, I was wrong.
It is my belief that employers and executives need to spend less time

hoping that some magical new hire is going to fix all their performance
problems and, instead, double down on their investment of their existing
workforce. While I agree that you need to get rid of your rotten apples
or those managers you feel who are not willing or able to make the
leap you expect from them, I now believe that developing your existing
talent is a far more realistic, practical, and sustainable approach to
high performance in the Philippines.
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Punctuality!
This was my first assignment in Southeast Asia, and I really struggled

with accepting the lack of punctuality and value of time in the
Philippines. In some of my early management meetings, I had only half
of my managers there on time. Others would just casually walk in 20
minutes late—with a big smile—and always with an excuse, like “bad
traffic.” It really frustrated me.
So I set the expectations with my management team that we cannot

expect our frontline staff to reach our monthly targets for delivery and
quality if we ourselves were not leading by example.
I got my executive assistant to make the attendance and punctuality

of every management meeting visible and post the results on our
management board, which can be seen by the entire factory.
When my managers started to realize that their own teams would be

able to see their punctuality and tardiness levels, behaviors started
to change. Within a month, we noticed a significant improvement in
attendance levels. Two months later, most of my managers started to
use these tools in their own meetings to change the behaviors of their
own team.
Today, this has become a standard metric in all of our departments. No

more hiding and no more excuses.
Also, we connected this metric to our HR disciplinary process, where all

employees including myself can be fined for consistent failure to meet
our punctuality expectations.
63
Of course, we have exceptions for legitimate reasons (like a typhoon,

a traffic accident, or family tragedy). But we all agreed that 90% of the
time, being late is the fault of the individual and their lack of personal
responsibility.
There certainly was strong and undeniable resistance at first. I had to

remind my managers on multiple occasions to keep their attendance
and punctuality metrics up-to-date and visible. Despite this fact, I knew
that it was the right thing to do in order to instill the culture of discipline
within my team.

When you work with people from a different culture, it is natural that you
start making assumptions about how they think and feel. Sometimes
these assumptions are accurate, but other times they are way off.
So I think my biggest mistake was not asking for feedback sooner on

how my team perceives me as a leader.
I got this clarity about six months into my new assignment. I sat with
three of my most trusted direct reports and asked them just one simple
question:
“As a foreigner living in your country, what are the small things I can
do to improve my working relationship with Filipinos?”
I told them to give me their honest and unfiltered opinion. I assured

them that I would take them as constructive criticisms and would not
get offended or angry with them. Six pages later, I was still taking notes
of their answers! I was shocked knowing all the small things I did that
were causing a negative impact on the morale of the team. Most of
them, I was completely unaware of.
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For example, if I were calling someone’s attention using my hand, it

was deemed offensive if I were waving at them with my fingers pointing
upward. Or when I came back from a vacation without any pasalubong
(small gifts), they told me that they were sincerely disappointed, even
though I thought they all knew I was only joking when I agreed I
would bring back gifts for everyone. Or when I would confuse them by
saying “fix the problem” or “fix the report” because apparently, in the
Philippines, the word fix or fixer are analogies for giving bribes.
It’s funny when I look back at it now. But asking for feedback was
absolutely the best cultural education I ever got in the Philippines.

I hate the sandwich feedback method. It’s one of these management

techniques that sounds nice in theory but feels so unauthentic when
you are forced to find something positive to say before you talk about
the real issue on the table. I prefer giving people direct feedback.
That said, I understand the importance of using the right words when
working with Filipinos. Adding the phrase “the story I am telling myself”
while I am giving negative feedback to one of my direct reports has
been most helpful in creating more effective outcomes and reducing the
likelihood of triggering a defensive reaction from the people around me.
Take, for example, if someone from my team did not meet my

expectations of how we effectively collaborate together, I would tell
them, “Hi, John, can I discuss a pinch point with you?” Then I wait for
them to say yes.
“When you replied to Angela’s email last week about her concerns with
how your project was being managed, I felt a bit confused after I read
your response. It sounded like you were offended by her comments.
65
The story that I was telling myself was that you didn’t seem to care
about Angela’s concerns and this was not a priority for you. Can
you help me understand your perspective? ”
Now, of course, you need to practice this often and correctly apply it
to the situation at hand. But regularly adding the phrase “the story I
am telling myself” really did help in making others feel that I wasn’t
trying to blame them; instead, I was curious and I wanted to start a
conversation to help understand them more and create appropriate
learning moments for both parties.

the first time?
Don’t hesitate to ask for professional help if you find yourself slipping
into a dark place or feel constantly overwhelmed by your work.
Many Westerners who move overseas to developing countries like the

Philippines are subject to high rates of depression and anxiety. Especially
those in leadership positions, where they feel extremely anxious about
how much responsibility is on their shoulders.
Most Westerners, when they first start working with Filipinos, make
assumptions about their team’s capabilities that they later find out is not
true. It can be quite disappointing to realize that some people will not
be able to live up to your expectations, or if they are, that it will take a lot
more effort and time than what you first estimated, to get them to where
they need to be.
I have worked with three professional coaches since I lived here, and it
has been extremely useful in helping me break free from my own false
assumptions and high standards, and instead be more at peace with what
is out of my control. I wish more executives would do the same because
there is no glory in suffering in silence.
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Chapter 5: Confrontation
“Kapag binato ka ng bato, batuhin mo ng tinapay.”

(If someone throws a stone at you,
throw back a piece of bread.)
— Filipino Proverb
In the Philippines, perceived harmony and ensuring no one’s feelings

get hurt are usually more important than having direct-to-the-point
conversations.
This means there is a tendency to avoid the difficult conversations

necessary to get to the root causes of an issue and determine what
improvements must be made, who is accountable for it, and when these
actions must be completed.
This oversensitivity to other people’s feelings is something that

many times will frustrate those who are trying to initiate change in
an organization.
From a positive perspective, it can be seen as the empathetic nature

of Filipinos to ensure that no one in the group is emotionally hurt by a
proposed change to the status quo. But from a negative perspective, it
can be seen as being too diplomatic to balat-sibuyas (onion-skinned)
people with low emotional maturity, as too much time and effort are
wasted and very little progress is made.
Filipino values dictate that the integrity of the group is more important
than the integrity of the individual.
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This means if an individual is to initiate a possible dispute with

another person, it is not looked at from the Western perspective of
two individuals having a conflict, but two individuals representing two
families, or groups, in a possible conflict. An offense against one of its
members is interpreted as a threat to the whole family or group. As a
result of this attribute, it is common for emotions to be suppressed in
public to avoid an encounter and to keep the peace.
But the negative side of this way of thinking is that it adds a significant
emotional burden to people, planting the seeds for many mental health
issues that they privately struggle with later in life.
This is why a culture of retaliation is prevalent in Philippine society—

with employees spreading rumors, engaging in silent treatment, or even
backstabbing people they dislike.
Be Careful of Joking About Filipinos
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,

once joked to a Filipino nurse in the
UK that the Philippines must be “half
empty,” noticing that so many Filipino
nurses are working in British hospitals.
The nurse who received the comment did laugh at the humor, but it
caused an outrage in the Philippines. What some foreigners may label
as harmless fun may be perceived very negatively by some Filipinos—
especially those who have a reputation of being oversensitive.
The Filipino Way of Resolving Conflicts
In the workplace, for most Filipinos, the phrase “conflict management”

really means “conflict avoidance.” Instead of sorting problems out, they
tend to just keep it to themselves out of fear of being excluded or shamed
by the group for rocking the boat. The tension worsens when the individual
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feels frustrated for not having the courage to speak up. And when they
are no longer able to hold their emotions in, all that pent-up anger will
explode and result in passive-aggressive behavior such as stonewalling
of ideas, childish tantrums, or quite commonly, emotional breakdown.
To prevent this from happening, when the issues can no longer be avoided,
the Filipino way of “solving” the conflict involves the use of mediators.
The mediators, or “tulay” (bridge), are usually the common friends of those
who are involved in the conflict. It is this bridge who will go back and forth
between the two people involved until the issue has been resolved, and
the two people, now pacified, can talk to each other directly.
But many times, root causes are not addressed, and tensions remain as the
offended party, under pressure from their group, is compelled to come to
a compromise of peace regardless of what is considered fair. This is why
many unsocial and unethical behaviors are still tolerated in private for the
sake of the perception of public harmony.
Always Add Sugar!
In almost all drinks that are served in the Philippines, sugar is always added.
Now, that is not good for those who are health conscious; however, it serves
as an excellent analogy for how Filipinos handle delivering criticism. It is
almost always sugar-coated. Being blunt and to the point is considered
socially unacceptable (even if it’s 100% warranted), regardless if it’s from a
colleague or boss.
So for example, when a proposed idea has to be declined, a Filipino

manager may write a rather long email to the project proponents that
usually starts with thanking them for their initiative and time in coming up
with this project—but “for reasons beyond our control, the idea cannot be
approved.” There will be no mention of the manager’s true opinion that
the idea is not worth it because it has not been analyzed well enough.
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Because of this, employees may think that they are doing well, when in
fact they are not, and a culture of mediocrity persists when there could
have been a learning opportunity.
Speeches and Debates
At public events, don’t expect cutting-

edge debate and confrontation of ideas in
conferences, forums, and seminars.
Many times, hosts of these events are

more concerned about deflecting direct
confrontation than getting to the real root
causes of issues. Because of this, poetic quotes, flowery imagery, and of
course, humor is greatly favored over sharp discussion of difficult issues.
It’s not about what you say—it is how you say it that counts.
Newly Promoted Supervisors
The tendency to avoid conflict can also pose a big problem for a
frontline Filipino employee getting promoted to a supervisor position
for the first time.
Many struggle with their new responsibility of supervising their old

teammates and will try to ease the transition by hanging out with their
team on lunch breaks or after-hour drinks. While rapport is crucial
to team management, there’s also the tension of asserting the new
supervisory role and its accountability.
Some supervisors may postpone confronting an issue because of

familiarity with former teammates. There is that internal struggle on the
part of the newly promoted supervisor because on one hand, she is a
supervisor and on the other, she is part of the group’s “family.”
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Many times, this is the root cause why so many first-time supervisors
struggle to be effective. There are even employees who would rather
reject a promotion to a supervisory role because they fear how it will
affect the dynamics with their team.
In addition to this, many first time supervisors need to undergo a big

mindset shift on how they get satisfaction from their work.
When they were individual contributors, they primarily got satisfaction

from completing their specific tasks—but now as a leader, their biggest
satisfaction needs to come from seeing their team succeed. They are
now responsible to create the conditions for their team to get results and
are no longer just focused on their own unique to-do list.
This is a big difference in responsibility, something that many new

leaders struggle with, especially if they are given little support from their
companies on how to manage this transition effectively.
If this is left unchecked, there is a risk that these supervisors may

misunderstand their role, start micromanaging their team, and refuse
to delegate work to them. These new leaders could also begin to feel
competitive against their own team—especially those who are older than
them or technically just as talented—fearing that they will take the credit,
leading to an internal fight for status and power, which quickly creates a
toxic work environment for your team.
Tsismis
Tsismis, or talking about a person behind their back,

is a way for Filipinos to cope with all the pent-up and
hidden emotions because of the societal pressure to
avoid conflicts. Because they are not able to talk to
the person directly, they will find ways to talk about
them indirectly—through others who will, in turn, talk
to their own trusted friends and so on.
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And while this is annoying and totally unproductive, this is prevalent and
an accepted part of Filipino culture. Some Filipinos have joked that it is
their national hobby and even coined the term ‘Marites’ (like ‘Karen’ in
the West) as an alias for those who are susceptible to this gossip culture.
Also, this is one of the real reasons why social media platforms—especially
Facebook and TikTok—are so popular in the Philippines.
Growing Progress
The influx of multinational companies in the Philippines, in addition to

the effects of globalization and offshoring, brought about the exposure
of Filipino managers to the more direct and straightforward types of
leadership that are more common in Western countries.
This is not to say that the Filipino style of management is wrong. But
by using a combination of the best practices of the Philippines and the
West, many Filipino managers are becoming more direct in the way they
communicate, while at the same time, keeping unity and harmony in the
group.
The new training and coaching opportunities that are being offered to
Filipino leaders is shaping the way they manage conflict. More progressive
Filipinos are now tackling conflict head-on and moving away from the
conventional practices of the past.
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1. How can we be more open, yet respectful, when having difficult

conversations at work?
2. What is your proudest “difficult conversation” at work (i.e., a

difficult conversation that you initiated with a team member,
a fellow leader, or your boss that you believe you handled
well)? Describe how you felt before, during, and after the
conversation? What lessons did you learn from that experience
that you can share as a best practice?
3. Do you need to have a difficult conversation with someone

in our company? (No need to share the details of the
conversation—just the topic you need to discuss and the
name of the person you need to speak to.) Are you ready to
commit to a time and place in the next seven days to have
that conversation with him or her?
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CASE STUDY:
How He Fixed One Major Root Cause
of Underperformance
Background
Alan was the national director of an American multinational

company for five years with over 5,000 Filipino employees.

No one is irreplaceable.
Even if you think there is someone on your team you cannot live without,
make peace with the possibility that one day, they may suddenly give you
their resignation letter.
When that day comes, you may get emotional. But the key here is not to
let those emotions cloud your judgment.
Of course, this is all easy to say, but at the time, when you first read
the resignation letter of one of your top performers, it can be really
disappointing. Not just because you invested all that time in developing
them, but mostly because the reasons they are giving for leaving are
usually BS.
That’s actually the most frustrating part of working with Filipinos—their

lack of transparency when it comes to sharing their true feelings to their
boss—they expect you to be able to read their mind.
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They think they are trying to protect the relationship, but really, they are
making things worse. But that’s the dark side of their culture that I have
had to make peace with.
You can’t expect to single-handedly change thousands of years of social

conditioning with a few speeches or company policies.
Early in my career working with Filipinos, we had this significant quality

problem in the delivery of one of our key projects, but nobody had the
courage to escalate it to me until it was too late.
When I found out about it, I went crazy! That error ended up costing us
hundreds of thousands of dollars and gravely damaged our reputation
with the client.
What disappointed me the most is the fact that so many members of

the project team actually knew about the problem weeks earlier and
decided to stay quiet.
This was a really painful lesson for me. It almost made me lose hope in
working with Filipinos.
However, I began to realize over time that most Filipinos grow up

in a society that fails to teach them how to have effective difficult
conversations.
This is why Western business leaders who want to make a difference,

must help their team practice having healthy difficult conversations in
the workplace.
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So as a best practice from our company, before we start every major

project we make sure to create the time and space for every single
person in the team to air out their concerns and fears that may stop or
delay the project from being implemented successfully.
They’d write these issues on sticky notes and post them on the project
board wall. We respect every single comment written—even the most
ridiculous or irrational ones. This is much more of an emotional exercise
than it is a logical one.
Once all the fears are out, we’d start categorizing them and identifying
which ones can be immediately addressed internally as a team and
which ones can be addressed in the future. And if necessary, identify
which ones are needed to be escalated outside of the team for their
input.
I have found this exercise extremely powerful in helping my team

be more confident and more proactive in talking about potential
problems, rather than default to the cultural norms of staying quiet
and hoping that someone else will say it.

I am a bit embarrassed to share this story as it’s not something that I

am proud of.
The truth is, at the beginning of my time in the Philippines, I was

one of those “complaining expats.” I approached things from a very
negative perspective. I had the bad habit of only looking at what was
wrong with and missing in the Filipino culture.
So many things drove me nuts: the heavy traffic, the constant karaoke,
the trash on the streets, how rich Filipinos exploit their workers, how
people do not follow simple escalator and elevator etiquette, the lack
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of proper hygiene after using the toilet, the inappropriate personal

questions like, “Where is your wife? What is your religion? How much
is your rent?” I just had an endless list of complaints.
My breakthrough moment was when one of my best expat friends told

me that if I continued to complain about Filipinos, he would no longer
want to spend time with me. He was fed up with my negativity. It was
a big wake-up call. I never realized how negative I had become.
I started to make some changes. I took a long vacation and promised

myself that I would make an effort to start to see the positive side of
the culture and the people. One of the big steps I took was to get out
of my expat bubble and get to know more about my Filipino staff.
Those moments made me realize that I completely lacked empathy

for the Filipino. I was judging them based on my Western standards
and had no clue what a day in their life looked like or the struggles
and hardships they have gone through.
I started to see more of their strengths, like their loyalty to their family,
their resilience during adversity, and even small things like their
amazing dental hygiene. Where else in the world will you see the
majority of your employees bring a toothbrush to work!
Becoming a nagging faultfinder of a local culture and glorifying life in

your own country is a dangerous path that blinds you from enjoying your
time in the Philippines and becoming a positive influence in your team.
Sadly, it is a common mistake that so many Westerners make when
working abroad, especially in developing countries. It’s a very easy
trap to fall into because you usually don’t realize how negative you
have become until someone else calls you out.
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Having frequent 1-on-1s with my direct reports has been invaluable to

me.
At the beginning, I didn’t really have a structure for when and how I met
with them. It would not be uncommon for some of my direct reports to tell
me that it had been three months since our last 1-on-1. This was a mistake
from my side. And it led to unnecessary communication breakdowns.
From my experience, most Filipinos want to learn, they want to feel that
their boss cares about their development. And I think the best way you
can show this is by giving them your undivided attention in a 1-on-1
setting, and by being disciplined in making sure that your 1-on-1s happen
at the right frequency. For my team, a minimum of once every two weeks
is what worked best for us.

the first time?
Businesses in the Philippines, just like in many other Asian countries, are
full of people who don’t want to say “no” but aren’t empowered enough
to say “yes.”
In many cases, when you ask them a question they don’t know the answer
to, they freeze or resort to nervous laughter. This is usually because most
Filipino employees are more comfortable being told what to do. Their
mindset is, “I’m not paid to think, the bosses are.”
Their culture tells them that it is dangerous to stand out from the crowd.
They are afraid to make themselves vulnerable if they open up, especially
if they make a mistake. No one wants to be the guy who gets shot down in
public. For them, it is better to be underestimated at work and to play it safe.
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This is the brutal truth that leaders of Filipino teams must accept. If you
don’t do something about it, the majority of your employees will not be
direct with you or be proactive about their work. This does not mean
they are dishonest; it just that your staff needs your help in opening up.
So my biggest advice is to be really intentional with creating a safe

environment for your team—an environment where they will not be
embarrassed or ashamed for bringing up ideas or simply sharing their
experiences. Otherwise, even your best talent won’t have the courage to
speak up.
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Chapter 6: Bahala Na
“Well, I’ve done my bit;
everything else is out of my control.”
“Bahala na” literally means “come what may” or “whatever will be, will be.”
Usually, this is coupled with a higher being: “Bahala na ang Diyos” (Let
God handle it) or in contemporary times, “Bahala na si Batman.” For some
odd reason, people associate Batman as a higher being. Depending on
the context, including the tone of voice, bahala na can mean something
positive or negative.
Common examples include:
• Bahala ka diyan. — Do what you want, I don’t care.
• Bahala na sila diyan. — Let them handle it. (Indirectly, it means

“Back off.”)
• Bahala ka na sa akin. — Take care of me. I leave my fate in your hands.
• Ikaw na bahala diyan. — I leave you in charge (of something, of

someone).
• Bahala kayo sa buhay n’yo. — I don’t care about you. I am leaving

you to fend for yourself.
Bahala is derived from the word Bathala, which was the god of the
Tagalog people in the precolonial Philippines. Submission to Bathala was
a fundamental part of this belief system.
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A foreigner just needs to experience the aftermath of a major typhoon

(hurricane) in the Philippines to understand the origins of why this way of
thinking exists.
The Most Resilient People in the World
The Philippines is one of the most attacked countries in the world—

not by the hands of man but by the forces of nature.
The islands are visited by around 15 to 20 typhoons in a year. To

put things in perspective, most countries in Western Europe would
not experience that level of natural destruction in one hundred years.
Add this to the frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, when
compared to the majority of countries in the world, the Philippines
receives an insane amount of damage to its agricultural products,
infrastructure, and the Filipino themselves.
But it is exactly this situation that has brought about the bahala na
mindset. Because natural disasters are generally out of anyone’s
control, Filipinos leave it up to the higher being to take care of how
things will be during and after the typhoon.
In this context, the Filipino is keeping a positive mind and hoping for
the best—that despite all the hurdles and struggles, God will provide.
This hope gives the average Filipino the strength and the willpower
to overcome any natural disaster and recover from the damages.
This is best captured by their smiles during the aftermath of a

natural disaster—something that most foreigners , including myself,
cannot completely understand. How can they still be so hopeful
in the face of such desperate times? Despite the tremendous loss
of their properties and livelihoods , Filipinos still manage to smile
and crack jokes. It is this level of courage and determination that
makes the Philippines one of the most resilient nations in the world.
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Going with the Flow
In the Philippines, just like with many other countries in Asia, there is
a widely accepted belief that the individual is formed by the influence
of their environment, which is directly the opposite of the predominant
belief in many Western countries that the individual is the one who
creates his or her environment.
This can explain why so many Filipinos tend to be more passive and why
they allow even the most critical things to pass by without taking action.
This is driven by the fatalistic belief that there’s no point in doing them as
any decisions they take are out of their control and that external forces
will always triumph against their individual will. In this case, bahala na
has a negative context, where it means people will simply go with the
flow and take a passive-aggressive attitude toward the change, not
really allowing themselves to understand the motives behind it. This is
one of the reasons why most change initiatives in the Philippines fail;
employees never fully embrace or take ownership of the change.
Most Filipinos tend to not complain to the boss (or those who are
pushing the change) but rather just keep quiet or complain secretly to
their teammates. They do not proactively seek to understand the change
better. They see organizational change as out of their control, even if
they have deep concerns about what is happening; they feel pressured
to go with the flow—at least when other people are watching.
This fake acceptance is what prevents the change from becoming

successful, as problems that need to be addressed and escalated
to management during implementation remain hidden. Once again,
perceived harmony is valued more than actual progress, thus wreaking
havoc on culture and performance.
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Pwede na ’Yan! (That’s Good Enough!)
In a workplace setting, when a close-minded employee is working on

a project and a problem arises, the employee will tend to just let things
be and not look for a solution, resulting in mediocre output.
They would say, “Pwede na ’yan!” meaning, they did the bit they were
responsible for, but in reality, this is an excuse for lazy behavior, for not
thinking critically and creatively to overcome the problem.
There are a number of possible root causes for this way of thinking: it
could be due to a lack of understanding of the reasons behind the task,
of the bigger picture, or of its impact to the organization; it could also
be due to the lack of tools or training.
But one major factor is their mentality of “I have already done my part,
and if the others would do theirs as well, maybe the project will turn
out beautifully or some miraculous intervention will happen.”
This is in part due to their deep faith in a higher being who could save
them, but it’s also due to their failure to understand what’s within their
control and what’s beyond it.
Ningas Kugon: The Great Project Killer
Another attitude connected to bahala na that you must keep an eye

on is “ningas kugon.”
Ningas means “flame” (the not-so-bright kind when you are just starting
to burn something), and kugon is derived from cogon, a kind of grass
that dries up easily during the hot season and needs to be burned
by farmers as it is considered a pest. When burning cogon grass, the
resulting flame is bright and attractive, but it only lasts a few minutes,
and then it dies down.
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This serves as an analogy of why so many projects are never

completed in the Philippines.
For example, an improvement

project can start grand, with
everyone supporting the main
proponent and their idea. In the
beginning, people may express
hope and excitement and will even
volunteer to help.
However, as the days go by and hiccups start to appear, the support

mechanism slowly starts falling out, one by one, until only the main
proponent is left working on the project on their own. The defeatist
bahala na mindset kicks in. The project and the great idea die a slow
death. Mediocrity resumes.
Government Projects
Of the 159 public works and projects in

the Philippines as of 2017, a shocking
153 were delayed and went over budget,
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resulting in a massive cost to taxpayers.
There are several reasons for this delay, but we can assume that
the lack of follow-through as a result of the ningas kugon attitude is
certainly one big factor.
Do Now, Think Later
On the extreme side, the bahala na attitude is also portrayed when

Filipinos commit wild and courageous acts of bravery: “Let me do this,
and to hell with the consequences.”
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However, in business, this mindset of “Do now, think later” may not always
have positive outcomes. Clouded by emotion, in many cases, the Filipino
might not think his or her actions through and might not analyze the
possible consequences, making things worse instead of better.
The Bravery of Filipino Soldiers
The famous American General Douglas

MacArthur, after observing Filipino
soldiers in battle in both World War
II and the Korean War is quoted to
have said, “Give me 10,000 Filipino
soldiers, and I will conquer the world.”
A Strength to Be Leveraged
Despite all of these pitfalls, bahala na is deemed more of a positive

mantra for the Filipino.
This, to the majority of Filipinos, means a determination to succeed

rather than having a defeatist attitude. It also reflects their immense
faith in God that He will provide for them in times of difficulties.
There are many stories of Filipinos abroad who, not knowing anyone
or anything about the culture of the country they are moving
into, made the leap of faith and just said bahala na and are now
extraordinarily successful as professionals and entrepreneurs. This
is one of the reasons why Filipinos, in economic terms, are one of
the most successful immigrant groups in countries like Canada, the
United States, and Australia.
This proves that given the right environment, Filipinos do have the
potential and ability to succeed.
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1. Share an example of how the bahala na mentality has helped

you succeed (personally or professionally).
2. Share an example of how the ningas kugon mentality has held

you back (personally or professionally).
3. As a leadership team, what can we do to create more

accountability and ownership in our company?
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CASE STUDY:
How He Created a
Culture of Accountability
Background
Tony was in the Philippines for ten years. Six of those years, he was
the division president of an Australian-owned company with over
1,000 employees under his wing.

When it comes to leadership development in the Philippines, there

is a significant difference between women and men.
Women tend to excel far more than their male counterparts. I have
seen this trend in multiple organizations that I have been involved in.
The reason why I think this happens is not because Filipino women
are inherently more intelligent, hardworking, or competent, but it
really boils down to their remarkable sense of humility.
Despite the efforts that the Philippines has made over the years when it
comes to female empowerment, it is still a highly patriarchal society. The
majority still have the mindset that it is a husband’s job to earn money
and it is the woman’s job to stay at home and raise the kids.
There are lots of men walking around with big egos who are overly
sensitive to any criticism. Precisely why when it comes to leadership,
many of them think they already know how to lead—so there is no drive
to become better. On the other hand, the women are hungry to grow
and learn, making them better leaders in the workplace.
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I was completely shocked by the lack of a safety mindset.
Before I arrived in the Philippines, I came from a very strict and

disciplined industry where nothing was more important than safety.
After just one week of arriving here, I realized how big the challenge
I was facing by just observing how most Filipinos behave in traffic.
I saw bus drivers overtake other vehicles like they are competing in a
Formula One race, a family of six ride on a motorbike designed for two
people, and drivers approaching traffic lights like they were merely a
suggestion rather than an absolute command. Total chaos!
My own employees weren’t any better. I discovered that the majority

had a complete disregard for safety. This motivated me to make it my
mission to radically improve the safety culture in our operations.
In my first year, I had to fire dozens of people who continued to ignore our
safety policies and procedures as they were directly putting themselves
and other employees in danger. Although it was a hard decision to
make, I knew that it was necessary.
Over time, the culture of safety and accountability did significantly

change. But upon reflection, I could have done it way better, faster,
and with lesser effort—especially in terms of engaging the teams on
why safety is so important.
I focused too much on what people were doing wrong versus observing
those who were actually doing things right. We missed opportunities in
celebrating our wins and recognizing those employees who were the
role models of our new policies and procedures. Doing these earlier
could have significantly reduced the internal resistance we faced, as well
as significantly reduced the stress I had to endure in enforcing change.
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It’s definitely raising my voice at my team. And this is certainly something

that I am not proud of.
I did not know how big of a deal public display of anger is in the
Philippines. It was a huge realization for me to discover that my
outbursts, regardless of how valid, were doing more damage than
good to my Filipino team.
In the eyes of the onlookers, I lost control and publicly humiliated

my team. Consequently, my behavior scared them, crushed their
confidence, and turned them into robots who would not dare innovate,
initiate, or defy the status quo. Being regularly shouted at by my own
bosses when I was a junior leader motivated me to become better
at my job. I thought that what worked for me would also work for my
Filipino team. I couldn’t have been more wrong about it.
Imposing a Western approach in a Philippine setting was a huge mistake!

In the majority of cases, they interpret public discipline as a form of
shaming, which is one of the worst things you can do to a Filipino.
Today, I am a lot calmer and more patient than I was when I first arrived
here. I had to learn how to control my emotions better and not to take
things personally. I would be lying if I said it was easy for me and that
the change happened overnight, but I knew that I wouldn’t have been
able to survive in the Philippines if I didn’t try.
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One thing that really helped me was finding out the blindspots that
I have about my own culture. I am Danish, so I read Culture Shock
Denmark to see what non-Danish people were saying about what it is
like to work with us.
It really made me laugh! I found out so many little yet significant things
that I considered normal but are different for other cultures.
I was then able to share these things with my Filipino team, which
helped them understand how best to work with me. I think they really
appreciated that gesture, and I saw how it directly improved our
working relationship. The more I was able to explain the operating
manual of my culture, the more they were able to adapt in working
with me.

the first time?
Learn to chill!
I know this may seem like basic advice. But trust me, I have seen too
many Westerners who take this for granted, who did not look after
themselves mentally, and miserably failed over the years.
You must choose your battles wisely. Remember that it’s actually not
your job to fix everything.
The most important thing you learn to do is creating a space to think

before you react. That’s the most critical life skill I have learned to survive
here in the Philippines.
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You have only limited amounts of daily energy, so there would be

instances when the best thing you can do is to walk away. Don’t expect
that you are going to single-handedly change thousands of years of
social conditioning in a snap.
From a practical perspective, after you notice that you are getting angry,
take a moment and ask yourself:
• Do I need to freak out about this?

• Does getting upset provide me with more options?
• Is this situation going to stop me from acting like a good leader?
This is me speaking from personal experience. My first few years in the

Philippines were the most frustrating moments of my career. I witnessed
acts of sexism, corruption, and exploitation that made me so angry. But
the biggest mistake I made was not looking after myself—choosing to
complain, be angry, and stay angry. I did not allow myself to be grateful
and optimistic and focus on the things within my control.
I recommend that expats really look after their mental health seriously.
Living in a developing country can really be stressful and not everyone
can easily adjust. I encourage you to get into nature as often as you
can and develop habits (i.e., journaling, meditation, daily exercise)
that will help you to stay positive. You can’t help anyone if you end
up burning yourself out.
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Chapter 7: Nationalism
“The greatest enemy of the Filipino

is the Filipino.”
— From Heneral Luna, a movie about the famous

General Antonio Luna, who was betrayed by his fellow Filipinos
National unity is something that Filipinos have always struggled with and
is something that continues to hamper economic progress at local and
national levels.
Even among Filipino communities living abroad, there are invariably two
or more rival organizations.
Compared to many other nations in the region that at one stage were
comparable to the Philippines (e.g., Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Hong
Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, etc.), the Philippines has failed to progress
economically to the levels reached by many of its neighbors.
It’s true that some Filipinos have amassed extraordinary wealth in the past
70 years since the nation’s independence from the Americans, yet the
desired reduction in the country’s poverty levels has not happened—it
remains one of the highest in Southeast Asia.
It has been stated that many economic elites prosper under the
current political system and would not welcome changes to the
status quo that would threaten their positions of power. This is one
of the reasons why elections tend to be violent—it is common to hear
reports of more than 100 people being killed in each election cycle.
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Outside observers would often ask why Filipinos seem to “shoot

themselves in the foot ” or “allow itself to become a colony of its
own leaders.”
Debunking Pinoy Pride
Although 95% of Filipinos would say that they are nationalistic (i.e.,
one will often hear the expression “Proud to be Pinoy”), there are still
certain indications in their actual behaviors that prove otherwise.
A study of Filipino politics and history will reveal how most Filipinos have
been conditioned to put local, family, and sometimes, foreign interests
before that of the nation. This has resulted in a very weak sense of
nationalism and patriotism—with some Filipinos treating the struggles
of their fellow Filipinos with complete apathy (or worse still, intentional
cruelty and exploitation).
Conquering the Mind
Western leaders must be aware of how the mindset of the Filipino has
been significantly influenced (both positively and negatively) by the
Spanish and American colonial periods.
In both cases, military force was not enough to fully subjugate the people;
the colonizer also had to conquer the mind of the Filipino to ensure they
6
followed the will and thinking of the new regime.
Although not discussed here, both the Spanish and American periods
did bring many positive things to the Philippines (e.g., education, art,
public health, infrastructure, systems of governance, etc.).
However, from the perspective of the Filipino idea of self-worth and

national pride, there has been massive damage done to the mentality
of the nation, resulting in its lack of belief in its ability to solve its own
problems.
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The Spanish Era
When the Spanish first arrived, even though they were few, they were
able to subjugate a large portion of the country as there was no real
unified resistance against them.
In fact, the Spanish were able to obtain Filipino allies to fight against
other Filipino groups as tribal rivalry was a common feature of pre-
Hispanic Philippine society.
During the Spanish occupation from 1565 to 1898, politics and the
governing of the nation were limited to the colonizers. Over time,
select members of the Mestizo class were granted massive economic
and political favors for complying with the will of the colonial powers,
sometimes at the contempt of the public good.
From this, political dynasties were born, which still exist today. It is
estimated that between 40 to 50 families still account for the majority
of political and economic power in the country.
In the early years of colonization, the Spaniards quelled rebellious

thoughts by hammering home the idea of Filipino racial inferiority.
Like in Latin America, many Spanish friars taught that religion was
a matter of submission to doctrine and authority rather than that of
independent thought.
The native indios were not encouraged to learn Spanish, and they
were considered only good enough to serve their Spanish and Mestizo
masters.
Through this, the Spanish implanted a twisted idea into Filipino culture
that success meant something that was given to you, not something
that you worked toward; and once you became successful, you did not
have to work hard because the lower classes were there to serve you.
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The American Era
When the Americans took over (1898–1946), they positioned

themselves as the saviors of the Filipinos and overhauled many of
the systems that the Spanish installed, which they believed were
corrupted.
If the Spaniards used religion, the Americans used education to pacify

the rebellious Filipino especially after the bloody Filipino-American
War, which killed more Filipinos in two years than the Spanish did in
333 years. The Filipino was to be educated, to conform to American
ideas, and to forget about American cruelty of its early occupation.
A sample of American attitudes toward the Philippines

after taking over from the Spaniards
“The population of the islands is made up of a vast mass of ignorant,

superstitious people, well-intentioned, light-hearted, temperate,
somewhat cruel, domestic and fond of their families, and deeply
wedded to the Catholic Church. These people are the greatest
liars it has been my fortune to meet, in many respects nothing but
grown up children. They need the training of fifty or a hundred
years before they shall even realize what Anglo Saxon liberty is.”
William Howard Taft

Governor-General of the Philippines
July 4, 1901 – December 23, 1903
(and later to become the 27th President of the
United States in 1909)
Slowly, the Filipino’s sense of nationalism and patriotism began to erode.
Whenever local values and interests came into conflict with American
colonial policy, the school system guided the Filipino toward
thought and action that would forward American interests.
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The Americans succeeded with their “reeducation” (or miseducation)

policy and a new generation of Filipinos was created, which became
obsessed with consuming American products and ways of thinking.
However, this left Filipinos with a massive lack of national pride—

something that is still dominant today. In fact, many Filipinos dream of
leaving their country with the intention of living a better life in a rich foreign
land, instead of playing their part to improve the nation of their birth.
Although much information is learned, attitudes are not developed;

selfish concerns oftentimes override the national interest, evidenced
by the fact that in most parts of the Philippines today, public places
(such as streets, beaches, parks, bus terminals) tend to be neglected,
abused, or at the mercy of thieves.
Barriers to True Democracy
With the introduction of the

American education system,
English became the new medium
of education, and the development
of the native language was
significantly suppressed.
This created yet another wedge between the Filipino social

classes where a great number of the Filipino masses are unable
to express themselves fully in any language.
This makes them more susceptible to being exploited by opportunist

leaders who speak to them in general and vague terms. Some Filipinos
don’t even think it is their duty to know or that they are capable of
understanding national problems and are therefore content to leave
everything in the hands of their leaders.
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The Colonial Hangover
Visitors to the Philippines are always quick to notice how Filipinos are
extraordinarily friendly and polite.
In general, Filipinos have a high regard for foreign visitors. But in some
cases, this respect is taken too far, to the point where some Filipinos will
trust and believe more what a foreigner says than their fellow Filipino,
especially if that foreigner is white (i.e., looks American or Spanish).
This repeated history of being told what to do and believing that

they are second-class citizens are things that are deeply embedded
in the Filipino narrative.
Inferiority Complex
It has led many Filipinos to believe, especially those from lower

socioeconomic status, that they are not good enough and that the
foreigner is almost always better.
This can be seen when interacting with foreigners over the phone in
a call center setting, for example. When a very direct customer says
something assertive (or borderline insulting), the average Filipino
can be very easily offended and may even be reduced to tears.
This can, of course, vary from person to person. But when we peel
back the onion layers, we see in most cases a very shy Filipino who
generally thinks of himself as inadequate and will turn to his fellow
Filipinos for assurance and support, hence the importance of creating
a family or cliquish atmosphere in the workplace.
This mindset of inferiority results in so many Filipinos holding back

their potential, an observation that continues to frustrate so many
Western leaders.
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However, it is important to acknowledge that the problem isn’t that

the average Filipino doesn’t know how to rise up. The problem is
that at some point in his past, he got punched in the face so many
times and instead of punching back, he decided that he deserved it.
This is what physiologists call learned helplessness, where victims

of abuse somehow end up believing that there was something
inherently wrong with them and that the person who is hitting them
therefore must be inherently superior.
This is perhaps the greatest long-term damage that the colonists

inflicted on their victims, where the colonized people feel powerless
and unworthy to improve their status in life. In the Philippines, this has
resulted in a generational inferiority complex that still exists today.
Local vs. Imported Goods
Recent studies suggest that less than 30% of consumer spending

7
in the Philippines is made up of local brands.
This is awfully low compared to most developed countries as well

as neighboring Southeast Asian countries.
One of the strong reasons behind this is the false belief that all
foreign-made products (especially those made in America, Europe,
and Japan) have superior quality compared to locally made
products—a self-defeating mindset that continues to hamper
economic growth in the Philippines.
A New Philippines
Despite having a mixed relationship with foreign visitors over the

centuries, for the vast majority of Western leaders and tourists who
visit the Philippines today, the Filipino remains one of the friendliest
and welcoming people in the world.
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Politics still remains one of the most sensitive and controversial

topics you can discuss with them. However, it is important for
Western leaders to know how the politics of the past has directly
influenced the way Filipinos think and act today.
Historically, for both economic and geographical reasons, the majority

of Filipinos have had limited exposure to other parts of their country
(in many cases, some have never left their own province or island).
This has been one of the reasons why many Filipinos are primarily
motivated by the needs and wants of their local province over that
of the nation. But this is dramatically changing as more and more
Filipinos can now afford to travel, and in many cases, they are
discovering for the first time the real beauty of their country, and
thus, rekindling their sense of national pride.
A growing number of progressive Filipinos are breaking free from

mainstream mindsets and are playing their part in educating and
inspiring their fellow Filipinos to become more involved in nation-
building—to be a proud Pinoy in deeds, not just in words.
1. What shocked you about this chapter?
2. D o you think that some of our employees have a colonial

mentality or inferiority complex? If yes, how do you think it
negatively impacts their work?
3. What do you think are the nonfinancial things we can do as

a management team to make our employees feel prouder to
be Filipino and prouder to be a part of this company?
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CASE STUDY:
How He Finally Got His Team
to Start Thinking for Themselves
Background
Chris has been in the Philippines for over six years and is currently
the president and CEO of a North American multinational company
with around 1,300 Filipino employees nationwide.

The biggest advantage of being an outsider is that you can get things
done faster.
However, this can also be a double-edged sword. Western leaders are

guilty of pushing too much change on their Filipino teams too fast,
resulting in unsustainable outcomes and unnecessary resistance.
That is why I now believe that going slow at the beginning of a big
change can be your biggest advantage to ensure that the change
is eventually successful. For example, doing 1-on-1 interviews or
focus groups with those directly involved is a critical step to gaining
effective buy-in, even if the people interviewed don’t give you any
new insights and just repeat what you already know.
Filipinos appreciate when their inputs and opinions are sought

and when their concerns are at least being genuinely heard and
listened to empathetically. Just announcing a big change during a
team meeting and then reading your team’s reactions can be very
misleading.
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Many Filipinos are too conscious in a group-thinking setting that it

can be extremely difficult for them to express what they really think
about the proposed change. Even if it is something that they are
genuinely interested in, there are those who will hold back their
enthusiasm. This is a result of their experience of unmet expectations
and unkept promises in the past.
So instead, it seems safer for your team members to control their

emotions when amongst their peers and give a pessimistic or neutral
outlook about the proposed change, which was something that used
to confuse me as I misread it as a lack of interest.
That is why I recommend that you do not take the initial reactions of
your team in a group setting at face value. Instead, during a group
discussion, find a way to break your team into smaller working groups
so that they will be able to surface their concerns and possible red
flags in a safer environment and where they are less likely to submit
to the pressures of group thinking.
The “yes, sir” mentality.
In almost everything I suggested, people would just agree with me. But
many times, as I found out the hard way, they had no idea what they
were agreeing to.
I understand that submission to authority and respect for hierarchy

are parts of Filipino culture. However, the downside of this is that most
of them are reluctant to speak up, ask questions, or challenge your
ideas. This way of thinking and behavior is contrary to our company
values of integrity and candor.
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We had to do a lot of leadership training in this area to break these

bad habits and empower our team to think for themselves.
Over time, it eventually worked—but only after I got my own leadership team
to practice it first.
Going directly to the frontline employees and asking them to show more
initiative completely failed when we did not equip their direct managers
on how to coach their employees in asking the right questions.
Our managers needed to learn how to create the right supportive
environment, where our frontliners would not fear the consequences
of asking for more clarification or to raise their concern of not being
able to fully understand.
For this initiative to last, I knew that I had to be the role model for these
new behaviors in front of my own leadership team.
So I started asking questions, like “What’s on your mind?” “What do

you think?” and “What else are you thinking?” far more often than
I did when leading a team back in North America. It took a lot of
patience, but it was worth it! It was the only way to get our people to
start thinking for themselves.

Not firing the wrong people sooner.
I think every leader struggles with this. This is the type of conversation
that most people want to avoid. I waited too long to remove some
of our leaders from the organization. As a result, our culture and
performance suffered. Not only that, but it affected the motivation
of my entire leadership team. Keeping the wrong people on the team
gave them the wrong idea of how poor performance and mediocrity
are acceptable.
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When I look back at these incidents, I believe I was too patient and
too trusting. As an expat, it is easy to be deceived as some Filipino
managers are so kind and nice in front of you, but then they can be
a complete tyrant to their own team.
I should have acted more decisively, six months sooner, when the
evidence started to show. But to be honest with myself, and to be
of most value to your readers, I believe the real root cause of why
I procrastinated in taking action was that I didn’t want to admit to
myself that I made a hiring mistake.
Firing people is definitely the hardest part of management, but if

you don’t act when the time calls for a change, it can backfire and
definitely end up being one of your biggest regrets.

One of the biggest things I learned from the 360-degree feedback I did
a few years ago is that a lot of my Filipino team perceived that I was
blaming them when things were not going as expected. They felt that
my direct style of giving negative feedback was sometimes insensitive
and demotivating. I felt horrible to know they thought that way.
So I learned to be more patient and calm when the time comes to discuss
mistakes. I needed to be more aware of how I was being perceived—to
really notice the tone of voice and to be conscious of the fact that if I slip
back into my old style again, I run this risk of demoralizing them.
What really helped me was creating a new set of phrases such as “we are
all learning,” “everyone is trying to do their best,” “mistakes are normal,”
and “we are just human,” to regularly remind the team that it is okay to
make mistakes or to share bad news with me.
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Six months later, when we did the 360-degree feedback again, my team
highlighted this as the biggest change they saw in my leadership style
that had the greatest positive impact on them. It was something that I
was really grateful and proud to hear.

the first time?
In the Philippines, there is a natural aversion to talking about problems

in front of the boss, especially problems that are directly connected
to them. Filipinos have this inbuilt fear of losing face. That’s why
they just want to tell the boss about the things that are going well
and then hope and pray that their boss won’t dig deeper.
Even if you are proclaiming in your town halls that you want people
to make problems visible, some of your department heads and
supervisors will be sending the exact opposite message to their team
behind your back. Some will tell their team members, either directly
or indirectly, to “stop raising red flags” and “stop making us look bad
in front of our boss.”
We once had a problem with one of our projects where the customer
was really frustrated with how our team performed. It turned out that
the problem was something known by most of the team weeks prior
to launching it to that customer.
The issue could have been easily prevented if it had been escalated to
me sooner. Half the team knew about it but still decided to stay quiet.
Their attitude was anchored in the hope that not saying anything is their
saving grace, since the boss wouldn’t know who is the most accountable.
So my advice here is to make it clear to your direct reports that “I

don’t know” and “I need help” are acceptable answers. Don’t just
say it once and expect them to start practicing it.
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Repeat it multiple times, especially any time you sense that they are
not telling you what they are really thinking.
And when you hear them say it, thank them for it. Say how you
appreciate their honesty. Tell them that they are role-modeling your
company values for the rest of the team. Celebrate it!
I know this can sound so simple and so cheesy, but Westerners need
to know that taking full ownership and accountability of their work
is not a part of Filipino culture.
It will take time for your team to break these bad habits—thus
persistence, patience, and empathy are your greatest tools at your
disposal.
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Conclusion
Filipinos are the most welcoming, sociable, passionate, creative,

industrious, and resilient people that you will ever meet.
At the same time, they are also highly sensitive to criticism, have a
great fear of being shamed in public, and may not have the same level
of productivity and proactiveness that some Westerners are used to in
their own country. Most Filipinos are less direct in communication than
Westerners and rely on others knowing what they want to communicate
rather than having to be explicit.
Hopefully, regardless if you are a Filipino or Western leader, this book has
helped you better understand the evolving nature of Filipino culture so
that you are better equipped to guide your team to deliver better results
without having to become a stressed-out micromanager, exhausted
workaholic, or frustrated dictator.
By using the right strategies and tactics, Filipino teams can be empowered
to exceed your expectations, become role models of positive change,
and go on to lead their fellow Filipino to do the same.
The successes of other managers of Filipino teams prove that it is possible.
The Hidden Benefits
Aside from all the great results that I know

you will achieve when you make the decision
to believe and invest in your Filipino
employees , it is seeing the impact of your
mentorship on the lives of your people that
will be the most emotionally rewarding and
satisf ying feeling of all.
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As you watch how your teams’ new mindsets and behaviors impact both
their professional and personal lives, and knowing that you played a
significant part in their development, you will feel a level of satisfaction
and pride that just cannot be measured. It is not an exaggeration to state
that the difference your leadership can make can be truly life-changing.
Thank You for Not Giving Up
Thank you for taking the time to read

this book. Thank you for committing
yourself to learning more about
Filipino culture. And most of all, thank
you for not giving up on the Filipino
people.
I know that working here is not without its challenges, but I sincerely
believe that the pros far outweigh the cons. Filipinos have so much talent
within them, and visionary leaders like you can significantly help them
accelerate their progress and realize the potential of this beautiful country.
This is what success in business is all about—the value you create and
what you inspire others to do.
To your continued success, my friend. Your greatest days lie ahead!
Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

(Long live the Philippines!)
Mike Grogan
Kaizen Leadership Asia www.kaizenleadershipasia.com
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APPENDIX A
Three Proven Best Practices for Creating
More Effective Filipino Teams
When I first arrived in the Philippines in 2015, I assumed that the

techniques that worked for me in other countries to upskill leaders and
develop high-performing teams will also work here. I was wrong.
I quickly found out that it didn’t matter how much experience or

expertise I had. If I did not modify my approach to Filipino culture,
then any training or coaching program we implement with our clients
would never be sustainable.
Since that big realization, my team and I at Kaizen Leadership Asia

designed and delivered leadership programs for dozens of MNCs
and SMEs across Southeast Asia—impacting more than 100,000
employees.
In this section, I wanted to briefly share three of the most popular best
practices that we have seen to work for our clients in the Philippines
when it comes to creating more accountable and proactive teams
without needing to micromanage.
It is my hope that sharing this content will give you and the leaders
on your team some new ideas that you can apply to your specific
situation, and thus prevent you from wasting your time and energy
on traditional and outdated solutions that are no longer applicable to
how today’s Filipino workforce responds to change and growth.
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1. Initiating Psychological Mapping
To create a significant improvement in the performance of your

organization, you don’t have to convince everyone to change.
Research shows that identifying and then focusing on a critical number of

your people leaders (your key influencers) will be enough for significant
behavioral change to happen organically and naturally across the
organization, without senior leaders needing to constantly push and
follow up.
However, having a compelling organizational motivation for change or

an inspiring company vision or mission is rarely enough to get a critical
mass of these key influencers to become the catalyst of this performance
shift that you are seeking. Companies also need to help their key people
leaders discover their internal motive for change—something that is very
personal and specific to them.
This is where Psychological Mapping, a type of 360-degree feedback,

can be so effective.
Psychological Mapping is a stakeholder-centric, confidential feedback

process that helps leaders see how their own behaviors are directly
undermining or enhancing the performance of their team.
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It highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each leader from the

perspective of those who work closely with them. It helps them gain more
clarity of what they can do better to drive growth in the organization, as
well as identify blindspots that are limiting their team’s success.
Why This Matters in the Philippines
As simple as this idea sounds, in terms of its obvious benefits for all
involved, transparency like this is not a normal part of Filipino
work culture.
Most managers and supervisors rarely ask for feedback from their team,
and even if they do, it’s even rarer for them to get honest answers.
Most Filipino employees will tell you privately that they have a genuine
fear of giving any negative feedback to their superiors, believing that
such honesty would result in retaliation and negative consequences
for their own career. In their minds, it’s safer to stay quiet.
As a result, many leaders could work for years without getting any honest
feedback from their Filipino team members or peers on what they can
do to improve their performance as a leader.
As you can expect, when supervisors and managers experience

Psychological Mapping for the first time, it can be quite shocking and
enlightening for many. The process forces them to examine blindspots
and limiting beliefs in their leadership and management style that many
were completely unaware of.
Seeing these gaps becomes a strong motivator in getting them to

change their behaviors, not just for the sake of improving business
outcomes, but also to significantly improve their relationship with their
coworkers. From our experience, the vast majority of supervisors and
managers in Southeast Asia want to be recognized and appreciated by
their peers and team members far more than the typical Westerner.
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This is not something borne out of a sense of narcissism or ego, but

something that taps into their sense of self-worth, personal dignity, and
wanting to belong to a community that values them.
Most Filipino professionals want to be seen as someone who

contributes to the harmony of the group. So when they get results
that highlight their weaknesses and areas for improvement that come
directly from the people who work closest to them, it becomes a
catalyst for rapid change—far more effective than sending them to a
traditional training course.
How It’s Done
Psychological Mapping collects the perspectives and emotions of

anyone who works closely with your leaders (e.g., employees, business
partners, and even customers) regarding the pain and joy that the
current ways of working and performing are causing them. It focuses
on highlighting the factors that may be demotivating, stressing, or
confusing in their interactions with their leaders as well as highlighting
the things that their leaders are doing well.
The answers can be collected via facilitated focus groups and

anonymous collection forms, either online or offline. The entire
process is done with full confidentiality.
Typical questions include, but are not limited to:
• How does interacting with this leader make you feel?

• On a scale of 1–10, how would you rate this leader’s management
skills (planning, organizing, delegating, etc.)?
• On a scale of 1–10, how would you rate this leader’s leadership skills
(setting direction, motivating, inspiring, etc.)?
• What specific behaviors does this leader need to improve on in order
for you to give them a higher score?
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Many times, our coaching team will combine facilitated focus group
discussions with one-on-one interviews with key stakeholders.
Through this, we get more specific answers that will be most useful
to the target leader.
Questions include, but are not limited to:
• What are leader X’s strengths?

• When leader X is trying to influence you or the team, how does
he/she do it?
• How would you describe his/her leadership style?
• What environments bring out the best in him/her?
• What would his/her strongest allies say about him/her?
• What would his/her harshest critics say about him/her?
• What are his/her triggers and blindspots that negatively
impact others in the team?
• What specific suggestions do you have for leader X that will help
him/her be a better leader?
• What specific actions must he/she stop doing?
• What specific actions must he/she start doing?
• What specific actions must he/she continue doing?
The leader then works one-on-one with a coach (or someone with
prior experience with this process) to analyze their feedback results
and connect how their actions or inactions are contributing directly to
negative or positive feelings and thoughts in others.
Most times, the feedback is so clear that it is obvious what that

leader needs to do to get to the next level and improve the working
relationships with their colleagues.
112
When Psychological Mapping is combined with an ongoing coaching

and/or leadership program, it gives leaders structure and a strong
sense of accountability to ensure that any improvements they make
to their management style become habitual—ultimately leading to
sustainable improvements in the performance of their teams.
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2. Increasing Psychological Safety
Change efforts often fail because organizations spend too much time
trying to achieve the desired outcomes and not enough time focusing
on the specific leadership behaviors they need their managers and
supervisors to practice so they can guide their teams toward these desired
outcomes.
On the other hand, if they do focus on leadership behaviors, they spend

excessive time and energy on a bunch of different things that may be
good ideas but aren’t the vital few that will shift the culture.
The good news is that there is one set of leadership behaviors that,
if increased marginally, will have a huge impact on the performance
level of your team. Perhaps even more impactful than any other change
you could make. These are the leadership behaviors associated with
increasing the feeling of psychological safety amongst the team.
For example, below are 3 simple questions that when practiced

routinely and authentically by the leader, are proven to increase the
feeling of psychological safety in a team:
• How are you feeling today?

• Do you or the team need any help?
• What is one small thing I can do to help you right now?
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Teams with a high level of psychological safety

feel free to express their ideas, make problems
visible, admit mistakes—without the fear of negative
consequences to their self-image, status, or career.
It plants the seeds for greater ownership and accountability—

something that is desperately needed in most Southeast Asian work
cultures, where deep compliance to hierarchy creates fear in most
employees to speak up and challenge the status quo.
High psychological safety transforms the dynamics and relationships

within the team, becoming the foundation for thriving creativity and
innovation. It is directly related to the level of trust, collaboration, and
learning that happens within the organization.
Why This Matters in the Philippines
Most Filipinos go through their entire childhood and a big part of their
teenage years learning how to fit in rather than to think for themselves.
They repeatedly receive signals from their environment to think the way
others are thinking and ignore their uniqueness. Even if they disagree
or try to resist, the overwhelming message from society to conform
becomes part of their subconscious programming. They start to believe
that by going against what everyone else is doing, they risk ridicule and
possible rejection from their peers.
When they were children, their parents had the answers. When they
were students, their teachers had the answers. So, naturally, they assume
that when they enter the workforce, the boss or someone else in the
hierarchy must have all the answers.
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Most Employees Are Not Trusted
Even for those ambitious high-potential Filipino employees who start their
careers full of enthusiasm, energy, and hunger to make a difference, many
of them end up walking into locally owned organizations where their
owners are stuck in the traditional approaches of managing people—a
philosophy of management that was designed with the assumption that
you cannot trust your employees and that they are incapable of innovation
or complex problem-solving.
These companies create policies and structures that ensure their staff are
compliant, obedient, and simply do what they are told.
In most cases, this ends up creating an us-versus-them, high-fear

environment where managers, departments, and employees are pitted
against each other in a zero-sum game.
Staff are in constant fear of being yelled at if they make a mistake or being
perceived as weak and stupid if they ask for help. These employees
lose any sense of commitment or mission they had at the start of their
careers, doing barely enough to meet the minimal requirements.
They become cynical to management and any attempts to change the

status quo. Eventually, they either check out mentally and emotionally
or begin their search to find a new employer.
Toxic Work Cultures Are Predominant
Of course, very few of these companies in the Philippines would

publicly admit that they have a low-trust work culture or that they
treat their employees like commodities. They are quick to showcase
their company website and brochures describing in rich detail their
“people-centric” vision, mission, value statements, and fancy mantras.
“Our employees are our most valuable assets,” they’d say.
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Sadly, for the vast majority of Filipino workers, they

go home every day feeling they are not valued or
appreciated by their employers, describing their work
culture as toxic.
This traditional way of management is destroying the

creativity and self-belief of the majority of Filipino
employees, thus, leaving a massive amount of human
talent wasted on the table.
The Death of Traditional Management
In this highly competitive knowledge worker era, old mindsets like

“hiring from the neck down,” and “an honest day’s pay for an honest
day’s labor” are no longer relevant to attract, keep, and grow the
best talent, especially now that the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted
employees’ expectations of what they want to experience in their work.
They don’t want to be micromanaged.
The traditional management paradigm that says only a few people

in the organization are the thinkers and the rest are just the doers is
no longer feasible.
Progressive leaders of businesses in complex and dynamic

markets are coming to the conclusion that they need to find new
ways to mobilize and coordinate the brainpower of everyone in their
organization.
They need their Filipino employees to adapt, innovate, and continually

improve so they are able to overcome the unforeseen challenges and
uncertainties that lie ahead.
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The Shift to More Empowered Teams
The good news is that once you get

your managers and supervisors aware of
the importance of psychological safety,
and then support them in creating and
sustaining a few leadership behaviors that
are specifically focused on increasing the
level of psychological safety in the team,
big things happen— fast.
It can be truly amazing to see how just a few low-effort behaviors

from the leader, when practiced regularly and authentically, can
have such a massive impact on both your team’s engagement and
performance levels.
It can be your biggest antidote to combat low performance and

mediocre mindsets that are prevalent in work cultures across
Southeast Asia—perhaps more than any other small change you
could implement.
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3. Rebooting the Team Meeting
When I speak with business leaders across the Philippines, they usually
share with me their frustration at past attempts they have made in
investing in their supervisors and managers, only to see little to no
impact on business results.
They tell me that most of their leaders are quick to put their hands up
for professional development opportunities but seem more interested
in getting the certificate than the actual learnings. And even if they did
claim to learn new insights and knowledge on how they can add more
value to their organization, most are not able to break free from their bad
habits and limiting beliefs that are stopping them from putting those
new ideas into practice—and more importantly, making it a habit.
A faster, more effective, and far more sustainable approach is the reverse.
Instead of giving new information or knowledge to your people in the
hope that they change their behaviors, focus on updating an existing
routine so that they act their way into a new type of thinking.
And perhaps the most powerful routine that a team has is its team
meeting.
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The Habit-Making Machine
Leaders often complain that their team meetings take too long and often
get off track. Here’s a little-known fact about meetings: the preparation
and the meeting structure are more important than the meeting itself.
We have observed that by making slight adjustments to these meeting

setups (including both the frequency, format, and agenda), you can make
a huge difference in your Filipino team’s engagement levels.
When changes are introduced in an iterative and incremental way,

the desired changes in behavior (such as increasing ownership and
transparency) begin to flow seamlessly as a new normal and are
less likely to be perceived as extra work. Best practices for effective
communication that are implemented in team meetings ultimately
becomes new organizational habits.
That is why it is often said that team meetings are the “culture moment”
and “habit machine” of each team; small changes made here ultimately
can have a big impact on performance.
Sample Team Meeting Agenda (after undergoing a reboot)
1. Team Barometer (2min)

• How is everyone feeling today? (happy/sad/stressed)
2. Key Comms/Updates from the Team Leader (2min)
• Cascading messages from their boss
3. Rapid Performance Check-In (1min/person)
• Are you winning or losing? (ahead or behind?)
• Do you need any help?
• Is there any new action to be taken?
4. Voice of Employees/Customers/Business Partners (3min)
• Are there any voices you need to share with the team?
5. Team Energizer (1min)
• Appreciation/Inspiring Story/Team Cheer
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The Key to Creating Consistency
Senior leaders often like to define what they want their company culture
to be, but in reality, each team has its own microculture led by a manager
or supervisor who may (or may not) be aligned with the vision of the
senior leader.
Having a standard way of meeting across the organization and a system

to check if it is being implemented correctly is one way to ensure that your
company’s culture and performance mindset is growing in the direction you
want it to be.
Although it may seem slow at the beginning, we have found that ensuring
team meetings are effective in every department is the key to consistency
and reliability across the entire organization. Without it, it is very difficult to
keep each team engaged and focused on what matters most.
Final Thoughts
We hope that these three best practices (initiating psychological mapping,

increasing psychological safety, and rebooting the team meeting) have
given you some new ideas of experiments that you can run in your
organization.
Experiments that you can customize to your specific situation that will
help you avoid all the common change management mistakes that
most companies make when it comes to getting their employees in the
Philippines to become more proactive and accountable.
In the next appendix, I want to get more practical by providing you with
actual scripts that our clients have found very helpful in helping them
prepare for and navigate through the 13 Most Difficult Work-Related
Conversations in the Philippines. I won’t be surprised if these sample
scripts alone are the most valuable takeaway you get from this entire book.
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APPENDIX B
Sample Scripts for Handling the 13 Most Difficult
Work-Related Conversations in the Philippines
My team at Kaizen Leadership Asia coaches

hundreds of leaders every year in the
Philippines. We noticed that when it comes
to initiating difficult conversations, a lot of
leaders struggle with the exact words to say.
In this section, I partnered with the coaches from my team to share

with you, in no particular order, the top 13 scripts that many of our
clients have found most useful in helping them handle delicate
situations with members of their Filipino team.
Although you are free to pick and choose which scripts you would like to
read first, we recommend you read these topics sequentially from 1 to 13,
as some of the scripts build on from what was covered in a previous topic.
1. How to keep your team motivated during the good times

2. How to keep your team motivated during tough times
3. How to challenge your team to grow
4. What to say to an employee who is not meeting expectations
5. How to warn an employee that they are at risk of being fired
6. What to say when the time comes to fire someone
7. What to say when you need to fire someone you’re friends with
8. How to get more useful feedback
9. How to respond to negative feedback about you as a leader
10. How to deliver bad news at a town hall
11. How to get your staff to take more ownership
12. How to demote or reposition an employee without them
losing face
13. How to decline a request for a promotion or salary increase
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The intention of these scripts is to help you and the other leaders in your
company address these sensitive and complex topics in the simplest way
possible to minimize the risk of miscommunication and unsatisfactory
outcomes. However, it is important to remember that all of these scripts
are just guides. You’re going to have to tailor fit them to your own situation,
but they should give you a running start.
By far, the most common script that our coaches

get asked for is how to deal with an employee who
is consistently not meeting their expectations—
especially someone who is most likely not the right
fit for their organization.
It’s not surprising that many leaders dread these conversations, which
we totally understand. Especially when you’re dealing with someone
you believe has very low self-awareness or someone who has a history
of getting emotional or defensive during difficult conversations.
But before we share with you these scripts for dealing with
underperforming employees or ultimately making the decision to fire
them, we will start by giving you some other useful scripts that you can
embed into your daily or weekly management practices.
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1. How to keep your team motivated

during the good times
Let’s start with what we call the positive feedback script.
This can be unexpected for some people. It’s actually the script that
nobody asks for, but surprisingly what almost every leader needs.
My team and I have observed that most leaders underestimate the
importance of giving their Filipino team positive feedback on a regular
basis.
Many leaders tell us that they find the idea of giving positive feedback
to their team as uncomfortable and sometimes a little embarrassing.
For some, it feels like the workplace version of “I love you.” They
fear coming off as fake or what Filipinos call plastic.
In Filipino workplace culture, regular appreciation of an employee’s

effort from their boss is something that is rarely practiced. Even in
their families, it’s not common practice for parents to regularly affirm
their own children. Instead, people are expected to keep their head
down, respect the hierarchy, and not do anything to draw attention
to themselves—else they risk being shamed for being mayabang
(arrogant), alam-lahat (know-it-all), or makasarili (selfish).
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It’s common for Filipino employees to share stories of working with an

employer who never once made them feel appreciated for the value
they bring to the table.
This is one of the reasons why so many talented Filipino professionals

lack confidence in their abilities and are full of self-doubt—they rarely
get the opportunity to receive external validation of their strengths
from their boss or peers. This is exactly why regularly giving positive
feedback to your Filipino team is something that really helps motivate
them to be more confident and take more intelligent risks in challenging
the status quo.
Ultimately, this gesture builds up goodwill between you and your

Filipino team. When the time comes to initiate a difficult conversation
in the future, they are more open and receptive to your inputs. Making
them feel appreciated and valued in the past will make them more
likely to believe that you have their best interests at heart.
But, of course, there is no one-size-fits-all approach for how best to

deliver the positive feedback.
For example, some employees like to be praised in front of their team

members, while others hate the idea of being in the spotlight. The
latter would rather receive a private message of gratitude from their
boss, away from the glaring eyes of their peers.
So it’s always a good idea to first ask your team members about
how they prefer to be appreciated. Once you find their preferred
“appreciation language,” having the right script will help you fine-
tune your ability to provide positive feedback.
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Here are some specific scripts that you can use to give quick positive
feedback:
“Mark, that slide deck you edited for me was so clear and well-formatted.
Well done!”
*****************************************************************************************
“Ellen, I’m so impressed with how you handled yourself in front of that
client! You stayed calm and focused on what was most important. You
were able to de-escalate a tense moment which could have gotten us off
topic.”
*****************************************************************************************
“Albert, I really appreciate how you volunteered to help Dindin finish

that report. I love it when I see the team practice our company values
of helping each other out, especially when we are under pressure to
meet deadlines. Thank you for being a great role model for the team!”
As you can observe from the examples above, the more specific you can
make the feedback, the better.
What a person did to deserve the positive feedback doesn’t have

to be something remarkable or game-changing, like winning a big
client contract or designing a breakthrough solution. Sometimes, it is
appreciation of the simplest and smallest of things they’ve done well
that makes all the difference.
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2. How to keep your team motivated during tough times
The next sample scripts are focused on giving your team a confidence
booster when you think they may be struggling, feeling discouraged,
or exhausted.
“Krystal, I know that working with Mary can sometimes be

challenging. She tends to communicate indirectly and can be very
sensitive to negative feedback. That’s why I really appreciate it when
I see you go the extra mile to maintain a productive relationship with
her, and create a safe space for her to grow professionally.”
*****************************************************************************************
“Andy, I know that the project you’re leading is behind schedule but
I just want to make sure that you’re okay. I can’t empathize enough
how frustrating it can be when unanticipated roadblocks suddenly
come up. It has happened to me many times in the past too. And
I want to let you know that the team and I really appreciate your
commitment to fixing this. I am really confident in your ability to get
this project under control. You have my full support!”
Many leaders we work with agree with the value of giving positive
feedback to their team but struggle to make it happen consistently. That
is why we suggest putting it into your calendar or your checklist for your
team meetings and one-on-ones so you don’t forget.
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Many “left-brained leaders” have told us that they actually used a

spreadsheet to keep track of how many positive interactions they have
with their team in a given week and how it really helped them habitualize
this new behavior.
Regardless of what tool you use or if

you want to gamify it or not, we have
observed with all our clients in the
Philippines, without exception, that
when supervisors and managers make
authentic appreciation a part of their daily
routine, it makes a massive difference
to the engagement levels of their
Filipino employees—directly resulting in
increased productivity and retention.
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3. How to challenge your team to grow
Let’s go a bit deeper, because every leader knows that there will be
times when they need to give a more direct message to one of their
direct reports. Something that their employee needs to improve on for
the benefit of the organization.
This is when you may use the positive feedback scripts as a launch pad
to help you initiate a conversation about a new skill you want them to
build or something they need to think differently about. We call this
developmental feedback.
Unlike negative feedback (which will be explained later on),

developmental feedback is about helping someone understand what
they are doing well and what they can do to make it even better.
When done correctly, you help them create a clear bridge in their
mind of what they’re currently doing well and what they need to do
to improve moving forward.
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Here are some scripts you can use to help your team get to the next level:
“I love hearing stories from the team about how everyone enjoys
working with you, Nathan! Your enthusiasm is infectious and giving
creative ideas on how we can continue to meet and exceed our
customer expectations is something that you really excel in. I was
wondering if it’s okay with you if I make minor suggestions to an
area of your work?” (Wait for them to say yes.)
Awesome! I wanted to share little adjustments that I think would make

a big impact for you and the rest of the team. When you complete
one of your projects, can I ask you to pause for a few minutes, review
your work from the perspective of the target audience, and then send
it off? This is only to make sure that there is nothing incomplete or
unclear in the documentation. There can be times when you send me
an email and the messaging is not as clear or as sufficient as it can
be. Or when you send a spreadsheet for review, there are very basic
typo errors which I bet you will be able to discover and fix if you were
to give yourself more time to double-check and proofread it.
Moving forward, could you give your finished work a second look
and try to eliminate these minor errors, and check if there’s any
possible ambiguity before sending it? Let’s check in about this in
a few weeks and see how it’s going.”
****************************************************************************************
“Angela, you’re doing a great job managing your team! Your

department’s performance metrics are consistently meeting
the targets. I really appreciate the improvements that you have
implemented to drive more efficiency in your team and eliminate
those recurring problems that were causing us so much stress
earlier this year.
Now that you’ve gotten your team in a good place, I’d like it if
you prioritize building a healthy working relationship with your
peers. We need to be more aligned at the leadership level, and I
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have a feeling that we are missing out on possible collaboration

opportunities between departments. I fear silos will start to build
if the department heads don’t communicate more often.
Can I ask you to make sure you prioritize knowing your peers better,
share your goals with them, ask them to share their goals with you,
and brainstorm how you can all help each other? I would love to hear
stories from you and the rest of the department heads on how these
conversations created more ‘resource’ and ‘best practice’ sharing
between your respective teams.
Let’s talk about this again next month to see how it’s going. Don’t
hesitate to ask me for any help that you need to make this happen.”
It’s clear from the overall tone you are using that you appreciate the good
things your employee does, and how you are very specific about the things
you need them to fine-tune or change.
From our work with leaders of Filipino teams, the vast majority of
employees respond very well to this type of script, especially when you
put a follow-up date in place to drive ownership and accountability to
ensure it’s something they are pressured to act on and not just give lip
service to.
If they don’t take your advice and fail to improve, you may then need to
have the next conversation, which is the “difficult feedback” conversation.
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4. What to say to an employee who is not meeting expectations
One challenge that many leaders face is how often they’ve seen the
same problems repeat over and over with the same employee. Perhaps
you have asked them in the past to make changes, but they still haven’t
made the level of progress that you expected.
You may also have tried to coach them to take ownership of this problem,
but you still have not seen any tangible results from them that give you
the confidence that this particular problem will not reappear in the future.
This may be the time when you may need to address the issue in a more
direct and serious way.
Here’s the script for you to do that:
“Angela, in the past few weeks, I’m afraid that you have made
decisions that have significantly damaged the reputation of your
department amongst your peers. You made a major change to our
existing X process without consulting the sales and marketing team.
I fear that not giving them the chance to share their inputs and
concerns on the proposed change was a mistake. Now we are in a
situation where we might not get their buy-in, increasing the risk of
this project becoming yet another unsustainable initiative that fails
to meet expectations.
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We’ve talked about the importance of the leadership team

collaborating more effectively with each other, and you assured
me that you’d make a better effort to get people’s input before you
make decisions like this. So I need you to fix this problem by going
and listening to the concerns of the sales and marketing team. See
what you can do to accommodate their requests.
Even more important than that, I need you to think differently from
now on when it comes to working with your peers. You’re not going
to be successful in this business if you don’t collaborate a lot more
closely.
I would appreciate to hear back from you this time next week about
your plan to solve this once and for all. It’s important that your peers
see that you are working with them and not against them—so that
together we are more effective and aligned as a leadership team.
I’m always here to support you if you need any help. I’m more than
happy to review your plan with you. Can I get your assurance that
you will take ownership of this issue and actively seek ways to
involve others before making any big changes like this?
Here, you have communicated to them the seriousness of the issue, the
specific thing you want them to go and fix.
Your conversation will definitely not fall off the radar since you’ve agreed
upon a time frame for them to get back to you. That’s an important step to
increase the likelihood of progress being made.
Our coaches often role-play these scenarios with

our clients. It can be uncomfortable at first, but after
these practice sessions, most leaders share with us
how rehearsing with a partner helped them make
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important adjustments to their tone and facial expressions. This practice

has prevented them from getting defensive or angry when certain trigger
words come up in the conversation with their employee.
5. How to warn an employee that

they are at risk of being fired
Now, let’s assume you’ve had these conversations, yet things have
not improved or, in some cases, have gotten worse. Then we need
to have the “more serious conversation”—one that clearly states that
dismissal from the company is one of the possible consequences on
the table if the issue is not successfully resolved.
Remember, you never want anyone to feel surprised when they are
fired. Ethically, leaders should give their people enough warnings to
change before you make that final decision to let them go.
You are not just doing this to be compliant with local labor laws, but also for
your own peace of mind. You don’t want to have any regrets with how you
handled the situation, and you want to be able to confidently say to yourself,
“I did everything I could to help this person make the right changes.”
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This is not the time to soften or sugarcoat the language to make it

easier for you to deliver or overprotect them. That’s why it’s important to
design your message and premeditate possible questions or objections
they may have, so they cannot claim to anyone they were unaware of
the seriousness of the issue.
Take a look at this script:
“Angela, we need to have a serious conversation.
We’ve talked in the past regarding my concerns about you making

decisions in areas that significantly affect other departments. You
already know that collaboration and transparency are very important
values here, and that these are critical to ensure our initiatives are
sustainable.
However, if you keep making decisions like this in isolation, you

are not showing me or the others that you are committed to living
these values. In fact, you are sending the opposite message—that
you don’t value or respect the inputs and concerns of your peers.
Your actions are not helping us become a high-performing

leadership team. I need you to know that if you can’t fix this issue,
we’ll regrettably have to part ways. I’m telling you this because I
want to be fair to you by clearly letting you know where I stand on
this.
I need you to fix this immediately.
Your relationship with your peers is critical to your success in the

organization. I want to hear back from you by the end of the week
about how you’re approaching this. I also need to see significant
improvement on this issue within the next 30 days. If there’s
anything you need from me, please let me know.”
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Here is another script. This time, the issue is performance-related.
“We need to have a serious conversation, Tom.
You and your team have consistently failed to meet your goals
or even come close. As a result, we’ve had to have some
ver y difficult conversations with our clients about why their
expectations have not been met.
I know things come up that can derail your team’s focus , but
as a leader, you have to anticipate what those things are, and
manage your team to deal with them.
Not only that, I also don’t see you asking for help from other
depar tments when it ’s obvious that cer tain issues need to be
escalated and ex tra suppor t is required.
What I need you to do now is significantly reflect on how you can

do things differently, as a leader, in order for your department to
meet the expectations of our customers. Pointing fingers at others
or making excuses is an unacceptable response. I want to be direct
with you—if you can’t do this within the next month, I’m sorry to tell
you I’m going to have to find a new leader to take your role and we’re
going to have to part ways. I’m telling you this because I want to be
fair to you by clearly letting you know where I stand on this. I need
you to fix this immediately, and I want you to take this seriously.
If there’s anything you need from me to help you improve, just
let me know. I want to hear back from you by the end of the week
about how you’re approaching this.”
How your employee responds to this will, of course, depend on

multiple different factors. It can be an emotional conversation for
both parties. Some employees may focus on pointing fingers; others
may flood you with an avalanche of problems from their personal
lives as excuses for their underperformance in work.
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That is why we really encourage you to role-play different responses

with your thinking partner, so you can practice finding that balance
of being direct in your communication while also being humane and
compassionate in how you show up.
Preparing for what your employee might say in the discussion and
practicing how to get your key messages across, will make you feel much
more confident. You can stay present, listening, and continuing to reiterate
your intention clearly—that this is a serious problem and your employee
has to fix it.
From our experience, the more the leader prepares for these kinds
of difficult conversations, the greater the likelihood of successful
outcomes. The ball then is really in the employee’s court, if they are
willing and able to make the required changes within the timelines
given.
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6. What to say when the time comes to fire someone
So you have escalated the seriousness of the issue and you have tried
your best to help them improve—but to no avail. It is clear to you that
the only choice you have is to let them go.
When it comes to the actual firing conversation, even though you’ve

already discussed it with them in the past and given them plenty of
warnings, do not assume that they are just going to happily accept
the outcome of the conversation.
Some may still be surprised because they didn’t really think you were
seriously going to fire them. We all have a high capacity to deceive
ourselves when we want to.
They may want more of an explanation or even make a desperate

attempt to change your mind, but you must be firm and put the long-
term interests of your business before any individual. Be sure to use
decisive language in the conversation so there is no ambiguity or any
confusion after the conversation is over. The key is to find that balance
between being compassionate and being clear.
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Here is the script to fire somebody who is consistently underperforming

or is no longer a fit for your culture:
“Angela, when we talked about this three weeks ago, I told you that
I needed you to start collaborating more with your peers. But I have
not seen that happen.
There is still a lot of friction between you and other departments.

Honestly, I can’t see things improving. It’s time to part ways. I know
that this is hard to hear, but I would like you to respect my decision.
Let’s talk about the transition plan and how we can make this exit
fair for you and the rest of the team.”
****************************************************************************************
“Tom, when we talked about it last month, I told you that I needed
you to shift the performance of the team so that I can be confident
that you will be able to meet our customer expectations.
I appreciate that you have made an effort, but unfortunately, it has

not worked out. For the best interests of the business, I need to find
another leader to take over your department and we have to part
ways.
I know this may be disappointing to hear, and it was not an easy

decision for me to make. But I would like you to respect my decision.
Let’s talk about the transition plan and how we can make this exit
fair for you and the rest of the team.”
Before you have the firing conversation, think about any

transition plan, contractual obligations, or possible
severance plan that you may need to prepare. Tell your
business partners, board, or whoever your boss is, that
you’re going to fire this person and be ready to
explain why. You should already have given them a
heads-up about the issue so they are not surprised.
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Tell your HR point-person and have them help you with the process, if
necessary. Once the firing conversation is complete, tell the person’s peers,
direct reports, and then the rest of the company.
7. What to say when you need to fire

someone you’re friends with
In the Philippines, as well as in most Asian countries, the assumption that

the best person should always get the job is something that many people
consider idealistic and noble, but not always realistic or practical.
Despite the fact that most would consider it unfair to leverage personal
connections to get hired or promoted in a company, for the majority of
Filipino leaders, working with friends, old schoolmates, and relatives is
seen as both logical and highly desirable.
Ultimately, it comes down to their appetite for risk—in their mind,

people they already know are less likely to betray them or break their
promises. And the fact that they helped get them hired or promoted
will work in their favor, as they can always use their sense of utang na
loob (debt of gratitude) to push those people beyond their comfort
zone when needed. However, there will be times when leaders will
realize that hiring a friend was a mistake. And that’s normal.
Acting quickly and respectfully remove this person from your team is
something that most leaders will admit comes with great anxiety and,
many times, unnecessary procrastination.
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As in almost all cases, the time you realize that you are 100% sure you
should fire someone, it’s already too late—you probably should have fired
them six months sooner. Best practice is if you’re 80% sure that person
needs to go, don’t wait to find that remaining 20% of proof beyond doubt.
There is no way to do this painlessly. You have to make peace with this
reality before you do it.
Here is a script you can use to get the best out of this difficult conversation:
“Robert, there is no easy way to say this, but it ’s time for us to

part ways.
I appreciate all the things you have done to improve our

organization, and I greatly value our friendship. But I think you
and I both know that this is not working out. This is not the
outcome any of us were hoping for, but I think it ’s in the best
interest of ever yone involved if we find a way for you to transition
out of the team and help you find work that best fits your skills
and talents.
I really hope we can maintain our friendship. I know this may be

upsetting to hear, and you may need time to process this. When
you are ready, we can talk about the transition plan and how we
can make this exit fair for you and the rest of the team.”
Of course, the reason your friend fails may not be entirely their
fault. Many leaders shy away from having a necessar y “expectations
conversation” when their friend is first hired or promoted.
For example, your friend needs to know how you are going to give them
feedback, especially when things are not going as planned. They also
need to know that you are not going to give them any special treatment
just because you are friends. This “expectation conversation” is relevant
for all employees, but it is especially relevant for your friends who may
141
assume that behavior norms that are present in your friendship will
automatically apply to your relationship in the workplace.
You and your friend should also know that your friendship will most
likely change as a result of you working together.
Favoritism, for many employees, is a sensitive topic in the Philippines.

If other employees see you socializing together or know that you are
close friends, they are less likely to give you honest feedback about
how your friend behaves and perfoms in the workplace.
Potential problems are more likely to be hidden from you, as many of your
Filipino staff will fear that you will defend and protect your buddy over
the best interests of the company. They may also assume that you might
potentially punish them for giving you news that you do not want to hear.
That’s why it is always a good idea to have someone

in your company who you can trust to give you honest
and direct feedback about how your friend is really
performing in their team and among their peers.
If your friend is consistently not performing well and other leaders

see you are not doing anything about it, it can plant very dangerous
seeds in the company.
For example, you could be sending an indirect message to your

leaders that mediocrity and cronyism are tolerated. This may result
in increased resentment and frustration from others, especially your
high performers who see your tolerance of your friends as an insult to
their hard work and high standards of excellence.
So the sooner you can find out about what’s really happening with your
friend and initiate those difficult conversations, the better chance you
give to your friend in making the necessary changes to their behavior
or mindset before it’s too late.
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8. How to get more useful feedback
Another question we’re commonly asked during our learning sessions

is “How do I get more useful feedback from my peers and team about my
personal leadership and management style?”
The brutal reality of working with Filipino teams is that the vast majority will
not give their boss honest feedback, unless they feel safe to do so.
In most organizations, Filipinos can be very uncomfortable with giving

negative feedback to their managers as they are fearful of how they will react.
Progressive leaders like you, therefore, need to make a big effort to create
that safe environment for your team so that they are convinced that you are
not like the bad bosses they may have had in the past, where retaliation and
backstabbing are the norms for anyone who dares to speak up against the
hierarchy.
There are many reasons why you would want your team or peers to give you
feedback.
One reason could be a feeling that despite your efforts, the team is still not
responding the way that you would like. Perhaps you are demonstrating a
behavior that is killing their motivation, and you are not aware of it. Another
reason to get feedback is that you are not getting promoted fast enough,
and you feel others around you are not telling you why.
143
During the conversation, we recommend you use terms like suggestions and
advice and avoid words like assessment or feedback. As our experience tells
us, it can be easier for them to give more useful answers when you make
them feel that this is not a formal conversation.
Here are some scripts that you can use:
“Bree, I’ve been thinking about my career. As you know, I want to

be able to become more impactful in our company. Can I get your
advice on what I need to do differently to progress in my career?
What suggestions do you have that will help me get to the next level
as a leader?”
****************************************************************************************
“Can I get your advice on something, Eden? I know that as a leader,

there are things that I may do or say that may negatively affect the
engagement of the team or cause them to become more confused
and overwhelmed.
I want to see my blindspots. Can you help me see what these are?
I would love to hear your suggestions on the small things I can do
differently to work better with the team.”
****************************************************************************************
“Erik, we have been working together for a few years now. Can I get
some advice from you? What is one of the most important goals you
or your team have right now? I want to know what I can do better
to help you achieve this goal. What additional help or support can
I provide?
Bree, Eden, or Erik might respond by saying, “You’re doing great. Keep doing
what you’re doing.”
144
And then you can say:
“I appreciate you saying that, Bree/Eden/Erik. That’s really nice to

hear from you! But I realize that I need more guidance to help me
understand better. I am sure there are things I can do better. And I
highly value your opinion. Do you have any specific suggestions or
advice for me?”
Then they might say, “I don’t see you being proactive” or “You need to
show up more as a leader.”
When you get comments like this, it can be frustrating as it still

may not be clear to you what exactly they mean. But it is important
to avoid showing any negative emotions in front of them when
you get unclear advice like this.
It is best to reward their honesty by thanking them and then be more

curious to find out what exactly they mean. Your response could be:
“Thank you for sharing that, Bree/Eden/Erik. I appreciate your

honesty!
Would you mind if we spend a few minutes talking about what

it would look like if I were more proactive as a leader and I was
showing up more? Are there specific behaviors or examples that
you can point me to?”
Now you may not agree with Bree, Eden, or Erik’s advice and suggestions,
but it’s important that you listen to what they have to say. Watch your tone
and facial expressions to ensure that this is a positive experience for them.
If they walk away from the conversation feeling that you were defensive,
dismissive, or critical of their inputs, you may have caused a massive
withdrawal of trust from your working relationship with them, making them
very hesitant to give you any feedback in the future.
145
Ideally, you want to end this conversation with practical insights that you
can immediately apply to your situation. Be sure to ask Bree, Eden, and
Erik if it is okay with them for you to check in with them a month from
now to get their advice again on any changes you have implemented.
Regardless of where they sit in the organization, you want to make

them feel that they are a part of your success. And more importantly,
you want to be able to role-model for them the exact behaviors that you
would like them to follow when asking for feedback. Your example is a
far more powerful teaching tool than any technique you can use.
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9. How to respond to negative feedback about you as a leader
Initiating “Psychological Mapping,” a type of 360-degree feedback, is

one of the most powerful best practices you can use in the Philippines
to help your leaders create a rapid breakthrough in their mindset.
However, just like any best practice, it’s also a double-edged sword.
Meaning, if incorrectly applied, it can make things worse.
One of the most common mistakes that leaders make is not effectively
coming back to your key stakeholders (especially your own direct reports)
and sharing with them your reactions about the feedback they have just
given you.
Your team will want to know that their voices have been heard. So
it is important that you come across as grateful and humble for any
positives or negatives that you receive.
The worst thing any leader can do is start challenging the feedback in
a way that comes across as defensive. This will just cause your team
to doubt if you are going to use their inputs for improvement or as
justification for inaction and keeping the status quo.
At times, you may be very tempted to explain to your team why they are
misunderstanding you. However, the last thing your team needs at that
moment is a lecture from you on what they need to do differently.
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Self-awareness is the key. Yes, your title makes you the boss—but it’s still the
people’s perspective of you that makes you a leader. Their perspective may
be untrue or unfair in your eyes, but it is their version of reality.
Here’s a script you can use during a team meeting to ensure you don’t make
that mistake:
Good morning, team!
I want to start by thanking you for participating in the 360-degree

feedback process for people leaders. I know you are busy, so I
appreciate you taking the time to contribute to my development, as
well as the development of the other leaders in our organization.
I want you to know that this has been a very valuable and insightful
process for me.
That is why I wanted to share with you some of the things I learned
from my feedback after studying my results with my coach.
Starting with the positives: I discovered that some people find

me (positive characteristic A, B, C [focus on the top 3]) especially
when I (specific observable behaviors that create these positive
perceptions in others). This is very validating to hear, so I really
appreciate you giving me this affirmation.
I also found out some things that I need to improve. I discovered

that some people find me (negative characteristic A, B, C [focus on
the top 3]) especially when I (specific observable behaviors that
create these negative perceptions in others).
This was hard for me to hear, but I really want to thank you for being
so honest and transparent with your answers. I am sorry to anyone
who has felt this from me.
148
It was not my intention to make you feel this way, but I am not going
to make any excuses. I will own this. It’s clear to me what I need to
do better as a leader.
Here is a brief summary of my plan of what I am going to do differently:

[insert a succinct explanation—maximum of 3 things]
Over the coming weeks, I would love to sit down with you during
our one-on-ones, and get your feedback on the improvements that
I have made, as well as your thoughts on the impact it is having on
the rest of the team. In fact, any additional suggestions and advice
for me on what I can do better as a leader to support you and the
team are greatly appreciated.
So once again, I thank you for your honest feedback. I’m excited to
see how this is going to help me become a better leader, and I look
forward to our future conversations about how I can make things
even better for you and this team.
It is very normal for leaders to feel a bit emotional during this script,
especially when talking about some of the negative feedback.
Setting aside any frustration, hurt, or impatience that you may be

feeling is easier said than done. Progressive leaders are encouraged to
be more human and vulnerable in front of their team—but vulnerability,
like genuinely listening, is a skill that needs to be developed. Despite
our best intentions, unknown to us, many times our true feelings show
up in our body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice which
if unchecked can invalidate anything we say.
That is why when you believe you may be triggered when talking
about your negative feedback, we recommend practicing your script
in advance with a thinking partner. This is going to help you see
your delivery blindspots and ensure you maximize the impact of your
message.
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10. How to deliver bad news at a town hall
For many leaders, when they receive bad news, they are tempted to cancel
planned meetings they have with their team until they are able to gather
more information or create some sort of action plan for how the company is
going to recover and bounce back.
Although the intentions are noble, as no one wants to create unnecessary

anxiety or stress in their employees, many times we observe that leaders in
the Philippines are too slow in providing updates to their people.
Even when leaders don’t have the full picture, most employees prefer to be
kept in the loop for major updates that affect them. Rapidly updating your
team on negative news is a way for leaders to deposit trust into employees’
emotional bank accounts.
At the same time, it puts a stop to any unhealthy rumors (tsimis) that may
be circulating amongst the team, especially when leaders are holding back
information that impacts them.
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Here are two scripts that you can use, depending on what situation is more
relevant to you:
When Losing a Major Client
“Good morning, team!
Transparency is something that I greatly value. I have tried my best

to make sure that I communicate to you what’s happening in the
company that you need to be aware of. This means both good news
and bad news.
Today, I want to let you know that Client X has decided not to renew
its contract with us and to work with one of our competitors instead.
As much as I hate telling you this, this means our volume of orders
will be reduced by 30% in the next three months. I know that Julia
(the Lead Account Officer) and her team managing Client X feel even
worse. It’s never nice to lose, especially a big client.
However, that’s the game we are in. Sometimes we win, and

sometimes we learn. I want to promise you that we are going to
learn from this situation. We are not going to blame anyone. We are
going to come back stronger.”
[Here you can inject two or three reasons why you feel optimistic
and excited about the future of your company.]
151
When Downsizing or Laying Off a Department
“Good afternoon, team!
Let me start by sharing with you my commitment to being as

transparent as I can with you in our town hall meetings. That’s
why I want to say upfront that I have some bad news to share with
you. Yesterday, the executive committee and I made the difficult
decision to part ways with X workers from Department Z.
Here is the background to that decision. In order to be a

financially responsible company in the current economic
climate, we have had to take a look at our expenses and revisit
par ts of our strategy. Given the realities we are facing, we have
decided that we need to stop the work of Depar tment Z and
instead focus on the core business (Product A , B, and C).
So let me clarify a few important things:
There are no more layoffs planned. The changes we are making

are only related to Department Z.
We have thanked each of the X workers in Department Z for

their help in moving the company for ward, and we are doing
ever ything we can to help them find new jobs.
The workers in Depar tment Z have done nothing wrong; this

was a strategic decision made by me and the executive team.
I want you to know that this was not a decision we took easily. It
cer tainly was not the outcome we all wanted when we created
Depar tment Z. However, as much as it pains us , we feel that
this was the right decision to make for the long-term interests
of the company.
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For those of you who have a personal relationship with any of

the X workers in Department Z, I encourage you to reach out
to them. I don’t want this to be awk ward for you to offer your
sympathies or help. I believe that they would really appreciate
getting a kind message from you.
I don’t want to end this announcement without sharing with you—

despite this difficult decision we had to make this week—why I
am so optimistic and positive about our company ’s future.
[Insert an appropriate authentic story or thoughts on your

company’s vision or strategy that will reduce the likelihood of
your employees feeling pessimistic or fearful.]
If you have any questions about what I have shared with you
today, please talk to your manager, or you are more than welcome
to send me a message directly. I am open to discuss further any
concerns you may have.”
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11. How to get your staff to take more ownership
Now, let’s go back to you and your role as a leader; and let’s talk about
one-on-ones.
One-on-ones (1:1) is a foundation of how you can build the right

relationship with your employees. It’s a way for you to hear what’s really
going on with them.
However, most one-on-ones are missed opportunities—they often end

up as glorified status reports where the manager does all the talking
and the employee is silent, just waiting to be told what to do.
The good news is that small changes on how you carry out your
one-on-ones with your Filipino team can have a big impact on their
performance—especially when you need them to be more proactive
and innovative, which is something for most employees do not come
naturally, unless their leader creates the right environment for them to
thrive.
154
Here’s a script you can use to either set or reset expectations for your
employees regarding how you want them to use this time:
“Michelle, I wanted to share with you how I view our one-on-ones

and to also get your opinion on this.
I regard our one-on-ones as mostly your meeting—whatever you

want to bring up is okay with me. Let’s not just do status updates.
My role here is to simply listen to you and support you where you
need help in removing obstacles.
If you have questions about what’s going on in the company or your

department, if you have a great idea you want to share, or if there’s
something you want my advice on, our one-on-one is the best time
to bring it up.
I am also open to using this time to help me see my blindspots—

you may share with me your insights that you think I should know
about to help me become a better leader. We can also talk about
your professional goals, things you want to do more of, and things
you want to do less of.
How does this sound to you? What else would you like to talk about
during our one-on-ones?”
As you schedule your one-on-ones, remind your employees in advance that

it is their responsibility to prepare the topics that they’d like to discuss.
Now, they may not do this very well at first, but that’s okay. They’ll learn as
they get used to the practice.
Have a backup set of questions ready in case you need to

coach them to open up more. If you stick with this process,
you’ll both get the hang of this and you’ll adapt your one-
on-ones to be more satisfying for you both.
155
Here are some additional questions you may ask your employees during
your one-on-ones, so that you can have more meaningful conversations and
help them surface problems or potential issues before things blow up or it’s
too late to take corrective action.
• Since we last spoke, what part of your job has given you the most joy?
• Since we last spoke, what part of your job has given you the most stress or
anxiety?
• Do you see any potential conflict or misunderstandings between the
team? If yes, what can I do to help?
• Do you see any potential conflict or misunderstandings with our clients?
If yes, what can I do to help?
• What part of your work is not clear to you at the moment? How can
I help to bring some clarity?
• What are your priorities in work at the moment? Is there anything you think
you need to say no to or to delegate in order to ensure that these priorities
are met?
• Is there anything I can do to support you and the team to meet our
client and business expectations?
• Is there anything we haven’t talked about so far that you would like to
discuss?
• Is there anything you would like to change about the way we do our
one-on-ones?
• Is there anything else on your mind that you would like to share with me?
Remember, the objective of the one-on-ones is not for you to solve

all their problems. Many times, withholding your opinions and asking
them great questions instead is the greatest long-term value you can
offer.
You will find that sometimes taking off the boss’s hat and putting
on the coaching hat in these one-on-ones will empower them to
solve their own problems and liberate them from the false beliefs and
assumptions that are holding them back from discovering the creative
solutions that already lie within them.
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You can also use your one-on-one for career coaching, which we highly
recommend you schedule at least twice or three times a year with your
team. When speaking about career, it’s always best to let your staff
know in advance so they can think about their answers strategically.
Here’s a script that you can use to introduce this topic.
“Alex, I think it’s a good idea for us to sit down at least two or three
times a year and talk about your career development. I want to
know more about your professional goals to see how I can best
support you. At our next one-on-one, can we add this conversation
to our agenda?”
For the vast majority of employees, they will greatly appreciate their
manager taking the initiative to talk about something that is very
important to them. Once again, it’s something that most companies in
the Philippines never do, or when they do it, it’s mainly seen merely as
an HR exercise done out of compliance, and not from a genuine place
of wanting to see their employees succeed.
Here are some more questions you can use during career coaching
conversations to help guide them in the right direction:
• What parts of your job right now do you like the most, and what do you
like the least?
• Do you have a sense of the next big step for you in your career?
• If you don’t know or are not sure, how should we find out?
• What experiments could you do to get more clarity on your career goals?
• What kinds of training or learning experiences will help you move in the
direction you’re interested in?
• Is there anyone inside or outside the company you think you could learn a
lot from and want to spend more time with?
• What would you specifically like to commit to in the next few months, so
that you can make sure that you’re moving forward in your career growth?
• Is there something I can do to help you more with these career goals?
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In the Philippines, the predominant mindset of most employees is to

focus on the here-and-now rather than think about the future. It’s the
same reason why the vast majority of Filipinos are uninsured and have
no concrete plans for their retirement. That said, don’t be surprised if
they struggle with future-related questions. But I encourage you to keep
asking them to help make sure they’re pointed in the right direction.
Then, you can close this discussion by saying:
“I greatly appreciate you taking the time to share with me your

thoughts on your career, Alex. I want you to know that I am here to
help you achieve your goals.
If you ever want to discuss these topics further with me, please just
add it to the agenda in one of our future one-on-ones.
There is no need to ask my permission in advance. Please don’t

wait for me to bring this up. I want you to be the one who takes full
ownership of your career growth.
My role is to support you. Your role is to drive it. How does that sound
to you?”
The good thing about the above message is that it puts the
responsibility clearly on your employee, not just you. It is important
to take note that in Philippine culture, the boss is typically expected
to be the one who initiates conversations like this.
Any chance you get to change this narrative, so that your Filipino
employees clearly understand that they are the ones who are
responsible for their career growth, is another powerful step to move
toward a high-performing culture where employees are empowered
to take more ownership and accountability. This will free you, as a
leader, from constantly having to follow up on your team.
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12. How to demote or reposition an employee

without them losing face
Here’s another one-on-one that’s not so fun. It’s really important to

be able to tell employees when you’re bringing in a manager on top
of them or reducing the scope of their responsibilities.
This conversation is something that is very common in fast-growing

companies or when companies have to quickly adapt to a significant
change in their market.
As you can expect, many employees are not going to like this, but
it’s one of the tough decisions that you have to make as a leader for
the long-term benefit of the organization.
As your company grows, it’s natural that you will have to examine
each employee’s position, especially those in leadership positions,
to make sure that they’re the right fit for both your culture and the
ever-changing business needs.
Overall, it’s good news for the company that you have the courage
to make the difficult decisions you need to restructure or reorganize
the organization. However, with any type of changes like this, some
employees will be fearful. They may see it as unfair or a blow to their
ego if their team size is reduced, their job title gets changed, or their
scope of responsibility is significantly diminished.
159
No matter how you position the change, some people will

look at it as a demotion, resulting in a potential loss of face in
front of their peers.
Despite these risks, you have to do your best to help them

understand the change and be fully transparent about it.
Here’s a script to address it:
“Viviene, I’m making some organizational changes, and I want to

discuss them with you.
You’ve done a great job in bringing your department to where it is today.

What you’ve accomplished has been truly amazing. We would not have
achieved this without you! Because of your hard work and everybody
else’s hard work, we’re hitting our targets. Our clients are happy and
they want even more help from us. Business has never been better.
To help us get to the next level, I’ve decided that I need to bring
in some experienced leaders who have a track record at scaling
companies like ours to the next level.
What that means for you is that this new person will run your
department and most likely you’ll directly report to them.
I would like you to be part of the inter view process for this
new position to ensure that the person we pick will be able to
mentor and coach you and the rest of the team to ensure that
this change results in your building your professional skills so
that you continue to grow in this company.
I want you to be happy and feel that this is the right fit for you.
And I also want you to know that this is what I’ve decided to do
in the best interest of the company.”
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Allowing the demoted leader to be a part of the decision-making process

(such as interviewing new candidates or even just an initial meet and
greet) will get them to feel that they don’t need to be embarrassed
about the change in front of their teams.
Also, involving the demoted leader in how the change will be

communicated to others, especially their own team, can be critical in
ensuring any feelings of humiliation or shame are not allowed to fester.
Instead, the messaging focuses more on the positives and opportunities
that this change will bring.
For example, many leaders will be, in fact, excited and relieved that
someone else will be coming in to relieve the burden off them and they
can instead focus more of their energy and time on work that gives
them more joy and satisfaction.
However, that said, there will be leaders who will most likely leave. In
these situations, being vague just to avoid hurting people’s feelings in
the short-term can really backfire and make things even worse.
Be very clear on your motives behind the organizational change; then let
them be the ones to make the final decision. Many times, it’s a blessing
in disguise if they decide to leave. Regardless of their choice, if you
tell them your plan straight up, at the very least, they’ll appreciate that
you’re being honest.
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13. How to decline a request for

a promotion or salary increase
Last but not least, the dreaded conversation about money. Sooner or
later, leaders will find themselves in the position where team members
start to request a promotion (or salary increase) either based on the
duration they have been with the company or when they see others
in the company get promoted.
For larger and more mature organizations, this process is usually easier
by virtue of predefined career ladders and dedicated HR teams that
leaders can rely on. For start-ups and smaller companies that do not
have these systems in place, frequent requests for promotion usually
trigger the much-needed conversation at the senior leadership level
to start defining the exact criteria of justifying internal promotion in
the fairest and most transparent way possible.
In this instance, let us assume that for whatever reason, you believe
that the employee who has made the request for a promotion or salary
increase is not ready for it. However, your organization doesn’t have
a credible process that can support your assessment. This leaves you
with a burden to communicate why you must temporarily decline their
request for promotion.
162
Here is a script to help you out:
Hi, Tim. First of all, I want to thank you for initiating this conversation with
me. A conversation about promotion and salary is something that a lot of
people struggle with. So I want to acknowledge you for bringing this up.
Let me share with you my thoughts on promotions—where I see you

today versus where I see the next level for you. I would like to cocreate
a plan for you to get there.
For me, promotions are not about the number of years one has been
with the company or the credentials on one’s resumé. It’s all about
the value they bring to the organization.
I want you to let you know that you have been doing a great job
with the work you have been assigned to do. I especially appreciate
these qualities about you:
[Insert a succinct explanation of their top 2 or 3 strengths.]
For me to see you at the next level to qualify for a promotion, this
is what I would like to see more of:
[Insert a succinct explanation of 2 or 3 development opportunities

they need to achieve before you consider them for a promotion or
salary increase.]
I know you are capable of making this leap. And I would love to help
you achieve it. In our next meeting, would you be able to share with
me your thoughts on a plan of action to develop these necessary
skills and on what specific help you need from me?
In this meeting, we can also put some provisional timelines on all of

this so that you walk away with a clear plan of what you need to do to
get this promotion. How does this sound to you?
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Most employees should feel grateful to their manager for helping them
understand what they need to do to get promoted.
Naturally, there will be some who will be disappointed, and certainly

you can use this opportunity to apologize on behalf of the organization
if you feel that you and your senior leadership team need to do a better
job at proactively giving employees a career road map so they know
exactly what it takes to get promoted.
164
Final Thoughts
So, that’s it! I hope that you find this bonus material
as helpful as our clients do. More importantly, I hope
that you find things that you can immediately apply
to your situation or, at the very least, you are able to
share this information with one of the leaders in your
company so that they are better equipped to arrive at
more productive outcomes.
Feel free to reach out to me via LinkedIn or by visiting our website,

www.kaizenleadershipasia.com. Scan the QR code below:
I’d love to know your experience about how this material made a difference
for you and your company.
Also, I would welcome hearing your insights, suggestions, or

recommendations that we can consider to improve on future versions
of this book.
Best regards,
Mike Grogan
Kaizen Leadership Asia
165
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https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1987/11/
a-damaged-culture/505178/
3. Lapeña, C.G. (2010). “Dissecting the Pinoy white skin obsession.”

GMA News. https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/lifestyle/
content/182773/ dissecting-the-pinoy-white-skin-obsession/story/
4. Marc Adrian (2015). “How Much Do Filipinos Spend On Their

Health?” iMoney.ph.
https://www.imoney.ph/articles/filipinos-spend-on-
health-infographic/
5. Gascon, M. (2018). Inquirer.net: https://newsinfo.inquirer.

net/1010148/coa-transport-woes-
persist-due-to-failed-dotr-projects
6. Constantino, R (1959). The Miseducation of the Filipino.

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7735/
865e2ea8fd8d9662f3916ffe41cc14376706.pdf
7. Duteragge, A. (2018).
https://www.kantarworldpanel.com/ph/news/
brand-footprint-2018
166
RECOMMENDED READING
As I was doing my research on Filipino culture and history, there have been
so many resources that have helped me. If you’re interested in diving deeper
into the topic, below are top 10 favorite books that I highly recommend you
check out, in no particular order:
1. 500 Years without Love by Alex Lacson

2. Sister Moon of the Philippines by Victoria Mulato
3. America Is in the Heart by Carlos Bulosan
4. The Imperial Cruise by James Bradley
5. The Philippines Is Not a Small Country by Gideon Lasco
6. The Genius of the Poor by Tom Graham
7. Knowledge and Pacification by Reynaldo Ileto
8. Why We Are Poor by F. Sionil José
9. Brown Skin, White Minds by E.J.R. David
10. Mabuhay by Ramon Vilaró
167
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mike Grogan is a Lean Management Expert and

the Principal Consultant of Kaizen Leadership
Asia, living in the Philippines since 2015.
He was directly mentored by Kaizen experts

from Toyota in his 7 years working for the Merck
Pharmaceutical Company in the US and Europe.
Born in Ireland, Mike has a degree in Chemical

Engineering, is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black
Belt, and is the author of 3 books on personal and professional development.
Outside of his work with Kaizen Leadership Asia, Mike’s advocacy and
greatest passion is getting more Filipinos to believe in their potential to
transform the Philippines into a first-world country.
He speaks fluent Tagalog and has been a guest speaker for more than
200 different organizations in 30 different provinces across the Philippines
(including trips to speak to OFWs in the Middle East and Japan).
To get the latest updates on Mike, connect with him on LinkedIn or

Facebook.
www.facebook.com/mikepgrogan www.linkedin.com/in/mikepatrickgrogan
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MANAGING FILIPINO TEAMS

WHAT EVERY WESTERNER

WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID

“Mike Grogan’s deep knowledge of Filipino language and culture

Victoria “Vicky” Carlos

“In my eleven years in the Philippines, this book has helped me

WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID

“I started to read a few pages just to have a taste of what’s inside,

Dave Mark Vallega

“Although initially for a foreign audience, I highly recommend

Philippine Copyright © 2022 by Mike Grogan

MANAGING FILIPINO TEAMS

What Every Westerner Needs to Know

Even though many people will agree

This book is dedicated to you.

Why So Many Foreigners Fail in the Philippines • 5

Recommended Reading • 167

About the Author • 168

This was not intended to be an academic study, a travel guide, or a

However, to my surprise, this book became more popular with Filipino

Exposing Cultural Blindspots

Many of these assumptions are things we pick up from our childhood—

The Dangers of Stereotypes

However, as we start to go through the key cultural assumptions that hold

I am aware of the many flaws and hypocrisies of Western culture. I believe

This Book Will Offend Some People

This book is a result of the lessons my team

This country has become my home. Many of my closest friends, mentors,

Culture, for many, is a very sensitive topic.

Speaking negatively about a person’s nationality often provokes the

By highlighting the negative parts of Filipino culture, I am going against the

Confronting the Uncomfortable Truth

Nevertheless, to make any progress in business and society, we must have

To your continued success!

Why So Many Foreigners Fail

It is estimated that up to 50% of all international work assignments end in

Instead of celebrating a turnaround in business performance or the

Failure to Understand Filipino Culture

What is most surprising is how so many

They usually make this mistake not

Westerners who ignore cultural differences tend to go into every

As frustration and stress levels increase, the Westerner resorts to

The Leadership Crisis in the Philippines

But it is not just Western leaders who have this problem.

High levels of employee discipline, proactiveness, and willingness to

For many leaders, it seems that Filipino culture is constantly fighting

Too Busy to Change

Many leaders confide in us that they sometimes feel helpless to change

Proof That Change Is Possible

The good news is that it is possible to achieve outstanding results working

Hundreds of successful leaders (both Westerners and Filipinos), many of

What to Expect from This Book

Real-Life Case Studies

Warning: Some Opinions Are Controversial

To make this book as neutral and unbiased as I can, I intentionally decided

Appendix A: Three Proven Best Practices for Creating More

Appendix B: Sample Scripts for Handling the 13 Most Difficult

The subject of the class system in the Philippines can be quite

For example, the typical Westerner is encouraged by their culture to

The class system in the Philippines is something that was ingrained

In those days, the Philippines was under a monarchical system with

When the Spaniards arrived, these kingdoms were slowly crushed

When Filipinos tried to go up the ladder by becoming priests, business

Even today, discrimination is prevalent.