We cannot jeopardize our operations by lowering our standards and fulfilling what the community wants. We must take action for it, one of the action that we can do is give the community training and development to the job that most probably they able to do. This action also has challenge to execute; it is “TIME”, because we must able to synchronize our operational need with the development time of the community.

We must working together with operation and community development department to execute this strategy. Its better if Human Resources department already have the Production plan or business Plan then make the manpower planning and then align it with the Community Mapping from the Community Development department. In this process we must focus on which job that possibly fulfils from the local community, the time to prepare the readiness and how is the development program.

We must see this not as an instants solution, we must do this consistently and we will get the best result. The benefits from this strategy are, from community point of view, they will see that we seriously develop their capabilities and get trust and good relations from them. From our point of view, we will support our operations by give qualified employee at right time.

We must be very careful to choose a name for our project, especially if we want to choose the village or the region name for our project. For the community, the project name will determine who is the owner and it will be reflected for the priority for the recruitment and the local supplier for the project. The problem is getting bigger if in the area near project there are not many man power that suitable for the project.

In my experience, managing a project that operate in two regions that have a very different industry that grow in it. The first region is for the mining area and the second region is for the port area and we will have hauling accross this two region. The region for the mining area is region that grow with plantation industry, and for the port area is region that grow with mining industry. If we see from this condition, the manpower that potential to recruit is from the port area region. In this case if we choose the name from the mining area or from the port area I believe that there would be problem in the recruitment process.

I have discussed with the informal leader and the formal leader in those region and I can sense that each area has its own pride if I can say that. Each area has their own way how to handle the recruitment and they have different expectation from the project. We must appreciate and manage this well, and the wrong name could be a problem for the project.

Beside the choosing name issue, what we must do are communicate and build commitment about how to recruit the employees from outside both region, how to recruit in each region and how to recruit between those area. The communication and the agreement should be done with the informal leader and formal leader in each region. This process should be started before the project started to avoid the conflict in the recruitment process.

To avoid such problem from the project name, I strongly suggest that we must be wise to choose the name for our project, if it possible we must choose a name from the cultural history or cultural symbol that can be accepted for all the area project operate.

The Coal Mining operates in two different region one in Bulungan Region and one in Kutai Timur Region. The First Project is in a transition phase from Project to Operation and the second project is still in development and construction project phase.

 Firstly I want to write the transition from Project phase to Operational phase. In this phase the issues that arise are the working time and the employment status. Working time is usually different between the project and the operation, in project that usually working on construction and not working for 24 hours and in operation working on production that working for 24 hours, what we must aware that the change of the working hours need adaptation, the most important thing is about the safety. We must make sure that the safety procedure and the readiness of the employee is good.

 The second issue is about the employment status, in project we usually choose employee base on the project need, and not all position and competency we need at the operational phase. We must make sure on the project phase we already asses the employee performance and the competency from the employees so when we decide which one is we can continue the employee to the operational phase.

 After these two issues are solve, we can move forward to standardize the business process for the operational phase and improve it to achieve operational excellence. To accomplish this we must working hard on the change management initiative so all employees ready to follow the new standards.

 I believe that human resources planning is the key to anticipate this, even the project is just started, we must already focus on the short term issues and the long term issues. In Human Resources area, we must support on the project development and we must already start to create the standard business process, competency and the organization in advance. This will help us to determine which position and competency that we can build and develop at the project phase and this position should be manage by the owner not outsource from the beginning. Because the employees experience at the project phase is very valuable for company.

And to face this challenge the company then creates differentiation, the vertical differentiation to specify the level of authority and the horizontal differentiation to specialize the level of competency. And then the organization will grow and will face a new challenge, when the differentiation become so big, the challenge will be people will difficult to communicate and coordinate in this organization. In this organization specifying tasks and roles is supposed to help coordinate the work process, but here it builds barriers between people and function.

To face this challenge the organization should do the integration mechanisme, start from Hierarchy of Authority, Direct Contact, Liason Role, Task Force, Team Committee, Integrating Role nd Integrating Department. This mechanisme is depend on the complexity of the differentiation.

The challenge for Organization Designer is to establish a level of integration that matches the organization level of differentiation. We must achieve an appropriate balance between differentiation and integration. Because a complex organization that is highly differentiated need a high level of integration to coordinate its activities effectively.

At all costs, We must need to be sure they are not differentiate or integrate their organization too much. Because differentiation and Integration area both expensive in terms of the number of managers employed and the amount of managerial time spent on coordinating organization activities.

Source: Gareth Jones, Organizational Theory, Design and Change, 2010

Covey Jr in his book Speed of Trust also said the same thing… Trust is something that important in everyday life. we must focus to develop our character and competent to get trust from others. Character is our consistency to act with the true principles and competent is our ability to produce result. These two things is working together to give us bigger trust from others. You can be a very kind persons but if you cannot produce the best result people won’t trust you, you are not credible.. and vice versa..

Sometimes we distracted more to the things that money can buy… we forget that if you get trust the money will come by itself… it also in career, if we focus on position or on salary, it won’t improve but if we focus on our character, integrity, competent and our results,  it will improve by itself…

So, just like what Coelho said, lets focus on the much more important things… to what money can’t buy…

The journey not only help me to master the Human Resources but also helping me to become a mature person. but the journey is still far away. Its true that the more you know, the more you don’t know, I still need to study and exercise more if I want to be the expert in Human Resources. Insyaallah I already in the right track and the road in front of me is still challenging, still need hard work and smart work to conquer it. 

I would like to thanks to my lovely wife and my sons, that they always support my career, they are always become my inspiration to give my best. I would also like to thanks to all my mentors and best friends who always give me a honest feedback that help me a lot in my career.

One of my favourite quote is “life is a journey not a destination”, yes, I’m glad that I already pass this journey and glad with the decision I’ve made along the way. I believe that the next journey will be much more interesting and more challenging. I just want to enjoy the next journey, insyaallah I can always give my best along the way… amin

Beruntunglah kita yang hidup di alam kemerdekaan ini, sehingga kita dapat melakukan hal-hal yang kita inginkan selama tidak merugikan orang lain dan melanggar hukum tentunya… Tapi apakah merdeka itu menyenangkan? dalam tataran individual, manusia yang merdeka menurut saya adalah manusia yang mampu menentukan sikapnya sesuai dengan keyakinan dan tata nilai yang dimilikinya… Tetapi untuk mempertahankan kemerdekaannya kadang diperlukan perjuangan yang berat.

Mungkin saat ini perjuangannya sudah berubah bentuk, mengikuti jaman yang ada, yaitu sebagai professional kita melakukan kegiatan yang tidak sesuai dengan nilai kita, kita telah menjadi tidak merdeka karena kita secara terpaksa atau memilih terpaksa untuk melakukannya meskipun kita tahu hal tersebut tidak sesuai dengan nilai kita.

Sebagai profesional misalnya, kita dapat memilih menjadi profesional yang merdeka dalam arti dapat mengambil keputusan sesuai dengan kapasitas intelektual kita atau hanya menjadi pelaksana saja, meskipun hal tersebut mungkin tidak sesuai dengan pemikiran kita. Memang hal ini tidak semudah yang diucapkan karena kita akan mendapatkan tekanan dari pihak-pihak lainnya.. tapi itulah konsekuensi dari berpikir dan bertindak secara merdeka….

Pilihan kita untuk merdeka akan memberikan juga konsekuensi-konsekuensi yang harus dihadapi. Terkadang kita ingin merdeka tetapi tidak mau menerima konsekuensinya… Menjadi merdeka memang berat tetapi menjadi terjajah… pasti lebih berat lagi…. Hidup adalah pilihan… kita bisa memilih menjadi apapun yang kita mau…. tetapi kita tidak bisa memilih konsekuensinya….. C’est la vie…

Semoga kita selalu diberikan kekuatan untuk memilih menjadi manusia yang merdeka… amin.. ya robbal alamin… Sepenggal dari cerpen favorit saya karya Putu Wijaya yang berjudul “Merdeka” sebagai bahan renungan mengenai pilihan kita untuk menjadi merdeka:

…Merdeka itu adalah beban. Selangit beban di atas pundakmu sendirian. Merdeka adalah penderitaan. Merdeka adalah sejuta kesengsaraan yang tak putus-putusnya. Merdeka berarti kamu jalan sendirian, kamu tidak punya tuan dan majikan yang akan menolongmu kalau celaka. Merdeka itu berarti kamu harus menghadapi keperihan, kesengsaraan, dan nasib busuk sendiri. merdeka itu sakit. Sakit yang mahabesar. Tapi, kamu harus bangga karena kamu yang terpilih untuk memikulnya. berarti kamu dianggap mampu. Kamu masih dipercaya. Kalau kamu msasih dipercaya, berarti kamu masih diperhitungkan. Kalau kamu masih diberikan kesengsaraan, berarti kamu masih hidup. Kamu belum menjadi mayat, belum jadi robot, belum mati seperti yang lain….

Ngeles dari bahasa jawa yang setahu saya berarti menghindari, atau dalam konteks bela diri menghindari serangan yang ada…. dan dalam dunia kerja biasanya dapat diartikan menghindari tanggung jawab… atau mengalihkan kesalahan ke pihak lainnya…

Mungkin sudah perlu didefinisikan lebih ilmiah lagi mengenai ilmu ini… karena semakin lama di dunia kerja saya bertemu semakin banyak orang yang mengatakan ngeles ini sebagai suatu ketrampilan… untuk bisa survive kita harus jago ngeles katanya… dan kalau perlu dibuatkan khusus training mengenai bagaimana mencapai kompetensi ngeles ini…

Tentang bagaimana teman yang mengutarakan hal ini, saya yakin pasti dia punya suatu alasan atau melihat praktek yang terjadi, Ngeles kalau ingin survive… atau bahkan yang paling jago ngeles yang akan dipromosikan…. terkadang hal ini tidak tertulis atau tidak dinyatakan tetapi dapat dirasakan… hanya tidak semua orang berani menyatakan….

Kalau melihat trend yang ada mungkin sudah waktunya dijadikan suatu kajian ilmiah ini… bukan untuk melestarikan tetapi bagaimana menghadapinya… jadi dengan mempelajarinya kita tidak menjadi jago ngeles tetapi tahu bagaimana caranya menghadapi orang-orang yang jago ngeles…. dan kita lebih berhati-hati menghadapi kompetensi yang baru ini… jangan-jangan kita juga sudah menguasai ilmu Ngeles-ology…

Our career development is depending on our self. Why? Because we cannot influence how the companies develop their employee career, they have their own systems or their own culture how to promote employees, some of the company promote base on competency, base on seniority or based on the good relationship with the boss, there is nothing wrong with it. So it is our decision which system or culture that suitable for our career.

For me, we must always focus on our human capital development, does our current job give you more knowledge and more experience that improving your self? Because without that, I believe that our career will stuck. Our career will improve if our self is improving and we can produce more. It doesn’t depend on the company you’re working. If you have competency and it’s proven, I believe we can choose where we want to develop our career.

We must focus on the thing that we can control, and that is our focus to learn and gain more experience in our current work. I suggest that we also have a paradigm that our career is company borderless. We must see all the opportunity to develop our career not only in our current company.

See more, develop our self and always give our best. I believe if we focus on that our career will be developed. Believe in your self and believe that “God is not sleeping” so there will be reward for us if we do our best, if it’s not from our current company there will be from others. Just decide what career do you want and go for it…

Sorowako, 25 February 2010

Setelah mendengar itu, saya jadi malu karena saya merasa semangat belajar saya sudah mulai menurun dibandingkan dengan ketika masih baru lulus kuliah dulu, mestinya dengan segala fasilitas yang ada saat ini, saya harus dapat lebih berkembang lebih pesat. Seperti kata Steve Jobs, tetaplah bodoh dan tetaplah lapar, ya saya harus seperti itu sehingga saya memiliki motivasi yang lebih untuk belajar lagi. Mungkin sindrom ”berpengalaman” sudah menjalari saya, saya merasa sudah berpengalaman dan merasa menjadi cukup ahli di bidang saya sehingga saya merasa tidak perlu belajar keras lagi. Tapi saat ini saya haruslah merasa bodoh lagi, saya harus balik lagi ke titik nol atau back to beginning, kembali lagi ke awal untuk melihat lagi dan meluruskan niat saya.

Kemauan.. itu yang menjadi kata kuncinya, kemauan kitalah yang akan membawa sejauh mana kita akan pergi. Batasannya adalah kemauan kita, mau kemana kita, itulah yang akan mendorong dan memotivasi kita untuk terus maju atau berhenti. Memang saat ini saya harus berhati-hati terhadap pencapaian saat ini, apabila saya merasa puas dan merasa cukup, maka saya akan memiliki comfort zone baru yang akan mengungkung saya untuk tidak bisa keluar dari zona tersebut. Dengan inspirasi ini, saya akan memutuskan kembali apa yang saya mau, mengingat kembali mimpi-mimpi saya, dan memutuskan untuk mewujudkan mimpi tersebut. Dengan kondisi persaingan saat ini, sebagai profesional pun saya harus bersaing tidak hanya dengan profesional yang berasal dari Indonesia, saat ini saya harus siap juga menghadapi persaingan dengan profesional dari luar negeri.

Karena saat ini sudah mulai banyak profesional dari luar negeri yang masuk ke Indonesia dan bahkan dengan bayaran yang sama atau lebih murah dari profesional Indonesia. Saya harus selalu meningkatkan kompetensi saya untuk dapat bersaing dengan mereka, bahkan kalau bisa saya menjadi expatriate di negara lain. Meminjam istilah dari Pramoedya, saya harus menjadi anak semua bangsa, belajar dari bangsa manapun dan dari segala sumber ilmu yang ada di dunia ini….

Semoga saya diberikan kekuatan dan kesabaran untuk terus menghidupkan ”Kemauan” saya… amin Tak lupa saya ingin menyampaikan penghargaan dan rasa terima kasih saya yang sebesar-besarnya kepada Prof Basri Hasanuddin atas inspirasinya…..