Things Will Get Better

TODAY’S turbulent business environment demands that individuals and organisations perform at higher levels and respond with greater speed than at any time in the past.

Organisational leaders and team members alike must place new emphasis on learning and harnessing individual and collective creativity.

The challenging global environment is increasing the degree of complexity for organisations operating anywhere in the world.

With this arises the need for a different kind of inquiry in the organisation. The requirement for greater openness to uncertainty will challenge the sense of purpose, identity and self-efficacy of leaders and the people working for them.

Restore confidence

In today’s unpredictable business environment, clear leadership is needed more than ever.

To be a successful leader, you need the right set of skills and, in particular, a process approach to your task of steering a team or your organisation.

An uncertain outlook brings with it the higher possibility of having to deal with turbulence in the workplace as well.

Today’s leaders have the tough job of restoring confidence in and respect for leadership and business in the face of a recessionary global economy and in a climate of cynicism and mistrust.

They are being called upon to set an example and to show the organisations and people they lead the way forward.

Practise self-reflection and emotional mastery

A successful leader ensures that his people are aligned with the organisation by engaging them effectively.

He does this by generating awareness and promoting understanding of the differences between individuals in the way they prefer to work and the way they make decisions or manage relationships.

By creating a common understanding and a common sense of purpose, a shared commitment to action evolves.

Perhaps the most important thing a leader can do when there is turbulence is to be calm and maintain a sense of optimism. He must have the discipline and focus to remain steady within himself, and the emotional maturity to calm followers and keep the organisation functioning effectively when the ride gets bumpy.

Engage your employees

To be a successful leader, you must set a clear, compelling direction that empowers your employees.

You hired these employees. Use their abilities and talents to engage in creating a positive future for your company.

Communicate openly and honestly. Keep your employees informed and updated, even if the news is not always good.

Continue to focus on growth and development. Provide your employees with opportunities to grow and develop. It does not have to cost you a lot of money. For instance, allow them to work on projects that will expand their skills or cross-train in other departments to expand their knowledge.

Recognise and reward high performance. Find creative ways to reward your top performers. Even if you do not have the budget for bonuses and perks, there are simple things you can do to let your employees know you appreciate them.

Look to the future

Effective leadership behaviours will provide a sense of psychological safety and emotional containment in organisations undergoing great uncertainty, instability and changes that are often painful.

Leaders can deal honestly with their people, convey genuine empathy and create a powerful sense of hope in the future.

Leaders who achieve this will help employees deal more effectively with difficult experiences and inspire tremendous loyalty and trust.

Article by Sattar Bawany, senior adviser of Training Edge International and International Professional Management Association. 



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Touching Hearts and Minds

A business leader can be anyone who owns resources and is able to expand the value and profit of that resource. However, a leader can also evolve from just managing people to achieve the goals of the organisation without owning any resource. Here, people management is paramount.

In TouchPoints, authors Dough Conant and Mette Norgaard shared that “getting to the touchpoints of employees will lead to higher productivity and greater growth as a leader will be ‘tough-minded and tender-hearted’”.

Building on touchpoints for productivity improvement requires hard work and dedication. A leader has to be clear that it is the problem to be solved and employees to be inspired.

Here are eight productivity improvement touchpoints that leaders can utilise to manage employees:

Separate the employee  from the problem. People make mistakes in the workplace. As a leader, you should focus on the problem rather than on the employee — even though the problem was caused by the employee.

Refrain from bias. A leader will need to be objective in his investigation of issues at hand. He has to move away from office politics or conflicts, and focus on problem-solving.

Invent options to solve problems. A leader with a visionary mindset can develop multiple strategies to solve any problem. There is no such thing as there being just one solution. If you think hard enough, there is always a Plan A, B, C or D. It is all about creativity and inventing options.

Base it on objective criteria. As a leader, look for best practices, precedence and established standards which will strengthen leadership positions. These can be uncovered from internal and external sources.

Master your commitment to your organisation. A leader can create the energy and direction to improve the performance of employees by simply showing his commitment.

Often, leaders implement change and move on to other organisations. When employees see that you are indeed interested in the organisation’s development and direction, they will become your pillar. As you move up the ladder, this can become a challenge because each time you are promoted, you will need to engage a more experienced group of employees.

Channel energy into fact-based process improvement. Avoid telling employees, “My way or the highway!” This leads nowhere and arouses resentment in your employees. Instead, develop a proven system of improving processes.

Every organisation has its own process-improvement programme.

A Japanese business leader could focus on the 5 Ss: seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu and shitsuke. They stand for sorting, straightening, systematic cleaning, standardising and sustaining. The American business leader could focus on six sigma. The strategy is to adapt a process improvement system to grow the company.

Implement change management strategies without the pain. In Fred Harburg’s book, The Corporate Athlete Advantage, he said that effective growth and change programmes should embrace four characteristics — intensely personal, deeply meaningful, highly relevant to employees and strongly supported by organisational culture.

Hence, a leader should not import change programmes for the sake of change. These programmes should lead to goals without the need for painful restructuring initiatives.

Look for a model that best fits your organisation. The market is flooded with business models that have served other organisations in an excellent manner. Ask which model best fits your organisation. In TouchPoints, the authors shared how the Campbell Leadership Model was crafted.

A visionary leader can draw best practices and create a company-specific value and business model. It will inspire employees to follow the model and create new values.

Employees are expected to adapt to changes year after year and these demands can affect performance. When managing multiple projects and diverse groups of employees, it is essential for any leader to win the hearts and minds of his employees.

Deploying these appropriate touchpoint strategies will help a leader to secure commitment, improve productivity and, at the same time, develop highly motivated teams.

Article by Maler Vilee, international director of Training Edge International. She has over 14 years of experience in coaching, mentoring and leadership development. Call her on maler@trainingedgeasia.com and visit www.trainingedgeasia.com

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Adapt and Thrive

We are living through one of the most significant and disturbing periods of organisational life that I can remember. Global economic and social change, such as rapid technological developments, volatile oil pricing, changing demographic trends, new emerging political structures and chaotic financial markets have created a turbulent, unstable and highly competitive environment in which organisations must adapt and change faster and more profoundly than ever before. Transactional

Management has traditionally been concerned with the day to day operational requirements of the organisation focusing on planning, organising, controlling; rewarding or penalizing those handling the daily transactions. This is no longer enough.

The deeply unstable environment requires organisations to constantly recreate themselves, their products and their services. Transactional Management is still needed but we need a new model based on Transformational Leadership which can anticipate technological and market changes while showing insight and concern about the strategic direction the organisation must take and having the skill and passion to convince others for the need to change.

Let me compare the fortunes of the electronic giants Sony and Samsung. A decade ago

Sony strode the world as leader in its field. It was innovative, profitable and a brand to be proud of. Samsung operated in its shadow. I can remember Samsung being talked about in quite a derisory manner. In July this year Sony posted its fourth straight annual loss of many millions of dollars while Samsung’s Q2 earnings came in at $5.86 billion operating profit. This is a profound change in only a decade.

Consider the recent history of mobile phones. I think it is fair to say that Motorola pioneered the mobile phone and was market leader in the 1990’s. It lost market share and after being split off and rebranded as Motorola Mobility in 2011, was acquired by Google a year later. Its role as market leader was taken by Nokia who burst on the scene almost out of nowhere with great innovation and creativity. After a stellar rise Nokia too has dramatically declined forecasting a major loss making it its sixth quarter loss in a row.  Though the world’s biggest volume maker of handsets, Nokia lost the top spot in the smartphone market to Apple and others last year owing in part to its weak performance in the US where its smartphone market share fell to less than 1%. Current hopes lie in its recent tie in with Microsoft.  What is happening to Apple, the new kid on the block – well even Apple is under fierce competition from Samsung in the inevitable rise and fall of great companies. In the past this process took decades; now it takes a few years. All the companies mentioned are, or have been great companies packed with talent and the capability to operate effectively and efficiently. Transactional Managers have historically been able to focus and manage these businesses in the more stable environment of the past. It is not now enough.

Transformational Leaders need to focus on the leadership skills that enable them to establish and communicate vision and goals, guiding and empowering others to accomplish them. Transformational Leadership requires us to take risks, think creatively and courageously, be decisive, and communicate the vision of where we are going and how we are going to get there. This approach and the skills required are quite different from the traditional skills of management.

Ultimately Transformational Leadership is about change and four stages of change have been identified. First it is necessary to make a compelling case for change. Second it is important to inspire a shared vision, seeking broad input and encouraging everyone to think of a new and better future. Third, change needs to be led. A sense of urgency must be instilled. Collaboration has to be encouraged and the self-confidence of followers must be increased. Finally, change needs to be embedded. This is achieved by, for example, monitoring progress, changing appraisal and reward systems and hiring staff with a commitment to empowerment and collaboration. Transformational Leaders articulate their vision in a clear and appealing manner, explain how to attain the vision, lead by example and empower followers to achieve the vision.

In summary, Transformational Leaders promote new possibilities and generate a compelling vision of the future. They manifest passionate inspiration and visibly model appropriate behaviours. Their goal is change and their energy, enthusiasm and vision opens up new and exciting possibilities within their organisations. 

Article Contributed by Chris Fenney, Co-founder and Director of Training Edge International

Email:chris.fenney@trainingedgeasia.com
Website : www.trainingedgeasia.com



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You can learn from great leaders but you still have to create your own unique style

How do I become an effective leader? This is a question most leaders ponder, and in the search for the perfect answer to what that ultimate leadership approach and style might look like, many probably realise this is not as easy as they had imagined.

Why is this? There are many reasons.

First, there are so many books and opinions on the subject it is hard to identify one that stands out significantly from all the rest.

Second, none of them seems to be the best in all circumstances, and third, some of them plainly seem to emulate the particular style of famous and successful leaders.

An effective leader is authentic

Being a leader is a daunting task with a lot of challenges and worries about doing the right things in the right way. Hence, looking for the ultimate leadership style or method to be effective in all situations is an understandable desire.

In fact, the quest for the perfect leadership style and characteristics has been relentless for decades, but has still not produced a clear picture of what that one ideal leadership approach or style is — and it probably never will!

This is because it depends on the situation, sometimes referred to as situational leadership. British leader Winston Churchill was ideal at the start of World War II, and is often credited with mobilising the war effort in Britain and leading the country to victory. But he is generally perceived to be less effective in the following peacetime years.

Ernest Shackleton has been called “the greatest leader that ever came on God’s earth, bar none” for saving the lives of 27 men stranded with him on ice floes for almost two years in the Antarctic. He never got his men to the South Pole, but he got them out alive under the most extreme circumstances.

These remarkable men had very different styles of leadership, yet they were both entirely authentic as individuals. But however much you admire one particular leader, you can’t just suddenly imitate someone else’s style without coming across as insincere or fake.

Authentic leadership is about being true to yourself, to be your own person, staying true to your own values, being consistent and believing in a common purpose.

Hence to be an authentic leader, you need to demonstrate that you are able to build trust, demonstrate passion for what you believe in, practise what you preach, build solidity and ensure delivery.

When you have found your authentic leadership style and your own “voice”, you can then be inspired and learn from others, adapt to situations and apply situational leadership based on your own leadership style.

In other words, we can learn from others’ successes and mistakes — but we can’t be exactly like them, because that would not be authentic.

Therefore, it is important to understand the fundamentals of what authentic leadership means to you. You have to define your own authenticity, while appreciating how you can still learn from other leaders and your own experiences and adapt your leadership style when required.

Be an effective leader by managing yourself

Being an effective leader is not only about leading others, but also about how you manage yourself. Effective leaders are able to manage and juggle multiple demands on their time and still stay focused, without getting stressed out or losing the big picture.

This is because they have built a set of effective behaviours and habits around them, which guide them and their direct reports, team members and colleagues.

Therefore, being an effective leader has as much to do with building the most effective behaviours and habits as developing the right leadership components to effectively lead others.

Research shows you can continue to learn new skills, embrace new competencies and keep learning and adapting throughout your career.

No one is born a great leader — all great leaders grew into their role. And the most successful are those who stayed authentic.

Article by Niels Kemp Rasmussen, Senior Consultant with Training Edge International who specialises in helping clients uncover hidden potential and increase performance in their organisations.

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