LEADERS ISSUE 06
15 APR 2018
DIGEST
How to Shape Your Culture 03
THE IMPACT OF CULTURE ON YOUR ORGANISATION’S RESULTS
09
HOW TO BUILD A CULTURE OF SERVANT LEADERSHIP IN YOUR ORGANISATION
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WHY LEADERS SHOULD THINK TWICE BEFORE SAYING ‘WE ARE FAMILY’!
This fortnightly publication is dedicated to advancing civil service leadership and putting it into practice contemporary leadership principles.
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PUBLICATION TEAM EDITORIAL
Editor-in-Chief Segaren Senior Editor Siti Rahanah Amat Dollah Assistant Editor Samson Tan Diana Marie Capel Graphic Designer Awang Ismail bin Awang Hambali Abdul Rani Haji Adenan
Content Partners:
CONTENTS
ISSUE 6 I 15 APRIL 2018
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06
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The Impact of Culture on Your Organisation's Results
Why Leaders Should Think Twice Before Saying ‘We Are Family’!
Empowerment is not Everything
What Sets The Asian Business Culture A Cut Above
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How To Build A Culture Of Servant Leadership In Your Organisation
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Inspirational Quotes
THE LEADER’S DIGEST IS A FORTNIGHTLY PUBLICATION BY LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE OF SARAWAK CIVIL SERVICE FEATURING ALL THE LATEST SURROUNDING THE TOPIC OF LEADERSHIP. THE PUBLICATION ALSO FEATURES SPECIALLY SELECTED WRITE-UPS RELATED TO EACH THEME OF THE ISSUE, THROUGH ITS CONTENT PARTNERS.
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THE IMPACT OF CULTURE ON YOUR ORGANISATION’S RESULTS
BY ASHVAANI RAMANATHAN
How to start designing culture intentionally
It is that time of the year – you just received news that the company fell short of its annual targets and the profits are not as healthy as expected. It is more of a pain than a surprise to you. You feel stressed that your boss is stressed as his boss is stressed. Your boss’s boss says it’s the people while your boss believes it is the strategy and bad execution. You are just confused. In the end, all three blamed it on the economy. But what is the real reason for our failure to hit results and achieve goals? According to Joseph Tan, chief executive officer (CEO) of Leaderonomics Good Monday (LGM), the issue is culture. Companies that fail to intentionally create, design and deploy culture, fail to achieve their desired results. Tan’s statement is based on research by the Leaderonomics Research division, where findings indicated that various cultural elements, namely belief and mindset of employees, have a direct correlation with actions and results.
What is culture?
In 2014, the Merriam-Webster dictionary announced “culture” as the word of the year. In 2015 and 2016, we witnessed a powerful shift of focus from business strategy to organisational culture with the latter heavily endorsed by the likes of giants such as Google, Apple and Facebook. Interestingly, in digging deeper through the list of LinkedIn’s “Top Attractors Where The World Wants To Work Now”, culture and engagement were key indicators for organisations that made it to the list. Unfortunately, culture remains, at best, grey and, at worst, completely overlooked as companies remain oblivious to its power to transform. Consider this piece of research: In 2013, research from Gallup indicated an increase in performance-related business outcomes by 240% when an organisation deepened its culture and engagement efforts. But for us to truly understand what drives cultural transformation in a business, we need to understand what culture is not.
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Investing in better cubicles, free snacks, gym memberships and having cool offices does not translate to a culture transformation. These are all fine and dandy but there is actually a science to cultural transformation.
Our behaviours are a result of beliefs and the mind-sets that we have. If you believe that your boss will yell at you if you speak up at meetings, your belief will translate to an action – in this case, you will not speak up in meetings.
According to Roshan Thiran, CEO of Leaderonomics, “culture starts with a clear purpose”.
These beliefs are reinforced through experiences. When we experience something repeatedly or continuously, we formulate beliefs that lead to action and ultimately, to results.
"Organisations that are purposeful and have clarity of purpose and vision have a higher possibility of building an effective culture that enables them to achieve the vision that has been set out."
"So, if we want to change behaviours, we must change the experiences our employees are going through. When we successfully change these experiences through creation of new rituals, we have begun the process of culture transformation."
Being a millennial, I care about being associated with a purposeful vision. Culture starts with your narrative of the WHY of the company – its values, belief systems, ambitions, personalities and rituals. It is this narrative that translates to a worldview of what the company stands for.
Many organisational culture changes begin with covering the office walls with banners broadcasting the new culture.
After all, what we know of AirAsia’s culture today is simply shared stories of our experiences, from the moment we stood at the check-in counter right until we arrived at our destination.
Some try to engage their workforce through fancy teambuilding sessions. You can huddle through meetings after meetings with your leadership team, preparing action roadmaps.
From the outside looking in, the rest of the world may not understand the business model nor the strategies of AirAsia but what they can relate very strongly to is the culture practised by its employees on the ground and up in the air. Our decision to continue using the carrier is most likely influenced by these very experiences that we have gone through.
And then you can organise a town hall meeting to cascade these plans, believing that the faster they are disseminated, the better.
From belief to action
So, the first step in designing an effective culture is to have clarity of purpose. Secondly, Roshan adds that “culture is defined by behaviours.” 4
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Unfortunately, these efforts seldom get to the hearts and minds of the people – the very core of what makes them want to change habits and experiences that they are already comfortable with.
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Here at LGM, we believe in starting small. In our experience, some great examples of successful corporate culture turnarounds have been those who have captured the hearts and minds of their people through the formulation of new rituals and experiences. But it must start with clarity of purpose and desired results. One of the key things that we do with organisations is to engage with leaders to identify a number of key “limiting” patterns of beliefs that shape these behaviours. Once we successfully identify the fundamental limiting beliefs that people have of their company, we deep dive towards converting these beliefs into winning outcomes that create positive experiences and achieve the business results. Our observations of successful transformation are that it happens when leaders are willing to accept the current undesirable reality, roll up their sleeves and work through the muddle. For leaders, the key to victory is to listen attentively, speak for clarity and act in unity. A final element of cultural transformation often overlooked is empowering your managers to become great managers. Change can be bottlenecked at the middle manager level if effort to educate and develop these managers into effective leaders does not take place.
Relationship matters
Although change happens from the top, nothing is more uninspiring than knowing that your manager does not care to hold a better relationship with you. After all, Gallup knows this best as their analysis points to “relationships with direct supervisor” as the number one reason why employees leave the company.
"A great manager helps you grow your strengths while teaching you to manage your weaknesses." In an environment that is heavily undergoing culture change, it is important for people managers to step in and keep the workforce engaged and excited to see the big picture. At LGM, we have developed an approach that enables culture transformation to happen in a simple and effective way. Our two-pronged approach of intertwining culture transformation and employee engagement is a potent formula that drives profits but also enables employees to feel purposeful, creating a unique culture that can be a competitive edge for you. Ashvaani Ramanathan is a senior consultant with Leaderonomics Good Monday. She gets inspired each time her LGM team is able to successfully transform organisations “culturally”. Although culture transformation may seem like rocket science, she believes that every organisation should invest deeply in it if they desire to become globally competitive.
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Empowerment is not everything BY JOSEPH TAN
“What good is power without the right focus? ”
Whenever I consult with organisations, I am amazed with the prevalence of a utopic mindset when it comes to dealing with the behaviours of employees. There is somehow this sense that if I spell out the numbers and expectations clear enough, everything else should fall into place. In fact, I should learn to control less and empower them to take charge—after all, isn’t every employee a responsible human being who has no need to be reminded on what is the right thing to do? The word “empowerment” has become a catch-all phrase that in my observation, has been a simplistic approach towards everything from productivity to profitability. Is giving more power and autonomy really the answer to improved engagement and performance? In today’s context, empowerment means to assign authority and trust to an individual to carry out certain assigned responsibilities. This all sounds good as an end goal, however, we do ourselves a great disservice when we overestimate the power of potential goodness and underestimate the pull of human nature. 6
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The hype of potential goodness Think about it—if everyone on planet Earth is inherently good and full of goodwill, then there is really no need for an organisation to have a department called human resources (HR) or training and development. This is because everyone is already empowered and enabled to do what contributes toward the common good, and every behaviour and mindset will be directed towards the welfare of others. Sounds utopic, right? Yet, when a company grows, it is the HR department which groans! The growing pain of an organisation has more to do with its people rather than its processes, and more to do with mindset rather than methodology. The fact of the matter is that when people are left to their own devices, the tendency is towards degradation and the breakdown of order (very much like the second law of thermodynamics which states that without any external intervention, all closed systems tend to wind down). That is the reason why leaders in any organisation are constantly vigilant to make sure that there is a strong emphasis on the need to communicate, converse and connect.
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This is not to say that employees do not have the desire to do what is right. However, there is a gap between desire and deliberation, and between intention and being intentional. When it comes to empowering employees, it is important that we focus on the power to serve a greater purpose. Without this focus on a greater purpose, then whatever power is given to the employee will end up being utilised for self-serving purposes. Hence, there should be less focus on power and more emphasis on purpose. Tapping the potential goodness in an individual is not like turning on the tap! The song Let It Go! (from Disney’s animated movie, Frozen) is certainly not a song of empowerment which I would promote—if every employee sings in the same spirit as Elsa, you will witness the creation of many, many small “icy kingdoms.” What we need is to first decide which “kingdom” to seek, then the power will flow in the right direction. Empowerment tip no. 1: Make the leadership decision Leaders can never expect to be popular. On the contrary, as a leader, he is expected to deliver even when he may not win the popularity contest. The leader is known for his decisiveness rather than desirableness. The commitment to stick through a decision regardless of shifting circumstances is what makes empowerment meaningful.
group interviews were conducted, the feedback was this: “It was not about the numbers, rather it was the way the numbers were communicated. We felt that we had no say in the planning process and worse still, we are expected to perform, minus the needed support and resources.” Unfortunately, managers today are more concerned about what they want rather than what their team needs in order to do a good job. When employees lack the means to do their work well, frustration with their inability quickly follows, as does anger with the company for placing the worker in such a difficult spot. In this case, just reciting the empowerment mantra will only add more salt to the wound. Empowerment tip no. 2: Make the support available Although having a clearly communicated goal is motivating, another equally important point is the employees’ perception that the company is backing them up with the equipment they want and need to do a good job—this serves as a powerful psychological motivator. More than ever, managers today need to realise that it is not about the pressure of performance that is going to hit the home run, rather it is the psychology of performance that is going to seal the deal. It is not only about getting people to work but we need to know why people will work on something.
Empowerment within the context of decisive leadership requires that: 1. The focus of the chief executive officer to be communicated clearly at all levels of the organisation 2. The focus of the manager to act swiftly against non-performers 3. The focus of the employee to understand the real priorities When the above foundations are in place, then the act of empowerment makes sense because decisiveness gives direction to the energy of empowerment. Without decisiveness, empowerment generates more heat than light.
The hype of performance management Besides a superficial understanding of potential goodness, there is also the quick fix approach of measuring everything. The thinking seems to be: If measurement drives behaviour, why not measure everything and anything? Now, this line of reasoning ignores the reality that when it comes to human motivation, the correlation is hardly linear. The output from a human being is not as predictable as the input just because we keep drumming in the same message. So, some managers would go about chanting the performance mantra: “You all know the numbers, go bring in the results . . . or else.” This is repeated over and over and the sound can oftentimes be so familiar that employees are no longer excited about achieving their goals. I remember consulting for a pharmaceutical company which was losing 24% of their sales force the year before and when focus
According to Gallup, whether a person has the materials and equipment needed to do his work well is the strongest indicator of job stress. The data shows that some of the things that frustrates employees is when they want to make a difference at work, but are held back from doing so due to lack of resources. Here are three practical steps for employers to consider so that your effort to empower does not backfire: 1. Consider the materials, equipment and resources required by employees to do a good job 2. Celebrate current accomplishments first before communicating the next one 3. Conduct small group conversations to address any doubts or lingering issues which might affect the achievement of the set goals Issue 6 I Apr 2018
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The hype of practising innovation Then, there is also the well-intended focus on creating a culture of innovation. It all sounds like the lyrics of a well-sung tune—if we do not innovate, then someone else will eat our lunch. So, in the name of innovation, we keep pushing the boundaries with best practices and knowledge-sharing. This is all well and good, and it all sounds very empowering. Let’s empower our people to be innovative, let’s give them the freedom to explore and to think out of the box. All of this sounds really good, but it could be a case of being too good to be true. Let me explain why. When an organisation implements initiatives of innovation, there is more to it than just stringing a few events together. There is the additional element of team dynamics which requires careful attention. There is also an emotive element which is even stronger than innovation—it is a sense of fairness and right recognition. Often, when innovation is pitched, the factor of work distribution is not considered. In fact, according to Gallup, two out of three employees reported that they are doing more than their share of the designated workload. This means that two out of three employees feel that they are carrying the slack of someone who is not performing. This perception that their co-worker is not committed to his work as much as them can be counter-productive to your innovation programmes! Talented performers are very alert towards matters of recognition and contribution. On the other hand, there are organisation leaders who go the other extreme and treat everyone the same—with the thinking that since there could be accusations of favouritism, I might as well then treat everyone the same. Now this mode of approach is not going to work either!
Empowerment tip no. 3: Make the team accountable Hence, it is not only about the bright, individual “sparks” which make innovation really work, there is also the additional factor of team accountability. Often, when a select few talented individuals feel that they are the only ones carrying the load, it may feel great to have this “saviour” experience in the beginning, but after a while, the load might be too much to bear. Furthermore, if others are taking a free ride in the process, then it becomes a disengaging experience. The key then is to ensure that an accountability process is put in place so that when the initial innovative enthusiasm wanes, there is the ownership commitment to make things happen in a collaborative way. Here are three steps for you to consider so that empowering your employees for innovation does not become an exercise in futility: 1. Define the scope of innovation into a series of key results and targets that are cascaded to every team member’s role and job expectations. 2. Reward contribution openly and recognise the efforts of performers. 3. On the same token, non-performers must be reprimanded swiftly as well. However, this needs to be done in a way that protects the dignity of the individual and by giving opportunities for change and a turnaround. In order for the above to work, managers ought to be comfortable in learning the skills of conducting accountability conversations. Without accountability, it is every employee for himself and this will lead to individual star performers, and we will never be able to win as a team. And when it comes to sustainable high performance, it is the team’s contribution that matters. There is a saying that rings true—if you want to travel fast, travel alone, but if you want to travel far, travel together.
Conclusion Empowering employees is great, but it is never designed to be a solo activity—it must be done in the context of having a proper understanding of individual behaviour, team dynamics and management support. Without the right focus, empowerment of employees can actually end up being disengaging for them because it is energy produced which does not have the proper channel for expression.! When it comes to the worth of a person, one cannot discriminate, but when it comes to the quality of one’s work, then discrimination can take place. If a talented employee perceives that non-performers are rewarded at the same level as them, then the message sent is clear— mediocrity is tolerated. So, there are two options left for them, either they join the crowd (become a part of the culture) or look for another crowd to join (seeking to move on to a better culture).
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Joseph’s passion is to work with performance-focused leaders to capture the hearts and minds of their employees through a strengths-based and accountability-driven approach. Much of what is shared in this article comes from his work as a Gallup-certified strengths coach.
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The National Monument was built to recognise and honour those who gave up their lives in the cause for peace and freedom, just like how servant leaders always put others before them.
HOW TO BUILD A CULTURE OF SERVANT LEADERSHIP IN YOUR ORGANISATION Embracing the spirit of a servant in building great organisations BY ERIC LAU
The term servant leader seems to be an oxymoron. How can one be a leader and a servant at the same time? Is it possible? The answer is a resounding yes!
Greenleaf teaches that a servant leader leads by serving others. They place the interests and needs of others ahead of their own interests and needs.
Exemplary leaders like Mother Theresa, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela have all demonstrated to us that impactful leadership, which makes a lasting difference, lies in servanthood.
In short, servant leaders place others before self. They are servants first and leaders second. In fact, they make such great leaders because they simply know how to serve.
Gandhi once stated that,
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Although the principle of servant leadership has been a timeless practice, the modern understanding of this term was first pioneered by Robert K. Greenleaf back in the 1970s.
Let’s bring a little more clarity to the practice of servant leadership. When one is a servant leader, we are not saying that he or she has to make coffee for their team members, wash the office toilets, or come early into a meeting to ensure that all the chairs are being arranged properly.
"What matters is how leaders serve, and not about leaders being servants. Servant leaders are those who embrace the spirit of a servant in their leadership expression." Issue 6 I Apr 2018
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A case study: Tony Hsieh and Zappos Tony Hsieh, chief executive officer of Zappos—one of the world’s largest online shoe and clothing company—is known for his servant leadership. As a company that records over US$1bil (RM4bil) in sales revenue, Hsieh sits at a desk that is of the same size and model as the ones given to new employees at the company’s call centre. He sits with other executives in the same row, within an open space where he is easily accessible to all employees. Hsieh is known for his humility and authenticity as a leader. His modelling of servant leadership is simple: We’re all here for the same reason and no one in this operation is more important than anyone else.
This is demonstrated in the construct and design of the Zappos office. The moment you enter the Zappos office, you hear upbeat music pumping and you would observe employees engaged in recreational activities. The interior design and environment in the 11-storey office building is cool and appealing. There are refreshment stations on every floor, and if employees are hungry, the cafeteria offers free and other affordable food. Hammocks can be found everywhere for employees to take a nap if they are tired. All this is intentionally done because Hsieh is a big believer in building the right organisational culture. As a servant leader, he is always thinking about what is best for his people, and he places much emphasis in building an environment where his employees are being served well.
CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh speaking speaks at Big Omaha 2010, an annual conference for entrepreneurs. Photo credit: Malone & Company Photography | Flickr.
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One of Zappos’s core values is to build a positive team and family spirit. Here is how they express this value:
“At Zappos, we place a lot of emphasis on our culture because we are both a team and a family. We want to create an environment that is friendly, warm, and exciting. We encourage diversity in ideas, opinions, and points of view. The best leaders are those who lead by example and are both team followers as well as team leaders. We believe that, in general, the best ideas and decisions are made from the bottom up; they’re influenced by those on the front lines who are closest to the issues and/ or the customers. The role of a manager is to remove obstacles and enable his/her direct reports to succeed. This means the best leaders are servant-leaders; they serve those they lead.” The last sentence above encapsulates Zappos’s view on what makes a great leader.
How does this translate to organisational success? At Zappos, the heart of a servant leader is effectively transferred to the way he serves his customers. For example, if a customer calls Zappos because he couldn’t find the product he was looking for on Zappos’s website, the customer representative will then search the company’s inventory database. If the product is truly unavailable, Zappos will convey it to the customer. In a traditional sales approach, this is the moment where most sales representatives would take advantage of the situation to cross-sell a different product to the customer in order to close the sale. However, in Zappos, the standard operating procedure is for the sales representative to search online on their competitors’ website, and once the product is found, they will refer the customer to their competitor’s website. Zappos’ servant-leadership approach is simple: We exist to serve our customer and therefore, we will do whatever it takes to please them, including losing a sale.
You may say this does not make sense, from a business point of view. But, let results and statistics speak for themselves. With a sales turnover of over US$1bil (RM4bil) and a 10mil customer database, 75% of Zappos’ business comes from repeat customers. This is any organisation’s dream. Zappos’ customers are no ordinary customers. They are diehard raving fans! When there is authenticity in the way that we put others first before self, the expression of this type of leadership can truly be amazing. Take a look at this scenario: There was a woman who bought a pair of boots for her husband at Zappos. Sadly, her husband never received the gift as he was killed in a car accident on his way home from work. When the woman called Zappos to inquire about the return policy and told the Zappos representative what had happened, the Zappos representative ordered flowers to be sent to her in order to offer their condolences.
The bottom line The practice of servant leadership is all about putting others before self. This is in total contradiction to many of the tragic leadership practices we see today where the focus is on the leaders’ personal self-serving agenda.
"Famous businessman and writer, Max
De Pree, says that, “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.”
"
Great leaders possess the heart of a servant. Serving others leads to leadership greatness. So, my question to you is, what kind of a leader do you want to be? What kind of an organisation are you building?
Eric Lau is a strategic leader with a relentless belief in people. His personal mission is to inspire and influence others to rise up to their full potential and calling. He is a Leaderonomics faculty trainer who regularly leads training sessions in the areas of leadership, management and personal development.
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Why Leaders Should Think Twice Before Saying ‘We Are Family’!
BY DR. THUN THAMRONGNAWASAWAT
“I don’t want us to be like family anymore at work. Rather, I want everyone to feel we are a professional football team.” Declared the newly appointed CEO of a large Asian conglomerate during their first Town Hall meeting. I was sitting in the room as an observing coach. The room went quiet. The organisation was a 100-year-old Chinese descendant company, whose traditions were rich with relationship and togetherness. Yet, here was the leader of their pack, challenging that very notion. “The problem with being a family is that we are obligated to carry others. If you have a brother who fails to get his act together, or if you have a fellow worker who is not minding his responsibilities, you have to take care of him no matter what. Even if it means repeatedly covering for his absence and doing his work for him. Because he is family” The room was now in total silence. More than a few heads were nodding involuntarily. “In a professional sports team, every function in the organisation has its responsibility. The club manages sales, marketing, and other corporate affairs. The manager makes plans to draw out the team’s potential. And the players give their best to execute and deliver the results – to compete successfully with competition.” 12
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“Let me make one thing clear today. Under my leadership, those who don’t fulfil their obligations will be leaving; much like players who are transferred out of the team at the end of season.” “We need to take care of business; not just each other.” He concluded crisply. While many people may think that the CEO’s message was rather stern and cold – and I don’t personally agree with his standing – he did raise an interesting point for further thoughts: Is being ‘a family’ always a good thing at work? Dr. Laurie Kramer, a researcher at the University of Illinois, set up a campaign in 2008 called ‘More Fun with Sisters and Brothers’ to teach children how to make their life with siblings more fun and happy. For example, the program taught activities they could all enjoy together, how to resolve conflicts in a way that benefits everyone, techniques to control emotions and persuade others. Unsurprisingly, the course had parents with more than one child, like myself, queuing up in hope to enroll their kids. Non-parents or parents of a single child may wonder why such intervention is even necessary. After all, siblings are naturally best friends to each other, aren’t they? Please excuse our collective laughter; as we know from personal experience that the logic of nature rarely works that way. Over the decade, my wife and I have lost counts how many occasions we suffered through the kids fighting each other. Sometimes we couldn’t help but wonder whether they might get along better with friends than they do their own brother/sister.
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Dr. Kramer discussed an interesting hypothesis in her study – which was captured in the book titled Nurtureshock: Why Everything We Thought About Children is Wrong by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman (2009, Ebury Press). The reason siblings fight with each other more than with friends is because, deep down the kids know that family is a ‘given’. This means no matter how badly they treat each other, they will always be brother and sister. “This explains why siblings don’t have to worry about courtesy or self-control and can just go all out. An entirely different scenario from friends which pose a worry that they may be refused from association” said the American researcher. Another research, this one by Dr. Ganie Dehart of State University of New York (SUNY), found that children play pranks on and fight with their siblings 7 times more than with friends! In July 2017, a Director was caught embezzling more than 1 million dollars from a not-for-profit organisation. He used it to buy personal items like 6 cars, house loans, utilities, contractors, and even groceries. Intriguing, however, was the fact that his secretary logged these expenses for over 5 years but never said a word. When she finally came forward she said, “He was like a family to us. Nobody thought he could do such a thing.”
Leadership Insights 1.
Family may not be the final answer I often heard members spoke of their organisational culture as “We Are A family”. However, one couldn’t help but wonder whether an organisation operating like a family completely works. Is it possible that sometimes ‘feeling at home’ may render your employee sloppy from proper conduct in society? Could it give them a false sense of security? After all, home is where you can just throw your used socks in the corner, leave your dishes in the sink, or even stay in your pajamas all day playing video games. Sometimes our house is the sanctum where one doesn’t have to be mindful of others. Do we really want our organisation to be a place like that?
2.
Mind the net balance of your family. Despite the research, many of us still feel that working amongst family is a great thing. “I grew up with my siblings and I think it’s great. We had fights and all, sure, but we still love each other.” But researchers point out that to feel that way we need to evaluate our family experience by its net balance. This means we need to take all the shared good moments such as going on trips, exchanging stories, or protecting each other from harm, then subtract from them the bad ones such as fights, unpaid debts, conflict of interests, or even backstabbing. If the ‘family net balance’ is still positive, then your experience as siblings would likely be a plus. But I’m sure we wouldn’t have to look far to find families whose net balance is a minus. Where is yours? And how can you shift it towards the positive?
3.
Get to a win-win outcome. The key challenge for leaders is to get to an ‘And’ not an ‘Or’. To the CEO above, working like a sport team is good because it has clear measurements for output and even a penalty system that keeps employee from being lax. However, the downside is that his organisation may become more focused on the forebrain of reason, without the emotional energy of the hindbrain. The team will go through the motions of delivering on its duties with the head but without the heart. What’s missing will be the companionship of a family; a sense of belonging; the spirit of All for One and One for All. How then, can you find a way to get the best of both worlds, making your employees work as a community with disciplines and codes of conduct in an environment that has love, generosity, and bonding akin to that of siblings? We may not yet know the path – but knowing the destination is already a good start.
After looking at these studies, I couldn’t help but reminisce on what the CEO said that afternoon.
“I don’t want us working like family because with family, you have to carry each other unconditionally. However, business does not work that way. You have to pull your weight, or be left behind.” We may not agree 100% with his thinking. But perhaps it renders a chance to reflect on ours?
So, is it always a good thing for people in the organisation to feel like family? I’ll leave that for you to decide.
Dr Thun Thamrongnawasawat, author of Brain-Based Leadership (Nation Books, 2014), Brain-Based Leadership: The Models (2016) and a regular newspaper columnist, is one of Thailand’s most experienced leadership coaches, and the only certified instructor of John Kotter’s Leading Bold Change programme from Harvard Business School.
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What Sets The Asian Business Culture A Cut Above
BY ROHINI RAJARATNAM
The Asian financial crisis, also known as the “Asian Contagion” in 1997, raised numerous questions about the valued strength of the Asian business culture. Its recovery and rapid economic growth thereafter was considered a historic event. This not only provided a great case study for economists but has the Western world questioning: Is there more to the game than just delivering your business card with two hands?
1. A Patriarchal Trail
2. Flaming Political Ties
3. Leadership Styles
There are descendants of the founder at the helm of some of the West’s largest public and private companies, just as there are family dynasties heading up conglomerates in Asia.
Unlike Asia, where political connections are essential for top business leaders, political connections, while not unheard of, are generally frowned upon in the West.
Business leadership is at the core of Asian economic development, says Harvard Business School professor Daniel Quinn Mills.
However, the “patriarchal trail” is more evident on this side of the globe and relies heavily on the Shareholder Theory that it is all about the rights of shareholders trumping that of stakeholders.
This is not to say the grass is much greener, but Asia is bedevilled by official corruption that reaches far into business which the West has, in its place, considerable financial reporting fraud. Both are dangerous to the economic success of the nations involved.
The West is general-dependent on a capital market, hence chief executive officers are, in short, picked by Wall Street. This system is what restricts freedom of action for executives, and eventually, the aims of the enterprise might not be met. As there is a constant need to satisfy stakeholders, progress might be stunted, although there are exceptions. The author of Global Logic, Christopher Reynolds suggested that, in contrast, the driving force behind the Asian business model is the overseas Chinese communities and their family business networks that provide the dominant form of business system throughout the region. 14
Issue 6 I Apr 2018
However, political power helps businesses circumvent red tape and gain state support, albeit sometimes at the expense of the society. Some families argue that their family’s political influence ensures social causes are brought to the attention of officials who can make a difference. In reality, political connection is really a double-edged sword. It is indispensable to drive a business and bring about greater good but it could also be a deal with the devil.
Possibly because the Asian market is very much influenced by its culture, the most common leadership style within these companies is directive, where the leader has the final say on every issue. This seems to bring about team harmony and consensus whilst the West booms on individualism. We could argue till the cows come home, but it can’t be denied that the Asian business culture has its merits. Yes, it might sound a tad outdated but it certainly has proven its worth. Ultimately as Michael Witt said,
"Everyone is playing ball, but they’re playing very different games." ohini loves to meet new people, and has a special affinity for those who are also animal lovers!
LEADERS
DIGEST
- Inspirational Quotes -
Issue 4 I Mar 2018
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Chief Minister of Sarawak Launched the Leader's Digest on 12 March 2018 in conjunction with the Leadership Institute's Appreciation Nite
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