LEADERS ISSUE 64
JUNE 2022
THRUST
DIGEST
LEADERS
DIGEST
Publication Team Editor-in-Chief Fang Tze Chiang Editor Diana Marie Capel Graphic Designers Awang Ismail bin Awang Hambali Abdul Rani Haji Adenan
* Read our online version to access the hyperlinks to other reference articles made by the author.
Contents
ISSUE 64 I JUNE 2022
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MANAGERIAL COURAGE: 7 PRACTICAL WAYS TO BE A BIT MORE DARING
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NEVER ENOUGH? CONTENTMENT IS THE ANSWER
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SPEAK-UP CULTURE: HOW TO ENCOURAGE MORE (AND BETTER) IDEAS
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DATA MANAGEMENT TRENDS IN 2022
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DECARBONIZATION & DIGITALIZATION
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THE MIND OF A LEADER
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THE COMPETENT LEADER
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Leader’s Digest is a monthly publication by the Leadership Institute of Sarawak Civil Service, dedicated to advancing civil service leadership and to inspire our Sarawak Civil Service (SCS) leaders with contemporary leadership principles. It features a range of content contributed by our strategic partners and panel of advisors from renowned global institutions as well as established corporations that we are affiliated with. Occasionally, we have guest contributions from our pool of subject matter experts as well as from our own employees. The views expressed in the articles published are not necessarily those of Leadership Institute of Sarawak Civil Service Sdn. Bhd. (292980-T). No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the publisher’s permission in writing.
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From the
Editorial Desk
The Forces that Keep us Flying The next time you are taking a flight (as a passenger or in the cockpit) you will realize that the balanced combination and interplay of the four forces that are constantly influencing the aircraft and therefore the flight plan, can become a powerful analogy of anything we do at work, at home and anywhere. Thrust is the forward force that is generated by the propeller which in turn depends on the engine it is attached to. Lift is generated by the wings that depend on the angle of attack they have in relation to the airflow. Drag is the force that opposes the forward motion of the airplane in the air. Weight is the force of gravity against the weight of the aircraft. As the airplane is on the runway for the takeoff, the most powerful forces is weight and to generate lift the thrust factor must be at its highest. In other words: full power must always be given to the engine to use the maximum thrust for take-off. The moment the airplane has lifted of the ground the opposing forces of weight and drag start to exert their combine counterforce to lift and thrust and to reduce the drag, the wheels must be brought into the fuselage. If we bring these forces into our place of work, there are some very interesting analogies to be made. Let’s take it to the leadership dimension. Leadership is now the motivation and capability enhancement of those people who are responsible for the aspects that can increase of reduce the forces of doing business. If drag is administration with complicated paperwork (part of bureaucracy) then the lift force must be much stronger and for it to be more effective the thrust element must be continuous. And since thrust is dependent upon the engine, and the engine depending about its efficiency with its appropriate fuel, engine oils and timing of its interacting mechanical parts, so will also be the efficiency of leadership. If fuel is budgets and the operational processes the analogy to the mechanical rhythm and harmony of the aircraft’s engine, then budget deficits and non-fluid operational processes will limit a consistent and constant leadership thrust. And if the wings are not proportionate to the weight and design of the fuselage, adoi. Just imagine a jumbo jet with fighter jet wing design. Or a fighter jet with the wings of a 747. Too much for too little / too little for too much. And thrust cannot fix it. It is therefore and imperative that the four forces must always be taken into consideration when expecting the forward and upward move of a business, of a project, of a hobby, of anything. Once we know them, we can manage them and once we can manage them, we can lead others within a more comprehensive context. And so, more than meeting KPIs of each force we reach the achievement of the combined, balanced, and careful calibrated forces as a whole. I trust that thrust has taken another meaning for you!
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Source: Image by pch.vector on Freepik.com
MANAGERIAL COURAGE 7 Practical Ways to be a Bit More Daring BY KARIN HURT
Small Acts of Managerial Courage Build Confidence, Trust, and Connection When I think of the most courageous leaders I’ve worked with over my career, it’s not the BIG decisions they made or the SINGLE TIME they made the tough call that created a legacy of courage. It’s that you could count on them to CONSISTENTLY speak the truth, have your back, or be willing to let you experiment with a new idea. They earned their reputation as a courageous manager one small daring moment at a time—small micromoments of courage that led to better performance and deeper trust. The best way to gain confidence speaking up and other small acts of courage is to experiment with getting out of your comfort zone, one mini-brave act at a time.
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WHAT IS MANAGERIAL COURAGE? Most definitions of managerial courage involve speaking with candor, being willing to act with incomplete information, timely decision making, and addressing performance issues. Courageous managers know their strengths, own them, and use them. They will tell you their truth, even if it’s hard to hear. They surround themselves with people who will challenge them. And they give credit where it’s due. They’re consistently trying new approaches, coming to work each day curious about how to make work better, easier, or more efficient. Every day. In little ways.
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7 PRACTICAL WAYS TO BE A BIT MORE DARING I’m here to encourage your courage and invite you to be just a bit more daring by taking on one or more of these managerial courage challenges. Start by owning your strengths, and then… 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Ask a colleague for feedback Open up with a bit of vulnerability Address a performance issue Share an idea Experiment with a new approach Advocate for a team member Ask for help
• • • •
What do people continue to tell you you’re good at… from role to role. When you reflect back to your early childhood what were your natural gifts? How are these still playing out in your approach to the world today? Are there any talents you keep hidden from the people you work with today? How could you bring more of your “extracurricular” strengths to your day job?
1. Ask a colleague for feedback. One of the best ways to demonstrate managerial courage is to invite (and act on) feedback. If you’re up for a small challenge, pick one area you’re looking to improve and identify someone you trust to offer you candid feedback. To get the best input, be specific.
FIRST, OWN YOUR STRENGTHS
The best way to build confidence and courage is to know your strengths, own them and use them. Consider how your greatest strengths could be vital assets that are transferable across different contexts. Look for opportunities to show up as an interested expert ready to help. To start, as yourself these questions. • •
What work doesn’t feel so much like work? Which elements of your work give you the most energy?
What’s one best practice I could do to really improve my communication? What’s one thing I could do differently to make your meetings more productive? I want to take my contributions to our team up a level this year. What’s one change I could make that would make your job easier? What’s one change I could make that would increase your trust in me? If you already regularly ask for such input and want to take on a bigger challenge, consider going on a DIY 360 (or listening tour). We often include these DIY 360s in our leadership development programs. We consistently hear that having these informal, voice-to-voice conversations builds deeper trust and connection, and opens the door to more collaboration, as well as helps to identify specific areas to work on. Issue 64 I June 2022
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If you’ve been letting a slacker slide, this managerial courage challenge is for you. Click on the link above for how to do this well. And if you need to reset expectations, the new year is a great time to do that too. More on resetting performance expectations here.
2. Open up just a bit more—and let your team learn something new about you. Sometimes it’s scary to let people see who you really are at work. And yet, people trust people they know at a human level. If you want to take this on as a team challenge, our BECOME team-building exercise is a great way to encourage and facilitate deeper conversations. Or, just head into your next round of one-on-ones with the intention of building a deeper connection– both ways. Share a bit more about yourself and be interested in learning something new about each person on your team.
4. Share an idea. In our Courageous Cultures research, 40% of respondents said they held back ideas to improve the business because they lack confidence. If you have an idea to improve the business but are stuck with FOSU (fear of speaking up), this is the challenge for you. Here’s a conversation starter that will make most managers really listen to what you have to say. “I really care about our team and our success. I have an idea that will ___________ (describe what strategic outcome your idea will improve, e.g. make us more money, save us time, improve retention). Do you have a few minutes for me to walk you through?” And then use our I.D.E.A. model to position your idea in a succinct and compelling way.
3. Address a performance issue. When I ask high-performing employees “What’s one thing you wish your manager would do better?” the most frequent answer is that they would address the performance issues on their team.
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The worst that can happen is that they don’t use your idea. But either way, you’ll be seen as a critical thinker who cares about the team’s success.
5. Experiment with a new approach. If “It ain’t broke, don’t fix it” feels comfortable, experimenting with a well-run pilot can go a long way in upping your managerial courage while managing your stress. 67% of the employees in our courageous cultures research said their manager operates around the notion of “This is the way we’ve always done it.” If this could be you, this is a managerial courage challenge for you.
If this is tricky for you, a good way to take on this challenge is to find little ways to advocate for your team.
7. Ask for help. Sometimes one of the most courageous acts is to admit that you need help. If asking for help is hard, this might be the perfect managerial courage challenge to kick off the new year. Find one area of your work where you need some support and ask for the help you need. Do you know what happens when you ask for help? You might actually get the help you need. And research shows that asking for help is a great way to build trust and connection.
KARIN HURT
6. Advocate for a team member. Courage is contagious. And, speaking up gets a whole lot easier when you have support.
Karin Hurt is a keynote speaker, leadership consultant, and MBA professor. She has decades of experience in sales, customer service, and HR which she uses to help clients turn around results through deeper engagement. She knows the stillness of a yogi, the reflection of a marathoner, and the joy of being a mom raising emerging leaders. This article was originally published on Let’s Grow Leaders
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SPEAK-UP CULTURE Source: Image by pch.vector on Freepik.com
How to Encourage More (and Better) Ideas BY KARIN HURT
How to Draw out Better Ideas from Every Member of Your Team You’re a human-centered leader working to create a courageous, speak-up culture filled with psychological safety. A culture where employees feel invited and encouraged to speak up and share their ideas and express their concerns. Even if you’re a rock star human-centered leader, doing all the right things to encourage micro-innovation and problem solving, it’s also likely that you have a few team members who still have best practices and ideas they’re holding back.
How to Include Your Reluctant Employees in Your Speak-Up Culture
Or, it could be they’ve worked for a toxic leader before and the scar tissue is just too thick. It feels safer to stay silent for these silent wounded types.
Start by getting underneath their reluctance to speak up. People choose to hold back their ideas for a variety of reasons.
Of course, sometimes in a speak-up culture, you can have too many ideas coming from an idea grenadier or a schmoozer who just wants people to like him and his ideas, with no intention of following through.
It could be they are an introverted, silent ponderous type who could use some extra time to formulate their ideas before sharing.
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In this article, we share ideas for helping all your people think more critically so they contribute more fully as you build a speak-up culture.
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SILENT PONDEROUS
SILENT WOUNDED
Your silent wounded need encouragement to participate in a courageous culture
Help your silent ponderous employees bring you better ideas
Your silent ponderous types are a great place to start. These are folks with great ideas, who might appear to be disengaged, or even frustrated by the wacky ideas of others—but who still hold back. To draw out the great value silent ponderous people can contribute to your speak-up culture, start by giving them time to think. For some meetings, this means giving them the main topic a day or two in advance and asking them to think about it. In some settings having everyone write their ideas first will give them time to process. Another strategy is to clarify that you’re not asking for a 100% accurate answer. When you ask them for their best thinking at the moment or a range of ideas, it gives them permission to explore, rather than commit to something they haven’t thought through yet.
Working with silent wounded in your culture can be a bit heartbreaking. You know they have good ideas, but psychological safety is low and fear is high. They don’t trust you—and with good reason. It’s not that you’ve done anything wrong. It’s the three managers who came before you who abused their trust, told them they weren’t hired to think, stole their idea, and then took credit for it. Now you have the same title and, fairly or not, all the negative baggage that comes with it. Your job is to rebuild their trust. This will take time, but once you’ve built that trust, these team members are often very loyal. Start small. Ask a courageous question and receive the answers graciously and with gratitude. Build up to deeper questions and focus on responding well. Celebrate people, generously give credit, then ask for more problem solving and ideas to better serve your customers.
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IDEA GRENADIERS
SCHMOOZERS
Build a courageous culture by helping your idea grenadiers refine their ideas
Encourage your schmoozers to build the confidence needed for execution
Of course, when building a speak-up culture, it’s possible to have so many ideas flying around that very little gets done.
Most organizations have a schmoozer—everyone likes them and they talk a great game, but when it comes time to get things done, somehow, they never implement that plan that sounded so amazing when they presented it.
Some people are idea-machines–their brain works overtime to see the possibilities in every situation. Nearly every team is better off with someone who can creatively look at what’s happening and see opportunities to improve or transform. The challenge comes when the idea-person tosses all their ideas in your lap, wants you to do them, but won’t do the work. These are the idea-grenadiers—tossing their ideas like grenades and then running the other direction. When you’re working with someone like this as you build a speak-up culture, it helps to have a direct conversation that calls them back to what matters most and asks them to engage. For example: “I’ve noticed that in the past month you come to me with four different ideas about how we should improve security, revamp the training program, change our workforce management, and reorganize product management. There is merit in your ideas—and we can’t pursue all of them right now. Which of them do you think would help achieve our #1 strategic priority? Is that a project you’d be willing to help with?”
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The challenge is that they undermine trust in your speakup culture. Ideas they share lack credibility and they’re less likely to be entrusted with good ideas because they won’t implement them. The best strategy with schmoozers is to ignore the charm and focus on the results. Healthy accountability conversations that help them raise their game will help restore their credibility. When you talk with them, be ready for an elegantly worded explanation for why they didn’t get it done. If it happens again, you need to escalate the conversation. For example: “This is the third time we’ve had this conversation. Your credibility is at stake. What you said sounded wonderful, but if you can’t implement it, your team can’t rely on you and neither can I. What can we do to get this on track and completed?”
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CHANGE RESISTORS When someone asks you, “What do you think we should do?” resist the urge to answer immediately. Instead, continue to ask for their ideas. They may come up with ideas you haven’t considered—or they may arrive at the same solution you’ve thought through. Either way, you’ve cultivated curiosity, created ownership, and built momentum. It may feel like this process takes extra time—and it does. But it’s fifteen or thirty minutes of time that prevents days, weeks, and even months of procrastination and foot-dragging. The team owns the problem and the solution. They’ve connected to the why and are ready for action. This small investment of time overcomes some common reasons people resist change. With all of these challenging types, your approach and the conversations give them a chance to participate in a courageous, speak-up culture. Help your change resistors connect to a more meaningful “why”
Your change resistors aren’t necessarily lazy, stuck, negative, or even “resistant.” Rather, they’re normal. Resisting change actually makes a lot of sense. After all, if what you did yesterday worked—it got you through the day alive, fed, and healthy—why spend energy to do something differently? That’s a waste of time—unless there’s a good reason. To address this, start with the problem, not the solution. When you start with the solution, you deprive your team of the understanding and connection that drove you to action. Share the problem, then pause. Let it sink in. Then ask for their thoughts. This helps anchor the problem in their thinking. They explore the consequences and how it interacts with other issues. Change always starts with desire or dissatisfaction. By introducing the problem and letting it sink in, you’re creating the same emotional connection that moved you. As the team discusses the issue, they are likely to start asking about solutions.
KARIN HURT Karin Hurt is a keynote speaker, leadership consultant, and MBA professor. She has decades of experience in sales, customer service, and HR which she uses to help clients turn around results through deeper engagement. She knows the stillness of a yogi, the reflection of a marathoner, and the joy of being a mom raising emerging leaders. This article was originally published on Let’s Grow Leaders
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It’s my vision as the Premier for Sarawak to be a Developed State by 2030. Decarbonization and digitalization are megatrends that will force sectors to undergo structural change and fundamentally alter their traditional business methods. Sarawak’s Digital Economy 2030 Blueprint will set out how Sarawak will secure its future as a modern and leading digital economy and society by 2030 underpinned by Suatainability Development Goals. The Right Honourable Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri (Dr) Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari Bin Tun Datuk Abang Haji Openg Premier of Sarawak | 21.06.2022
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Source: Image by jcomp on Freepik.com
THE COMPETENT LEADER BY BERNARD LEE
A Competent Leader Serves and Empowers Their Team In the introduction of The Purposeful Leadership Series, we described the Purposeful Leader as a leader with purpose and is intentionally living out his/her purpose. Purposeful leaders are confident and secure in who they are; competent with a servant-heart in what they do; and act as a catalyst to spur others into future possibilities. Part 1 of The Purposeful Leadership Series speaks about The Confident Leader. A Confident Leader is one who knows his/her identity. Because they know who they are, they can be secure and lead with confidence. In Part 2, we will touch on the Competent Leader. A competent leader is skillful in what they do; and use their knowledge, skills and abilities to serve others. To be a skillful leader, one must be diligent and self-disciplined. If you’re not prepared to put in the work, you are not going to see the results. Achieving mastery does not happen overnight. It comes from a learning mindset through accumulated experiences and acquired “battle scars’’. Angela Duckworth describes how people with a growth mindset look at 14
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challenges as learning opportunities. Together with grit and resilience, they combine to enable the leader to persevere and overcome challenges and achieve mastery. The Competent Leader uses the mastery of skills to serve others. Their acquired knowledge, skills and experiences are put to use by helping others become better leaders. This act of serving others is best described as servant-leadership by Ken Blanchard. The leader is there not to bark instructions and lord over the people, but rather to serve them. Blanchard describes this enabling role as an inverted pyramid. As a leader, my desire is to equip, engage and empower leaders to lead better. Through Invigorate, we serve people and organisations and enable them to be a better version of themselves by connecting purpose and creating value for leaders. So how does the Competent Leader serve others? The Competent Leader serves others by shifting from telling to communicating, translating intention into action, and willingly passing the credit and taking responsibility.
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TELLING TO COMMUNICATING Telling is one-way while communicating ensures the message is received and understood (two-way). But what exactly does a Competent Leader communicate? I believe the three most important things for a Competent Leader to communicate are the past, the present and the future. The past reminds us of our heritage. Something good must have happened to enable us to be where we are today. Whatever your past is, recognise and learn from it, celebrate and be grateful for it; but don’t dwell on the past. Living in the past creates a sense of regret that can easily stifle the present (and the future). A Competent Leader speaks of past experiences with “battle scars” to show. Scars are formed when wounds have healed, not while it is still an open wound. They remind us of what took place, but it doesn’t hurt us today. The present provides context. In any given situation, a Competent Leader must know his/her present position. Only then will you be able to navigate. Conversely, not knowing where you are will only frustrate you further. When performing a gap-analysis, understanding the as-is is as important as the to-be. Knowing what will remain and what needs to change is critical in understanding the present. The future paves the way forward. The paved pathway provides a vision and direction, leading to a sense of anticipation and excitement. Without the future, it will only lead to circular references and continuous motion of meaningless actions. The anticipation and excitement is filled with a sense of hope - something not yet seen, but there is a belief that it will (soon) be realised. When Competent Leaders shift from telling to communicating, their focus is on serving the people they lead, and not themselves. They look at the past with gratitude, analyse the present through microscopic lenses, and galvanise the future with a compelling vision. Melissa Reiff, CEO of Container Store (2016-2021) describes what hasn’t changed since she took over the role from founder and long-time CEO Kip Tindell - the commitment to “conscious capitalism” and its servant leadership-driven culture. “Having witnessed my share of leadership train wrecks over the years, I was most impressed with the principle of “Communication IS Leadership”. The Container Store remains one of the best places to work with recognitions from Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For (2018), Great Place to Work 2017 (Diversity, Women) and Best Workplaces in Retail 2019 (Large).
Photo by Shalaka Gamage on Unsplash
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INTENTION TO ACTION The difference between intention and action is discipline. The latter produces outcomes while the former leaves you wondering. No amount of good intentions can translate into results if it doesn’t move you into action. I can read and research all I want about running a sub-20 minute 5k, buy the right shoes and wait for ideal weather conditions; but if I don’t put on my shoes and get one foot in front of the other continuously, all that remains is a dream, a lofty wish and desire. The Competent Leader serves others by translating intentions into actions. Glen Mills may not be a household name; yet the Jamaican has overseen athletes to 71 world championships and 33 Olympic medals in 22 years - including the fastest person on the planet - Usain Bolt. The Competent Leader is there to inspire. After setting world records in the 100m and 200m events at the Beijing Olympics, Bolt praised Mills saying he not only helped him improve as an athlete but also as a person. Competent Leaders serve others by inspiring them to greatness and become a better version of themselves everyday. While inspiration is needed, coaching must follow. You need the discipline to do the drills and clock the mileage. Muscles don’t emerge by themselves. You need to grow them intentionally. The Competent Leader is there to work through the daily grind with the people they lead. To observe and provide pointers, to push and pull when necessary. Mills did just that for the athletes he raised to the podium positions. Together with inspiration and coaching, the Competent Leader serves others by journeying with them. When asked about how leaders develop, Simon Sinek says “Leadership development is found in the consistency of learning and applying, not the intensity of attending a programme”. The Competent Leader is there to journey and help others do just that. They recognise leadership development is a journey, not a destination. Therefore, it is most effective when someone is with you on the journey. The Competent Leader intentionally engages the hearts and minds of people. Aligning and drawing them closer to their purpose and call as a leader.
Photo by Patrick Hendry on Unsplash
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Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash
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PASSING CREDIT AND TAKING RESPONSIBILITY In 2017, I had the privilege of visiting the John Maxwell Leadership Centre in Atlanta, Georgia (USA). On the wall of the boardroom are the words - Everything rises and falls on leadership - John C. Maxwell. It is true for every organisation in the world - for profit and not-for-profit, volunteer and paid staff, small to large enterprises, developed and developing nations. The burden of responsibility a leader carries is immense. Leaders must be willing to share the credit and quick to take responsibility. By doing so, they instil confidence in stakeholders. Carl Bennet, the primary owner of Getinge AB (a global medical-technology company in Sweden), injected additional funds when things appeared to be going south. Today, Getinge is valued at many multiples from where it was. Carl is quick to attribute the success to the people who worked there. He may have played a pivotal role in jump starting some initiatives, but for the most parts, the team carried it through to success. “Anyone could have done it. It was a great company just waiting for somebody to care about it.” says Carl. Competent Leaders like Carl, serve others by taking the responsibility of caring for them, providing them with a role model in leadership and continuing to lead them. Leaders, like you and I, are ordinary human beings. When you strip away the titles and take away the accolades, we all breathe the same air and have 24-hours in a day. Like everyone, leaders need to be cared for. Whether it is expressed in the form of affirmation and encouragement or perhaps at times the needful rebuke and correction. The Competent Leader serves others by doing just that. They are not afraid of the heart and hard conversations. In my own leadership, I am reminded of the golden rule - praise in public, correct in private. When we care for others, we are there to raise them and build them, not tear them down. The Competent Leader acts as a role model for others. They realise they are held to higher standards and more often than not, observed through the watchful eyes of many. Therefore, Competent Leaders are not self-serving and egotistical. They are quick to give credit where it is due, and take responsibility when needed. Another golden rule of mine in leadership - be quick to listen, slow to speak. Competent Leaders understand if they are right, they have nothing to prove; and if they are wrong, there is nothing to defend. By caring for others and being a role model to them, the Competent Leader becomes a leader to leaders. The Competent Leader never gives up on others. I must admit, many times in my own leadership, this is one of the toughest things to do. When people are not responding the way they ought to, when leaders disappoint you and don’t meet expectations, when leaders fail you - how do you continue leading them? Yet, in those darkest moments, is when leadership is most needed. Competent Leaders serve others by standing with them throughout the good times and bad times. Their leadership is non-circumstantial or conditional, but rather anchored on a deep conviction in valuing people and seeking to add value to people always. The Competent Leader is a skillful leader who serves others by shifting from telling to communicating, translating intention into action, and willingly giving credit and taking responsibility. Through a servantleadership heart, Competent Leaders give themselves selflessly to helping others become better leaders. Be that Competent Leader! BERNARD LEE Bernard is the Founder of Invigorate Consulting, a firm seeking to connect people and organisations to their purpose. He has over 20 years of management consulting and corporate experience with global organisations. He is also a seasoned facilitator. He enjoys travelling and is excited about the second half of life. Issue 64 I June 2022
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Source: Image by snowing on Freepik.com
Never Enough? Contentment is The Answer BY MICHELLE GIBBINGS
Practice Contentment by Understanding What Motivates You In Anthony De Mello’s beautiful book, The Song of the Bird, he tells the tale of the contented fisherman and a wealthy industrialist. The industrialist is horrified to find the fisherman lying beside his boat and not working. “Why aren’t you out fishing,” he asks. “Because I have caught enough fish for this day”, comes the reply. The industrialist inquires about why he doesn’t catch more, and the bemused fisherman replies, “What would I do with it?”.
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To which the industrialist says you could earn more money, have the motor on your boat fixed so you could go into deeper waters and catch more fish, and then have more money to buy nylon nets, bring in more fish, make more money and then own two boats, maybe even a fleet, and “Then you would be a rich man like me”. The fisherman asks what would he do then, to which the industrialist replies, “Then you could really enjoy life”. And so, the fisherman replies, “What do you think I am doing right now?” The story is a powerful reminder of the value of contentment.
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Contentment, like joy and happiness, is an emotion. Professor Barbara Fredrickson suggests that contentment creates “…the urge to savour current life circumstances and integrate these circumstances into new views of self and of the world.” Psychologist and researcher Daniel Cordaro and colleagues synthesised the core theme of contentment as a sense of completeness. They write “Completeness refers to a state where an intentional object such as the self, aspects of one’s life, or the sum of all existence is perceived to be whole and entire, regardless of whether the present experience is pleasant or unpleasant…The theme of completeness offers a sense of fundamentally having and being enough, without reacting to the current experience with rejection and judgment”. Completeness is a sense of satisfaction and of having enough and being enough. For Fredrickson, contentment follows experiences of flow. As I’ve written about before, flow, a concept developed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, is the state you experience when you have the right level of skill and the right amount of challenge. If one of those elements is missing, you’ll become anxious, bored, or somewhere in-between. Contentment isn’t about being lazy or settling for less. Instead, it’s about valuing what you have and recognising when having more won’t make you more fulfilled. It’s knowing what’s driving your behaviour. In The Atlantic, author Arthur Brooks outlines the challenge of always wanting more and the “…trap of believing that success and its accompaniments would fulfil me”. He explains how “Each accomplishment thrilled me for a day or a week—maybe a month, never more—and then I reached for the next rung on the ladder”. In a society where we are conditioned to seek more, it takes courage to know when enough is enough. A critical part of this is identifying the driving force behind the ‘more’. What’s motivating your behaviour?
In the 1970′s, psychologist Edward Deci ran an experiment demonstrating how incentivising students with money to solve puzzles made them less interested in working on them after being paid. The students who weren’t financially incentivised worked on the puzzles for longer and with more interest. Deci’s work highlighted the difference between extrinsic motivation, the kind that comes from outside sources, and intrinsic motivation, the kind that comes from within yourself. Pay rises, promotions, winning, status, fame and the like are all forms of extrinsic motivation. In contrast, doing a task or achieving something when it’s based on purpose, growth, curiosity, enjoyment, and self-expression are all intrinsic forms of motivation. Author Daniel Pink found that extrinsic rewards only work for non-creative behaviours and much less for work that requires innovation and out of the box thinking. The challenge with constantly relying on extrinsic sources is that they are primarily outside your control. So if you rely on external forces to motivate you, contentment will likely elude you. As socialised beings, it’s effortless to fall into the trap of social comparison. When we compare ourselves to others, it can demotivate us, negatively impact our self-esteem and leave us searching for more because we don’t feel like we are enough (or have enough). When you step away from the comparison game and focus on what intrinsically motivates you, you can better live a life congruent with your values and goals. To do that, you need to be specific on what matters, make wise choices about what you will do and not do, and take deliberate action.
MICHELLE GIBBINGS Michelle Gibbings is a change and leadership expert and founder of Change Meridian. Michelle works with global leaders and teams to help them accelerate progress. She is the author of ‘Step Up: How to Build Your Influence at Work’. This article was originally published on michellegibbings.com
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Photo by fabio on Unsplash
DATA MANAGEMENT TRENDS IN 2022 We are nearly halfway through 2022, and now would be a good time to review what trends in data management have emerged so far. In this blog post, we will discuss some of the most important trends we can spot so far, and explore how they will develop further by the end of the calendar year. We will also take a look at how Java developers can take advantage of these trends to create innovative data management platforms. But, first of all, let’s summarise what data management platforms are.
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Issue 64 I June 2022
DATA MANAGEMENT PLATFORMS A data management platform (DMP) unifies the collection, organisation, and activation of first-, second-, and third-party audience data from any source, including web data, data from your smartphone, and beyond. It’s the foundation of data-driven marketing, allowing companies to acquire personal insight into their audiences. DMPs are useful for businesses because they do not only store big, heavy, raw data. They also allow for the data to be sorted and analysed, thus enabling the marketing managers to use it effectively for each following campaign“”””””””””. The data is collected over many different platforms and can be used for personalised ads, customisation of content, targeted campaigns, etc. This makes it a significant tool in optimising a marketing and sales funnel.
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DATA MANAGEMENT TRENDS IN 2022
2. Cloud-based Platforms
So without further ado, here are the top data management trends for 2022:
Cloud-based platforms offer many advantages over traditional on-premise solutions, including scalability, flexibility, and cost savings. As more businesses move to the cloud, we expect to see a corresponding increase in demand for cloud-based data management solutions.
1. 2. 3.
Big Data Cloud-based Platforms Artificial Intelligence
1. Big Data With the advent of big data, businesses have been able to collect and store vast amounts of data. This has led to a need for new tools and techniques to manage this data effectively.
Cloud-based platforms offer many advantages over traditional on-premise solutions. One of the biggest advantages is that they are useful as a data storage tier for disaster recovery, backup, and long-term archiving.
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
The major benefit is that it enables these businesses to better manage their data. It also provides a competitive edge to them by allowing for the collection and interpretation of large amounts of data. The usage of big data has increased significantly in recent years due to the advancement of technology. This has led to the development of new tools and techniques for managing big data.
Even if you are moving to a cloud-based data management solution, you will still store a lot of data offline. Since the safety of data should be among your first priorities, it is always good to have secure data recovery software such as Hetman Software among your assets.
3. Artificial Intelligence AI has changed our everyday lives significantly, and we are yet to discover all the opportunities it has in improving the way we do business.
The most popular tool for managing big data is Hadoop. Hadoop is an Apache open-source framework that allows for the distributed processing of large datasets across clusters of computers. While Hadoop is currently in-demand, trends are showing that the expansion of such tools is yet to come, and we will see more different tools, optimised for the needs of different industries.
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
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Artificial Intelligence is already being used by some businesses to automate tasks like customer service and marketing. However, we believe that there will be even more impact of the use of AI in data management as well. Particularly, using AI, including machine learning and deep learning, can help us analyse and understand an exhaustive amount of data rather quickly. Implementing AI in data management platforms shows that it can result in optimising, reorganising, and improving platform performances overall.
RISK & OPPORTUNITIES IN DATA MANAGEMENT 2022 Even though there are many benefits of managing big data with tech-equipped platforms, there are some hidden risks involved, worth mentioning here. If not thought through, using data management platforms can lead to making your information harder to access and read, store and analyse. If we have a better understanding of what the potential risks might occur, we can plan ahead to prevent them from happening in the first place. Let’s overview the main threats you might face over time.
1. Security Protocols Are Not Reliable As we mentioned earlier, security is a top priority when it comes to managing data. The more personal data you store, the more important security should be. While data management platforms are becoming more and more sophisticated, so is a digital crime. In order to prevent security breaches, whether you work with data on the cloud or on-premises, your tech team must run regular scans and stay alert for potential red flags. Keep your software up-to-date and your data safely encrypted at all times.
Keep your business transparent and make sure all clients are aware of what data are you storing and for which purposes. Always allow them to refuse to share their personal data with your database.
3. Team Efficiency The more the industry develops, the harder it might be to keep up with the upcoming trends, novelties in software, and changes in your business strategy. For those employees who will be in charge of collecting, managing, and using the data - make sure to provide sufficient training in order to prevent potential bottlenecks and workflow stumbling blocks. It is never too expensive to invest in the education of your team.
4. Cost Efficiency If you decide to create your own data management platform, you should be aware of all potential costs this might have for your budget. Consider what would be the cost of hiring developers to create, improve, and maintain your platform. Developing such a system can cost you up to $50k, so at the current time many businesses, especially SMEs, are going for hosting their data on third-party management platforms.
2. Policy Issues When it comes to data collecting policies, they must be set in place by your legal team personally. This means, that this is not something AI could potentially help you with.
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Issue 64 I June 2022
LEADERONOMICS This article is published by the editors of leaderonomics.com
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The Mind of a Leader
Authors: Jacqueline Carter and Rasmus Hougaard
BY DIANA MARIE
The book, ‘The Mind of the Leader’, is divided into three parts; with the first part of the book dealing matters related to self-leadership, an ability to manage one’s own thoughts and actions. This book is primarily shaped by a decade-long training under the potential project, undertaken by the authors and their team for training thousands of leaders in many prominent companies like Microsoft, the LEGO group, Danone and Accenture. It is based on contextual factors like an understanding and attention to disruptions in the global business environment, and critical challenges faced by the organizations in the twenty-first century, including the ‘Attention Deficit Trait’ propelled by many factors including technology and uncertainty, resulting in decreased performance, innovation and resilience. The book leads the reader through three parallel sections: Understanding and leading oneself first, then the people on one’s team, and then finally for the entire organization. The authors conclude that there are three foundational mental qualities for today’s leaders: mindfulness, selflessness, and compassion. The anatomy of selflessness is the wisdom to unleash the natural flow of energy that people bring to work. It is about self-confidence, humility and service, while minimizing self-seeking and becoming receptive to other’s views. Mindfulness is ‘inherently a state of consciousness’, which involves consciously attending to one’s moment-to-moment experience. This sort of mental strength and freedom enables one to mindfully lead others. My take in this is, leading people is one of the most challenging roles we can take on in life be it professionally or even in our personal lives and within our families. It requires an array of skills, a strong education, and passion. As leaders, we often take for granted that we will work long hours, make sacrifices, and journey between accomplishments and failure. We can no longer afford to miss the connections with those we work with, those we love, and those we serve. Mindfulness means we can no longer make decisions with distracted minds, reacting instead of responding or initiating. It embodies leadership presence by cultivating focus and compassion in the service of others. DIANA MARIE Diana Marie is a team member at the Leadership Institute of Sarawak Civil Service attached with Corporate Affairs who found love in reading and writing whilst discovering inspiration in Leadership that Makes a Difference. Issue 64 I June 2022
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