Flightleaders.com to enrich programmes in 2018

Source: Flightleaders.com website. An aircraft cockpit.

Aviation-themed leadership training and facilitation programme provider Flightleaders.com, a division of the McGallen & Bolden Group, plans to beef up its offerings over the course of 2018.

"Corporate training will be a huge thing given the gap between the generations at the workplace, and this will transcend tech and other so-called 'disruptive' evolutions through tech. People and management will always be the breaking points," said Dr Seamus Phan, Flightleaders.com Leadership Trainer, whose specialty is corporate leadership and philosophy approaches.

"The best tech will always fail if you cannot have the right people in place, and manage all the diverse and often opinionated talents cohesively."

 
Flightleaders is best known for What’s Next Leadership - lessons from the ancient East. In this programme, Dr Phan and fellow Leadership Trainer Captain Michael Caston, an expert in crew resource management (CRM) as well as human factors - bring time-tested CRM and Flightleaders' proprietary trademarked benevolence, rectitude, and mindfulness (BRM) philosophy to corporate leadership and business transformation. 

"Unlike what many executives may have previously learned from Sun Tzu's Art of War (孙子兵法), we take our learners through learning points from the ethics classic Analects (論語, wisdom from Chinese sages such as Confucius, Mencius), wisdom from the Three Kingdoms (in power from the year 184 to 220), Hagakure (葉隠聞書) by Yamamoto Tsunetomo, and Gorinosho (五輪書, also known as The Book of Five Rings) by Miyamoto Musashi, both 17th century samurai classics. Our programmes are highly engaging and immersive, with role play, interactive videos, and realistic flight simulator sessions if needed, guided by commercial pilots," said Dr Phan.

Dr Phan, who is  responsible for digital and interactive training programme development at Flightleaders.com, also shared that the curriculum will become richer over the year. "For classroom settings, we will bring in more classics, including the other Chinese military classics - there are seven, which the Art of War is just one. I have already started working on two of the others, which are very fascinating," said Dr Phan.

Dr Phan pointed out that many training programmes today are based on Western thought, which spans just 200 years if US history is considered. "There is lots more wisdom to glean from thousands of years of history from this side of the world. I may include more Eastern history, including Korea, and maybe India," he said.
Flightleaders.com will also create more interactive video content for tech and engineering audiences this year, said Dr Phan. "Going forward, we intend to spend more time in 2018 to create interactive video segments, which will be useful for resource-strapped companies which cannot dedicate a whole class at a fixed timing," he explained.

Explore:

Flightleaders.com offers training programmes for critical infrastructures such as those found in aviation and healthcare; corporate training including Leadership Secrets at 30,000 Feet and IntrinSelling, a sales leadership programme, as well as custom programmes.

Read the WorkSmart Asia blog post about the origins of Flightleaders

Hashtags: #leadership, #management, #humancapital, #aviation, #training

Managing cultural diversity as leaders

London Business School experts have explored ways to eliminate bias and turn human potential into reality.

According to the London Business School, workplace diversity matters. Homogenous teams might feel comfortable, but comfort is not necessarily good for performance compared to enriching teams with people from different backgrounds and with broad perspectives.

Steering a diverse team to success takes skill. Leaders must establish trust in teams so that team members feel they can express their creativity and generate great ideas. Randall S Peterson, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School, explores how leaders foster ambition and banish fear: “Good leadership looks different around the world. While every team has to achieve certain standards to be successful, culture determines the approach.

"Compared to the West, groups in China are more collectivist, which means there is an emphasis on fitting in over standing out individually. Leading teams here is quite a balancing act: you have to ask questions to get information from people. If you ask too many questions, you appear weak and undermine your own legitimacy. If you ask too (few), you don’t encourage new thinking. The ultimate question here as a leader therefore is: how do I pull people together?”

Leadership is driven by a combination of competence, power and attraction, the London Business School notes, but bridging cultural differences demands emotional intelligence. The key, according to Professor Peterson, is in bringing these components together. Diversity is not easy to manage, but is key to achieving a top-performing and world-class team.

Niro Sivanathan, Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School, said: “Is leading a team of individuals an oxymoron? We believe not. It is possible to satisfy both the need to belong and the need to be unique in an individualistic group by having strong, consistently-held values that help unite a team. To do that, construct a model that says: we’re all individuals, we’re all united.

"When diversity feels uncomfortable, there’s a tendency to ignore the reasons behind our differences. A balance can be achieved by creating a common sense of ‘we’ that allows difference within it.”

And despite the many stigmas often associated with narcissists, Professor Peterson believes that there are times where it may be beneficial to have a narcissist on your team, especially when a major transformation is needed:

“Narcissists have the vision and charisma to create a committed group of followers and can be essential to creating organisational change. Most of us think of what is called the ‘agentic narcissist’: these are people who believe that they are far more competent than others. But what if this person’s outsized confidence is based on being the best helper, the best advice-giver or the best group member? These people are called ‘communal narcissists’.

“We find that communal narcissists are four times more likely to share credit and resources and significantly less likely to cause unhelpful conflict than agentic narcissists, who focus mostly on status self-enhancement. They are 33% more likely to be seen as a leader by other group members and significantly more likely to lead their team to a successful outcome. Like all types of leadership, narcissists have their time and their place. Get it right, and you reap the benefit of visionary leadership. Get that wrong, and suffer the consequences of status conflict and poor performance.”

posted from Bloggeroid

Southeast Asia ahead on digital transformation, digital leadership

Source: SAP. Agree or disagree? Senior management and employees weigh in both globally and in Southeast Asia for the Leaders 2020 study.

Nearly one-quarter of Southeast Asian businesses are digital leaders, a new study by SAP and Oxford Economics shows. This is higher than the global average of 16%, according to the Leaders 2020 study.

This new class of high-performing companies is reporting stronger profit growth, higher employee engagement, and cultures that are more inclusive. The organisations have executives who communicate a company-wide digital strategy, keep management and worker skills up to date, and streamline organisational structure.

An analysis of Southeast Asian firms in the Leaders 2020 study also affirms the business benefits of diversity, showing a correlation between those who are leading in digital transformation and those who have a heightened understanding of the importance of diversity. Digital leaders around the world and Southeast Asian respondents are both more likely to recognise diversity’s positive impact on culture (66% and 62%, respectively), but only digital leaders are more likely to see the benefits in financial performance (37% globally against 25% in Southeast Asia).

Companies have become more diverse in Southeast Asia than in other regions over the past three years. Three-quarters of Southeast Asian respondents saw diversity improvements in the general workforce of their organisation, and 42% saw an increase in board and senior leadership, compared with 67% and 34% globally. However, less than 40% in Southeast Asia state that their company has effective diversity programmes in place, signalling more could be done, especially at the senior executive and corporate board levels.

The Leaders 2020 study also found that only 61% of Southeast Asian executives (55% globally) are making data-driven decisions, a key factor that makes a Digital Leader. Not surprisingly 62% of Southeast Asian executives (59% globally) feel that employees are equipped with the skills necessary to keep up with digital technology.

“A diverse workforce encourages bold, innovative ideas to flourish and in turn, presents insights which are only made possible through that diversity. It is of little coincidence that these two capabilities – leveraging data for decisions and maintaining a diverse workforce – both occur for high-performing organisations,” said Scott Russell, President and MD, SAP Southeast Asia.

Other findings for Southeast Asia included:

· Stronger financial performance: 76% of executives characterised as digital leaders report strong revenue and profit growth, compared to 60% of all other Southeast Asian executives.

· Satisfied and engaged employees: effective digital leadership drives more than financial performance—it also creates healthier cultures. Nearly nine in 10 (87%) digital leaders have employees who are more satisfied, compared with just 51% for respondents in Southeast Asia. Three quarters of digital leaders also have employees who are more likely to stay in their jobs if given the chance to leave, as compared to 45% in the region.

· More mature talent strategies: digital leaders are more likely to invest in talent and have much more advanced strategies for talent recruitment, development and retention. For example, 56% of digital leaders mainly fill roles from within the company, as compared to just 33% for the rest of the region.

The study also found that Millennials are quickly occupying corporate leadership positions, as 22% of the executives in the Leaders 2020 study from Southeast Asia are classified as millennials, compared with 17% worldwide. Despite the higher percentage of young executives in the region, only 45% of Southeast Asian executives say leadership works with employees to develop their careers—an important step in cultivating Millennial talent. Young executives are more focused on diversity and its benefits, and they tend to come from companies that value diversity and take steps to build it.

“According to a PwC report. Millennials at Work: Reshaping the Workplace, Millennials will form 50% of the global workforce by 2020*. Listening to what young executives have to say may be a shortcut to digital leadership—as long as the experience of their older peers is not ignored in the process. Striking this balance requires generations to listen to each other. Generational diversity is as important as the other forms of workplace diversity. The Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers and Millennials all bring varying perspectives to the table, which is crucial in sustaining a dynamic organisation. Our belief in working closely with the Millennial generation has resulted in having five unique generations, all working together at SAP to help our customers Run Simple,” Russell added.

“The pace of change in today’s digital economy shows no sign of slowing down, and organisations that do not continually update their approach to digital leadership risk falling behind. Technology continues to remain the key enabler to drive growth, promote innovation, enable transformation and level the playing field for companies of all sizes.”

Despite having a promising digital business landscape, leaders at these companies cannot rest on their laurels—survey results from the Leaders 2020 study indicate that these companies in the region are not devoting enough resources to developing future leadership, employee skills or employee engagement. The research identifies several areas where companies can improve their leadership skills—and their business performance:

· Communicate a company-wide digital vision – sharing a digital direction company-wide is demonstrative of a good leader.

· Continuously update executive and employee skill sets – a necessity to adopt new digital skills in the digital economy.

· Flatten the organisation – reduce bureaucratic bottlenecks.

· Emphasise diversity – cultivating a diverse workforce drives success in a global economy.

· Listen to young executives – as they form the key workforce of the future, their advice is essential for digital transformation.

Interested?

Learn more about the study and the prerequisites for digital leadership

RHB Banking Group works with Melbourne Business School for leadership initiative

Source: RHB Banking Group. From left: Yasir Abdul Rahman, Head of RHB Academy, RHB Group Human Resource; Jamaluddin Bakri, Group Chief Human Resource Officer, RHB Banking Group; Greg Campbell, GM, Asia Pacific, Melbourne Business School and Jeffery Soong, Regional Manager Asia, Executive Education of Melbourne Business School at the signing of the strategic partnership for the RHB Leadership Signature Programme Series.

The RHB Banking Group has partnered with Melbourne Business School (MBS) for the RHB Leadership Signature Programme Series, aimed at developing talents for a high performance workforce. MBS is the graduate business school of the University of Melbourne, Victoria, holding AACSB and EFMD (EQUIS) accreditations.

The collaboration is part of the group’s learning and development transformation initiatives which focus on creating a step change in the learning content, learning experience and learning environment for RHB employees. 

The programme is designed as a capstone for springboarding employees for progression and succession in their career. Jamaluddin Bakri, Group Chief Human Resources Officer of the RHB Banking Group said, “As businesses now operate in a very volatile environment which requires more complex and adaptive thinking abilities and skills, we are taking proactive measures in transforming our learning approach to develop talents to meet an increasingly volatile future. Our transformation focuses on establishing a new learning architecture for the bank which supports innovative learning practices, revamped curriculum and impactful learning experiences to accelerate the development of RHB talents.

“Working together with MBS on the new learning architectural design, RHB’s talent will be imbued with greater learning agility where they are able to learn, unlearn and relearn continuously. With this partnership, we are confident that the new approach would enable RHB to achieve its goal of creating a high performance workforce in line with our reframed strategy.”

The programme series is designed as an integrated learning journey which will use multimode learning approaches such as face-to-face, self-paced, and interactive coaching as well as online to deliver an engaging and flexible solution. It comprises three core programmes, namely Transition to Business Leadership Programme for Middle Level Leaders, Emerging Leaders for Frontline Managers and Foundation of Leadership for Individual Contributors. 

“This is an important initiative and signals a clear and tangible commitment from RHB in developing its people and equipping them with the skills, knowledge and mindsets that will enable them as well as the bank to thrive and flourish in a highly competitive and dynamic world,” said Greg Campbell, GM, Asia Pacific, MBS, RHB Banking Group's strategic learning partner in the design, development and delivery of the programme.

Meanwhile, the first cohort of 145 in the RHB Leadership Signature Programme Series is scheduled to be rolled out in December 2016. Other major programmes carried out by RHB as part of developing talents were the RHB INSEAD Senior Leadership Development Programme in 2013/14 and the GMC-1 Senior-Level Mentoring Programme in 2015.

Mercer sounds alarm over under-representation of women in the workforce globally

Source: Mercer When Women Thrive global report.

Women are under-represented in the workforce globally, and if organisations maintain the current rate of progress, female representation will only account for 40% of the professional and managerial ranks in 2025, according to Mercer’s second annual When Women Thrive global report.

Among the key trends revealed in the report is that women’s representation within organisations actually declines as career levels rise – from support staff through the executive level.

“The traditional methods of advancing women aren’t moving the needle, and under-representation of women around the world has become an economic and social travesty,” said Pat Milligan, Mercer’s Global Leader of When Women Thrive. “While leaders have been focusing on women at the top, they’re largely ignoring the female talent pipelines so critical to maintaining progress.

“This is a call-to-action - every organisation has a choice to stay with the status quo or drive their growth, communities and economies through the power of women.”

Mercer’s report finds that although women are 1.5 times more likely than men to be hired at the executive level, they are also leaving organisations from the highest rank at 1.3 times the rate of men, undermining gains at the top.

Source: Mercer When Women Thrive global report. Current and projected female representation in 2025 at 2015 attrition rates around the world.

According to the When Women Thrive report, women make up 40% of the average company’s workforce. Globally, they represent 33% of managers, 26% of senior managers, and 20% of executives. In terms of regional rankings, Australia and New Zealand is projected to move from 35% in 2015 to 40% in 2025; and Asia ranks last at 28%, up from just 25% in 2015.

“In 10 years, organisations won’t even be close to gender equality in most regions of the world,” said Milligan. “If CEOs want to drive their growth tomorrow through diversity, they need to take action today.”

The research – the most comprehensive of its kind featuring input from nearly 600 organisations around the world, employing 3.2 million people, including 1.3 million women – identifies a host of key drivers known to improve diversity and inclusion (D&I) efforts.

“It’s not enough to create a band-aid programme,” said Brian Levine, Mercer’s Innovation Leader, Global Workforce Analytics. “Most companies aren’t focused on the complete talent pipeline nor are they focused on the supporting practices and cultural change critical to ensure that women will be successful in their organisations.”

Only 9% of organisations surveyed globally offer women-focused retirement and savings programmes, despite Mercer’s research proving that such efforts lead to greater representation of women.

Other key findings:

Only 57% of organisations claim senior leaders are engaged in diversity and inclusion initiatives

Involvement of men has actually dropped since the first report in 2014, when 49% of organisations said they are engaged in D&I efforts

Just 29% of organisations review performance ratings by gender with Australia/New Zealand ranking first

Four in 10 organisations offer formal pay equity remediation processes, compared to 34% globally, and 25% in Asia. But virtually no improvements have been made since 2014

Nearly a third (28%) of women hold P&L (profit and loss) roles with Asia at No. 2 (27%), and Australia/New Zealand in third place (25%)

Women are perceived to have unique skills needed in today’s market including flexibility and adaptability (39% vs. 20% who say men have those strengths); inclusive team management (43% vs. 20%); and emotional intelligence (24% vs. 5%)

About half of organisations in three key regions – Asia, US/Canada and Latin America – agree that supporting women’s health is important to attract and retain women. Yet only 22% conduct analyses to identify gender-specific health needs in the workforce

In a series of separate studies Mercer has found that clients find that building their leadership pipeline is one of their biggest challenges, and included a lack of plans to develop women in their workforce for leadership as one of the problems in talent management strategies. 

Said Kate Bravery, Mercer’s Growth Markets Leadership & Organizational Performance Practice Leader: “To achieve long term success, a more strategic approach to nurturing the pipeline of leaders is required. This starts by translating core business objectives into a leadership strategy that defines the talent pool, competencies and the tactics required to build leaders from within. It continues with an execution plan that helps businesses identify, develop and accelerate the critical talent moves that will help them achieve real competitive advantage.”

Mercer’s Leadership Practices Study comprises a series of research reports based on surveys conducted from 2012 to 2014 that explore and compare current leadership trends in Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East. Using data gathered from nearly 1,000 companies across the three growth market regions, these studies examine how companies approach leadership strategy, assessment, development and succession planning.found that companies in growth market regions are adopting effective practices for nurturing leadership talent, for example:

· Businesses in Asia-Pacific are investing heavily in training and developing senior level and global leaders at the top of their organisations.

· Firms in the Middle East are doing a good job of using global leadership capability models to help with talent development and creating opportunities for international assignments to which any employee can apply.

However, the studies also identified critical gaps in current planning that potentially limit organisations’ ability to produce the multi-skilled leaders required in modern, rapidly-growing businesses, as well as differences in the leadership competencies that are deemed critical for success by companies in each region.

Key findings included:

· Companies can do more to plan and prepare for the next generation of leaders – fewer than half of those companies responding conduct regular pipeline projections, very few have specific plans for developing key segments of their workforce (e.g. women or grooming local talent) and even fewer have metrics for tracking progress on pipeline management.

· Many businesses are not effectively identifying who is ready for the next move or position within their leadership pipeline – 15% of businesses in Asia Pacific and just 6% in the Middle East report that they have strong, “ready-now” successors in place for critical leadership roles.

· Companies are spending less annually per person on training and developing middle level and frontline leaders than they do on global or senior level leaders. Fewer than 20% of companies in the Middle East are spending US$5,000 or more per person each year to develop their youngest future leaders. In Asia-Pacific, under-investment is even starker, with just 5% of companies achieving this level of spending for individuals at the earliest stage of the pipeline – the next generation of leaders.

· Companies view a leader’s ability to ‘create strategy’ as one of the most critical competencies for leadership success – 64% of companies in Middle East and 36% in Asia Pacific prioritise strategic competencies above other operational, people or personal capabilities.

Highlights for Asia Pacific:

· While leadership development strategies are in place in many organisations, execution remains a significant problem as performance management processes are not effectively identifying who is ready for the next move or position within their leadership pipeline.

· Systems and processes for executing talent management processes are extremely inefficient, still relying on paper-based and email resources.

· Organisations are not focusing leadership development efforts on women as a segment, despite women making up a small percentage of senior management in organisations.

· Companies continue to rely on expatriates, rather than local talent, for top leadership roles, calling into question the effectiveness of leadership development and localization strategies.

· Investment in leadership development is concentrated on top-level leaders, organisations need to also reach deeper and earlier into their leadership pipelines to build talent from within.

· Leaders and managers are not being held accountable for grooming future leadership talent.

· People-related competencies are not among those seen as most critical by organisations for leadership success.

· There is a disconnect between the development methods rated most effective by respondents (“stretch” assignments) and those methods that are most widely used such as classroom training and individual development plans.

Highlights for Middle East

· Half of the companies have defined leadership development strategies in place, although this is more likely in larger organisations.

· Those organisations without a defined leadership development strategy are often reliant on buy/borrow talent strategies.

· The short-term focus of companies jeopardises their ability to build strong leadership pipelines.

· Organisations are missing some critical infrastructure to support leadership development.

· Many companies recognise the lack of attention paid by organisations and top executives to leadership development.

· Companies are relying on traditional methods such as classroom training to develop talent and leadership expertise and these are not proving to be effective in nurturing future leaders.

· Key talent pools are under-represented in leadership positions and often overlooked in talent development programmes, including local staff and women.

Interested?

Access the report summary for When Women Thrive

Leadership workshops with a difference from Flight Experience Singapore and McGallen & Bolden

Source: McGallen & Bolden.

Flight Experience Singapore, Singapore’s first real flight simulator for the public in Asia, invites companies to organise leadership workshops at its premises in conjunction with consultancy McGallen & Bolden.

The Leadership Secrets at 30,000 Feet programme, targeting business leaders and executives, shares leadership concepts in an authentic cockpit environment. The four-hour customised training workshop features content derived from decades of aviation experience earned by Captain Michael Caston, who has piloted Boeing 747 and 737 jets for British Airways and Singapore Airlines and is a current air transport pilot license (ATPL) instructor at Cannes Aviation. The workshop is facilitated by Dr Seamus Phan, Head of Training, McGallen & Bolden.

“It all started when I became attracted to Flight Experience’s B737NG flight simulator, providing a realistic pilot experience for non-pilots, and subsequently took up the entire learning programme of License 1, Preflight Endorsement, and License 2 under Captain Caston’s team of pilot instructors,” says Phan. 

"A conversation with Captain Caston somehow started the idea that business executives and human resource development professionals are always looking for cutting-edge and powerful training and leadership development methods to up the ante for leaders and line managers managing and sustaining businesses in a tough economic climate. This unique flight simulator coupled with a facilitated programme seems like a perfect fit, especially with Captain Caston who is a 40-year aviation veteran with many real-world scenarios to share.”

The workshop extracts key learning points from aviation procedures and wisdom, and converges them with relevant business scenarios in communication, crisis management, standard operating procedures, partnerships, collaboration, competitive analysis, market conditions, and timing. Unlike traditional classroom training, or simple role-plays, Leadership Secrets at 30,000 Feet provides the participants the opportunity to experience an authentic commercial jet simulator, to equate takeoff, autopilot, crisis recovery, and landing procedures with parallel business processes and methods.

“Effective leadership skills are vital in commercial aviation and only come with dedicated training and experience. Other industries are looking at the discipline and education used by airlines. For example, the medical profession has already adopted crew resource management (CRM) skills into their training programmes and the results are showing a marked reduction in miscommunication and errors,” says Captain Caston. 

“It’s a great pleasure to partner with Seamus Phan and merging our experience and knowledge together to launch this exciting initiative here in Singapore. Our shared background means that we can offer a unique learning experience that is relevant and interactive, providing applicable and important leadership and communication tools for business executives in a challenging and ever changing environment. The use of aviation standards and the flight simulator offers an amazing opportunity for our learning partners to build real skills that can translate and enhance every day business situations and opportunities.”

Interested?

Each workshop is conducted at Flight Experience Singapore, located at Singapore Flyer, 30 Raffles Avenue, #02-06, Singapore 039803.

The program combines briefings, flight simulation sessions for the participants with common aviation and problem-solving scenarios, an integrative discussion to acquaint the participants with how aviation best practices can parallel situations and conditions business leaders face every day, and a question and answer session.

View the associated video

How leaders foster an open workplace

Workplace engagement prospers when open communication and relationships are strong. Forrest Bell, an outsourced sales and marketing firm based in the UK, highlights that being open in the workplace means having the capacity to talk freely, (yet respectfully and constructively) about needs, opinions and concerns as well as being able to listen receptively to (rather than just hear) new ideas, questions and feedback.

The firm believes that having a culture of openness is hugely beneficial in the workplace because it helps to build trust and advance initiatives, activity and projects that involve more than just one person. It also ensures transparency and simplifies how things are done in an ever-changing business environment.

Forrest Bell has listed key techniques that a good leader can use to encourage openness within their team:

Don't assume people hear what you say
Forrest Bell believe that it's totally acceptable to ensure the other person got your message clearly by asking something like "So what do you think of that idea…" or "Any initial thoughts on how we proceed with this…"

In return, don't assume you hear what the other person said. Forrest Bell recommends checking with the other person to validate what you think you have heard using phrases like "Let me make sure I've got this right…" or "So what I'm hearing you say is…"

Be honest, but do it skillfully and tactfully
Blunt, straight-talking managers frequently close down relationships leading to loss of productivity and motivation. Instead, Forrest Bell recommends that the leader ensures they express their message in a manner that people will be receptive to by using techniques such as making the audience the starting point of conversation, asking for feedback on an idea and if there are any issues to address. Never blame or accuse but instead encourage a problem-solving exercise.

Encourage employees to express their needs
It's better for employees to open up and articulate their needs as opposed to keeping them under wraps and trying to meet them at the expense of others. This can be done via proactive feedback in 1 on 1 sessions or in a group setting such as monthly meetings. Forrest Bell believes it's important to give thanks and recognition every time. Forrest Bell's Managing Director Rebecca Bell strongly believes in this exercise and often runs 1 on 1 meetings, breakfasts or dinners with the team to make it possible for them to express their needs.

Remove judgment
Forrest Bell believes that in most cases what the other person is saying is true for them. The firm suggests not judging prematurely or saying something without thinking, even if you disagree or know what they are saying is inaccurate. Let them finish and then talk it through. This will maintain trust and ensure they come back to you next time rather than going to someone else.

'Walk the job' on a regular basis, but don't encroach on people
Forrest Bell advises leaders to stop by and ask their team how they are or if there is anything they can do because this shows them that they genuinely care. One of the mottos of the company that is regularly used in passing is that, 'People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care.' If something is on their mind they will be more than likely to bring it up and then you can schedule a time to talk it through. However, invading their workspace and talking specifics will appear blunt and micromanaging – even if you have good intentions.

posted from Bloggeroid

Unlock leadership potential with a new tool from Hogan Assessment Systems and Sirota

On July 30th, Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, CEO of Hogan Assessment Systems, a pioneer of personality profiling and psychometric testing, will take the stage at the Oasia Hotel Singapore alongside Lewis Garrad, Managing Director Asia Pacific at Sirota, a performance consulting specialist to provide a sneak peek of a new, jointly-developed employee assessment model.

The Engaging Leader tool will be released in the Asia Pacific market in October 2015 to help companies and brands better unlock hidden leadership potential. 

“The issue of poor managers is something that has plagued Asian businesses for too long, and an end-to-end solution is necessary to fix this complex problem. While Hogan’s expertise lies in profiling individual managers and developing selection systems, Sirota surveys and assesses organisational climate to help encourage more effective leadership practices. Considering less than 60% of employees in Singapore feel their company is effectively managed and well-run, combining our expertise is a no-brainer to address the local leadership problem,” says Lewis Garrad, Managing Director, Sirota Asia Pacific.

Mercer and Saville Consulting to provide global leadership solutions

Consulting companies Mercer and Saville Consulting will work together to provide sophisticated leadership assessment and development tools to corporate clients operating in increasingly complex, cross-border markets.
The two companies have signed a formal agreement in response to growing demand from corporates in emerging markets for tools that help them accurately predict the future effectiveness of their senior leaders in a rapidly changing, global context.

For the first time, companies will be able to conduct standardised, global leadership assessment in multiple languages that specifically address the needs of today’s business environment.

Together, Mercer and Saville Consulting will deliver a suite of leadership solutions. In particular, they will launch a Global Leadership Profile Tool, which brings together Saville’s psychometric testing with Mercer’s insight into how companies can develop global leadership capabilities among senior executives.

Mercer predicts that developing a truly global leadership capability will continue to become even more critical in sustaining economic success and competitive advantage across growth markets.

“Mercer’s research and experience with large corporate companies around the world demonstrates an ever-increasing need for leaders with a global mindset and an understanding of cultural and geographical sensitivities. This is now a must have for modern businesses. Traditional leadership competencies are no longer enough,” said Kate Bravery, Partner and Leadership & Organisational Performance Practice Leader, Growth Markets for Mercer.

Differing executions of talent management in Asia

Source: ECN.

Talent management has increasingly become a strategic priority for business leaders fighting for managerial talent across Asia. 

A survey of the Economist Corporate Network's (ECN's) 550 member companies across Asia has found that 95% of CEO respondents feel they are actively involved in talent management. However, the nature of their role and the extent of their involvement varies widely.

Aligned for Success? Strategy, talent management and the role of the CEO in Asia reveals that the involvement of CEOs in human capital issues centres most heavily on strategic and planning activities, such as assessing the future shape of their workforce needs, and organisational design. Many CEOs admit to doing less about the developmental aspects of talent management such as nurturing key skills, training programmes and mentoring future leaders.

Highlights from the report include:

· A high proportion (90%) of respondents are raising their investment in internal talent development, but 65% indicate that they have no clear metrics in place to measure the benefit gained from training programmes.

· CEOs identify leadership, strategic thinking and an ability to manage across cultures as the top three skills missing among their current management bench.

· While nearly all CEOs claim to be the leading voice for, and closely involved with, talent management, most currently devote less than 20% of their time to talent-related issues. At the same time, 43% feel they should be giving more time to developing talent in their companies.

· CEOs are most closely involved with the planning aspect of talent management with fewer than half closely involved in actually developing talent.

· Asia-based CEOs indicate that their HR heads are more closely involved in strategy development than their counterparts in Europe and North America.

· 89% of respondents claim that their talent management strategy is informed by and aligned with their core business strategy.

Justin Wood, Director of the Economist Corporate Network in South-east Asia, said: “Competition for talent is intensifying in many parts of Asia. In Southeast Asia, for example, the value of foreign direct investment inflows reached record levels in 2013, overtaking China. These foreign firms are all looking for management talent to drive their investments. At the same time, local firms in Southeast Asia are also growing quickly and investing internationally, both across the ASEAN region, as well as further afield. This makes the battle for top talent especially intense.

“CEOs regularly claim that people are the number one priority at their firms. Yet all too often a gap exists between their rhetoric and the reality. This is usually because of a disconnect between the CEO’s strategic vision and the implementation by HR leads. This new report reveals how business leaders in the region are now looking to bridge this gap by adopting a more strategic approach to talent management, aligned with their core business strategies.”

Read the Southeast Asian edition of the report here. 

*To explore the challenges of securing and developing the right people with the right capabilities, skills and mindset for business leaders in Asia, the ECN surveyed CEO clients about their role in talent management and the extent to which talent management is aligned with core business strategy. Findings of the regional survey were discussed with CEO-level focus groups in Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore and these insights were used to help inform the final report.

World Economic Forum launches first online leadership module for professionals

Registration is now open for the World Economic Forum’s first online leadership module for professionals – Global Information Technology Outlook. Designed for senior executives and accelerated leadership programmes, the six-week online module will provide a 360º perspective on the key emerging technologies that are transforming industry and societal landscapes.

Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, said: “Today, leaders are under increasing pressure to make sense of the complex, volatile and uncertain environment in which they operate. A key reason for this is the pace of technological change. Recognising this need, our inaugural Forum Academy module will help leaders by providing greater contextual awareness of the transformations underway in the area of information technology.”

The Global Information Technology Outlook module is designed to provide participants with a deeper understanding of the key emerging technologies driving change and their impact and draws on a cross-section of over twenty global industry leaders, top practitioners, technology pioneers and leading scientists. Topics discussed include robotics, artificial intelligence, big data and sensor networks.

The module will begin on 17 June through Forum Academy, the online global learning platform of the World Economic Forum which provides continuous leadership development and updating for professionals and organisations to enhance their strategic knowledge in a fast-changing world.

Forum Academy was launched during the Annual Meeting 2014 in partnership with edX, a non-profit initiative for online education created by founding partners Harvard University and MIT. Anant Agarwal, President of edX said: “EdX’s partnership with the World Economic Forum represents a shared goal to enrich the professional and leadership development of leaders around the world using next-generation technologies. We are excited that the Global Information Technology Outlook module is launching and believe that online learning is naturally suited to impart insights into the fast-paced, disruptive and strategic impact of global technology on business and society.”

For further information and to sign up for Forum Academy modules, please visit http://forumacademy.weforum.org

Managers in Oman fall short on delegating

Delegating to focus on your strengths may sound simple, but it is not, say two ladies from Scope Quantum, a company which specialises in project management and consultancy services for health, safety and the environment (HSE). 

Source: Scope Quantum

"Most leaders admit to struggling with spending more time doing what their subordinates should or could have done," explains Zeenath Jaleel, Consultant, Scope Quantum and a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) practitioner.  

"We found that if a manager is on leave, work often gets delayed because their subordinates have not been given the trust and training to follow up on tasks. In my own experience in Oman, I have found that when I delegate and empower my team members, their resulting achievements are quite impressive," Jaleel said. 

"I am a HSE Team Lead at Areej Vegetable & Oil Derivatives, with HSE Officers working under my supervision. We got more done than planned simply by empowering the HSE Officers to do the job and giving them the freedom and trust to implement the plans based on their own initiatives. Marwa Al Kharusi, a Senior HR Specialist, has also found that effective leadership is when one is able to motivate his or her team members by delegating and empowering."

It is this crying need to clarify roles and responsibilities in the project management environment that has inspired Scope Quantum to offer a three-day workshop in Muscat, Oman titled "The Art of Delegation, Motivation & Empowerment in Project Team Management" at the Radisson Blu Hotel from 4 to 6 March this year. 

According to the the organisers, this is the first time that both Human Resources and Project Management are discussed with mutual reference at the same workshop.

"It will be three intensive days of interactive sessions, lunch included, with case studies and lessons learned in various industries specific to Oman," Jaleel said. "Everything is carefully designed so that participants are able to create a comprehensive action plan on the final day."

This is Jaleel's and fellow speaker Marwa Al Kharusi's first workshop for 2014. In late 2013 the two conducted bespoke training for mining company Vale in Sohar and received an average rating of 8  out of a maximum satisfaction score of 10.

The workshop targets managers, supervisors, team leaders and anyone who works with teams for projects. Jaleel has led project teams for PDO, Vale, and Areej Vegetable Oils & Derivatives, and conducted bespoke training sessions for clients in project management, risk management and health & safety management. 

Al Kharusi is a qualified professional trainer who has offered soft skills and behavioural training for over five years both in Oman and internationally. Al Kharusi has over 10 years of experience as a human resource specialist, and has coached potential entrepreneurs and students in association with Injaz Oman and Junior Achievement USA. She was also Project Leader for the Total Management team event organised by Omantel.

 

For further enquiries or to register for this event, contact Scope Quantum at admin@scopequantum.com. A maximum of 30 participants will be accepted for the March workshop. The company will consider opening up additional sessions if interest is high.