Saturday, December 12, 2009

Most Stressful Part of the Workplace

Do a Google search on “leadership theories” and it produces 1.2 million hits. Do a search on “leadership training programs” and the result is over 30 million hits. What does this suggest? According to Angie Tsai, the Organization Effectiveness and Development Director (Asia Pacific/Japan) for EMC: “This shows that while there is lots of interest in leadership and everyone has an opinion there is no one common approach. No single answer.” And after leading off with these statistics, Angie pointed out that “leadership is as much about personal choice as anything else.” She maintained that being a leader, ultimately, is about “who you are as a person.” Self-awareness, she maintained, was the most common attribute of successful leaders.

Angie indicated that for 60-70 percent of all employees, regardless of when the survey was taken or what occupation or industry was represented, the “most stressful part of their jobs is their immediate supervisors.” It is our immediate boss/manager/leader who has the most impact on us and makes the difference in whether we stay or leave, produce or retire on the job. She did acknowledge that it takes time to work out a relationship with one’s supervisor but it is well worth the time and energy. She pointed out that she has been at EMC for the longest time period of any job, and it is the hardest job she has ever had.

Finally, Angie was of the opinion that multi-rater feedback works best when people have a competent third-party or coach who can help them understand the data and how to make any appropriate changes. She believed that it was important to be self-aware about your strengths and weaknesses, for which 360-degree feedback was crucial. Working on your strengths was important, she argued, except for when these became weaknesses through an over-reliance upon them or when they result in arrogance. Her list of key leadership attributes included: self-awareness, vision, energy, integrity, cognitive complexity, creating options for execution, genuine interest in people and being more optimistic and agreeable than pessimistic and disagreeable. Angie urged those just starting out their careers to find opportunities to volunteer for additional assignments, especially special projects and cross-functional task forces, as a context in which to develop leadership capabilities.

No question about it: Leaders make a difference.

Barry

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Trust Works

Here’s a sample of quotations from my HKUST students’ experiences with trust. Note the obvious point (#1) that being trusted by their leader made them want to work harder (“compelled” them to in fact, as one put it):

"I am a hard worker as a rule of thumb but Alex’s trust in me made me work even harder, because I did not want to disappoint him."

"Since Bob put his trust in me, I made sure that I would not fail."

"I wanted to show to my boss and my client that their trust would pay off and I started to throw myself into the project."

"This trust gave me more confidence in myself, which encouraged me to do even better and gave me a sense of power."

"...how excited I was to work with him because I felt that he trusted my abilities. Not only did I feel compelled to reciprocate Wilson’s trust but I also felt empowered to explore new avenues."

"I felt empowered and trusted at the same time, but also scared. It made me want to work hard in order to show that I deserved this trust."

"I learned to trust in their job performance because at the beginning I was checking every single analysis they did, but I noticed how they got angry with me because I didn’t let them conclude anything by themselves. I showed trust to build trust."

The second observation is more subtle: These experiences cross over any demarcations of gender, nationality, and function/discipline. Could you guess which one is from a Mexican-American woman, a Chinese-American women, a Danish man, a Chinese woman, a German man, a Norwegian woman, or a Mexican woman? Which experiences come from the field of management consulting, construction engineering, environmental justice, public relations, or financial services?

Point #2 is that trust is not a particularly American or European or Asian idea per se but fundamental to all relationships. Leaders understand and learn to go first when it comes to being trustworthy and building trust – you have to “show trust to build trust.”

I trust you got these points.

Barry

Sunday, December 6, 2009

You Need to Treat Everyone Fairly

“A leader must be able to inspire others – to have followers,” explained Charles Mak, Head of Asia’s Private Wealth Management group for Morgan Stanley and native “Hong Konger.” The most important lesson for leaders (new or experienced), he went on to say, is that “you need to treat everyone fairly.” While everyone is not the same, everyone expects to be treated with dignity and respect, and then they, in return, will respect you and be willing to do what you ask them to do. Charlie recognized that as a leader he has to be “a role model and also be able to put himself into other people’s places so that he can know how they think about things.” There are over 60 different nationalities represented among the 300 people in his division, so “you prove ‘being fair’ by how you behave and make decisions.”

The most difficult task for a leader, Charlie claimed, is when you have to lay people off, but not “letting underperformers go is also a failure of leadership.” He pointed out that leaders develop others into leaders by giving them opportunities to grow and, inevitably in that process, letting them make mistakes… “and helping them to learn from those experiences.” But they better not make that same mistake again, he quipped, or “you get yourself fired!” Building a meritocracy is an essential organizational strategy, especially in Asia, for developing, rewarding, motivating, and retaining key people.

Difficult times require even more transparency and communications with people, and during these times it is especially important that you “don’t b.s. them!” One of the best strategies for building credibility, maintained Charlie, was setting stretch goals that could be achieved in a step-by-step fashion. He also pointed out that “profitability will bring you credibility” – so be sure to walk the talk!

With grace, humor, and insight Charlie reminded us that people everywhere are still just people -- who want pretty much what people everywhere (at all levels, fields and industries) want – “they need to be loved.” In return, he asserted, “they will treat the business as their own.”
Very good advice indeed.

Hope all is well,

Barry