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Progress! First-Class Leadership - Issue No.1 / January 2005

Dear Reader,

In the past few weeks, I had the chance to talk to several senior HR executives and, almost without exception, they told me that the next big trend in human resources management will be a stronger focus on leadership development. When asked for the reasons for this trend, they replied that the importance of good leadership is now slowly being understood. The ongoing corporate governance debate especially in mainland China and the US certainly uncovers many deficiencies in current leadership practices among middle and top management. Furthermore, research and experience suggest that, in most cases, poor leadership is responsible for high turnover rates and, consequently, low profitability.

According to the Hewitt Best Employer research (c.f. Hewitt: Leadership & Talent in Asia, published in 2004), the number 1 concern of the best employers in the Asia-Pacific is achieving high-quality organizational leadership, as well as people’s issues. Note that financing, the tax situation, products and markets were not the employers’ greatest concerns. While these factors certainly have an impact, leadership and people’s issues deserve their greatest attention and biggest efforts. The best employers know that first-class leadership is the key driving force of productivity—and thus profitability—in any organization.

Interestingly, the rest of the employers also say that people's issues are very important, but the significant difference between the “best” and the “rest” is determination and rigor in implementing adequate measures and actions to “walk their talk.”

Are you aware of the quality of your leadership? What are your ways to measure this important if not crucial factor?

I would be glad to talk about it with you.

Keep Progressing!,

Charlie Lang
Executive Coach and Founder of Progress-U Ltd.

1) Hewitt: Leadership & Talent in Asia 2004

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1. Leadership Coaching
Serial: The Top 10 Leadership Competencies for First-Class Leadership - Part V of VI: Employee Participation; Encouraging Innovation

To read Part I - IV of this serial, please click here

Part V

Competency No. 7: Employee Participation

Participative Leadership was a big trend in the early 80s and is certainly a concept that will remain. Up until the 80s, leadership was supposed to be a top-down process, which explains the titles such as ”director”, which suggests that people need to be directed or told to do what you want them to do.

When I look at today's corporate world, I can see much more employee participation, which is a great achievement. However, I can also still see a lot of directing in many of my clients' organizations—proof that some leaders cannot really lead.

Why is employee participation important and why do leaders have problems dealing with it in an appropriate manner?

If a leader is able to solicit the participation of employees in an effective manner, and if such participation leads to different and better choices for the leader and the company, employees will feel more respected, appreciated and motivated. Even if the leader chooses not to pursue the suggestions of the employees, he** might still achieve similar results provided that he displays an honest consideration of his employees’ suggestions. Additionally, in such cases, the leader may also explain in detail how he made his decision and the reasons why he couldn't use the other suggestions. Failing to do so may leave employees discouraged and, if such patterns are repeated several times, they may choose to refuse further participation in the future.

Employee participation not only produces empowerment and increased motivation; it also allows leaders to tap into the unused resources inherent to each staff member. More often than not, leaders don't realize the immense potential of their workforce. The lack of belief in the capabilities of each team member leads to a greater gap between a leader and his team and thus has a negative impact on the level of groupness within the group.

A few days ago, I joined a gathering of people interested in leadership, management and spirituality. The speaker of the evening, Mr. Mark Bergt, leader of cultural transformation at Jebsen in Hong Kong, shared with us how he broke the limiting beliefs about the true potential hidden in each employee of the organization. Feel free to contact me at charlie.lang@progressu.com.hk for more information on Jebsen's approach.

Summary: Encouraging employee participation is an important leadership skill to improve the morale and motivation of employees, to increase the level of groupness experienced among a team. The result is an engaged workforce that can have a strong impact on the bottom line.

Do you want to know more about Charlie's progress in authoring his first book "The Groupness Factor"? Then read his latest entry in his blog by visiting http://progressu.blogspot.com. Feel free to give him your feedback either on the blog itself or by email.

Competency No. 8: Encouraging Innovation

Innovation is like jazz! How so? Jazz musicians normally use three elements (in different combinations) when innovating: fusion, reinterpretation and improvisation.

1. Fusion

Fusion is using two or more existing products and blending them to create a new product.

Jazz example: Latin Jazz

Industry example: Blackberry (the fusion of a handheld computer with a mobile phone)

2. Reinterpretation

Reinterpretation is recreating an existing product. The original product is still identifiable, but has been modified to some extent.

Jazz example: “Mack The Knife” by Louis Armstrong, originally by Berthold Brecht

Industry example: Laser Punching Machine by Trumpf (originally Mechanical Punching Machines)

3. Improvisation

When improvising, an existing product or its concept is abandoned to create something new. Occasionally, the original product may not even be recognized anymore.

Jazz example: Jam Sessions

Industry example: development of Notebooks from PC’s

How can a leader influence his team’s creativity? If we look at very innovative companies, we realize that they have a particular innovation culture. The management provides opportunities for creative people to excel, for instance, by allowing for a certain number of unplanned projects, running innovation workshops or permitting their employees to try out new ways even though there is no guarantee of success. Of course, such initiatives require boundaries tight enough to avoid major damages but wide enough to allow creativity to happen.

An innovation culture also has a healthy impact on the groupness factor, as such a culture binds people together: they are excited about what they are doing and can support each other in achieving results. However, these positive results can only be expected if all other systems in an organization, such as reward policies and so on, are sufficiently aligned.

Summary: It is a known fact that innovative companies are more successful than less innovative ones. Innovation must not be limited to products and services; it can include processes, policies, marketing, etc. Applying the underlying principles of jazz can help leaders inspire creativity and, subsequently, innovation—provided that enough space and opportunities are created as well.

NOTE:The Top 10 Leadership Skills are also part of Progress-U's 2-day First-Class Leadership Seminar. Charlie will facilitate this interactive seminar in collaboration with VISTEX Ltd. on March 01 + 02, 2005. For details and registration visit www.progressu.com.hk/Seminars.htm or call +852-9199 2019.

For more information related to Progress-U Leadership Coaching please visit click here.

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Charlie Lang is an Executive Coach and Trainer who founded Progress-U Limited in 2002. His mission is to develop his clients to become First-Class Leaders. He is a passionate and professional Executive Coach, Mentor Coach, Trainer, Public Speaker and Author of articles related to leadership, change management and innovative sales. In 2004, he initiated the Master Coach Alliance in Hong Kong, a network of professional Life, Business and Corporate Coaches. End of 2004, he started authoring a book on First-Class Leadership which is due to be published in mid-2005. Copyright 2002-2005 Progress-U Limited