As we are so used with job advertisement, here it is...
Looking forward to your participation. Thank you!!
March 27, 2009
Join Me: Authors Needed!
Yeah, you are not dreaming! I am now sourcing for people. I need people who share the same passion on human resources, leadership and of course, continuous learning to contribute their wealth of knowledge and experience to this "beginner" blog. This move is to nurture direct sharing of experience rather than just through comments column. This is also to foster variety in topics discussed in this blog.
As we are so used with job advertisement, here it is...
Looking forward to your participation. Thank you!!
As we are so used with job advertisement, here it is...
Looking forward to your participation. Thank you!!
March 24, 2009
Leadership Styles
Daniel Goleman in his book, Primal Leadership (with Richard Boyatzis and Annie Mc Kee) offers six (6) different leadership styles (refer to the table below; with acknowledgement to 12Manage.com). Effective leaders can act according to the various styles and they can also switch between the various styles and that is depending largely on the situation.
Please click the table for bigger image to view details
In Goleman’s views, effective leaders create resonance. I look at few on-line dictionaries and find it rather hard to explain resonance in general layman terms. Perhaps, the closest is to produce an echo; meaning to restate in support or in agreement. Creating resonance, according to Goleman, comes naturally to people with a high degree emotional intelligence and the process of creating resonance also involves intellectual aspects of a leader.
My view on this is that a person may have a predominant leadership style. The reason for me to believe this is because he or she has characters, personality, and strengths (and not to mention weaknesses, of course). For a person to master the various styles of leadership he or she needs to develop them and as Goleman pointed, mastering these styles will make him or her effective leader.
I came across 2 video clips that show different leadership styles and I would like to share with all readers here. Want to take a guess, which styles they are?
Please click the table for bigger image to view details
In Goleman’s views, effective leaders create resonance. I look at few on-line dictionaries and find it rather hard to explain resonance in general layman terms. Perhaps, the closest is to produce an echo; meaning to restate in support or in agreement. Creating resonance, according to Goleman, comes naturally to people with a high degree emotional intelligence and the process of creating resonance also involves intellectual aspects of a leader.My view on this is that a person may have a predominant leadership style. The reason for me to believe this is because he or she has characters, personality, and strengths (and not to mention weaknesses, of course). For a person to master the various styles of leadership he or she needs to develop them and as Goleman pointed, mastering these styles will make him or her effective leader.
I came across 2 video clips that show different leadership styles and I would like to share with all readers here. Want to take a guess, which styles they are?
March 23, 2009
The Role of HR
It was pretty recent that I watched a short video on the internet where Mr. Jack Welch had been asked on his views about HR. Two things that really captured my attention; first how strategic does he envisions the role of HR should be, and second, how highly does he values the role of HR in the organisation.
Bear in mind that Mr. Jack Welch was once the CEO of GE and it is during his leadership, GE was (and still very much now) the role model for best practices in many fields including innovation, performance culture, leadership and talent management. If you need to refer to a book on what GE is good at, I suggest "The GE Way Fieldbook" by Robert Slater. This is not the only book about GE available at the bookstores... in fact, they are many. But, I can assure you that this is the simplest book that can help and guide you in the implementation.
Bear in mind that Mr. Jack Welch was once the CEO of GE and it is during his leadership, GE was (and still very much now) the role model for best practices in many fields including innovation, performance culture, leadership and talent management. If you need to refer to a book on what GE is good at, I suggest "The GE Way Fieldbook" by Robert Slater. This is not the only book about GE available at the bookstores... in fact, they are many. But, I can assure you that this is the simplest book that can help and guide you in the implementation.This video is an evidence that leadership plays vital roles in determining how strategic will the role of HR be in the organisation. The outcome is always two sides of a coin depending on how the leadership team behaves.
Here is the link for the video;
http://www.welchway.com/mediaPlayer.aspx?fileID=18&mediaType=flv&TB_iframe=true&width=410&height=325
Enjoy watching and learning!
It's all about Trust!
First, sorry not writing or posting anything for the past 2 weeks. I have to admit it is a challenge to keep up with this blog, but what keep me going are words of encouragement from fellow colleagues and readers like you. Thanks so much for your support!
In this posting, I want to talk and perhaps later discuss with readers on trust, which I feel one of the most important elements of leadership. To lead effectively, people must be able to trust you with your thought, words, decisions, and actions, or alternatively, as a leader you must inspire others to trust you! Without trust is as good as saying you are not a leader! Sound harsh, critical and cynistic. But, that's true!
Bryn Meredith in Bluepoint Leadership Development blog (http://www.bluepointleadership.com/blog/bryn-meredith/can-you-still-be-trusted/) wrote,
"If people do not trust you, everything else you do as a leader becomes inconsequential. Forget trying to be inspirational, coach-like, innovative, supportive, a team leader, or visionary. If you do't have people's trust, they may do what you tell them because you have positional authority, but you will not get the passionate engagement that is the result of true leadership"
Stephen R. Covey, in his book, The Speed of Trust, said,
"Low trust is an unseen cost in life and business because it creates hidden agendas and guarded communication, thereby slowing decision-making. A lack of trust stymies innovation and productivity. Trust, on the other hand, produces speed because it feeds collaboration, loyalty and ultimately, results"
Further, Stephen R. Covey, in an interview in his blog (http://www.stephencovey.com/blog/?p=13), said,
"Trust is the lifeblood of all relationships, of all transactions, and is so foundational and fundamental to everything in life"
By now we have established that trust is important. But, how do we inspire and build trust? If people had lost trust in us, can we regain it back?
Let's continue to read excerpt from Covey's interesting interview in his blog:
Q: Help us understand the behaviors that reduce trust.
A: The metaphor I’ve used that I have found very helpful to people is an Emotional Bank Account. It’s like a financial bank account into which you can make deposits and take withdrawals. And if you get into a situation where you are constantly making withdrawals-the kinds that I have just been speaking about-you get an overdrawn Emotional Bank Account. And we all know what happens with a bank relationship when you have an overdrawn account. It kills your freedom, your flexibility, and your credit capacity.
Q: What behaviors increase trust? Is it a skill I can learn?
A: Absolutely. It is not just a skill you can learn, it is a character trait that you have to develop. It is not a technique you can just pick up. You have to be trustworthy in your heart and sincere about what your real intentions are so that you can be transparent. You’re not fearful of being “found out” doing something in the dark when you’re proclaiming something else in the light. The most important of all deposits into the Emotional Bank Account of trust is empathy, because empathy, or listening to another within his or her frame of reference, tells you what the important deposits are to that person. Every person is different. So you have to figure out what is important to them-how do they interpret kindness, consideration, and respect? How do they interpret making and keeping promises? How do they interpret any other positive deposit in the Emotional Bank Account? This is all a function of empathy, and it is the same with customers, with your associates in the business, and with your business partners. The key is to always develop a relationship that produces Win/Win Agreements, so the feeling is that everyone wins. But to do that, you have to deeply listen to other people to find out what the win is for them.
Q: Is it possible to regain someone’s trust? How?
A: It is absolutely possible to regain their trust, but to do so, you have to right the wrongs you’ve done; you have to apologize; you have to seek forgiveness; you have to try to make reconciliation in every way you can. But if you are in a state of denial and don’t have the humility to admit that you’ve made a mistake, then you’ve just taken another withdrawal and people will come to not trust your apologies and your asking for forgiveness.
In this posting, I want to talk and perhaps later discuss with readers on trust, which I feel one of the most important elements of leadership. To lead effectively, people must be able to trust you with your thought, words, decisions, and actions, or alternatively, as a leader you must inspire others to trust you! Without trust is as good as saying you are not a leader! Sound harsh, critical and cynistic. But, that's true!
Bryn Meredith in Bluepoint Leadership Development blog (http://www.bluepointleadership.com/blog/bryn-meredith/can-you-still-be-trusted/) wrote,
"If people do not trust you, everything else you do as a leader becomes inconsequential. Forget trying to be inspirational, coach-like, innovative, supportive, a team leader, or visionary. If you do't have people's trust, they may do what you tell them because you have positional authority, but you will not get the passionate engagement that is the result of true leadership"
Stephen R. Covey, in his book, The Speed of Trust, said,"Low trust is an unseen cost in life and business because it creates hidden agendas and guarded communication, thereby slowing decision-making. A lack of trust stymies innovation and productivity. Trust, on the other hand, produces speed because it feeds collaboration, loyalty and ultimately, results"
Further, Stephen R. Covey, in an interview in his blog (http://www.stephencovey.com/blog/?p=13), said,
"Trust is the lifeblood of all relationships, of all transactions, and is so foundational and fundamental to everything in life"
By now we have established that trust is important. But, how do we inspire and build trust? If people had lost trust in us, can we regain it back?
Let's continue to read excerpt from Covey's interesting interview in his blog:
Q: Help us understand the behaviors that reduce trust.
A: The metaphor I’ve used that I have found very helpful to people is an Emotional Bank Account. It’s like a financial bank account into which you can make deposits and take withdrawals. And if you get into a situation where you are constantly making withdrawals-the kinds that I have just been speaking about-you get an overdrawn Emotional Bank Account. And we all know what happens with a bank relationship when you have an overdrawn account. It kills your freedom, your flexibility, and your credit capacity.
Q: What behaviors increase trust? Is it a skill I can learn?
A: Absolutely. It is not just a skill you can learn, it is a character trait that you have to develop. It is not a technique you can just pick up. You have to be trustworthy in your heart and sincere about what your real intentions are so that you can be transparent. You’re not fearful of being “found out” doing something in the dark when you’re proclaiming something else in the light. The most important of all deposits into the Emotional Bank Account of trust is empathy, because empathy, or listening to another within his or her frame of reference, tells you what the important deposits are to that person. Every person is different. So you have to figure out what is important to them-how do they interpret kindness, consideration, and respect? How do they interpret making and keeping promises? How do they interpret any other positive deposit in the Emotional Bank Account? This is all a function of empathy, and it is the same with customers, with your associates in the business, and with your business partners. The key is to always develop a relationship that produces Win/Win Agreements, so the feeling is that everyone wins. But to do that, you have to deeply listen to other people to find out what the win is for them.
Q: Is it possible to regain someone’s trust? How?
A: It is absolutely possible to regain their trust, but to do so, you have to right the wrongs you’ve done; you have to apologize; you have to seek forgiveness; you have to try to make reconciliation in every way you can. But if you are in a state of denial and don’t have the humility to admit that you’ve made a mistake, then you’ve just taken another withdrawal and people will come to not trust your apologies and your asking for forgiveness.
March 6, 2009
Strategic Thinking and Great Leaders
I attended the ICLIF Breakfast Talk this morning in Kuala Lumpur. The speaker was Professor Moshe F. Rubinstein from UCLA. The topic that he delivered was "Bring the Future to the Present". It was in fact a very fruitful session even though it was only 2 hours.
What the session is all about? Imagine this... what we normally do in planning is to bring best practices from the past to present time for strategizing and planning for the future. Sounds good! But the problem is we are not sure whether what had worked in the past will work in the future, right?
What he suggested is bring the future to the present i.e. visualizing the ideal end state and working backwards. How that can be done? "Strategic thinking", he said. Not, strategic planning. "Too much planning and we forgot how to think and we don't think", he said. What he propogates is being creative, innovative and think the unthinkable!
For those who want to explore more (in-depth) on this, Moshe and his colleague, Iris wrote a book entitled "The Minding Organisations: Bring the Future to the Present and Turn Creative Ideas to Business Solutions". Below is the link that will bring you to the title in Amazon Books.
http://www.amazon.com/Minding-Organization-Creative-Business-Solutions/dp/0471347817/ref=pd_sim_b_2/181-9441849-4474818
In his 2 hours session, Moshe did also mention the characteristics of Great Leaders. They are: (1) authentic, (2) humble/humility, (3) honest/trustworthiness, (4) future focus, (5) inspire, and (6) competence people (as leaders need to get things done, not to do by themselves). He stressed on humility in great length. From good to being Great, leaders need to be mindful not to fall into a trap of being arrogant! It is important that leaders have sense of humility i.e. open to mistakes, feedback from others and always learn to be better and better.
What the session is all about? Imagine this... what we normally do in planning is to bring best practices from the past to present time for strategizing and planning for the future. Sounds good! But the problem is we are not sure whether what had worked in the past will work in the future, right?
What he suggested is bring the future to the present i.e. visualizing the ideal end state and working backwards. How that can be done? "Strategic thinking", he said. Not, strategic planning. "Too much planning and we forgot how to think and we don't think", he said. What he propogates is being creative, innovative and think the unthinkable!
For those who want to explore more (in-depth) on this, Moshe and his colleague, Iris wrote a book entitled "The Minding Organisations: Bring the Future to the Present and Turn Creative Ideas to Business Solutions". Below is the link that will bring you to the title in Amazon Books.http://www.amazon.com/Minding-Organization-Creative-Business-Solutions/dp/0471347817/ref=pd_sim_b_2/181-9441849-4474818
In his 2 hours session, Moshe did also mention the characteristics of Great Leaders. They are: (1) authentic, (2) humble/humility, (3) honest/trustworthiness, (4) future focus, (5) inspire, and (6) competence people (as leaders need to get things done, not to do by themselves). He stressed on humility in great length. From good to being Great, leaders need to be mindful not to fall into a trap of being arrogant! It is important that leaders have sense of humility i.e. open to mistakes, feedback from others and always learn to be better and better.
March 5, 2009
Effective Talent Management
The link below will bring you to a white paper by Development Dimensions International (DDI). I choose this paper to be my first post because the paper gives some critical info on talent management; definition, business drivers, and best practice examples, which I feel suits best for a beginner in talent management.
This is my sixth year in hr development, talent and succession management, leadership development and other similar functions. Speaking from my experience, one will be amazed with the amount of resources out there in the web. Let me try googling "talent management". I found about 18,500,000 entries in merely 0.22 seconds.
If you start to read article by article, soon you will find yourself in the state of confusion over many things; terms used, models, frameworks, bla.. bla.. bla.. That what happened to me six years ago. It took sometimes for me to digest them bit by bit and I am still learning, actively.
Let's experience it, happy reading!
http://www.ddiworld.com/pdf/ddi_ninebestpracticetalentmanagement_wp.pdf
This is my sixth year in hr development, talent and succession management, leadership development and other similar functions. Speaking from my experience, one will be amazed with the amount of resources out there in the web. Let me try googling "talent management". I found about 18,500,000 entries in merely 0.22 seconds.
If you start to read article by article, soon you will find yourself in the state of confusion over many things; terms used, models, frameworks, bla.. bla.. bla.. That what happened to me six years ago. It took sometimes for me to digest them bit by bit and I am still learning, actively.
Let's experience it, happy reading!
http://www.ddiworld.com/pdf/ddi_ninebestpracticetalentmanagement_wp.pdf
Introduction
Dear all readers,
This blog fits well with all readers who are willing to read, think, reflect, learn and then share with other people. It is only by sharing, we will retain our knowledge better and improve our understanding on the subject matters.
I would also like to dedicate this blog to all HR practitioners out there. Doesn't matter, what your specializations are; be it HR services, recruitment, IR, performance management, or succession management, this is for you!
This blog will post resources on HR and leadership that are posted anywhere in the web space. The main objective is sharing. I hope that in the process, readers can share their thoughts and experience for others to learn. I aspire that this blog will be "the place for discourse" for all HR practitioners out there and when that happens, it will be my absolute pleasure!
This blog fits well with all readers who are willing to read, think, reflect, learn and then share with other people. It is only by sharing, we will retain our knowledge better and improve our understanding on the subject matters.
I would also like to dedicate this blog to all HR practitioners out there. Doesn't matter, what your specializations are; be it HR services, recruitment, IR, performance management, or succession management, this is for you!
This blog will post resources on HR and leadership that are posted anywhere in the web space. The main objective is sharing. I hope that in the process, readers can share their thoughts and experience for others to learn. I aspire that this blog will be "the place for discourse" for all HR practitioners out there and when that happens, it will be my absolute pleasure!
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