Thursday, August 23, 2012

How leaders contribute to organisational success

 http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/308411/how-leaders-contribute-to-organisational-success

'Leadership accounts for, at the very least, 15% of the success of any organisation," the management and leadership studies pioneer Warren Bennis is quoted as saying in The One Thing You Need to Know by Marcus Buckingham. It's a figure that may surprise some people, and it made a good starting point for a recent conversation I had with Chompoo, one of my clients.

"Khun Chompoo, your organisation is a high-performance organisation. How much do you think your CEO accounts for when it comes to its success?" I asked her.

"A lot."

"Give me a guesstimate."

"Fifty percent."

"Wow, that's a lot _ how do you think he merits that high a number?"

"First, he deals with each person individually," she explains to me. "He has eight direct reports. The way he approaches each of them depends on each person's character.

"For example, in the executive committee, he confronts straightforwardly the head of sales because she's an aggressive lady. But when he deals with CFO he's more polite and friendly with her. When he seeks an opinion from our head of operations, who's an introvert, he's more patient, smiles a lot and gives him some time to articulate his thoughts."

I decide to play devil's advocate. "It sounds to me like he has double standards _ no, in fact triple standards for these three executives," I say.

"I asked him the same question," Chompoo replies. "He asked me to check with these three executives to find out what they thought."

"What did they say?"

"They said they didn't perceive his approach as a sign of inconsistency. Each individual is happy with his or her tailor-made style. They said, 'We're unique _ treating the three of us the same would drive us crazy."'

"What else does he do?"

"He hires good people to surround him and turns them into great ones. In his first year, he changed half of the team. Those who were not the right ones were rotated or asked to leave politely. He told me that it's nothing personal _ if someone does not fit a key position, don't waste time waiting for that person to change.

"He told me that if we wanted to be a high-performance organisation, we couldn't compromise on the calibre of those in the key positions.

"Once he got the right people, he gave them authority and accountability. There's no checking for progress on how to do things. Each key person has to figure out the best way to operate. If they needed support they came to seek it from him. He's very decisive in terms of yes or no. You didn't have to waste time guessing with him.

"One thing that he's good at it is expressing a clear vision. He said to us five years ago, 'We grow business with two differentiations: the variety of services and people's capabilities.' If any investment is needed to add value to these two aspects, don't waste time. Whatever resources you need, ask him. Then he arranges them for you. He fought with the head office in Europe for us."

"Do you think that his being an expat helps?" I ask.

"It helps. He's be able to confront and be assertive with the head office. Language is one thing but culture is another. If we had a Thai CEO, we might not push to this degree. But my CEO, he'll push, nag, fight, and also protect his team."

"What else?"

"He knows quite a lot about the people in the company. You can't say that about a lot of chief executives. He knows the nicknames of all the managers one and two levels down the line _ that's about 50 people, considering he has eight direct reports. He also knows a little bit about each one of these people's strengths."

"How does he manage that?"

"He spends time taking part in outside activities of each department. When each department has an outing upcountry, he's there as well. He observes how middle managers interact in workshops and meetings. At night, he joins the party with them. He learns by listening to each person's viewpoint and opinion."

"Khun Chompoo, I notice that all eight direct reports work very hard. I didn't see much in terms of your CEO following up on them. So how does he keep track of progress?"

"In first two years, he did monitor us," she says. "But once he trusted us, he didn't feel it was necessary to be checking on us. Each of us acts like an entrepreneur because our boss acts like one. So we don't think we work for him. This is our business. You only meet with him when you need something. He comes to us from time to time _ mostly to congratulate us on our success."

"That's great. Everyone is so passionate about the work. Nevertheless, you are eager to take on additional assignments. I'm impressed."

"Coach, I give a big credit to the CEO. He has a one-on-one session with each of us once a month. In the meeting, he asks us how we're doing. That's an opportunity for us to share with him on our success stories and our strengths. He listens attentively. He congratulates us.

"Then, he ends each conversation with two great questions: 'That's good. I know you can be great, how do you plan to do it?' And, 'What support do I need to give to make it happen?"'



Kriengsak Niratpattanasai provides executive coaching in leadership and diversity management under the brand TheCoach. He can be reached at coachkriengsak@yahoo.com. His columns are available at www.thaicoach.com

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

What's Going On With Infinite This Month

Congratulations Lindsey and Eric on your recent promotions. We are excited to see you take on your new responsibilities as the company grows. Keep up the good work!

Fun times at Infinite! We went to Minor Tavern last week and were surprised to be joined by The Drive radio station. Kaitlin won two seperate rounds of most puts sank in a minute AND 2 seperate rounds of golf to Bowlingbrook golf course. Great times. Looking for another great week of team outing fun this week!


Congratulations Lindsey and Eric on your recent promotions. We are excited to see you take on your new responsibilities as the company grows. Keep up the good work!

Congratulations to executives at Infinite for being rewarded with a trip to visit a client office in Indiana.  

Monday, August 13, 2012

Read More About Our Leadership Conference Key Note Speaker - Edsel Ford

http://media.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=180

Infinite Executives Travel To Detroit For Leadership Conference - Edsel Ford - Keynote Speaker

Executives from Infinite will be attending a weekend leadership retreat in Detroit.

The company will be joining executives from corporations across the country to share successful management techniques and learn from consultants tips on successful business practices.  In addition, the grandson of Henry Ford, Edsel Ford will be the Keynote Guest Speaker.

It will be an exciting weekend and we expect even more growth based on what we bring back from the experience.


Sunday, August 5, 2012

Five business lessons from Bradley Wiggins

http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/features/1144259/five-business-lessons-bradley-wiggins/

By Vicki Bennett Friday, 03 August 2012

Bradley Wiggins is the first Britain to win the Tour de France and the most-decorated Brit following his performance in this year's Olympics. Here are five lessons business leaders can learn from 'the Mod' of cycling.

Think like a winner

Wiggins’s revolutionary tactic in cycling training was to race less often but to always race to win. His team got used to leading a race rather than chasing the lead. Perhaps one of the most powerful elements in his 2012 success is the idea that Wiggins and his team already felt like winners. This is linked in to the idea that visualizing things can help to lead up to their creation.

When someone begins to think differently they begin to feel differently and, in turn, this can change their actions: they can become a different person. Adopting the 'as if' theory to business may encourage a world of fresh possibilities. As Henry Ford said ‘If you believe you can or you believe you can’t you’re probably right’.

Never stop learning from your mistakes

Wiggins’s training programme drew inspiration from the sport of swimming (working at top intensity from the start vs. a steady build), which completely changed the way he and his team trained. That said, he also learned from his past mistakes, and made sure to pace the start of a time trial to leave enough power in his legs to finish.

Many may find reviewing their own failures a painful process but, as Wiggins has shown, it is crucial in order to progress towards goals. In Joseph Campbell’s book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, the hero has to learn from each of the tasks and ordeals presented, or he is forced repeat the lesson over and over. The art for the business leader therefore is to be able to identify and learn from past experiences in order to achieve their goals.

Working with and for others

Leadership is rarely just a solo act. Wiggins’s path to his 2012 success has seen him perform as a member and leader of a team as well as a solo competitor.  In the Tour he was lead in the team and is seen as the winner but he would be first to say it was a team effort.  He worked in close unison with the rest of the team, leading out the ‘Sky Train’ to set up Mark Cavendish to win the last (most prestigious) stage.

In the Olympic men’s race, victory escaped them in the end but it was Mark Cavendish who was in the frame for the win; Bradley was (in effect) a stage pace leader in service of Cavendish’s gold medal aims. Of course Wiggins’ solo effort in the individual time trial did lead to Olympic gold.

Wiggins’ ability to work with and for others demonstrates that sometimes leadership can be best played out by working in the service of others. Successful business leaders know the importance of empowering their team, with each member sharing objectives and working collectively in pursuit of a common goal.

Plan but be flexible

Wiggins raced five times in the lead up to the Tour de France. Each race was a mini-goal in his overall strategy; first to win the Tour and then the Olympic time trial. Although Wiggins felt at his peak at the start of the Tour, he had accounted for every possible scenario (from crashing out to winning).

If you have a clear sense of the direction you are heading in and what you are trying to achieve in each year, month, week, day, each moment, you are far more likely to be effective in your work and personal life. Keeping on track means both dedication to the programme and flexibility in the face of a changing landscape.

Success is as much about aligning and planning as it is about knowing when to be flexible and agile enough to meet new market demands as the external environment shifts. Robert Fritz (Corporate Tides, 1994) reckons that the hallmark of a leader is their ability first to articulate a desired state whilst remaining closely in touch with the current state (how things are right now) and second to sustain this tension without letting go of either vision or reality, until it can be turned into effective change.

Keep it real

On returning home to Chorley, Wiggins commented that he felt overwhelmed and that one of his first tasks was to take his son to a rugby camp in Wigan. This British sporting hero is first and foremost a dad and a husband who recognizes the importance of this team’s effort in his success. Described as a ‘nice guy’ by fellow competitors, Wiggins is authentic in his approach to life and his sport.  Leaders are often held as role models in their organizations so need to act with integrity and authenticity in pursuing their business goals.


Vicki Bennett is a partner at change consultancy Sheppard Moscow