The mission of the Human Capital Leadership Institute (HCLI) is clear: How can we help organisations in Asia develop their human capital talent better? In a fast-growing region, a company’s ability to expand its business is directly linked to its ability to grow its leadership talent. Time and time again, we have been asked by business leaders how can we fast-track the development of our leadership talent in Asia?
As such, we decided to embark on a collaborative research initiative with partners from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL). CCL, widely regarded as a leading global provider of executive education programmes, were also keen to deepen their understanding of leadership development in an Asian context. Some questions they asked were: What are some Asian insights on how best to fast-track leadership development? And, to what extent would these insights be applicable not just to Asia, but globally?
Together with CCL, we identified five organisations in Singapore that had won various awards and accolades for their leadership development practices. We reached out to the human resource (HR) directors of Olam International, Unilever, CapitaLand, the Singapore Prison Service, and British American Tobacco. These companies gave us access to three different groups within their organisation, namely high-potential leaders (expected to operate at the top level in five to 10 years), their supervisors, and HR leaders. This allowed us to triangulate different perspectives in order to understand the accelerators of leadership development. We then crafted interview guides, conducted in-depth interviews with over 30 participants, transcribed and analysed the data. We distilled five key findings, which are summarised below:
1. To foster learning, emphasise doing
When we asked the leaders what contributed most to their own development, no one mentioned management books or executive education programmes. Instead, the vast majority of respondents said that dealing with adversity and crisis were key accelerators of leadership growth. Such challenging circumstances tested and stretched their leadership abilities, and helped foster resilience and confidence. The finding is therefore clear: Leaders learn most from undertaking challenging experiences. While many of these experiences were hard to predict, such as dealing with the financial crisis of 2008, other challenging experiences were specifically designed by their organisations. For example, Olam International sends its leadership talent to foundational postings early in their career, often serving in small towns in undeveloped countries.
The principle of learning by doing is a well-acknowledged one. Even in Asia, which traditionally has deep respect for the value of formal learning, there was clear consensus from the participants we spoke to that leaders learn most by doing.
2. To accelerate development, slow down
When we explained our research objective was to identify accelerators of leadership development, many respondents pointed out that it was, sometimes most important to slow down. In particular, they mentioned the importance of building in reflection time and processes in order to crystallise learnings from their experience. In Asia, there are no shortage of challenging assignments and experiences. However, our participants tell us that it was sometimes difficult to carve out time and space for deep reflection. Many participants mentioned the importance of building-in reflection processes such as after-action reviews, as well as regular feedback and coaching sessions.
Another key finding was that a number of high-potential talents told us that they had turned down promotions to spend more time in their current role. They did this because they believed it was important to not just develop strategic initiatives, but to see their execution through and evaluate their longer-term impact. They had the foresight to see the risks of over-promotion, which can ironically stunt one’s long-term leadership growth.
3. To excel at the task, harness relationships
It has been said that relationships are important everywhere, but they are especially important in Asia. The five leading companies involved in the study told us that the main differentiator between top leaders and others is not intellectual ability, but rather interpersonal ability. As leaders rise through an organisation, their sphere of influence grows. Hence, the impact of a top leader increasingly rests on their ability to get things done through other people.
One leader we spoke to shared a personal story. He was a Singaporean posted to lead an Indonesian subsidiary. One day, a group of employees organised a labour strike, which grew increasingly heated and threatened to become violent. Labour strikes are uncommon in Singapore, and this individual was taken aback. As a leader, he felt it was his obligation to address this situation himself. He asked his staff to return home, for their own safety. The reaction of his team astounded him. They decided to stay on to help defuse the situation. The shortest member of his team offered to reach out directly to the employees on strike. Using humour and empathy, this team member managed to defuse tensions, and help initiate calm negotiations. The strike was subsequently ended, and amicable compromises were reached. This leader learnt a profound lesson: A leader is only as effective as his team.
4. To achieve success, learn to fail
There is growing awareness that failures can be a powerful source of learning and growth. However, in Asia, there is often a norm of preserving ‘face’ and avoiding failure at all cost. This mindset can stifle experimentation, innovation and personal development. The top companies in Asia are aware of this, and work hard to create a culture that encourages not just learning from failure, but also the sharing of these learnings to the broader organisation.
Top leaders recognise that this culture can only take root if they role model openness, speak candidly about their own mistakes, and share publically the learnings from those mistakes. A few caveats should be emphasised. While these companies are very tolerant of employees making honest mistakes, they also expect that these mistakes will not be repeated, especially as individuals rise through the ranks. The message is clear: Fail young, fail cheap and never fail to learn.
5. To develop greatness, practice humility
Perhaps the most startling finding we uncovered in our study was the importance placed on humility. The leaders we spoke to were all highly accomplished and successful individuals, and yet, they were clear about having room for their own improvement, and were constantly seeking to learn from others.
We asked a top leader what he did to help develop his subordinates. He told us he felt he learnt as much from them as they did from him. He provided clear examples on what he had learnt from his subordinates – ranging from their mastery of new technologies to a more facilitative leadership styles. However, one thing they undoubtedly learnt from him is this: If our boss has the humility to actively learn from us, we should likewise seek to learn from all avenues.
In a fast-changing business landscape, this ability to constantly learn — especially from the young — is critical. We also found that humility is especially important for those aspiring to reach top leadership positions. As one progresses through an organisation, honest and critical feedback usually becomes scarcer. It is, therefore, imperative for leaders to remain humble and demonstrate openness to learning.
Conclusion
While our participants were all highly articulate, they invariably stumbled when asked to answer a particular question: how did they measure and track their investments in building leadership? Their answers were proved illuminating; in these organisations, building leadership was an article of faith. They had never been asked by their CEOs to justify a return on investment for their efforts. Instead they were expected to do everything they could to support a business-critical mission. In the final analyses, it was this uncompromising commitment to leadership development that set these five organisations apart.
Fellow researchers included Michael Campbell, Sophia Zhao, and Angeline Lim from CCL and Martina Mettgenberg from HCLI.
This article was first published in HQ Asia (Print) Issue 03 (2012)