1. Management & Leadership
www.ft.lk
TUESDAY MAY 27, 2014
12
Effective leaders
in organisations bring
together both individu-
als and organisations
to solve customer and
organisational prob-
lems, but there is a dif-
ference between leaders
and leadership.
L e a d e r s r e f e r t o
individuals who have
unique capabilities to
guide the behaviour
of others to deliver
outstanding results
o r r e s o l v e i s s u e s .
Leadership refers to an
organisation’s capacity
to build future leaders
and leadership bench
strength.
A n i n d i -
vidual leader
matters, but
an organisa-
tion’s leader-
ship matters
m o r e o v e r
t i m e b o t h
t o s h a r e -
holders and
c u s t o m e r s .
T h e r e f o r e ,
organisations
must not only
invest to help
i n d i v i d u a l
leaders to be
more ef fec-
tive through
coaching, 360
feedback, and
by executing
i n d i v i d u a l
development
plans, but also must
invest to build leader-
ship depth by devoting
sufficient time for lead-
ership development.
Build leadership
Generally there are
a few key things that
organisations can do
to upgrade the quality
of leadership in a firm.
The quality of leader-
ship will drive busi-
ness performance both
inside and outside the
organisation.
Organisations with
leadership depth will
have the capacity to
respond to changing
business conditions,
e x e c u t e s t r a t e g y,
increase investor con-
fidence, and anticipate
and deliver those cus-
tomer requirements.
Often leadership suc-
cess remains inside the
company. As a result
potential leaders learn
from other leaders in
the company who have
succeeded.
The criteria of leader-
ship should start with
customers. The owners
in a firm must define
the company’s intended
brand and then identify
the leadership behav-
iours consistent with
this exter nal brand.
When leaders inside the
company behave in line
with the expectations
of customers and other
stakeholders outside the
company, the leadership
becomes more sustain-
able and effective.
Also by defining inter-
nal leadership through
external expectations
w i l l s e t
more rel-
evant and
impactful
leadership
standards.
Once lead-
e r s h i p
standards
a r e s e t ,
l e a d e r s
need to be
a s s e s s e d
o n h o w
well they
meet those
standards.
To g e t
an exter-
nal view,
leadership
360s may
be expand-
ed to 720s
where cus-
tomers, suppliers, com-
munities, regulators,
or other external stake-
holders may be included
in assessing targeted
leaders.
The board of directors
should also regularly
assess the CEO’s perfor-
mance both inside the
company with his team,
among his employees
and outside the compa-
ny with key stakehold-
ers.
This type of assess-
ment of fers a more
complete view of lead-
ers who have key roles
to play with external
stakeholders.
Assessment also helps
to identify high poten-
tials and future leaders
by looking at the extent
to which they have aspi-
rations to lead, ability
to meet future challeng-
es, and agility to learn
and grow.
It is the responsibility
of the board to keep an
eye on potential leaders’
ability to serve custom-
ers and engage employ-
ees to do their best
work.
Leadership
investment
The traditional for-
mula for leadership
investment has been
70-20-10. The logic is
that 70% of learning
and development is on
the job; 20% from feed-
back and observation
of role models, and only
10% from training.
Now it is suggested
by Prof. Dave Ulrich,
t h e a u t h o r o f t h e
‘Leadership Code,’ that
this for mula should
shift to something like:
50% of learning from job
experience, including
mirroring role models,
30% of learning from
updated training and
20% of learning from life
experience.
Most leaders have
learnt and learn from
experiences outside of
work, in families, social
settings, social networks,
volunteer work, reading,
and travelling. When
companies can encour-
age and access knowl-
edge from these life
experiences, leaders will
broaden their repertoire.
For example, many
companies now use their
CSR efforts as develop-
ment opportunities for
high potential leaders.
This mix of leadership
investments in my view
is the foundation for a
professional approach
for development of lead-
ership throughout a
firm.
(The writer is a thought
leader in HR.)
Introduction
So, what is all the fuss about
Generation ‘Y’ (those born
between 1980 and 1995)? Are they
different? Yes. Are they difficult?
Different is only difficult when we
don’t understand or can’t under-
stand what the difference means.
As a leader, manager, supervisor,
what can you do to increase your
effectiveness when motivating
and managing Generation ‘Y’?
Influence and inspire. As a Gen
Y myself, from discussion with my
peers, we believe these are the two
values Gen Y employees admires
most about their leaders. Their
leaders must have the ability to
empower and excite them towards
not only the organisation’s goals
but towards personal excellence
as well.
Many bosses find themselves
in leadership positions without
ever having consciously made the
choice to become a leader, let alone
a great leader.
For these bosses to evolve into
an exceptional leader for the
youth, they first have
to step down to the
level of the youths.
They have to show
them that they were
exactly where they are
when they started and
that it is indeed pos-
sible to climb up the
corporate ladder to
reach the position they
are in now. Now how
exactly does one do so?
Here are some practi-
cal guidelines:
1. Talk to them
Everyone wants to
feel important, and
what better way to
show the importance
of your employees
then to get to know
them on a personal level. Share
with them your personal journey
about how you’ve reach to the top
of the ‘food chain’. Provide them
with that sense of belonging that
motivated you to stay on with the
organisation and it is likely that
that same reason would be the rea-
son that would make them want to
stay on as well.
2. Hang out with them
Now, I don’t mean to be weekend
hang out buddies, no. There still
need to be a boundary between
boss and employee. However, have
a get together every now and then
to show your employees that you
care and that you are genuinely
concerned about their well-being
and their happiness in the organi-
sation. Yes, there are retreats and
all that usual shenanigans, but
you need to show that you are
involved. You are interested and
involved in the team bonding
efforts that go on in the organisa-
tion.
3. Be a confidant
Everyone loves a listening ear,
especially the youths at our day
and age. They have the constant
perception that the boss is only
someone who gives orders and
instructions and not to be messed
around with. Whilst being firm,
offer to be a friend to the employ-
ees. Don’t just listen, but hear
them out, their problems and
what challenges they are facing.
Help them understand the reason
for some operation procedure and
the direction the organisation
is heading in the next few years.
That way, everyone would be on
the same page.
Today’s Gen Y is an interesting
group of people and a vital one for
that matter. Succession planning
is crucial and there is always a
need to stay relevant, on that note
youths are the future of the next
generation, thus there is a need to
invest significantly in them.
Leading and engaging
Gen Y at work
For the first time in modern
history, workplace demographics
now span four generations, mean-
ing that 20-year-old new hires can
find themselves working side-by-
side with colleagues who are older
than they are by 50 years (or even
more). The five generations and
their birth years are depicted in
Table 1.
Gen Y (including in large
number of today’s Youths) are
also individuals who holds on to
grudges, any bad experience with
you and they will remember it for
a long time, so be careful what you
do to them. At the same time, the
youth these days make it a point
to go above and beyond their call
of duty and often produces excep-
tional work. All they ask in return
is acknowledgement. A simple pat
on the back and words of encour-
agement does the trick, trust me.
Leaders for the youths are scru-
tinised pretty intensely at this
day and age. They play a vital
part in the motivation process of
the youth’s professional journey.
Leaders with the ability to present
themselves well have already won
the hearts of the youth. Youths
feel that, “If I put in effort to look
good and professional, you should
too.” Now, I’m not talking about
superficiality, I’m talking about
looking professionally good.
All in all, the ability to connect
and gel with the youth is not an
easy task. It takes a lot of effort
and may be a little
time consuming but
the results would be
tremendous. Good
leadership is hard to
come by, good leader-
ship for the youth, is
extra work. However,
it would be all worth
it when you hand over
that office of yours
to your predecessor
who was once a youth
under your wing.
T h e ‘ P e t e r
Principle; states that
in modern organisa-
tions, most bosses rise
to the level of their
least competence, like
the specialist (e.g.
accountant, engineer,
lawyer, etc.) who is
so good at their craft that they get
promoted to a management posi-
tion in ‘charge of people’ without
having mastered any real leader-
ship skills. And then they bomb.
It’s not their fault; they were pro-
moted into the position with little
or no training or mentoring... it’s
sink or swim.
What Gen Y looks
for in their leaders?
Things are not how they used to
be. Employee expectations have
definitely changed with regard
to work. Leaders can no longer
ignore these new expectations nor
refuse to adapt their leadership
style and methods to deal with
these new expectations.
In a research report published
in Singapore on ‘Gen Y at Work,
Their Views and How they are
Viewed,’ Gen Y-ers believe that it
is most important for their leaders
to be caring, inspiring and compe-
tent. On the other hand, manag-
ers from the Other Generations
believe in demonstrating compe-
tence, honesty and a forward-look-
ing orientation to the Gen Y-ers
they lead and manage.
The overall pattern of results
clearly suggests that there is a
gulf between the Gen Y work-
force’s expectations, and their
managers’ beliefs about how to
lead them. The results suggest
that Gen Y prefers relationship-
oriented leaders, while their man-
agers believe in demonstrating
a relatively more task-oriented
approach to leading them.
What makes a great leader
in managing
Gen Y?
In several cases that Centre for
Executive Education (CEE) came
across in consulting engagements,
well intentioned promises of lead-
ership development, coaching
or mentoring were made to the
leader when they were appointed,
only to fall by the wayside because
more pressing business matters
crowded out the hours in the lead-
er’s day.
Like a captain of a sporting
team or a general of an army,
leaders need to innovate, inspire,
excite or provide a clear vision to
others. They hold and believe in
a vision and just as importantly,
have the self-belief and convic-
tion to communicate it to others.
Furthermore leaders do not have
definitive characteristics. Some
inspire and organise, whereas
others are strategic or tactical,
spot opportunities or protect
against disaster.
Leadership is a journey of dis-
covery. It is the expression of a
person at his or her best whose
aim is to transform something
for the better and to develop this
potential in others. It is not a
solitary pursuit but one that har-
nesses the energy of those around
you.
A manager can implement pro-
cesses, monitor performance, set
business goals and objectives and
generally take care of the day-to-
day needs of their staff. However
achieving authentic leadership
takes more than textbook man-
agement skills.
CEE believes that with the rel-
evant executive
development sup-
port, those with
leadership poten-
tial can be devel-
oped into out-
standing leaders.
No one can
argue that a great
leader can boost
an organisation’s
growth and per-
formance in much
the same way a
poor leader can
run one into the
ground. But what
makes a leader
effective or inef-
fective is a more
nebulous concept
to pin down.
A c c o r d i n g
to Jim Kouzes,
author of the
best-seller ‘The
L e a d e r s h i p
Challenge,’ the
qualities that
make an effective
leader have two
distinct perspec-
tives: what follow-
ers look for and
what research
from the past few decades has
shown. “There are four things
consistently that we have found
that people most look for in a
leader. Number one, people want a
leader who’s honest, trustworthy
and has integrity. Second (they
want someone) forward-looking,
who has a vision of the future,
foresight and thinks about the
long term. Third, people want
a leader who is competent, has
expertise, knows what they’re
doing, and fourth is inspiring,
dynamic, energetic, optimistic
and positive about the future.”
These still hold true on what Gen
Y-ers expects from their leaders.
Leadership styles
Gen Y is well known for want-
ing more flexible work sched-
ules. With mobile technology and
cloud solutions widely available,
resistance to alternative work
schedules by Gen X or Boomers
Manager is becoming a barrier
to progress at the workplace. All
managers must get to a similar
understanding of why Gen Y
looks at flexible work arrange-
ments as a given. With globali-
sation a force driving corporate
strategy, allowing employees to
choose to work nights and week-
ends over day shifts makes sense.
Working from a cafe today and
hotel, onsite tomorrow is smart
business.
Those managers who grew up
in corporate-land believing work
occurs between 9-5 need to learn
to rethink how, where and when
work gets done. Gen Y gets this. It’s
time that Managers of other gen-
eration must do, too.
Some people have one style of
leadership, which is fine if they
can find a situation that requires
that style of leadership.
Flexible leadership, however,
involves being able to adapt your
leadership style according to the
generational make-up of the team
and situation – e.g.: taking charge
when a team is forming but play-
ing the role of coach when a team
is managing itself well.
Overall, CEE research suggests
that Generation Y is an ambi-
tious, impatient and yet tremen-
dously promising generation,
one that employers must listen to
in order to bring
fresh ideas and per-
spectives to tradi-
tional operations.
Though success-
fully connecting
with Generation Y
may be challeng-
ing at times, the
consequences can
take employers
from good to great,
and prepare for
an uncertain and
rapidly-changing
future.
Conclusion
Leaders today
are facing a critical
challenge: how to
adapt their leader-
ship practices and
style to get the best
out of Generation
Y employees. They
can’t do so alone.
Organisations have
a responsibility
to help managers
understand how
workers’ expecta-
tions have changed
and how they can
adapt their leader-
ship style to these new conditions.
More importantly, organisations
needs to provide leaders with the
tools and processes which allow
leaders to reward and recognise,
train and develop, empower gener-
ation Y employees more effectively.
For Singapore’s budding leaders
to compete with the world’s best,
managers need to embrace the lat-
est techniques of executive devel-
opment to enhance their abilities
to better manage the Gen Y and
soon Gen Z workers. The price of
not doing so will create plenty of
managers, but very few leaders.
Finally, remember: Leadership
development is a journey, not
something that can be learned
on a five-day training course. It
requires time, reflection and a
high level of self-awareness.
[The writer is the Gen Y Business
Development Manager of Centre for
Executive Education (CEE Global)
and is a recent graduate of Ngee Ann
Polytechnic’s School of Business and
Accountancy. CEE Global offers execu-
tive coaching and leadership develop-
ment programs that help professionals
develop the skills and knowledge to
embrace change and catalyse suc-
cess in their industries. Website: www.
cee-global.com Email: adam.bawany@
cee-global.com.]
Generation Y: Are we preparing
leaders to deal with this generation
of new employees’ expectations?
nFrom a Gen Y youth’s
perspective
Leaders today are
facing a critical challenge:
how to adapt their
leadership practices and
style to get the best out of
Generation Y employees.
They can’t do so alone.
Organisations have a
responsibility to help
managers understand how
workers’ expectations have
changed and how they can
adapt their leadership style
to these new conditions.
M o r e i m p o r t a n t l y,
organisations needs to
provide leaders with the
tools and processes which
allow leaders to reward
and recognise, train
and develop, empower
generation Y employees
more effectively
Whycompanies
mustinvestin
leadership
Guest
Column
By Dinesh
Weerakkody
A n i n d i v i d u a l
leader matters, but an
organisation’s leadership
matters more over time
both to shareholders and
customers. Therefore,
organisations must not only
invest to help individual
leaders to be more effective
through coaching, 360
feedback, and by executing
individual development
plans, but also must invest
to build leadership depth by
devoting sufficient time for
leadership development
Guest
Column
By Adam
Bawany