6 keys to sustainable leadership development in Singapore

Many Singapore business owners view people development and training as a 'good-to-have', rather than a 'must-have'. This dangerous viewpoint can be costly to both short-term profits and long-term progress.

One possible reason could be that previous training and development produced indefinite results for the business. Without measurable results that benefit both employers and employees, it's unsurprising that many business owners view people development as anything more than an expense.

Let me share with you '6 Keys to Sustainable Leadership Development' for companies.

1. Some or ALL? A CFO of a local catering company once asked me, "What’s the percentage of the people in the company that should be sent for development? Has this percentage increased since the '90s?"

Leadership is not reserved for only those who sit at the top. It is the responsibility of everyone who belongs to the organisation. Can you visualise the organisation of the future to be one whereby everyone is a leader? We at Leadership Management International (LMI) Singapore believe that these two principles must exist for the future to be a reality:

a. "The first principle is for organisations to succeed, they must develop leaders throughout the total organisation."
b. "The second principle is that for leadership development to be effective, it must utilise a complete, integrated, total leadership development process."

This means leadership must be developed in every employee, and not just a select few.

Construction firm Samwoh's leadership development started with the senior management in late 2014. Within 6 months, they spearheaded a leadership development process that included the different business unit heads, and team under them.

2. Event or PROCESS? People resist change, and any event that takes place over 1-3 days will result in little or no effect to the mindset, and behavior. This is the challenge with many full-day courses offered by local training companies. It will not lead to increased productivity and performance.

a. From my experience, when senior executives, middle managers, and even business unit heads go through either a 2.5hr per week or 2.5hr fortnightly learning process that last 3-5 months, measurable results can be seen.
b. When you can augment this with valuable partners, comprising of Coaches, Facilitators, and Manager Mentors, the learning and application process is enhanced.

3. Knowledge or APPLICATION? Traditional training may contain excellent information. However, the initial enthusiasm and excitement dies away as there is no application back into the workplace. People will revert to their old ineffective habits, if there is no lasting ongoing change.

Therefore the leadership development process must cater for the individual to develop personal mastery; set S.M.A.R.T goals for high performance; learn and apply the knowledge back to work for continuous results; as well as to continuously improve through feedback and communication.

Swanlin 2000 Pte Ltd is a local company that offers electrical engineering services to oil rigs and shipyards. They were able to reduce the company’s overtime cost by more than 5% within 12 weeks, because their managers set S.M.A.R.T goals that were aligned with their superiors. They simply started with small but sustainable steps.

4. Activity or RESULTS? You can be very busy with work and activities. At the same time, it is also easy to fall into the trap of being busy, and not producing your desired result. E.g.: An account manager may get too comfortable meeting his clients over coffee that he fails to remember that he needs to increase the sales order.

Do you know what are your high pay-off activities that will help lead you closer and closer to your desired goals?

When a sales manager from Twin Disc (Far East) Pte Ltd realised the importance of this high pay-off activities, he delegated his administrative work to other team members. He then focused on calling his existing clients to make appointments to build further rapport. Within 7 weeks of this new activity, he was able to secure a $250,000 deal!

5. Hard or SOFT? Some local business owners share that they send their employees for technical trainings to improve certain product knowledge and technical expertise. Or they may even comment that they are buying machines and investing in technology to improve performance and productivity. E.g.: Investing in an ERP system to improve efficiency

a. If the person’s mindset remains fixed or closed, he or she would never log on to the IT portal! This is the reason why business owners must continue to identify and select the people who have significant impact on their goals and challenges.
b. When these people are empowered with the right soft skills and knowledge, they will be able to create that slight edge that the business needs to succeed.

As part of career development, Supermec Pte Ltd would identify and select their talents to further develop themselves through leadership development programmes. This allows every level of their team to grow and to be rewarded subsequently.

6. Incremental or TRANSFORMATIONAL? Sometimes, we are told to do things differently so that we can make incremental changes in our work activities. There is nothing wrong with this.

a. However, unless there is a paradigm shift and transformational change to our attitudes and mindsets, these activities will be at best, temporal.
b. You cannot close the mind once it opens. It is only the transformational shift in attitudes and mindset that you will be able to create a breakthrough in your business’ performance.

People are indeed the most important assets in any organisation. Investing into them can yield an enormous return on investment. In addition, you are also building a sense of trust and belief in them, and the returns on building such a close knitted community are immeasurable.