Singapore firms starving for right talent

New study revealed that hiring and developing talent remains a critical challenge, and that great leaders spring from failure.

When interviewed, "key personnel" from five Singapore firms -- BAT, CapitaLand, Olam International, Singapore Prison Service and Unilever -- said to researchers that the right talent is a continuous top concern.

The joint study by the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) and the Human Capital Leadership Institute (HCLI) then analyzed how the right talent eventually gets transformed into top leaders within their organizations. It concluded that five paradoxes govern the current training process.

“Significantly, even though the organisations selected for this study were widely recognised as best-in-class in terms of talent development, all of them cited having the right talent as their biggest challenge,” said Dr Roland Smith, Director of Global Institute for Talent Sustainability at the CCL. “Tremendous resources are being poured into talent issues. Set against an increasingly complex operating environment in Asia, this study answers key questions on how to accelerate the development of future top leaders in order to achieve organisational goals.”

“One of the major drivers of the research was the desire to consider leadership development criteria in the context of a rising Asia,” said Dr Mano Ramakrishnan, Head of Research at the HCLI. “Too often, leadership is considered in isolation. For this study, we accounted for the dynamics of a rising Asia; where economic growth has been relatively stable and sustained compared to the West, where regulatory uncertainty is part of business, and where rising incomes are rapidly changing the needs of consumers, companies and governments. It was against this backdrop that we distilled the best human capital practices.”

"Paradox #1: To achieve success, learn from failure. One of the findings hitherto mentioned was that leaders learn and grow from their failures. Failure played a great role in the growth and development of the top leaders interviewed for the study and was mentioned as something that would help in the development of future top leaders. Effective top leaders should be able to deal with failure and learn from mistakes as part of their leadership journey – reflecting on setbacks, learning lessons from negative experiences and growing stronger," said the CCL and HCLI in a joint release.

"Paradox #2: To develop greatness, practise humility. Effective leaders model humility and constantly learn from others. Humility was a necessary component of intellectual curiosity and an essential component of fostering a learning culture within an organisation. The research presented several examples of genuine humility from top leaders in spite of their impressive career histories, and the importance of a humble attitude as a foundation for constant learning. For example, a top leader from Olam, when asked about his biggest impact on his direct reports, replied that they had taught him as much as he had taught them. This was a signal to his team that one can learn from multiple sources and not just from people at the top. Such behaviour highlighted the impact that top leaders can have in modelling constant learning," they said.

"Paradox #3: To foster learning, emphasise doing. When asked what contributed to their personal leadership development, the majority of leaders mentioned adversity and crisis. A senior leader recounted a volatile labour strike that erupted while he was leading an Indonesian unit. Being a Singaporean, he was not used to strikes of this nature. Worried about the safety of his team, he suggested they all return home. His concern for the team’s safety instead led them to stay and help with negotiations, and tensions were later defused. The study had revealed that leadership development truly occurred when classroom learning was applied in the field and this example illustrated clearly that leadership development did not take place only in the classroom," they added.

"Paradox #4: To accelerate development, slow down. Rotational assignments were frequently used to provide experiences in different functions, geographies and roles, helping future leaders to develop a wider perspective and fostering effective networks. Due to the paucity of future top leaders, some firms might feel the pressure to rapidly develop leaders by “over-promoting” staff and rotating them through many assignments in a short period of time. This could lead to a lack of time for reflection and to experience the impact of their decisions. While multiple experiences were necessary for leadership development, organisations had the tendency to rapidly move people into different positions without giving them room to breathe. The organisations interviewed saw the importance of giving their leaders time to slow down and reflect on their experiences. For example, while Olam believes in grooming their leaders through challenging assignments, they also recognise the need to build in processes to encourage reflection and learning. As part of their formal programmes, Unilever also builds in a component for deep reflection," they said.

"Paradox #5: To excel at the task, harness relationships. Relationships are important everywhere, but especially so in Asia. The best leaders are authentic in their interactions with others and not only build good relationships with people within the organisation, but are also plugged in to key networks outside the organisation. Those best able to build and harness these relationships are most likely to operate at the highest levels. While the organisations studied noted that they could not put a precise numerical claim on the return on investment from leadership development, they all agreed that leadership development is an imperative in the ever more complex and growing Asian economic landscape. With businesses growing at a rate that far exceeds the speed of leadership development, organisations have no choice but to devise the best ways to accelerate leadership development, paradoxically or not," they said further.