Leader's Digest #29 (July 2019)

LEADERS ISSUE 29

JULY 2019

DIGEST

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

LEARNING AGILITY

- A Leader Keeps on Learning -

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PUBLICATION TEAM Read this issue and past issues online at bit.ly/LEADSCS Scan the QR code below for quicker access:

EDITORIAL

Editor-in-Chief Ismail Said Assistant Editor Yvonne Lee Graphic Designer Awang Ismail bin Awang Hambali Abdul Rani Haji Adenan

* Read our online version to access the hyperlinks to other reference articles made by the author.

Content Partners:

CONTENTS

ISSUE 29 | JULY 2019

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Do you fight or flee from failures?

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want to teach something? understand intentional learning first

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freedom and empowerment through learnning and development

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space noodle

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how taking time to reflect will make you a better leader intentional learning: part 2

shifting gears

8| 14| 20|

the blind spot

are you popcorned

lifelong learning: self-driven or community-supported?

whose duty is it to ensure our people gain high-quality learning

Leader's Digest is a monthly publication by the Leadership Institute of Sarawak Civil Service, dedicated to advancing civil service leadership and to inspire our Sarawak Civil Service (SCS) leaders with contemporary leadership principles. It features a range of content contributed by our strategic partners and panel of advisors from renowned global institutions as well as established corporations that we are affiliated with. Occasionally, we have guest contributions from our pool of subject matter experts as well as from our own employees.

The views expressed in the articles published are not necessarily those of Leadership Institute of Sarawak Civil Service Sdn. Bhd. (292980-T). No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the publisher's permission in writing 2

Issue 29 | July 2019

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DO YOU FIGHT OR FLEE FROM FAILURES?

BY SANDY CLARKE

TURNING ADVERSE CIRCUMSTANCES INTO FAVOURABLE MOMENTS

“

Everyone is tested by life, but only a few extract strength and wisdom from their most trying experiences. They’re the ones we call leaders.

“

American scholar Warren Bennis and communications professor Robert Thomas are perhaps best known for their pioneering work in contemporary leadership studies, in which they sought to answer the age-old question: what makes for an effective leader?

In his book, Crucibles of Leadership: How to Learn from Experience to Become a Great Leader, Thomas explores how experiences can make or break leaders, asking the question: Why is it, when two leaders face the same challenge, one can fail dramatically while the other flourishes?

He suggests that, in the end, it’s what leaders make from their experience that counts – particularly the challenging and unexpected events that present leaders with their “crucible moments”.

Leadership and keynote speaker, Dr Tim Elmore, defines a crucible moment as, “a defining moment; a challenge that each leader gets to rise to or back down from; to face or flee”.

Photo by Richard Thijeratt on Unsplash

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Like the crucibles used in alchemy to separate noble metals from base metals at high temperatures, crucible moments are those that test whether leaders can take the heat and come out the other side, refined and richer, following their toughest moments.

They also show whether a leader has what it takes to truly lead: can they learn from challenges? How have they changed? Are they more adaptive?

Have they taken note of where they need to improve so they could empower others and drive progress to achieve shared goals?

Learning on the move Leaders who survive their crucible moments are those who look to practise while they perform – theirs is a constant personal learning strategy that compels them to keep moving forward, to keep progressing, and to continually pursue excellence in whatever they want to achieve. In a nutshell, they don’t stop learning, adapting, and growing.

Thomas and Bennis cite the example of a businessman named Sidney Harman, who once discovered a factory of his was under workers’ rebellion after a coffee break buzzer failed to go off.

This had led managers to arbitrarily delay the break by a further 10 minutes for the mostly African-American workforce, who carried out the laborious work of polishing mirrors and parts under unhealthy conditions.

According to Harman, one senior worker, Noah B. Cross, said to his fellow workers, “I don’t work for no buzzer. The buzzer works for me. It’s my job to tell me when it’s 10 o’clock.

I got me a watch. I’m not waiting another ten minutes. I’m going on my coffee break.” The rest of the workforce joined Cross, wreaking havoc in the process by their actions.

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The incident took place at the company’s factory in Bolivar, Tennessee around 50 years ago and, given the tension that ensued, could have dismantled Harman’s leadership and damaged his reputation.

But rather than proving to be a disaster for Harman, the moment triggered an epiphany for him. The workers were right – the technology was there to serve the men, not the other way around. Thanks to this realisation, Harman became a pioneer of proactive management – seeking to work alongside his workforce, rather than above them.

Empowered by change Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Thomas and Bennis observed, “In the ensuing years, Harman revamped the factory and its workings and turned it ‘campus’ like – offering classes on the premises, including piano lessons, and encouraging the workers to take most of the responsibility for running their workplace.

“Further, he created an environment where dissent was not only tolerated but also encouraged. The plant’s lively independent newspaper, the Bolivar Mirror, gave workers a creative and emotional outlet – and they enthusiastically skewered Harman in its pages.”

Where some leaders might have sought to make an example of their workforce by imposing sanctions for unruly behaviour, or verbally lashing out about how grateful workers should be that they have a job at all (a phrase which weakens leadership credibility), Harman used the experience to make an example of himself.

He took the opportunity to reflect on how he could improve conditions for the workers and give them a sense

of empowerment, accountability and ownership. That he encouraged dissent among his workforce was positive revolutionary leadership 50 years ago – how many leaders today would be so secure to actively welcome their employees’ negative feedback as a resource for self-improvement?

The qualities shown by Harman during his crucible moment allowed him to emerge as a stronger, more credible leader in a moment that could have destroyed his reputation.

His ability to grasp the context of what was going on in his factory allowed him the agility to adapt in an unconventional manner, and his perseverance in dealing with such charged tension between the workers and their management provided him with a stable foundation from which he could best perceive the challenge that lay before him.

Being able to persevere with and manoeuvre through crucible moments is the difference between those leaders who succeed in overcoming a challenge, and those who fail – unable to thrive in the heat of the moment.

This is what sets the best leaders apart from the empty vessels.

4 successful people who overcame huge adversity

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SOICHIRO HONDA

forged his parents’ signatures on report cards The founder of Honda Motors as born into a working-class family and used to forge his parents’ signatures to ‘confirm’ that they had seen his substandard report cards. He left home at 15 without any formal education.

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have sold over 350 million copies and have been made into countless major motion pictures.

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BETHANY HAMILTON

her left arm was bitten off by a shark

(Photo source: crownmyinfo.com)

Honda later founded a company that manufactured piston rings for Toyota, only to have its Yamashita plant destroyed in World War II and the Iwata plant collapse after an earthquake.

After selling the salvageable remains to Toyota, he began manufacturing motorbikes and went on to build a multinational billion-dollar company is the leading motorbike producer in the world.

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STEPHEN KING

first novel was rejected… 30 times

Widely considered the “inventor of the meme’ with his iconic “I Can Haz Cheezburger” cat picture, this South Korean native studied journalism in California even though English was not his first language. After the web analytics company he founded folded within 18 months, he went on to work three jobs in six years. His initial pitch to investors was “I would like to start a media company by buying a cat picture website. Can you give me US$2.25 million?” Huh is now a multi-millionaire and has released five books, two of which were New York Times best-sellers.

Source: huffingtonpost.com and Youtube

(Photo source: news.semo.edu)

Hamilton started surfing when she was just a child. An almost-deadly shark attack resulted in her losing her left arm at age 13. She was back on her surfboard one month later, and two years after that, she won first place in the Explorer Women’s Division of the National Scholastic Surfing Association national championships. Talk about determination.

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BEN HUH

founded a company that folded in 18 months

(Photo source: celebsnetworthtoday.com)

If it weren’t for King’s wife, Carrie may not have ever existed. After being consistently rejected by publishing houses, King gave up and threw his first book in the trash. His wife, Tabitha, retrieved the manuscript and urged King to finish it. Now, King’s books

Sandy is a freelance writer based in Malaysia, and previously enjoyed 10 years as a journalist and broadcaster in the UK. He has been fortunate to gain valuable insights into what makes us tick, which has deepened his interests in leadership, emotions, mindfulness, and human behaviour.

(Photo source: commons.wikimedia.org) Issue 29 | July 2019

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How Taking Time To Reflect Will Make You A Better Leader “

BY ERNEST ANTOINE

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.

—Aristotle (384-322 BC)

Do leaders in Malaysia take time to reflect on who they are and whether they are making a positive difference in this world? Some take reflection seriously and make time to think about these questions.

biographer Walter Issacson and psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Jung always made sure that they took time out from their busy schedules to engage in deep reflection, which heavily contributed to their success.

However, perhaps the majority of leaders either don’t have or don’t make time. Perhaps some believe that taking time out to reflect is unproductive or a low priority.

Even very busy leaders like the Governor of California Jerry Brown and Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan say that disciplined periods of silence are important for their success.

What is the value of reflection? Is it going to make you a better leader? The answer to that question, according to many practitioners and researchers, is a resounding yes!

So what is reflection?

Reflection involves stepping out of the hustle and bustle of life so we can look back on it from a more restful place. We all engage in reflection from time to time, even though we may not recognise it or name it as such.

Leaders in their fields, such as author J. K. Rowling,

Photo by Mario Ho on Unsplash

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When we look back on significant experiences in our lives and wonder how they have affected us, this is a form of reflection. When we recall the influential people who have made an impact on our lives in profound ways, such as grandparents, parents, teachers or friends, this is also reflection. It’s a natural human instinct.

As leaders, reflection needs to be a little more purposeful. Firstly, leaders reflect to get a better understanding of their past actions in order to create a better future.

The key questions for them might include: “What have I done that has worked well?” and “What will I do differently next time?

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Research has shown that thinking through these key questions helps to improve performance as well as strengthen emotional commitment to leadership tasks.

These are not just improvements compared with their previous performance, but improvements compared with other leaders who do not reflect – taking the time to do so will set apart high performing leaders from the rest.

Secondly, leaders reflect at a deeper level to ensure alignment between what they do and who they are as people.

Psychologists including Abraham Maslow have argued that if there is a good match between our values and the work we do, this is the highest form of motivation.

You will know when this happens because you are no longer working for just the money. Your motivation for work comes from a deeper place and you also form deep relationships with others who will come on the journey with you.

When you get to this point, your reflection will address different types of questions, such as: “Is what I am doing consistent with my values?” and “What is the higher purpose for what I am doing?

Leaders should frequently ask these questions to ensure that they have the strongest p o s s i b l e motivation for their work.

When you ask these questions, it should not matter how lofty or humble

your work is, and also it does not matter if you get the ‘right’ answers to these questions.

So, how do you reflect?

There are a few key steps to follow if you want to reap the benefits of reflection. Firstly, find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed for a while. This means getting away from phones, computers and people who can interrupt your session.

The place could be in your office, a park or simply in your car, wherever you feel quietest and most at peace.

Give yourself 10 minutes if you are a beginner.

As this becomes a routine in your life, you can build your reflection time up to 30 minutes per session. Consider it like exercise: you should try and reflect several times a week, and you’ll get better the more practice you have.

When you are sitting comfortably in a quiet place, close your eyes and notice your breathing. Stay focused on your breathing for a few minutes, progressively slow it down while taking really deep breaths.

You might find that your mind will wander. When that happens, gently bring your mind back to your breathing.

This might take a few attempts, but persevere and you will get better at it.

After a few moments of breathing, move into a relaxed position. You can do this by progressively relaxing muscle groups starting at your feet and working all the way up to your head.

Spend a few moments with each muscle group, relaxing them more and more as you breathe out. Start with your feet, then calf muscles, thigh muscles, stomach and chest muscles, back muscles, shoulders, followed by arms and fingers and finally neck and facial muscles.

When you are completely relaxed, turn your mind to the reflection questions.

If you want to learn from your past experiences and would like to improve your leadership practice, then the questions you could be asking are: • What have I done that has worked well?

• What will I do differently the next time?

If you want to reflect on your deeper leadership journey then your questions could be: • Is what I am doing consistent with my values?

• What is the higher purpose for what I am doing?

These questions are only suggestions and you may wish to generate your own. It is also helpful to look at the issues from different perspectives.

Spend a few moments thinking about these questions. Then open your eyes and write down your thoughts in a note book.

If actions you need to take emerge from the reflection, then write them down as well. Record a date for each entry so you can track the outcomes of your reflections. From time to time go back over the notes to review your progress.

A call to action!

Start today! Plan your first reflection session. Reflection time is a small price to pay if wisdom is the reward.

Ernest is a psychologist specialising in global leadership. He engages leaders to understand themselves more deeply and to make a positive contribution to the world. He believes the hierarchical style of leadership found in Malaysia and many parts of the world is no longer fit for purpose.

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The Blind Spot

BY MUHAMMAD SABRI RAWI

There is, in all vertebrates, a blind spot where the optic fibres attach to the retina – the light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye.

Though our field of vision is generally complete with no missing patches – a sudden black hole doesn’t appear when we survey the horizon, for example – the blind spot is nonetheless present.

Our vision remains contiguous because our brain fills in the blind spot with the missing information, “interpolating” based on surrounding detail and information from the other eye. In other words, our brain extracts from the given information and fills in the patch for us.

I was asked to speak to a community group providing teen drivers with driving tips and talks on the dangers of drinking and driving. Apparently, one of the most difficult habits to cultivate in new drivers is making that quick glance over the shoulder before

Photo by Tim Trad on Unsplash

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switching lanes. There is an area that neither can be seen in the rear view mirror nor can it be seen in the side mirror. The only way the driver can see this spot is by slightly turning the head over the shoulder. Failure to make this quick but crucial move prior to making a lane change can be fatal. Even in driving there is such a thing called the blind spot.

This essay is not about ophthalmology or driving habits but leadership; however, there are important parallels here. Indeed, there is a corresponding “blind spot” when it comes to

leadership, and part of my role as a leadership trainer is to help leaders “see” through or around these spots.

Perhaps the best way to convey the idea of the blind spot may be through the original cognitive psychological tool, the Johari Window, which was created by psychologists Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham in 1955. The Johari Window describes the relationship between the self and others, and basically divides the relationship into four quadrants.

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Unknown to Others

Known to Others

JOHARI WINDOW Known to Self

Unknown to Self

Arena

Blind Spot

Facade

Unknown

Luft and Ingham argue that there are character traits that are: 1. Known to yourself and known to others 2. Unknown to yourself but known to others 3. Known to yourself but unknown to others 4. Unknown to yourself and unknown to others This tool has been used in leadership programs through the years but for this essay, I would like to focus only on the area known as the blind spot and what to do in order to prevent them from taking shape. In my opinion, there are two ways leaders develop their blind spots. The first is the failure of their sensors to really understand what is expected of them in a given situation. The second reason why leaders have blind spots is because they are clouded by their own vision and are so convinced that their vision must also be that of their people. If not addressed readily enough these leaders may cause irreversible damage to their organisations.

For leaders to be really in tune with what is expected of them, they must feel for information all the time. By this I do not mean for them to be on

the ground all the time but they must listen to and understand the things that matter to their people. They can do this by having regular conversations with different personalities in their organisations. By this I mean to not get caught talking to the same old suspects all the time and varying the conversations to ensure a more holistic point of view about the organisation is gathered adequately.

To make this possible, leaders have no choice but to leave the comfort of their work places and initiate conversations.

Once this is done enough, it becomes easier and it will even come to a point where someone else will initiate the conversations. This is the point when the leader gains clarity on what makes a particular staff member tick, what is important to them and what they expect from their leader. We can make sense to them easier this way.

How is this different from the regular official sounding staff engagement sessions or town halls? That’s exactly the problem: It’s very official. Town hall sessions remind me of the mayor when everyone is dressed in their finest-goto-meeting clothes and all people are in their best behaviour. When the town hall sessions are done people usually go to coffee shops to talk. They talk about the town hall session.

That’s the conversation leaders want to really be a part of! I was in a change team in an oil and gas-retailing arm sometime ago and we had a family day.

Typical of the company culture, all the senior management staff was seated two tables away from all the others.

The then new CEO arrived, grabbed a stool and sat in a group of company drivers under a grove of cherry trees.

To be sure he did not learn anything powerful about the group that day but he did a few months after that. More importantly the CEO started a culture of minimising power distance and openness in communication from that day onwards.

The second reason why leaders develop blind spots is when they assume that their vision is so great it fires up everybody. Nothing clouds a person’s judgement more than thinking that everybody is on the same page as her especially on matters of such significance like vision. The key task of a leader always, is to help make sense to the staff. She must be able to explain how the company vision makes sense on an individual basis to employees and help them connect the dots in their personal domain to those within the organisational domain.

The acid test is this: If a leader can create the same kind of energy and motivation at the reception lobby of the organisation as compared to what is seen in the executive floors, she has done a tremendous job of connecting the dots. She makes great sense. She knows what she is talking about. Her people know what she is talking about and she knows what they are talking about. There is no blind spot at all.

In summary, though a blind spot is, at times, unavoidable, but in leading people, we cannot afford to have blind spots. The impact on those being led by a leader who is clouded by the magic of his own vision is deep and wide. He must understand what makes sense to his people. Only then would his communication be precise and spot on.

Muhammad Sabri Rawi is Iclif ’s Mastercoach extraordinaire. His skills as a leadership development expert spans almost two decades.

Sabri’s forte includes Leadership & Learning industry design, development & delivery of leadership training courses. He has distinguished himself as a Mastercoach from years of honing his skills in leadership training in multiple industries which include pharmaceutical, manufacturing, plantation, automotive, oil & gas, FMCG, GLC and the public sector.

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Want To Teach Something?

Understand Intentional Learning First

BY SASHE KANAPATHI

Ever been to a training and immediately identify the different characters that are in class with you?

First you will come across The Learner who is there intentionally to learn something. You will notice their enthusiasm. The Tourist is there to look-see but not completely with any motivation. Finally, the Terrorist is the one who will try to either hijack the course with plenty of challenges or hide disappear completely into their electronic devices.

So the question really is, why do we have Tourists and Terrorists in class?

The answer is that they were asked to be there or sometimes even forced to be there. If they do wind up learning something, it’s incidental. As you can imagine, the probability of effective learning in this scenario is very low.

Any chance of recall and application of that learning will be even lower.

So really, what I’m interested in looking at these days is how to make learning more intentional and not so incidental.

The five moments of need

I feel there are two solutions to this problem.

First is to do with using technology to solve the problem.

Second is for organisations to be more intentional about designing learning.

But before we get into the solutions, let me discuss the five moments of need. For us to know about intentional learning, we need to first understand when we need to learn.

There are five moments of need and its often explained through the Five Moments of Learning Need model. This model was introduced by two learning specialists named Mosher & Gottfredson and it talks about

Photo by Agung Pandit Wiguna from Pexels

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opportunities to support learners during their different types of need. By the way, others have expanded it to become eight moments, but for our purposes, the five is sufficient to understand the thought process.

Breaking it down further

In the New phase, obviously recall is important. But what is more important is the fact that it has to be engaging. If someone is trying to learn something completely new, they will quickly turn

information that they need. Imagine your house is getting flooded from a plumbing problem and I make you sit through a 1-hour video on Plumbing basics – it’s not going to help you, is it?

Coaching is also useful here.

Change is the hardest to solve with learning interventions alone as you need to incorporate it with other solutions that work on mindsets. To move someone to action requires comparative experiences, momentum, small wins, and a lot of other aspects.

The message is that there’s a lot to think about before we design training. I believe that’s where most of us fail.

1. The first is called New. This says that people have a need for learning when they are trying to do something for the first time. Say for example if someone picks up basic Japanese because they intend to travel there.

2. The next is More, which is when people are expanding the breadth and depth of what they have learnt.

This is a like New but just with more content.

3. The third is Apply, which naturally refers to when people are trying to act upon what they have learnt, by either remembering, or figuring out how to apply it to the situation they are in. Say you learnt about carpentry from a book or video and are now trying to build a table at home.

4. Fourth is Solve, where you are trying solving things because there’s a problem. Let’s say you have a plumbing issue at your house and things are leaking, and you need to figure out how to solve it.

5. Finally it’s Change, which really is about the unlearn process. Learning something that requires you to change skills or behaviour that’s deeply ingrained into you.

Though these define moments of need, what’s interesting is to understand how the needs differ because that helps us understand how learning should be done differently also.

Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels

away from it as soon as it becomes hard or boring. So, we need to make sure that we teach in a way that’s super engaging and at a level that’s not too difficult.

Moving on to the second, which is More, you can start getting more into the recall and you can make it more technical. If you make the “New” phase too technical, then it’s not gonna be as effective. And for More, you can make it self-paced, because these are usually very interested learners already who want to go deeper.

We often come up with great content and believe that it’s suitable for all. But truly for great content to be absorbed by the learner and then successfully applied, we need to think through the many ways by which this content needs to be delivered at the time of learner need in the most appropriate form.

Of course, this also means we must get better at identifying the time of need.

For Apply, you want to make it very contextual. Show them exactly how to use it in the situation that they are in.

This is where coaching and real-time feedback are useful.

For Solve, you want to make it bite-sized and relevant to solve that problem, but more importantly easily accessible. It should not be hard for them to find the

Sashe is certain that his 18-year career in IT was about leadership and not technology. He is currently the head of Leaderonomics Digital and ponders the use of technology in his free time.

“I’ll learn how to plumb a sink my way, thank you!”

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Intentional Learning: Part 2

Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels

BY SASHE KANAPATHI

Circling back to the beginning, in Part 1, we identified two solutions to engaging learners at the time of need. They actually help us appreciate the difference in the times of need discussed in the previous section.

Technology as a means to solve problems The first solution is technology.

software with a library of content that is available for you to pick and choose from.

I think technology has a big part to play in solving a part of this.

I must say there are some content out there that is decently good and fun and easy to learn.

We are now only scratching the surface of what technology can do for us.

So, they address the ‘New’ part of learning.

There have of course been some super exciting developments in technology being applied to a lot of things like driverless cars, and 3D printing, etc.

However, there’s still some ways to go. Especially in terms of helping the learners with the ‘recall’ portion of learning and continued engagement.

However, in the field of Learning & Development, we are still in the early stages.

The part that’s done well right now is the ‘More’ aspects – there’s a lot of good content out there.

At Leaderonomics, we have now started to invest in this area to really unlock what else we can do.

For motivated learners in the ‘More’ phase, that’s awesome.

Let me use digital learning as an example.

Right now, digital learning is mainly a 12

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Although again, there could be more done to help recall.

I think where we lack is in the ‘Apply’ and ‘Solve’ phase.

" Right now, when you are at work and are trying to do something or solve something, it’s hard for learning to be a part of that work that you do. "

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Intentional design The second solution is intentional design.

What we find these days is that most companies are not very discerning in putting out their training offerings.

So that’s the first aspect of point of view.

Which requires you to answer this question: Does your learning calendar directly support your people strategy, which directly supports your business outcomes?

Usually they decide what competencies are required and then send various groups of people for training.

The second aspect of point of view is whether you are creating the right learning interventions at the right time for the right level.

Sometimes, different groups for different trainings. And often every year, there’s different training. There’s a huge problem with this.

For example, if you want your organisation to be more Innovative, it doesn’t mean you have to send everyone for full on Innovative thinking courses.

Firstly, there’s no consistency in these trainings in terms of how they relate to each other, either between years or between groups. It lacks a consistent point of view.

There is no way people are going to become innovative by attending one training like that.

It’s important to understand that it needs to be built up by levels. For

Every person and organisation is unique I think very often we wind up using something generic or off the shelf to solve our problems.

But it’s important to realise that your organisation is unique and that your learners are unique, and your needs are unique.

Once we get to that level of custom interventions, I think learning can be a very powerful strategic weapon.

I don’t mean unique in terms of learning styles either.

I think it’s important to understand that learning is a powerful tool but shouldn’t be applied in a one size fits all manner. I think that’s where a lot of disappoints come in.

I still have clients who insist on having an off-the-shelf topic to be delivered regardless of whether it fits with everything else they are doing.

The ROI on that is going to be very low.

It’s important to really think through and design learning interventions to be part of a larger plan.

Remember – learning doesn’t happen with just that one intervention.

It must be weaved in as part of a holistic plan that involves technology and good design and multiple interventions.

That’s when learning turns into a strategic weapon.

Photo by Sarah Dorweiler on Unsplash

Point of View A point of view has multiple angles to it. Learning should be a strategic weapon in an organisation.

However, for it to be a strategic weapon, you need to have a strong point of view on what needs to be taught and when it should be taught.

So, the methodology should be to start with business goals and to translate that down to a people strategy which is then translated down to a learning strategy.

Once you have this learning strategy, you should then create learning interventions that are consistent.

example, you may teach a Creativity course to the ‘New’ need but teach Design Thinking for the ‘More’ need.

You may have Design Sprints for those in the ‘Apply’ need.

Also, you need to think about different levels in the organisation. Do your execs need to have the same level of ‘innovative’ competency as the senior managers?

Perhaps they need to have training on just being more curious? This is what I mean by a point of view.

Sashe is certain that his 18-year career in IT was about leadership and not technology. He is currently the head of Leaderonomics Digital and ponders the use of technology in his free time.

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ARE YOU POPCORNED

BY DR. THUN THAMRONGNAWASAWAT

“If you’ve been doing the same thing for more than 2 years, then you might as well be in a coma”

Dr David Rock, the founder of the Neuroleadership Institute, an integrated field that merges hard science with soft skills of leadership, stated during the American Society for Training and Development (Now known as ATD) one summer in Florida.

What did he mean? Let me tell you a story about an intriguing experiment out of the University of Southern California, which was published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin in 2011.

The experiment was about popcorn and the people who eat them. That’s right, popcorn – like the ones you find at movie theatres.

T h e

researchers focused on two groups of moviegoers; ones who regularly enjoyed these delicious treats and the others who rarely ate them. Let us call these popcorn personalities 1) the “Yes, please” and 2) the “No, thanks”.

The groups were tagged and then offered some popcorn during their movie going experience. In the bucket, researchers put in two types of popcorn. One was freshly popped and another was about a week old. The mix was handed to both groups. And the organisers then sat back and waited to see what would happen.

What do you think?

From my own survey with participants in the room, most people think that the “Yes, please” group would only go for the fresh popcorn. After all, these were ‘professional’ popcorn eaters so they should know what they were doing, right? Perhaps it was the same logic that an employee who has been doing a job for many years should know it more than anyone else?

That’s what I had thought, too.

The results of this experiment, however, showed otherwise. It turned out that people who were ‘smart’ about selecting fresh popcorn were instead the “No, thanks” group. The “Yes, please” were indifferent of new vs. stale popcorn. They would eat them both!

Truly intriguing was when experimenters asked the “Yes, please”

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Photo by Felipe Cardoso from Pexels

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group to repeat the task; only this time its members were asked to use their non-dominant hand. That’s right, to use only their non-dominant hand. If they were right-handed, then they had to use their left hand to pick up the popcorn. If they were left-handed, like me, then it was the right hand.

Amazingly the results flipped. The “Yes, please” group now exhibited selective behaviour for fresh popcorn just like the “No, thanks” group. Forcing them to do what they were not accustomed appeared to restore awareness. Their brain can now distinguish between what is good and what is bad.

act. This is what we know as habits, like locking your car, driving home, or taking a shower in the morning.

The myth about experience. Given the implication, is it always true that people with a lot of experience know the most? Our understanding of the brain might suggest otherwise. The experienced popcorn eaters relied on their habit more than their forebrain.

They were not ‘thinking’ about eating the popcorn. It was not until they were asked to use their non-dominant hand that their brain was subsequently forced into an active mode. So, don’t just rely on the veterans in the team; bring in a fresh perspective – someone who asks ‘stupid questions’. Listen to them and see if they saw something the experienced may have missed.

Quint Studer, author of Hardwiring Excellence: Purpose, Worthwhile Work, Making a Difference, wrote about a practice at his hospitals called TheFirst-30-Days. After a month into the job, new employees are gathered to share what they have seen that seems ‘strange’. It could be as complex as an MRI preparation procedure he/ she used at the prior workplace. Or as simple as “I was wondering why the microwave here took so long to heat up our food”. The rule is everyone else can only listen. No explanations or rebuttal are allowed.

What to make of these results?

Leadership Insights The brain operates in ‘economy mode’. In simple terms, our brain is frugal. The brain tries to find the most energy-efficient path to get its desired output. When the brain learns something for the first time, it uses a lot of energy. Basically, it needs to think. However, doing the same repetitive work for a while the brain discovers that it can save a lot of energy by merely carrying out the

Quint explained that most organisations assume it is natural for seniors to mentor juniors. But valuable insights could be drawn from reversing the process as well – getting your houseguests to see what your home has been missing. By the way, the microwave catch was an actual example. The hospital improved their staffs’ return-to-work time after it placed a more powerful microwave in the pantry. This is an example of not becoming ‘popcorned’.

Lead your brain. If we do something repetitive for a while (like writing that marketing plan using the same excel template for 2-3 years consecutively),

our brain switches off and operates in ‘economy’ mode – no thinking required. What the experiment also taught us, fortunately, was that we can do something about it. Don’t let your brain settle into repeating patterns.

Come to work using different routes, disrupt the morning routines, allowing ideas you disagree with to take shape, read different types of books, volunteer for unconventional tasks, rearrange the office, start with a fresh template – the possibilities are endless.

Intriguing, isn’t it? This is yet another reason why organisations should actively develop leaders. Ask your people to experiment with their sense of urgency for change. Force their forebrain to look for ‘cracks in the iceberg’, as the leadership guru, Professor John P. Kotter would say.

A Litmus Test: Is the first thing your people think of when getting to the office in the morning: “where to have lunch today?” If the answer is closer to ‘yes’, then there might be a red flag that everything else between breakfast and lunch has become habits.

Dr Rock concluded his session with this gem.

“Do your people actually have 20 years of experience, or simply a 2-year experience repeated ten times?”

Dr Thun is one of the foremost experts on dissecting complex management and business models and cascading them for easy implementation by companies across different industries. His innovative B.A.S.E. model has inspired numerous organizations to transform.

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Photo by Raj Eiamworakul on Unsplash

Freedom And Empowerment Through Learning & Development In the last couple of years, I found myself signing up for training – both internally and externally – only to be disappointed with the content or outcome of the programme.

In one of the training sessions I attended early this year, I felt like the only thing I walked away with was one conclusion – all that I seek to learn and grow in, are available online. This got me thinking – are there more avenues to learning and development?

BY LAVEENIA THEERTHA PATHY

Self-directed learning and growth

Individuals with a growth mindset constantly find ways to improve themselves. It’s very intrinsic focused and they make learning or knowledge acquisition part of their daily lives.

This can be in the form of watching documentaries, following news, forums and discussions and even educating themselves on a particular subject matter through talks or YouTube videos.

When I started my Masters journey two years back, I realised how little I knew, and how small my worldview really was. That forced me to seek information to stay ahead of things.

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I used to spend hours reading up on how CEOs failed and then succeeded, and how brands created flavours for something consumers never thought they wanted. From this, I was able to connect basic theories to global issues that were happening.

I believe it was because I had a selfdirected approach to learning; that I seek the information I needed.

How many employees are actually given the freedom and empowerment to pave their own learning and development journey?

Do managers sit down with employees and talk to them about where they want to be, how they want to contribute to the organisation and help them get

there? Because these conversations alone can motivate them to be more engaged in their roles.

Empowering employees and giving them the freedom to decide what they need to learn to upskill will enable them to feel like they are investing in themselves and the organisation trusts them with simple decisions such as this.

In fact, I believe it enables them to see how they fit within an organisation and propel their thoughts to career progression and loyalty. It is a simple act that gives them complete autonomy towards their life and career path.

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departments to come together to brainstorm and find a solution to a problem or remove barriers from the workplace.

This is a form of applied learning.

Having people from different expertise, diverse backgrounds and experiences would create a diverse team that could look at solutions from all aspects.

In fact, when a team engages in knowledge sharing, openly debate, discuss and create new ideas, they eliminate group think and find better solutions to problems.

What is the right platform to learn?

Physical training sessions are still a primary preference these days. You get to engage with a subject matter expert, have dialogues with the trainer and experience active participation in the form of discussions with other participants, share contacts and network with others.

Likewise, online training is also becoming more popular because employees can do it at their own time and pace. With visuals, aesthetics and many interlinked references, learning becomes vast and easy for users.

HR departments are beginning to recognise these channels of training and capture them in the total number of training hours an employee accumulates within a year.

But is that the only form of learning recognisable?

Self-directed learning as mentioned above is usually not captured. In fact a culture where employees spend 20% of their day doing things they want to do that could lead to idea generation, innovation and creativity is not captured or recognised as progress that an employee has made.

The best learning method for adult learners is blended learning and they

are able to retain more information and immediately apply what they have learnt.

So, by combining physical, online, self-directed and applied learning, an employee should be able to learn and grow more effectively than just using one form of training. They will learn to connect the dots more easily and apply what they have learnt into their role.

This means that any extra research, learning and development that directly contributes to an employee’s progress should be captured, recognised and commended.

Lastly, always recognise and reward those who have stepped up, showed progress and gone the extra mile.

Simple gestures like these go a long way when an employee feels appreciated and motivated.

All of these enable employees to feel like they are in charge, empowered and have the freedom to steer their way towards their chosen career path.

They will be more engaged because they can feel themselves contributing and making a difference which all go back to their own purpose and values.

Creating a culture of continuous learning and development

The thing about learning while you’re still at your workstation is that you can get interrupted.

In fact, investing in spaces that enable learning, ideation, innovation and brainstorming would help employees in finding solutions to challenges they face in their work or role.

It also allows for people who are interested on debating ideas and sharing knowledge to come together and work towards something.

Another approach will be to form working committees from different

Laveenia Theertha Pathy is a youth worker, writer, leader and change-maker who is passionate about people, sustainability, learning and growth. Still in the process of overcoming her fear of cats, she’s eager to make a difference in the world, one small step at a time.

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But it’s now three months into the year and you find that things are not working out as you imagined. You are working late every night and running out of energy. The team is still trying to figure out how to work with you and it seems everything needs your attention.

You think to yourself, “Work has never been this difficult, so what’s happening here?”

For some of you, this scenario is all too familiar, especially if you are a first-time leader.

The problem is while we are comfortable doing the things we are good at, first time leadership calls for allocating our time to not only completing the assigned work but helping others to perform successfully as well.

The shift now is moving from doing the work yourself to getting work done through others.

Photo by Tookapic on Unsplash

As I reflect on my own leadership experience, I found there are three key areas that a new leader can focus on as he/ she takes on a team leadership position: • Engagement • Goal Setting • Coaching and Feedback

ENGAGEMENT

SHIFTING GEARS

BY KAREN R. SHEPHERDSON

You’ve had another great year and this time you’ve been assigned the responsibility of leading your own team. How hard can that be, you think to yourself – after all, what is needed is the ability to articulate clearly what is expected and the results should follow.

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Engagement is about having strong relationships with your reports through trust and clear communication. Typically, when your reports are engaged, their energy is focused towards shared objectives. They: • Know the purpose of their work and are constantly looking for better ways to achieve results • Put their hearts, minds and talents in their work and are good at what they do • Feel a sense of ownership • Are energised by their work and willing to do things because they care A leader’s role is to make it easy for his/her direct reports to concentrate on what they do best, and do more of it. You will find that engaged reports tend to get the least amount of focus and attention, in part because they’re doing exactly what is required. A new leader may mistakenly think they should leave their best reports alone. Great leaders do the opposite. They spend most of their time with their most productive and talented employees because they have the most potential. How long a report stays and how productive he/

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she is depends on their relationship with their immediate manager/leader.

In terms of the actual “how to” of engagement, here are some questions you may find useful when engaging with your reports: • How would you describe the work you do?

• What part of your work have you been enjoying the most? Why? • What have you learned about yourself in the course of doing your work?

• What specific support would you find helpful?

GOAL SETTING Goal setting contributes to engagement as we all have a need to know what is expected of us. The danger of not having this need met is that, more than likely, it will lead reports to feeling insecure and being unproductive. When a leader takes the time to clarify expectations and help reports reach their goals, it shows they care about their reports’ growth.

It is, therefore, important to let reports know if they are on track in achieving their goals. Successful goal setting is about defining the right outcomes.

Leaders define the desired outcomes and help their reports find their own paths toward those outcomes. If an employee is skilled in the task, state what the end product is going to look like, discuss the outcomes with the employee and allow him/her to come up with their own steps. Don’t be afraid to let go and check-in to see where your support is required. If an employee is new to the task, direct and guide him/ her so he/she can learn the ropes. They will be able to come up with their own steps. Don’t be alarmed if you need to, at times, hand-hold for a particular task.

Goals should be: • Achievable and realistic so reports do not get discouraged and; • Challenging so reports can maximise their full potential and strive for

higher personal goals Balance is the key. Stretch goals to engage and motivate reports with the thrill of pressure. Bear in mind, however, that an inappropriate amount of challenge may be more than what the employee can handle and may cause stress and burnout.

For the “how to” of goal setting, you can try asking these questions: • Given the objectives of the team, what might be some on-the-job goals for the next several months?

• Which goals are you excited about?

• Which goals make you anxious or uneasy?

• What opportunities might these goals create for you?

COACHING AND FEEDBACK Once goals are set, employees need to know how they are doing on the job.

They need to be recognised for good work and guided in the right direction.

Coaching and feedback is also a tool that leaders and managers can use to sustain the engagement process.

Coaching enables a leader to help employees discover more about themselves while they negotiate dayto-day tasks and projects, with the objective of driving their performance to the highest level. Coaching also allows for ongoing interaction with employees with the intention of developing and preparing them for future leadership positions.

Developing people is of strategic importance. People are the only sustainable competitive advantage that a company has over another. If a leader does not provide enough opportunities for his/her people to grow, he/she will lose the best performers.

A common pitfall of a new leader is to mainly focus on opportunities to

improve. It becomes frustrating when you have to continue to improve in areas towards which you do not have a natural inclination. According to the Gallup studies, great leaders develop their people based on their strengths and not just weaknesses. Developing based on strengths is a way to engage employees and utilise their full potential.

For the “how to” of coaching and feedback, here are some questions you can use: • What can you tell me about what’s happening with your work?

• What have you tried so far?

• What can be done to change the situation?

• What could be a next step for you?

• How can I help you in moving forward?

WORKING WITH AND THROUGH OTHERS The challenge for a first time leader may seem daunting. It means doing less of what you’re comfortable with and moving to the intricacies of managing others – the true test of leadership and the ultimate route to bigger things. The idea is to keep working at it. Start by having individual conversations with your team members, ask questions and get to know them. Get them talking about their work, the associated goals and the support they need to help them to succeed. Try it yourself, you’ll be surprised how painless it is to shift gears and enjoy the ride!

A versatile and focused professional, Karen R. Shepherdson is the Chief Operating Officer at Iclif.

In this role, she works closely with the CEO and Board of Directors on all matters related to the strategic growth and day-to-day operations of Iclif.

This position follows her successful tenure as Chief Marketing Officer, directing business development growth and overseeing marketing activities.

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Lifelong Learning: Self-Driven or Community-Supported?

BY ROSHAN THIRAN

At what point are we ‘done’ growing in our leadership journey?

Is it when we become a manager? A regional manager? Group CEO? When can we be done with learning and just enjoy doing?

It’s a tricky question to answer, particularly in business when there exists the view that you’re the master of your own destiny (and as such, responsible for your own growth). And yet at the same time, we know that the business landscape is always changing and there is need for support from others to grow.

Indeed, if someone has been ‘in the business’ for 20 years or more, even mentioning the thought that they might benefit from coaching would almost be seen as an insult.

In fact, many CEOs I have met advocate coaching for others, but not themselves as they know better and are in a better space. So, while the business world treasures the ideal of growth, it’s not something that’s readily embraced by the leaders in business.

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However, in other areas, growth is not something that is self-learnt but backed by a support community.

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Take sports, for example. If we look at Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi – two of the best footballers on the planet – they continue to train on a daily basis with a number of coaches who help them maintain their peak fitness and stay sharp on the pitch.

Football is a multi-billion dollar industry, and so it’s vital that top performers keep to the best standards possible. Football coaches don’t need to show Ronaldo or Messi how to play football – but what they do show them on a regular basis are the small improvements they can make, which add up over time and separates their phenomenal abilities from every other player.

In music, the world-renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman has been performing across the globe for 60 years and played at the 2009 US Presidential Inauguration, as well as a state dinner at the White House in honour of Queen Elizabeth II. In 2015, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. Interestingly, his wife Toby gave up a career as a classically-trained violinist in order to become her husband’s coach.

She would attend performances of his and then advise him on how he might improve the flow of a particular section, or how he engaged with a particular piece. Even a great classical musician benefits greatly from feedback on the little things he can’t see for himself.

Are we being the best that we can be?

In business, if we’re truly set on being the best leaders that we can be, we have to realise that, even if we’re experts in our field, we need to keep learning, growing and improving.

We could be the best creators, innovators and problem solvers, but there will always be room for improvement – and it’s always the little tweaks here and there that can make a world of difference.

The tough part is this: we cannot get ourselves to the next level of success.

We need the help of others.

Having a coach to guide us in business – just as in sports or music – can bring us a whole new level of awareness that raises our game to the next level and far beyond.

A coach can refocus our attention on what’s important, and help us build on our expertise, skills and abilities in ways that have a profound effect on our performance and the performance of the organisation as a whole.

Here are four ways that having a coach by your side can help you to unlock even more of your potential: 1. They shine a light on your blind spots Coaches never change who you are, and they rarely help you directly achieve your goals. Instead, a good coach will be an excellent observer of your behaviours and habits, and they’ll be able to highlight the obstacles that are holding you back, which you might be unaware of or are ignoring for some reason. Once your blind spots are brought out into the open, your coach will then help you to move beyond them.

2. They show you (or remind you of) your ‘why’ As a leader – particularly within a growing company – you can fall into the trap of getting caught up in the day-to-day running of things that you lose perspective, which also means you lose sight of the bigger picture.

Your values, goals and mission can get buried beneath the administration,

meetings, travelling, speaking engagements, in-house mentoring and so on. These are all important aspects of being an effective leader, but a coach can help remind you of and realign you to the deeper purpose of why you’re doing what you do.

As a result, you’ll not only become more efficient, but you’ll rediscover your joy and drive as you reconnect to what’s important.

3. They tell you the truth – no matter how hard it might be to hear If you run a business, the chances are that there are few people who will tell you when you’re dropping the ball as a leader. As the saying goes, it’s lonely at the top, and there is a degree of truth to that.

When no one speaks frankly to you, how can you know where you might be going wrong? Great coaches will be more than happy to observe, listen, evaluate…and then give their honest opinion about what you’re doing well and what needs improving.

They will care just as much about your goals and progress as you do – if not more so – and they’ll make sure that you’re stepping up to the plate and giving everything you have to ensure your growth.

4. They will help you improve your weaknesses Some might say that people should ignore weaknesses and instead focus on enhancing their strengths. That sounds great in an ideal world, but the reality is that we all have weaknesses Issue 29 | July 2019

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that we need to address in order to be the best we can be.

Whatever skill or behaviour is lacking, having a coach to help you close the gap between your strengths and weaknesses will help enormously in your professional development.

Furthermore, they’ll be on hand to offer guidance on how to progress in as smooth a manner as possible, eliminating much of the trial and error process (and wasted time) we encounter when we try to grow on our own.

The big change A big change I envision that will happen to the coaching space in business is that it will move from becoming a one-onone executive coaching experience to something more akin of what happens in sports.

In sports, even kids aged nine years have a coach for their football or basketball team. Every age group has a coach. This coach helps to sharpen them as a team to execute better and win more games.

The same will apply to business.

Business is changing from a one-man game to a team-based collaborative

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production. We need to collaborate and work seamlessly with each other for the success of our organisation.

So, coaching has to become more teambased (like football or basketball) where the coach will help the team to succeed by helping each individual sharpen their game to enable team success.

In fact, at Leaderonomics, one of the key elements we are helping organisations with us do is to drive group coaching initiatives that are team-based and not just as individuals.

So, if you are part of a team at your workplace and do not have a good coach to help you navigate your way to success, make sure you go to your HR leader and get a coach. This will be a huge gamechanger for you and your organisation.

Keep learning all your life – with each other!

a coach can help you plan out an effective strategy.

2. Am I receiving messages that I need to change?

Leaders can often be subjected to negative feedback; however, it’s difficult to act on negativity (even if it’s valid) due to its discouraging nature. A good coach will put things into a more positive perspective before setting a plan of action in place.

3. How ambitious am I? Some of the most successful people in the world have received coaching at some point in their lives: just ask Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates how well it worked for them. Enlisting the help of a coach can propel you to even greater heights than you imagined, so if you really want to be successful, having a coach to guide you is a wise investment.

4. Can coaching help me to help others?

It stands to reason that, as you get better as a leader through coaching, your team is bound to benefit from the progress you’ve made. Having a coach to bring out the best in yourself isn’t just a self-investment – it’s also an investment in people, as your growth will help others to develop as a result of your own improvements.

4 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Enlisting a Coach 1. Am I where I want to be?

Having a vision of your ambition in mind is a great start, but sometimes it can be difficult to roadmap exactly how you’ll get there. This is where

Roshan is the founder and CEO of the Leaderonomics Group. He believes that everyone can be a leader and make a dent in the universe, in their own special ways.

Noodle

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Space

BY DR. THUN THAMRONGNAWASAWAT

“Another one!” A man in clothes mottled with stains yelled above the congregation.

His hand clutched a wrinkled bill as if his life depended on it.

“One for us too. Please! …” A gaunt lady fought to keep their place in line. Clung tight to her legs was an undersized boy with a baby strapped on his back.

The tiny child cried loudly in hunger. The chef, face glistened with beads of sweat, was doing his best to maintain the rapid flow of noodles going into the pot. He appeased his customers “Only one bowl per person! Please back away when you get yours.” “Omachi kudasai” (お待ちください) Please wait a moment.

That was the defining moment for Momofuku Ando – a Taiwanese-born Japanese. His leadership energy was primed.

Back in 1950s when Japan was rebuilding from its defeat after World War II, Momofuku was a middle-aged man deep in bankruptcy after a series of unsuccessful businesses.

The scene in that small alley prompted Momofuku to think: There must be a better way to cook noodles than just bowl-by-bowl.

“I need to find a way that allows everyone to cook their own noodles and not be starved in line.”

Photo by Piotr Miazga on Unsplash

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His purpose was born.

“Ouch… Not again.” Momofuku’s wife yanked her hands away from the splashing oil. She was cooking yasai tempura, battered fried vegetables, for dinner.

Chasing after his goal, Momofuku had been stuck for months tackling a problem: The short ‘shelf life’ of his dried noodles invention.

Traditional Japanese noodles – Ramen – were made fresh with boiling soup.

This customary water-based process meant that noodles couldn’t be stored for an extended period. This perishable nature was a huge roadblock for Momofuku.

Until he saw his wife cooking that day.

“That’s it!” Momofuku proclaimed ecstatically. “We fry the noodles for storage and let them soften back in water when we want to eat!” He could barely contain his excitement.

Just like that, the era of ‘Instant Noodles’ began.

His first creation, ‘Chikin (Chicken) Ramen’, became available on 25th of August, 1958. Momofuku would eventually achieve tremendous success in Japan with expansion after expansion of his business.

However, his dream of ‘putting noodles on every table’ did not end there.

“This is a stupid idea. I am telling you Americans don’t eat noodles. We eat hamburgers and hot dogs with our hands. Look around. Do you see any bowls? Any chopsticks? How are they going to eat your noodles?” Local investors shot down Momofuku’s proposal of bringing his noodles to the US. Where one saw an obstacle; another saw an opportunity. Faced with this new challenge, Momofuku rerouted his energy and came up with a winning solution – instant noodles in a cup.

“No bowls you say? Then I’ll sell them in a cup. We will put a snap-opened fork inside, too. Just fill it with hot 24

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water from a kettle. It’s as convenient as a hamburger!” Momofuku countered with yet another innovation. And the rest was history.

His invention started the next era of ‘Cup Noodles’. The all-inclusive product first appeared on US shelves in 1971. It would go on to become tremendously successful all over the world.

Momofuku was 61 years old. Yet, his dream of ‘putting noodles on every table’ would continue.

Brain Insights 1. Everyone has energy. The founding principle of leadership energy is that everyone has energy.

It is the common currency that fuels all humans. Whether we are rich or poor; young or old; male or female; owner or employee, there exists energy within all of us. The challenge is to recognise that energy and do something useful about ours. Momofuku was just another 40+ years old failing businessman trying to get by in a difficult world.

But he saw a present he did not like, and a future he aspired to create.

Thus, his leadership energy was born.

2. Find your purpose. Give your story a meaning. Energy is merely a ‘currency’ much like money in our wallet. We need to learn how to best spend it – to find our purpose. What I love about Momofuku’s story was the clarity of his dream of ‘putting noodles on every table’. I recently interviewed Isabel Medem, a world’s top entrepreneur whose purpose was devoted to ‘putting a toilet in every home’. One Peruvian mother told her “my young son learned to use the toilet by himself because of what you have done”. A purpose is what makes your spending your energy worthwhile.

3. Reroute the energy. A leadership journey is always uphill so leaders must learn to channel their energy upward. Momofuku ran into yet

another problem trying to scaleup his production. Fried and dried noodles would not fit systematically into their cups. He was so nauseous with stress that one night he saw his house spinning and had to lie down. Amazingly that gave birth to a brilliant solution. Instead of trying to force noodles into cups, why not turn the cups upside down and ‘put cups over noodles’?

Thirty years later, instant cup noodles are available for people in every corner of the world. Had the aging inventor then fulfilled his vision of ‘putting noodles on every table’?

Not at all. At the age of 95, Momofuku’s leadership energy was still churning.

His next goal was to make instant noodles for astronauts during their duty outside the world. He wanted his noodles to ‘go to space’!

July 27th 2005 on the shuttle Discovery, Momofuku’s dream of ‘Space Noodles’ was realized. Unlike most other space food, the Nissin noodles were not squeezed out of a bag but rather eaten with chopsticks.

“It wouldn’t be noodles if you slurp through a tube.” The near-century-old man beamed like a young boy. He was watching news footage of Japanese astronauts eating noodles while floating around weightlessly above the earth.

Two years later, Momofuku Ando left this world in peace – undoubtedly packed with a bagful of new ideas with him.

What’s your leadership energy?

Dr Thun is one of the foremost experts on dissecting complex management and business models and cascading them for easy implementation by companies across different industries. His innovative B.A.S.E. model has inspired numerous organizations to transform.

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Whose Duty Is It To Ensure Our People Gain High-Quality Learning?

BY ROSHAN THIRAN

Is traditional learning now completely without value?

I was once told by a university professor that within a few years of graduating, students’ qualifications are effectively obsolete. I thought that was quite a bold statement. In just a few years?

Does the world change so quickly? It would seem so.

I’m sure the professor didn’t mean to suggest that formal education is rendered pointless after a period of time post-graduation. Education is arguably the noblest pursuit; it’s what gives us understanding and helps us to contribute to society.

Whether it takes place in a prestigious institution or is picked up in bits and pieces along the way, we all receive some kind of valuable education, and receive lifelong benefits from it.

THE PARADOX OF TRADITIONAL LEARNING If I’m quick to defend traditional education, it’s because I believe that we can be too quick to discard the old whenever the new comes along. When it comes to learning, our rich history of pedagogy has served so many really well, and continues to do so.

No, I doubt the professor meant that traditional learning is completely without value. Rather, I believe he meant that, due to the speed of changes in the VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world and the increasing demands that come with those changes, lifelong

learning is now a necessity rather than a luxury if we want to maintain our edge.

This applies to both ourselves and organisations as a whole. Learning can never be outmoded, but the methods of learning can.

GENERATIONS AGO As recently as the 1980s, it was enough to leave school, gain employment, and be set for life. If you managed to obtain a degree or diploma, you were all the more secure. A ‘job for life’ was still a thing, and stable businesses could be sure to thrive in a steady and solid economy. This idyllic scenario was enjoyed by many only 30 years ago – nowadays, it seems like centuries ago.

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DIGEST

People born in the 1980s will remember that black-and-white TVs, cassette players, VCR (video cassette recording) machines, and just a few channels of entertainment were commonplace. They’ll recall dial-up Internet connection, as well as stateof-the-art mobile phones from which you could call and text people on the go. Children born today will grow up to wonder how on earth did we put up with such ‘prehistoric’ devices.

SPEED OF EVOLUTION And that’s something that I find both mildly terrifying and immeasurably exciting. The speed at which our technologies are advancing enables us to do so much more than we ever thought possible.

In particular, digital advancement is changing industries, from education to sportswear (well-known shoe brands now create training shoes via 3D printing!). While this might carry some moral and ethical questions, there’s one thing that’s not debatable – digital is changing the way we learn, forever.

Despite the changes we are witnessing, learning is one area that seems to be moving along at a snail’s pace compared to others. We appear to be so entrenched in conventional ways when it comes to education that I can’t help but wonder if this is really serving to our benefit or to the benefit of future generations to come.

FACE THE ‘CRAZY’ UNKNOWNS Of course, every generation has its sceptics. When the printing press first allowed books to be mass-produced, many people said that they would ruin people’s ability to recall information: why bother to memorise anything when young people can simply look it up in a book! It sounds crazy, doesn’t it?

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Issue 29 | July 2019

Every age has similar concerns and in 100 years from now, people would probably look back and say:

You know, in the early 21st century, some people thought the Internet was a dangerous and distracting tool – crazy, huh?

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While valid concerns should be addressed (I’m sure the concerns over books were just as valid at that time), we are nevertheless presented with an ultimatum as advances arise: we can either resist and try to cling on to traditional methods, or we can embrace the positive side of new technology and take advantage of the many opportunities it affords us.

After all, technology in itself is neither inherently good nor bad – it’s how we use it that determines positive or negative outcomes.

ELIMINATE ‘TIMEWASTING’ LEARNING When it comes to learning, while I strongly respect traditional methods, I genuinely wonder if classroom-style training has had its day, certainly within the context of business training.

LEADERS

DIGEST

As businesses are presented with increasing challenges such as to stave off competitors and retain their top talents, there’s a growing need for organisations to find new ways to survive and thrive, and digital learning is a key resource that can help companies succeed in an evercompetitive market.

I’ve spoken to so many business leaders who have lamented the ‘waste of time’ they’ve felt traditional workshops and seminars to be. Employees, they tell me, see these as nothing more than a chance to escape the office for a while, only to wish they were back in the office once they are met with a sub-par learning experience.

I recall one human resources (HR) professional who was asked to attend a customer service training day. A professional who had been in HR for over 10 years, they found that they were, “being taught how to speak on

the phone to people, and engage with others” – a wasted working day that could have been better put to use in the office (not my words).

It’s no wonder business leaders and employees alike view learning experiences with dread. No one likes to passively sit through a one-way communication, where an ‘expert’ tells a room full of people what they probably already know. It wastes everybody’s time.

ENCOURAGE ENGAGING LEARNING EXPERIENCES Learning should be relevant, valuable, practical and engaging – instead of whiteboards and stale coffee, employees (and their organisations) fare much better from programmes that offer business simulations through game-based learning, for example.

In other words, learning is most effective when it provides an active learn-bydoing approach within situations that people are likely to encounter. By offering effective learning that provides simulated challenges, people’s minds are stretched and critical thinking and collaboration are enhanced, because there’s a practical problem to be solved in real time.

When given a bunch of hypotheticals, the brain much prefers to go for a nap, conserving mental energy for when it actually needs to function optimally.

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER For HR leaders out there, we need to ask ourselves a serious question: What are we doing to truly help our people grow and develop? With organisations facing leadership pipeline crises, and with many employees disengaged from their roles, it’s also an urgent question and one that requires honest introspection and proactive measures.

Is our company a learning organisation, or one that simply brings people in and lets them get on with their 9-to-5 jobs?

As HR leaders, we have a duty to help others develop (if I hear one more person say that HR is solely about ‘hiring, firing and holidays’, I might burst).

We owe it to those people who do their best to help our organisations succeed, to make sure that we are not only giving them the space and time to learn, but also ensuring the learning experience they receive is relevant, engaging and serves a purpose to the highest standard.

Roshan is the founder and CEO of the Leaderonomics Group. He believes that everyone can be a leader and make a dent in the universe, in their own special ways.

By providing simulated challenges, we let learners solve problems in real time.

Issue 29 | July 2019

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