Leader's Digest #62 (April 2022)

LEADERS ISSUE 62

APRIL 2022

DIGEST

Aligning People to the Future

Photo by Chris Holgersson on Unsplash

LEADERS

DIGEST

Publication Team Editor-in-Chief Ismail Said Editor Diana Marie Capel Graphic Designers 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.

Contents

ISSUE 62 I APRIL 2022

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THE KEY TO EMPOWERING YOUR TEAM

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THREE KEYS TO LONG TERM PLANNING IN UNCERTAINTY

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5 INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS CONSIDERATIONS

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NEGOTIATION IS A RELATIONSHIP NOT A TRANSACTION

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6 APPROACHES TO MAKE EMPLOYEE LISTENING A PRIORITY

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THE STOLEN COOKIES

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GETTING THE MOST FROM BETWEENMEETING TIME

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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.

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From the

Editorial Desk

People & The Future? … the Past & the Present!

In strategizing and then planning for the future we seem to put aside or trivialize the present and the past. It may sound easy to prepare for the future, like pressing a button that will launch us there. But to where? And how far and in what form is each of us, is a community ready, able and willing to go?

The future is like saying: you are planning for life.

How can we prepare for something without a clear content or without something that we can be sure of?

Change is the source of hope, and fear determines a state of being. We must become more fluid and adaptive to it.

So, let’s enter the people factor: the you and me, the us and them; because the actual focus area is the human design and preparation for the future.

As much as we may not know the details of the future, the basic elements of well-being and growing is dependent upon the very basic needs we constantly live by, as illustrated below;

The vulnerabilities, limitations and challenges, talents and capabilities of a society become the criteria for the achievement of any goal. And our leaders, and the leader we are to others, the true responsible for purpose.

The underlying elements for readiness are a healthy, positive, and state of mind. Our psychological resilience and emotional maturity. Let’s focus on the next generation, first! It is the clear representation of not only what happens to us, but also how we deal with what happens. Then again, let’s involve the future generation.

When comfort is increasing, when immediacy dominates the speed of expectations, when control is weakening, no matter what the future brings, it is the mental alertness and readiness that makes the difference.

How we deal within the past, the present is an indicator of how we will manage tomorrow. If we don’t make the effort, don’t care to make an impactful change, anything thrown at us, will also be treated in the same fashion.

Passivity, pessimism, and egoism are on the rise. We are becoming fire-fighters, ambulances, learning to protect and protect. Helplessness is on the rise too. We need to enhance, stand up and stay up for our values: to learn, to grow, to evolve and to love.

Running forward by looking backwards contradicts purpose and meaning. I urge you to move from understanding to comprehending and from seeing to contemplating.

What have you improved lately … for somebody you don’t know?

Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs-4582571

Here, the standard of the puzzle pieces of under each category are the indicator of how we, as individuals and as a society, can predict our readiness for anything. Take, for example, ESTEEM. Look at your inventory, rate it, and then realize that any gaps become the drivers or blockers of attaining the highest standard for the other needs.

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THE KEY TO EMPOWERING YOUR TEAM

BY MAREE BURGESS

Leading with Trust Empowering your team means giving them permission to act, work with a level of autonomy, and make decisions. It means building trust, creating a safe space where all members of the team feel they can reach their full potential, and developing a shared understanding of goals and outcomes. Empowerment cannot be handed over like a gift or a task. It is not something that happens suddenly.

A powerful way to empower the individuals in your team is to simply ask, ‘How can I help you?’ This is a trustbuilding question, and a great way to start a coaching conversation – two key components in empowering your team. Without trust, a team is simply a group of individuals doing their own thing. It doesn’t matter how capable or talented the individuals are: a team that lacks trust will not reach its full potential.

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The Impact of Distrust Versus Trust Neuroscience research (1) indicates that trust and distrust activate different parts of the brain. Distrust is associated with the amygdala, the area of your brain triggered by stress, and leads to cortisol production. An atmosphere of distrust in a dysfunctional team is likely to mean that team members experience continued high cortisol levels. This impacts their ability to think and reason effectively, since cortisol shuts down activity in the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s executive functioning area.

When you feel safe and trusted by the people you interact with, oxytocin is produced, which increases social confidence and connection. More oxytocin in your system increases engagement and collaboration, and allows you and the people you are interacting with to tap into the executive functioning areas of your brains.

In this environment, team members support each other and are open and transparent. This leads to highly motivated team members who assume positive intent of others and focus on mutual success. Trust is required in any interaction you have with others if you are to reach an effective outcome.

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Trust comes back to the way we relate to others.

Coaching is a Superpower

Your ability to build trust with each team member means:

Your ability to coach the individuals in your team is considered to have a highly positive impact on culture and helps improve an individual’s performance by building their long term capabilities.

· Being reliable and doing what you say you will do. · Accepting others for who they are without judging. · Being open and transparent and share as much as you can with your team. · Building rapport and create a harmonious relationship with each member of your team.

Being reliable and open, accepting others, and consciously building rapport, are oxytocin-producing behaviours that help you build trust unconsciously.

Not only does your ability to connect lead to improved performance, but your work is also more enjoyable, as you are hanging out with a group of people you like.

Building trust in a team means they feel trusted, and that it’s safe to explore new opportunities, take risks, and aim higher.

Though it’s often taken for granted, these are the basis for a foundation for good relationships – even with people we don’t like! You (and they) feel safe to be curious, listen more deeply, and trust builds between you. This doesn’t mean you have to like someone, or always agree with them. These trust building skills build a harmonious relationship with another person, which facilitates effective communication.

Coaching is a superpower that will help you to step back so the team can step up and bring out their best. Helping your team to work out answers for themselves is exactly what happens when you learn how to coach instead of giving them the answer.

At its simplest, coaching is your ability to ask questions, listen to the answers, and encourage the other person to come up with their own ideas and solutions. It is the art of drawing out the knowledge or awareness of the other person by using open-ended questions to reach an outcome. There is no need to make a coaching conversation a big deal. These conversations can happen during a one-on-one meeting, chatting with someone beside your desk (if you are in the office) or, while having a quick corridor or phone conversation.

Identify the skills and behaviours you need to develop to level up and lead at the level appropriate for your pay grade – and achieve success with more clarity and less overwhelm. This is leading, which requires new skills, so be prepared to become a learner again.

MAREE BURGESS Maree Burgess, author of Level Up, is a trainer, coach, facilitator, author and speaker whose practicality supports leaders and teams to create cultures that people want to be part of and perform at their best for, to greatly improve overall performance. Obsessed with building environments of excellence where staff collaborate and work well together, she is renowned for bringing out the best in teams and individuals alike.

Source: Vector image from freepik.com

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Source: Image by @storyset on Freepik.com

5 Internal Communications Considerations

BY ANIISU K VERGHESE

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Correlation between Internal Communications and Geopolitics Multinationals when influenced by geo-political perspectives, are often faced with hard choices while communicating actions for their global offices and workforces. Timing matters. Yet organizations need to balance actions with tact and empathy considering their choices impact staff, customers, partners and prospective hires. Especially, when organizations have global business operations, engage with customers or staff in the impacted regions, it is harder to make relevant decisions.

However, the world is watching every action – an internal memo, the social media post, the leader’s body language, the speed of engagement and more. Overall, to be perceived as an authentic and committed global citizen, walking the talk matters post.

Based on the flashpoints and situations unfolding across the globe, there are internal communication considerations that organizations can factor in to be valued for their thoughts, words and deeds.

1. STANDING BY VS TAKING A STAND Staying passive is no longer an option. The pandemic has taught us that brands and leaders are expected to be values-led and those that prioritized empathy over profits were viewed as organizations of repute. Passivity is frowned upon. Decisive actions are the need of the hour when the geo-political situations evolve rapidly.

Taking a stand isn’t about a hashtag or replacing a banner on the corporate page. It is about genuinely believing and exhibiting the values on which the organization is founded.

Also, there are citizen actions taking place all the time and employee activism is on the rise. Not knowing the value of the community interventions your staff does beyond their regular work schedules, and in their own time, is disrespectful and demonstrates a lack of organizational listening abilities. Those organizations and leaders who can tap into staff’s positive energy and drive will emerge successful overall.

Infographic by Leaderonomics: 5 Internal Communication Considerations

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MANAGEMENT BY COMMITTEE VS PURPOSE-LED TEAMS

Just being focused on business priorities over community responsiveness isn’t right. Organizations can do financially well and yet be doing good for the community. Purpose is what drives this behavior. The latter is inclined to consider real-time needs on the ground. Direct interventions rather than forced actions.

Groupthink creeps in when unwieldy groups with limited information access and context make decisions that impact a broad section of stakeholders. This leads to less-than-optimal decision making and even at times, flawed thinking and recommendations. Unreeling the negative fallouts from bad decisions exhaust useful resources and valuable time.

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BOTTOM-UP VS TOP-DOWN

Hierarchical organizational structures can come in the way of moving fast and getting the best resources in place, when needed. To make the most of your organization’s most valuable resources – your staff, is to listen, involve and partner with them. Due to the democratization of information access, in today’s world, it isn’t unrealistic to believe that staff know more than managers and leaders do, and beforehand. Employee voice is crucial.

So is bottom-up leadership. Empowering staff by giving them to access, space and funding will have a powerful ripple effect than handpicking ‘trusted’ people who can be included for implementing decisions made.

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INSIDE-OUT VS OUTSIDE-IN

Nothing can be more powerful than staff proudly sharing and talking of their organization’s actions – for or against the grain. Staff respect leaders and organizations who are foresighted and not reluctant to call a spade, a spade.

The inside-out reactions surface positive sentiments while have wider ramifications on the brand, reputation and the ability to attract talent. However, staff need to feel psychologically safe to air their views – internally and externally. On the other hand, the outside-in approach of sharing ‘nice-to-say’ messages will be perceived as inauthentic by staff if they aren’t lived beliefs within the organization. The damage from such negative fallouts is harder to recover from, going by past brand disasters the world has experienced over the years.

Positively changing organizational approaches and mindsets to consider geo-political nuances can result in a sense of belongingness, pride and commitment, much needed in times of rising attrition and lower engagement levels across the board. Geo-political challenges are often opportunities in disguise. Leaders and communicators who reflect and realize the potential of changing their stance, can reap the best results.

CENTRALIZATION VS AUTONOMY

Organizations, especially after the pandemic, have begun operating in ways that recognize local nuances.

Giving flexibility and ownership to regional and local teams to make coherent and critical decisions will mean letting go of control. The best ideas and the strongest leadership can come from any part of the organization.

When organizations are willing to open their minds to this shift, a lot more can happen, including innovations that transform the business. In the end, the benefits far outweigh the cons. Not valuing the knowledge, skills and expertise of local teams can cause resentment, misalignment and worse – apathy.

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ANIISU K VERGHESE Aniisu K Verghese currently works as Director of Corporate Communications in Sabre, Poland. He is also a winning Leader of Internal Communicator, author, speaker, and a professor. To find out more about Aniisu, click www.aniisu.com

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Source: Photo from Pexels, by Alexander Suhorucov

6 Approaches to Make Employee Listening A Priority

BY ANIISU K VERGHESE

Employee Listening is a Must-have and Impacts Business Significantly Listening isn’t about the run-of-the-mill surveys and polls to understand what employees think and say. It goes beyond. To truly listen, means to go to the trenches and get the ‘real’ information that leaders often fail to get or avoid wanting to hear. Not just once, but continually. Considering the changes taking place around us and in the workplace, how staff feel and stay connected today may not be the same tomorrow.

From what prevents staff from doing great work to understanding the level of manager competencies; from real-time intelligence on the pulse of staff to predicting who are the core influencers that can drive the company’s vision forward – the role of listening is immensely valuable. Although, barely appreciated within organisations. Catching issues before it snowballs into larger problems is also a significant benefit of listening.

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VALUE OF LISTENING Employee listening is a must-have and impacts business significantly, according to a Josh Bersin report. A study among 800 organisations on diversity, equity and inclusion, found that among the 84 practices to further diversity, listening frequently to the workforce and acting on the insights gained has the biggest impact on business and people outcomes. Instead of the traditional exit interviews, doing a ‘stay’ interview is far more powerful in retention. Which in effect means listening to staff while they are present.

In a study by IBM on employee voice, among organisations which invested in multiple listening methods, employees rated their performance and reputation 24% more than those didn’t. There are strong reasons for organisations to take this approach seriously.

With the boundaries of internal and external worlds diffusing, comments and opinions about companies are finding their way on social media.

BARRIERS TO LISTENING

Also, another drawback is hoping that managers are having conversations and getting the feedback they need and will pass it upwards. The assumption is that staff trust managers and will speak their mind. And, that the feedback given will be acted on. The opportunities to give anonymous feedback and the rise of staff using those channels is an indication that there is a gap.

Furthermore, not doing anything with the feedback can do more damage than good. Likewise, not providing any update on when and how staff will see progress on their feedback can cause resentment.

INVESTING IN LISTENING Organisations that have feedback mechanisms are more likely to have engaged staff. In a study by Qualtrics, although global engagement rates were low (53%), when organisations asked for feedback formally, the scores increased to 59%. However, despite being asked (63%), employees feel let down when there is limited interest to act on the feedback (just 35%). 2 in 3 staff feel it is vital for employers to listen to the feedback.

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Listening needs to be part of the broader organisation strategy on employee experience.

Addressing the perceptions towards the organisation can lead to improved sense of belonginess, a deeper understanding of the purpose at work, feeling recognized for the work completed, a feeling of satisfaction with life in general and the flow of positivity that keeps the employee adding value. Therefore, the listening approach needs to systematic and rigorous.

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Tapping the power of technology is an effective way to make your listening program a success. This includes mining for sentiments – from internal social media conversations to focus group conversations.

There is a lot which can be derived from what is unsaid.

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Ensuring there is a system and process in place to transparently communicate what happens with all the feedback and listening interventions. If employee listening isn’t a core part of the strategy, your organisation is living in an echo chamber and making poor decisions in everyday interactions.

On the other hand, organisations are doing more damage than good. For example, employee surveillance and monitoring is on the rise and not helping with trust building measures. A survey of 2,209 workers in England and Wales, conducted by BritainThinks found three in five (60 per cent) workers said they had been under surveillance or monitored at work in 2021, compared to 53% of respondents in a survey the year before.

Unfortunately, most organisations and leaders want to listen to what they think is appropriate and fail to comprehend the real sentiments within. They also tend to rely on a few ‘trusted’ resources to ‘gauge’ the pulse and that sets the wheels turning in the wrong direction.

In the interest of managing upwards, they often ignore what staff are trying to convey. In another study by O.C. Tanner, just 51% of employees believe organisations truly listen. A Gallup study shares than just 3 in 10 US staff believe their opinions count at the workplace. In particular, more workers reported monitoring of staff devices (24 per cent in 2021 compared to 20 per cent in 2020) and monitoring of phone calls (14 per cent compared to 11 per cent) than in the year before.

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Holding leaders accountable and transparently highlighting the feedback given and actions taken are great ways to build trust. It requires guts and boldness on the part of the organisation to take such decisions.

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Creating bottom-up listening approaches and leveraging internal and trusted (by staff) ‘influencers’ to be listening champions can be a worthwhile attempt in gaining much needed respect and accepting employee voice.

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Embracing design thinking in systems and processes that put staff at the heart of listening will reap dividends. It isn’t just about engagement ‘after’ the employee joins, getting real-time feedback during onboarding, in stay discussions, performance management conversations can help derive ‘moments of truth’ and result in ‘moments that matter’.

Listening can’t be understood in isolation. If organisations don’t create an environment of trust, people won’t feel ready to speak up. When employee voice is hindered, organisations don’t hear what staff really want to say. It leads to employee ‘silence’ which is an alarming trend. That in turn creates a void in feedback.

And leads to poor decisions and interventions.

It is therefore crucial to ensure your listening strategy encourages staff to feel psychologically safe to voice their opinions and concerns. That creates an open dialogue with communication playing a key role in enabling trust.

What do you think?

Are there approaches that worked for your organisation?

ANIISU K VERGHESE Aniisu K Verghese currently works as Director of Corporate Communications in Sabre, Poland. He is also a winning Leader of Internal Communicator, author, speaker, and a professor. To find out more about Aniisu, click www.aniisu.com

Infographic by Leaderonomics: Invest in Listening

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The Sarawak government will vigorously intensify the implementation of high impact and people-centric projects in line with Human Capital Development agenda as outlined in the Post Covid-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030. Industry players have an important role.

Premier of Sarawak | 22.02.2022

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Getting the Most from Between-Meeting Time

BY JULIET FUNT

Stay Productive Even during Between-Meeting Time In our last newsletter, “How to Have the Right Amount of Meetings,” we introduced one of my favorite mantras: “Never let the colors touch”. When your packed calendar looks like a set of paint swatches, you need this lesson more than you know. If the filled-in meeting blocks are all touching in your calendar, you don’t have a single minute to reflect on the meeting before, refresh yourself, or plan for the meeting to come.

Once you can see white spaces between your appointments, you can stop working like a robot and begin working like a human being whose thoughts, needs, and whims require room for reflection and flexibility. You can take a minute to think. You can spare others the rudeness of cutting them off for your “hard out” and enjoy the bonus that comes from tighter meetings, which guide us to limit preambles and move quickly into substance.

Adding these moments of white space has the immediate impact of lowering your sense of frenzy and overwhelm. But if back-to-back meetings have been lowering your IQ one point at a time, you may not even remember the best way to use the time you gain.

I thought it would be helpful to unpack those little white transition times to show you the actual ingredients that make up a perfect slice of white between meetings. There are numerous improvisational elements that can fall into this time, but the most productive structure follows an easy progression:

• Look back 14

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• Look within

• Look forward

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LOOK BACK.

One of the reasons the day feels overwhelming is that each meeting usually ends with an assignment or implied to-dos. We must enter a note, send an email (or two or three), or record some data. But in a world where we’re always “on,” none of this important closure occurs in real time. Our action items accumulate throughout the day as Suess-ian piles of sticky notes and digital lists.

Therefore, the first portion of any white slice on our calendar goes to looking back on the last meeting and tying up loose ends. We may do that looking back from a learning perspective as well as a box-checking one. What worked? What didn’t work? How can we do better next time?

LOOK WITHIN.

In the ever-tightening vice of your meeting schedule, you likely have not the foggiest clue how YOU are. Slices of white space are times to find out. Take a breath and get present. Are you starving? Do you need to move around to get your blood flowing? Are you reaching for your phone for no reason at all? Take time here to unplug the circuits for a few minutes and reboot your exhausted frontal lobes. Stepping away from technology helps us combat screen and Zoom fatigue and come back into ourselves.

LOOK FORWARD.

Then it’s time to prepare to bring your best self to what’s next. Absolutely nothing reduces stress and makes us feel more in control than being completely prepared. Use some portion of your white space to think about the purpose of your next meeting and the person or people you are about to converse with. If it’s a new relationship or client, “take a bath” in the company.

Read about them on social media and the web. Watch videos of their outbound marketing or their executives at events. If this prep is more extensive, you should block additional time for each meeting. Preparing is both a leg up for you and a compliment to your new acquaintance.

If it’s someone you’re familiar with, you can re-inventory in your mind the things this person likes or dislikes. You can consider how you showed up the last time you were with them and whether that was successful or not. When time is short, even a single minute of space to get composed and imagine the best possible meeting can give you exactly the boost in focus and charisma you need to move your business forward in remarkable ways.

Of course, if you really want your white space to remain so, you will need to begin ending before you actually end. For a 45-minute meeting, you’ll start wrapping up around the 40-minute mark, finalizing action items and next steps on the 42, and on the 45 you are all out the door or signing off.

As these slices of white space become your norm between every meeting on your calendar— including conference calls, video calls, and one-on-ones—make it a habit to fill them with restorative goodness and stress-reducing preparation. I assure you, people do notice, and as you sane-ify your own calendar, you’re concurrently modeling a valuable lesson and being of service to every weary worker around you.

JULIET FUNT Juliet Funt is the founder and CEO at JFG (Juliet Funt Group), which is a consulting and training firm built upon the popular teaching of CEO Juliet Funt, author of A Minute to Think.

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Three Keys to Long Term Planning in Uncertainty

BY ROSIE YEO

How to Manage Uncertainty in Your Business?

Ask an executive which game is closest to the way we play corporate strategy, and you could expect to hear a range of responses: Monopoly, because it’s all about making smarter investment decisions than other players. Chess, because you need to be two moves ahead of the other player. Perhaps Twister!

During the past two years, strategy might have felt more like a frustrating game of Snakes and Ladders. It didn’t matter how carefully you planned or how clever your strategy, every roll of the dice seemed to land you on a snake – with supply chain disruptions, lockdowns and constant rule changes sliding you further away from your objectives.

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So how do we keep moving forward and making bold decisions with confidence? Here are three keys to longterm planning in uncertainty, and one option you can take right now if you’re really stuck on where to go next.

1. Adapt your mindset: Approach uncertainty with curiosity

Infographic by Leaderonomics: Executing any strategy during the pandemic felt like a frustrating game of Snakes and Ladders

We talk about uncertainty being the only certainty during the COVID-19 pandemic. But the reality is, uncertainty is ever-present in our life and work.

Whether it’s digital disruption, economic fluctuations or the kids’ refusal to put on their socks, we can’t control everything and we can’t always predict how things will change.

Strategic thinking doesn’t start from certainty. It starts with curiosity. INSEAD’s Associate Professor Spencer Harrison, writing with research partners from a largescale 2018 Survey Monkey project on curiosity, notes that “successful organisations are rooted in curiosity”, with employees enabled to seek and absorb new information and make new connections.

There’s a myth that to be considered strategic, you need to know everything: you need to be the smartest person in the room. I’ve worked with many Boards and executive teams over the years, and while there is one attribute that differentiates high-performing teams from the others, it’s not IQ. Nor is it net worth, or their level of commitment to a cause.

High-performers walk in with curiosity. They are brave enough to say they don’t know, and openminded enough to consider other perspectives and possibilities. Research by Harvard Business School’s Francesca Gino found that natural curiosity demonstrated by employees was associated with better job performance, as evaluated by their direct bosses. Another of her studies found that a twiceweekly text message encouraging people to be curious increased their innovative behaviours at work.

Infographic by Leaderonomics: Uncertainty is the only Certainty

In the 18th century the French philosopher Voltaire wrote: “Le doute n’est pas un état bien agréable, mais l’assurance est un état ridicule.” Loosely translated, it means:

‘Not knowing’ can be a powerful source of innovation, because we’re not locked into familiar pathways.

Encouraging ‘not knowing’ could be as simple as: •

As leader, be honest with your team about something you are not certain of;

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During meeting introductions, ask everyone to state one thing they’re interested in learning from others in the room (rather than what they are expert in) ;

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List knowns and unknowns as part of your conversations about the future (and be imaginative with it).

“It’s not comfortable to be unsure, but it’s absurd to be certain.”

Most of the time, particularly in strategy, we don’t always face up to how many things are out of our control.

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2. Rethink risk: start with shared ambition Bold strategic moves involve a decision to do things differently or a decision to do different things. The more resourcing you invest in big strategic decisions, the higher the stakes. Not everything is within your control, however, so even the best-planned strategies carry some risk.

Too often we focus on risk first, rather than starting from genuine consensus about our shared long-term ambitions. With a clear long-term vision, teams can make braver decisions, because the risks can be viewed in the context of what matters most. We can understand the stakes, ameliorate the risks and be confident that what we’re about to do is worth it.

3. Don’t do it alone: Creative collaboration powers bold ideas We have understandably been distracted by all the things we couldn’t control over the past two years. But on the upside, how good have we become at on-thespot creative adaptation?

Now is the perfect time to harness that collective creativity and apply it to planning bolder strategies for your long game.

We need to give ourselves and our teams the chance to wonder and the time to explore new ideas together.

You don’t have to move too far out of your comfort zone to encourage a more creative approach. One simple step is changing the way you set up your meeting room. IDEO Founder David Kelley refers to space as “an instrument for innovation and collaboration”. The traditional boardroom set-up with a huge table in the centre of a room can separate, rather than connect people, particularly if there is an ingrained hierarchy of seating. Changing the layout of the space, and the visual cues within it, can encourage more open conversation.

Infographic by Leaderonomics: Three Keys to Long-term Planning in Uncertainty

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Space is more than physical: time is also needed.

Writing in Harvard Business Review recently, Pronita Mehrotra, Anu Arora and Sandeep Krishnamurthy warned of “the Productivity Illusion”. When groups try to solve complex problems too quickly, innovation is inhibited because the participants jump to premature closure rather than allowing the space and time to work through all options. Creativity, like all exploration, takes time.

Trust is another key enabler to creative collaboration.

In 2015 Google released the results of a two year study to identify the components of high performing teams, and the most important attribute they identified was psychological safety – being able to take risks without feeling insecure or embarrassed. When people are comfortable to wonder out loud and offer up alternate perspectives, creativity can flourish.

One exercise for when you’re uncertain about everything: When you feel completely paralysed by uncertainty about the long-term, use this scenario planning exercise to help you make constructive short-term strategic decisions: •

map out a best case and worst case scenario

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identify hurdles and enablers to success in each scenario

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highlight the top 3 hurdles and enablers common to both scenarios, and for each, identify and implement strategies to address them.

In times of uncertainty, we need more bold ideas, not less. The way we collaborate is key to building the confidence needed to make strategic choices and move ahead.

ROSIE YEO Rosie Yeo, author of Go For Bold: How to create powerful strategy in uncertain times, is a strategist and facilitator. She designs and leads strategic planning in boardrooms and executive offsites and injects energy and focus into larger meetings and complex policy consultations. She is known as a strategy alchemist because of her skill in helping leaders and teams collectively imagine and achieve a better future.

Infographic by Leaderonomics: How to Make Constructive Short-term Strategic Decisions

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Negotiation is a Relationship not a Transaction

BY GEORGE KOHLRIESER

Negotiation is an Art Respect and empathy for the person sitting on the other side of the table is key if a negotiation is to be a success.

The world is becoming increasingly polarized as the disruption wrought by the financial crisis and the pandemic pushes people into opposing camps. Yet if we are going to solve our most pressing problems – the climate emergency, gaping inequality and social unrest – we are going to have to learn to listen to the other side.

Negotiating tactics provide us with a toolkit to start a constructive dialogue and resolve conflict – whether you may be dealing with a customer complaint, a tricky supplier, or a hostile takeover bid.

The first step is to view negotiation as a relationship not a transaction. Many organizational and political leaders don’t take the time to build a relationship first, instead moving to the bargaining phase too soon. This is a mistake. By respecting the other party’s motivations and opinions and showing empathy, you have a good foundation for dialogue. What made Mikhail Gorbachev, the former president of the Soviet Union, and former US President Ronald Reagan successful, was their ability to build a bond, respect each other and find the common goal for the concessions for nuclear disarmament.

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This applies to the corporate world, too. One reason for the success of the 2006 merger of The Walt Disney Company and the computer animation studio Pixar was the tone set in early negotiations. Despite being the stronger party, Disney’s people listened to their counterparts at Pixar, accepting its employment conditions, which helped retain talent, while Disney CEO Bob Iger also reportedly asked Pixar employees how to improve Disney. Over the next decade, Pixar added significant value to Disney by helping improve computergenerated animations for the whole group.

It’s important to move away from a win-lose model of negotiation and seek a mutual gains approach. Be open and curious about what you can learn from the other side. By adopting a positive mindset and establishing trust, you can override the brain’s natural urge to search for negativity. A CEO at a big pharmaceutical company urged his staff to start viewing the Food and Drugs Administration as partners rather than the enemy, by acknowledging that the regulator might know more about their medicines than the company itself. Good disagreement often leads to better results by establishing a shared problem-solving relationship.

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Haier Headquarters in Qingdao, China

Haier, the Chinese multinational home appliances group, has managed to innovate and take advantage of the Internet of Things by viewing its partners as idealaden co-creators rather than just vendors. Central to this is Haier’s willingness to share the value created, rather than limit the fees paid to suppliers. The group purposefully grows the partnership for the benefit of all involved, rather than maximizing the profit gained by the most powerful partner, enabling Haier to build healthier ecosystems and in turn giving it a competitive advantage.

Take time to listen to the pain points that are motivating your counterpart’s behavior and blocking any move towards concessions. Be willing to talk about the losses – past, present, and anticipated – that may be influencing how you and your counterpart respond. These can include betrayal, ostracization, humiliation and lack of respect. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a rational scientist by training, famously called out Russian President Vladimir Putin after he intimidated her during negotiations in 2007. Aware that Merkel had been afraid of dogs since childhood, Putin allowed his black Labrador to enter the room. Later, Merkel revealed a deep insight of her counterpart’s character. “I understand why he has to do this – to prove he’s a man,” she told reporters.

“He’s afraid of his own weakness. Russia has nothing, no successful politics or economy. All they have is this.”

Once you have understood the pain points and responded with empathy and respect, you have the foundations for shared problem-solving.

GEORGE KOHLRIESER George Kohlrieser is a Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior at International Institute for Management Development (IMD), a former hostage negotiator, and author of the award-winning bestseller Hostage at the Table: How Leaders Can Overcome Conflict, Influence Others and Raise Performance.

His other book is Care to Dare: Unleashing Astonishing Potential through Secure Base Leadership.

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THE STOLEN

C

BY DIANA MARIE

KIES

Chances are you’ve stumbled upon this story, a tale about an airport cookie theft; here is how it goes if you have not.

A woman was waiting at an airport one night, with several long hours before her flight.

She looked for a book in the airport shops, bought it together with a bag of cookies and found a place to sit.

A man sat down in the next seat, opened his magazine and started reading. In between them was an armchair where a packet of cookies lay.

As she was reading, she heard a rustle and glanced to see the man helping himself to a cookie. Each time she took a cookie, the man took one also. She gave him a disapproving glance as she continued taking another cookie herself. She felt irritated but said nothing and controlled her temper as she didn’t want to cause a scene.

This continued until there was only one left - and she thought: “Ah… what will this man do now?” To her chagrin, the man took the last cookie, divided it and gave her one half.

“Ah! That’s too much!”, she thought.

As waves of anger washed over her, in a huff, she took all of her things and stormed out. At that point, the man left.

She was amazed at his brazen behaviour.

Later, as she sat down inside the plane, she looked into her purse to take her eyeglasses. To her surprise, there was her bag of cookies, untouched… unopened. She had forgotten that her cookies were kept in her purse.

DIANA MARIE Diana Marie is a team member at the Leadership Institute of Sarawak Civil Service attached with Corporate Affairs who found love in reading and writing whilst discovering inspiration in Leadership that Makes a Difference.

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The man, shared his cookies with her, without feeling angered or bitter, while she had been very angry, thinking that the cookies were hers. And now, there was no chance to explain or apologize.

How many times in our lives, have we absolutely known that something was a certain way, only to discover later that what we believed to be true…was not?

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Selamat

HARI RAYA Aidil Fitri

- Maaf Zahir & Batin -

From the Staff & Management of

<a href=’https://www.freepik.com/vectors/eid-al-fitr’>Eid al fitr vector created by pikisuperstar - www.freepik.com</a>

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- Ismail Said CEO Leadership Institute of Sarawak Civil Service

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Influence is an approach to bring people on board to realise their potential.

Building Leaders to Make a Difference to our Society and State LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE OF SARAWAK CIVIL SERVICE KM20, JALAN KUCHING SERIAN,SEMENGGOK, 93250 KUCHING, SARAWAK. 082-625166

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