Leader's Digest #16 (15 September 2018)

LEADERS ISSUE 16

15 September 2018

DIGEST

BUILDING A WORKFORCE FOR THE FUTURE This fortnightly publication is dedicated to advancing civil service leadership and putting it into practice contemporary leadership principles.

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PUBLICATION TEAM EDITORIAL

Editor-in-Chief Segaren Assistant Editor Yvonne Lee Diana Marie Capel Graphic Designer Awang Ismail bin Awang Hambali Abdul Rani Haji Adenan

CONTENTS

ISSUE 16 I 15 SEPTEMBER 2018

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5 SKILLS YOU’LL NEED FOR THE FUTURE OF WORK

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4 SKILLS YOU NEED TO NAVIGATE THE GIG ECONOMY

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HOW CAN HR EQUIP TALENTS FOR THE FUTURE WORKFORCE?

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WHEN LEADERS SURRENDER THEIR VALUES

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A strong economy begins with a strong, well-educated workforce. – Bill Owens

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5 Skills You’ll Need For The Future Of Work

BY SANDY CLARKE

“You might think that your studies have ended,” he said, “but you should know that this is just the beginning.

“Much of what you’ve learnt will be obsolete in five years’ time – if you want to achieve anything worthwhile, you have to keep learning.”

At the time, I didn’t think this was great advice.

After all, I planned to become a journalist – how much could the required skillset change over five or even 10 years?

Everyone will always read newspapers – where else would they get their news from?

The same kind of thinking was probably in the minds of web developer graduates. In the 1990s and early 2000s, putting a website together was a complex business.

You had to know coding for a start, and since the future was likely to be all things Internet, being a website developer was forever the stuff of hot property.

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Alas, fast-forward 10 years and the advice from my professor turns out to be solid.

The advent of alternative and social media, blogging and ‘citizen journalism’ has meant that people now get their news from all kinds of sources.

As for web design, anyone with a laptop and an Internet connection can now create a website in a matter of minutes.

Alongside the phrase: “We’ve always done things this way”, perhaps we should put: “People will always need…” in the file marked *Dangerous Phrases to Avoid*.

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As we see social, economic and technological advances developing at speed, it can be daunting to keep up with all the trends that are taking place.

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When I graduated from university in 2005, one of my professors took me aside and offered me the best piece of advice I received in all my time in education.

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On the other hand, many of these advancements are to our benefit.

4. DEVELOPING EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

If we resolve to keep ourselves up-to-date through our learning, we can easily avoid our personal ‘Kodak moment’ of failure by transforming the intimidating into tools of growth and success.

Emotional intelligence is about building meaningful relationships that are based on qualities such as active listening, empathy, responsiveness and, most importantly, self-awareness.

To help get us started, here are five skills that will become even more valuable as we look to the future of work:

One of the biggest challenges for organisations today is that people come to them with the relevant skills but often lack the “soft” skills required to develop strong working partnerships, both internally and externally.

1. CAPITALISING ON NEW TRENDS

The workplace has changed dramatically over the last 10 years, and it’ll surely see a further dramatic shift over the next 10.

The world is changing and we have two choices: we either find ways to keep up and move ahead, or we get left behind.

Whether we take online or offline courses; attend seminars; read self-development books or listen to industry leaders, it’s no longer enough to grow with a five-year plan in mind.

We are now in a position where we need to think about how things might develop over the next 10, 15 and 20 years, and where our place might be within those developments.

2. LEARNING NEW TECHNOLOGIES

If you’ve ever been amused or frustrated by an older person as they stumble their way through figuring out how to work a smartphone, don’t get too cocksure – you might be that person one day.

Contrary to popular belief, this doesn’t mean “learn to be nice”.

In the mad rush of getting things done, people who can connect with and relate to others are priceless.

5. CULTIVATING AN ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET

At the heart of entrepreneurship is dedication, drive, perseverance and creativity.

Entrepreneurs have lots of ideas about how they can add value to those around them and solve tough problems.

If we sit at our desks and carry out routine tasks or stick to our job descriptions, then we’re merely doing something that 100 other people can do.

But if we’re regularly coming up with ideas on how things can be done faster and better, and if we take the initiative on implementing those ideas, the people around us suddenly find themselves with a colleague without whom they would struggle.

We’re all comfortable with what we know, and comfort breeds conceit.

New technologies come at us rapidly, and so we should take care to avoid closing ourselves off to the latest advances.

The ability to prepare and make use of new technologies will offer us a sharp competitive edge over those who don’t see the value in paying attention.

3. FOCUSING ON SERVICE

This is a skill that all professionals and organisations currently talk about as being vital to business growth and development.

As customer awareness, issues and demands increase, so too will the need for organisations to truly focus on being serviceorientated.

As individuals, we need to ask ourselves: am I in this for the sake of closing the deal, or to show that I care about the quality of service my organisation provides?

As customer likes and dislikes, values and fears evolve, people who are agile enough to adapt to customer needs will be worth their weight in gold for their organisations.

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HOW CAN HR EQUIP TALENTS FOR THE FUTURE WORKFORCE? THE KEY TO BRIDGING WHAT YOU NEED AND WHAT YOU HAVE

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BY FARAH NADZIRAH

oday’s fast-paced VUCA (vulnerable, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) world and the future workforce require capable employees to meet the demands of the industry. With Industry 4.0 looming in the distance, companies are now facing a critical gap between industry needs and skills.

Soft skills such as complex problem-solving, emotional intelligence, people management and negotiation are highly in demand to keep pace with the era of disruptive innovation and digital transformation. Hence, the need for highly skilled talent to keep up with the times.

Develop talents from within

While hiring new talents might provide a company with the necessary skills needed, hiring is costly and there are other factors to consider when recruiting, such as personality and character.

The solution: develop existing employees.

For HR leaders, the challenge lies in crafting relevant and engaging learning programmes to fill in the skills and capabilities gap.

Learning strategies need to map where the organisation is currently at (current state) and the next phase it intends to be at (future state).

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Ideally, these should not just be one-off learning programmes but continuous development programmes with new skills being taught at each phase.

What’s more, with the current job market, continuous skills development is important for a person to remain employable and relevant.

Thus, it is important to expand the learning framework to nurture a learning environment across the organisation. It ensures employees remain motivated and are interested to learn when they see that the learning benefits them and is useful in their daily job tasks.

This structured learning model can be a stepping stone for employees to climb the corporate ladder.

Lifelong learner

As a young employee who’s just joined the workforce, I am always overwhelmed by my skills gap.

One day, I decided to speak to my boss about it as I feared it would either affect my performance or I might be perceived as underperforming.

His advice kept me going and gave me the determination to push

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on even when I felt overwhelmed. According to him, there is no specific time frame for anyone to learn all the skills.

You will learn along the way, because learning is incremental as new insight is gathered everyday and it is a long-term process.

I am sure many young graduates out there feel the same as I did.

Be comforted that every expert was once a beginner too and that skills are to be developed progressively.

As such, a continuous development programme is very much needed to support this learning process.

Collecting competencies

I’ve always wondered, “How do I master the competencies needed to succeed in my current role before moving on to the next one?”

My research has led me to the conclusion that an average-skilled employee takes a longer time to move up the career ladder compared to a highly skilled one.

For these types of employees [average-skilled], an incremental learning approach works best in strengthening their existing competencies for their current role and upskilling them with new competencies to elevate their role within the company.

When learning a new skill, a learning curve is needed for the learner to implement the skill in his/her work routine.

“ When he/she is comfortable enough with the first skill, a new skill is then introduced and the practice continues. It is a step-by-step learning that can move them from novice to master, and this process does not happen overnight.”

Step-by-step learning

The learning process gives individuals the flexibility to experiment with different strategies on how to utilise their newfound skills until they find the best fit.

Hence, it is important for the learning process to be continuous.

It needs to be mapped alongside the individual’s competency, motivation, and strengths.

For example, when designing a learning calendar for employees, employers should take into account the competencies needed to help employees in their current role as well as how to equip them with the skills needed for the next level in their careers. And these competencies should be taught throughout the year, starting from the most basic to a more advanced level.

Recognise this learning process across the board. Encourage employees to seek personal development, and this will eventually translate into efficient business practices.

Farah is a learning and growth partner at Leaderonomics. She has a strong passion in capacity building, focusing on youth empowerment. She loves working with undergraduates and helping young graduates kick off their career journey.

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4 Skills You Need To Navigate The Gig Economy

BY LAURA YEE

“ It’s like walking on a tightrope. You’re always balancing time, money, and resources.

But it’s fulfilling and I feel that the work I choose to do reflects who I truly am and what I am passionate about. ” That’s how my best friend Alison Seow, 32, responded when asked to describe her work in the three years since she opted out of a traditional workforce to set out on her own.

Joshua, my Grab driver, shared that besides being a part-time driver, he also earns extra income by offering to buy groceries for people living close to his home by signing up for part-time errands on an application like GoGet. Both Alison and Joshua are part of an ever-growing segment of the workforce loosely known as the gig economy.

It isn’t just a buzzword. It’s an accurate description of the state of the modern workforce.

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The gig economy gets its name from each piece of work being akin to an individual ‘gig’ – although, such work can fall under multiple names.

It’s a term that refers to the increased trend for organisations to hire independent contractors or freelancers, and the increased availability of these workers for these specific short-term arrangements.

Workers (particularly millennials) are expressing an increasing demand for flexible and autonomous work, prompting many to engage in freelancing.

Although this younger generation is the driving force behind flexible work demands, older workers also want to set their own schedules, choose their tasks, and work in an environment that suits them.

Globalisation and technology have somewhat redefined how we work, resulting in the diminishing appeal of long-term employment.

Part-time jobs are nothing new though. People have been supplementing their income through different means like selling insurance products, tutoring, or even dabbling in e-commerce stores.

These days, however, 24/7 mobile internet connectivity and social media platforms are providing even more avenues for earning extra income.

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Global workforce solutions provider Kelly Services Inc says 31% of the global workforce are gig workers.

now, what they will need in the future, and what category of workers is best suited for those needs.

According to its From Workforce to Workfit 2017 report, 84% of talent managers in Asia-Pacific hire or use gig workers, higher compared to those in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (80%), the Americas (53%), and the United States (47%). The high statistic is indicative that the gig economy is booming in this region.

Your chance of a happily-ever-after ending to a freelance engagement improves if both parties understand a project’s entire scope from the get-go.

What about Malaysia?

Don’t hire a gig worker for a job that could be done by a current employee.

In Malaysia, crowdsourcing platforms such as freelancing.my, maukerja.my, and truelancer.com make it easier for organisations to contract with independent workers for short-term projects.

Have the creativity to hire specific skills on a contract basis, but also to discover and develop the hidden talents of those already in your organisation.

Government-owned Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), previously known as Multimedia Development Corporation, initiated eRezeki.my to provide additional income for households that generate less than RM4,000 per month.

It boils down to understanding your needs. By plotting out exactly what has to happen and being flexible as to who will handle various tasks, you’ll be able to find the right combination of workers for any project.

With increasing opportunities for work and availability of workers, two things are clear: The gig economy is here, and it’s continuing to grow.

2. Embrace technology and mobility

Deloitte predicts that in 2020, 40% of the entire workforce will consist of freelancers.

How then can organisations prepare and ensure that they not only have the right talent but more importantly the right managers to manage these talents?

As the future of work changes, this means that the way we manage is also changing. Managing a team has never been easy, but throw together a combination of full-time employees, gig workers, and ever-evolving technology – you’re in for a nightmare!

What does this mean for managers and organisations? How can they keep up with what seems to be a constantly changing landscape?

Let’s look at the competencies that are needed to succeed in this emerging environment.

1. Big-picture and joining the dots

For managers, gaining a big-picture understanding of where the organisation is at, what the gaps are, and the resources needed to meet its target is a necessary first step.

Bill Gates once said, “Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don’t think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without the talking about the other.”

Technology has made communication and collaboration across space and time virtually effortless.

When working with freelancers, communication must always play a guiding role.

Without clear, consistent communication and regular feedback, expectations and accountability can be misaligned.

Using technology to create open lines of communication through different messaging platforms is able to mitigate that.

For freelancers, the world is their office.

It’s no secret that they are increasingly mobile, often by choice.

Technology plays a key role to help them stay connected and efficient.

Organisations should also develop new workforce and automation models that focus on increasing employee engagement which ultimately improve the quality, meaning, and value of the work of their employees – full-time or not.

It’s important to have a clear picture of how you want to use gig workers for specific projects which are often short-term.

Maybe you’re deploying a new enterprise software system and you need skills and experience that your information technology department doesn’t have, or you need to hire 100 more people to work in Baskin Robbins during its 31st of the month ice cream promotion.

Managers have to join the dots to clearly define what organisations need in the short term. This may require organisations to take a serious look at their strategic workforce planning capabilities.

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3. Agility to adapt

A PwC report highlighted the importance of efficient systems and processes as well as maximum operational flexibility to properly integrate freelancers into the workforce.

Influencing skills and agility to adapt respective internal systems and processes to ensure these workers are included, are vital.

Teamwork is a crucial part of any company culture. Developing an environment where current employees and independent contractors work in alignment while collaborating and do not step on each other’s toes is vital to improving productivity in the workplace.

Managers have to ensure that independent contractors don’t feel like they are simply just a resource being shipped in and shipped out again when the job is done.

Instead, integrating them into the existing team and including them in any organised staff events will likely make your workforce happier and avoid any potential workplace clashes and maximise your company’s efficiency.

Partner to include and collaborate with people rather than making them feel like a resource or an outsider.

However, there is also a growing importance for freelancers to be managed on both a performance and a developmental mindset.

As continuous learning becomes a core competency in the future of work, coaching and effective feedback are instrumental in development.

Managers must be courageous to have open, honest conversations about people’s aspirations for the future.

Top talent needs to be retained by moving to more challenging assignments, i.e. not to let go at the end of the gig.

Each time these people do something of genuine value, they must be rewarded through tangible or intangible means.

In summary

Tapping into the benefits of the gig economy certainly requires new strategies from organisations, and as the freelancing industry continues to grow, leaders need to adjust traditional structures.

This requires reframing careers, and designing new ways of working and learning – both in organisations and as individuals.

The gig economy isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

4. Able to assess productivity and performance

As technology continues to develop, this will enable the collection of more relevant data on gig workers including their work patterns, needs, and preferences.

It is important that managers and organisations understand the benefits of this workforce and learn how to best integrate them.

This allows managers to build the strongest workforce they can for each individual project they undertake.

These modern algorithms will help organisations source talent that is aligned to the organisation’s culture and needs, and this will enable your people to work in the most efficient way.

An efficient output-based performance management system will need to be introduced that will help you understand what’s working well, or not, and will help you identify which freelancers you want to continue working with.

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Laura finds people, organisational behaviour, and hard-core finance endlessly interesting. Previously the HR and finance director at Leaderonomics, she continues to find ways to integrate her passion for people development and numbers in her new role as talent acceleration partner by offering HR solutions based on genuine business insights.

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WHEN LEADERS SURRENDER THEIR VALUES

BY MICHAEL E. KOSSLER

One of the things my mother used to say was, “life is full of choices and trade-offs” and “making a good decision in those situations is hard”. This motherly advice is still true today, especially for leaders, whether they are guiding a business or a nation. Unfortunately, over the last couple of years we’ve seen a dramatic increase in questionable decisions being made by leaders facing situations that involve difficult choices and trade-offs. Let me give you a few international examples that have occurred just in the last couple of years.

On August 25, 2017, Jay Y Lee (aka Lee Jae-Yong), was sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of bribery, embezzlement, capital flight and perjury charges (his sentence was later reduced to 2.5 years and he was released from prison in February 2018). Lee is the vice chairman of Samsung Group and widely considered to be the heir apparent to his father as chairman. He has been described as a serious business man but less autocratic than his father. What values did Lee surrender when he broke the laws of South Korea by embezzling money to bribe government officials?

Another recent example is Martin Winterkorn, the former CEO of Volkswagen (VW). In September 2015, US authorities charged VW with manipulating engine emissions tests and reporting false data. The charge affected a total of 11 million VW cars globally.

When the charges were made public, VW’s share price plummeted immediately, and the stock continued to lose value in the following months. Winterkorn resigned within a month after acknowledging he had known about the manipulation and has since been charged with being part of a conspiracy that feigned compliance with federal regulations. Prior to the scandal, Winterkorn was known as an unforgiving boss who loudly berated subordinates who failed to meet his high standards of performance. By covering up the emissions test issue, did Winterkorn surrender the standards that were important to him?

A final example is Richard Smith, former CEO of the USA credit rating agency, Equifax. Smith abruptly stepped down as CEO in 2017, when it became public knowledge that there had been a significant cyber security breach at Equifax. Compounding the complexity of the situation were revelations that Equifax was made aware, months before it happened, that its’ cybersecurity system had flaws that hackers could use to their advantage.

When the hack occurred, Equifax waited close to 40 days before acknowledging it publicly. Even then, the company initially underreported the extent of the date breach, which ultimately impacted 145.5 million people. With 22 years’ experience at GE and 12 years at Equifax, Smith was viewed as a solid business leader with a high level of integrity. In this situation, did Smith surrender the values that helped him be a solid business leader?

Let’s be fair and acknowledge that all leaders face situations where they have to make a decision that requires them to assess possibilities and make choices and trade-offs. Periodically the choices and trade-offs are between great options, where no matter which option is selected, everything works out well. More frequently, however, the circumstances involve trade-offs where all options are bad. In these situations, all the analysis, Excel spreadsheets, and logical thinking a leader can consider, does not make the decision any easier. To use a colloquial phrase, in these circumstances, the leader is caught between a “rock and a hard place”. Regardless of what choice the leader makes, someone is going criticize the decision.

So, what’s the solution in these situations where there is no good choice? Clarity of values, specifically of one’s core values! In the leadership classes I teach at the Iclif Leadership and Governance Centre, I am constantly surprised by the lack of clarity senior leaders have when it comes to their own core values and how important they are for effective leadership decision making.

What are core values? Core values are the foundation for how we conduct ourselves. Core values represent what we stand for and what we believe is most important. They are the three-tofive ideas that guide how we live, approach work, and lead others.

It’s important to note that our core values can’t be based on what others think they should be, or what we THINK they should be.

Core values come from the heart. If you don’t know what your core values are, it’s time to invest in quiet reflection about what is most important to you and then work to infuse those values into your everyday leadership behaviour.

Core values are non-negotiable. Great leaders don’t surrender their core values for convenience, regardless of the circumstances or pressures they face. They are willing to take an emotional and physical beating, if necessary, to stay true to their values. Great leaders do not surrender their values in order to curry favour with others, hide mistakes, or avoid responsibility.

Core values guide the decision-making process. Great leaders take time to define their core values because they know it helps them make decisions faster, with greater ease, and with increased confidence, because they know that the decisions they make are in alignment with what is important to them. This is especially true for leaders who find themselves facing difficult decisions where none of the choices and trade-offs are appealing.

Core values are ranked in priority order. It’s not sufficient to simply identify core values; effective leaders rank order them. A case in point is the decision Google CEO, Sundar Pichai, made when he fired engineer, James Damore, in August 2017, over a controversial internal memo on workplace diversity. The response to Mr. Pichai’s decision was mixed. Detractors say the decision violated one of Google’s core values, freedom of expression.

Supporters say the Mr Pichai’s decision reflects a prioritisation of one of Google’s other core values … workplace diversity. The point here is, it is not enough to simply identify your core values.

Effective leaders rank their core values in order of importance.

So, the next time you find yourself facing equally undesirable choices and trade-offs, ask yourself the following question, “Which option best aligns with my core values?” By asking yourself this question, you will not run the risk of surrendering your values.

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