New HR column
Starting today, we begin a column on human resources by bringing together four columnists who will address leadership and talent management issues from trends to day-to-day matters. Reza Ghazali starts the ball rolling.
A SEA change is occurring. Driven by rising consumption and increased innovation over the last two decades, the centre of gravity in the global economy is rapidly shifting to Asia. The region’s growth largely stemmed from its role as a workshop to the world, providing cheaper products to seemingly insatiable Western consumers.
But that was Asia 1.0 – and all those engines are losing steam. Now it is Asian consumers, with unique and increasingly sophisticated needs, who are changing the way companies create, design and market products – a newgrowth model we term Asia 2.0.
These shifts in the region’s economic and talent landscape will demand types of leadership that Korn/ferry International research shows are in scarce supply. Asia’s growth requires a breed of leader with new capabilities, strengths and management styles.
Where in Asia 1.0, leaders typically had to replicate or customise a strategy honed in the West to the local market, to succeed in Asia 2.0 they will need to craft a strategy to tap new or underserved markets. While it used to be about repositioning existing products in local markets, now it’s about creating entirely new categories of products and services.
From years of working with executive candidates and corporations in Asia, we outlined the most successful leadership styles of the past, and the future.
Leaders who best met the Asia 1.0 challenges were found to be highly directive, task-driven productive individuals, or logical, serious, data-driven individuals with strong attention to detail.
In Asia 2.0 leaders, success will ride on the ability to handle multiplicity, diversity and cultural differences across their workforce and markets.
The leaders most likely to succeed in Asia 2.0 will be those who use openness, informality, humour and adaptability to lead, as well as leaders who are inquisitive, collaborative, involving and patient in their leadership.
Leadership identification
This type of leadership talent is different than what has previously been sought after in Asian markets, and it will not be easy to find. This will require a clear mission, an astute eye and a knack for speed and resourcefulness from an organisation to form its strategy around leadership identification and development to succeed in the new Asian economy.
To gauge the availability of Asia 2.0-ready talent in the region, we tried to quantify how many executives in senior roles had the leadership styles needed to succeed in Asia 2.0, how many had qualities that could be developed, and how many lacked the styles entirely. The results worryingly indicate that the talent pool is shallow.
In China, just 1% of managers are ready to succeed in Asia 2.0 – 10% of managers could be developed while 89% of managers do not have what it will take to succeed in Asia 2.0.
The situation is slightly better in India: 8% of managers have what it takes to succeed, with 13% of managers who could be developed.
Executives in the rest of Asia fare somewhere in between, with 4% of managers able to succeed in the Asia 2.0 environment and 19% of managers who could be developed.
In Malaysia, this could be the result of organisations grappling with traditional top-down, hierarchical “command and control” DNA and corporate culture.
We also compared the leadership styles of senior executives in Asia against global best-in-class executives, and the picture that emerges is worrying. There was a clear dominance of the Asia 1.0 style of leadership in Asian executives, while the predominant leadership style of the best-in-class executives fall into the Asia 2.0 camp.
Given the scarce supply of talent, companies that address the issues of Asia 2.0 leadership now will have a jump on their competitors who will be left scrambling to find the executives they need in an increasingly shallow talent pool.
Talent management systems will need to be transformed – systems
The leaders most likely to succeed in Asia 2.0 will be those who use openness, informality, humour and adaptability to lead, as well as leaders who are inquisitive, collaborative, involving and patient in their leadership.
that previously focused on hiring candidates who fit current job requirements will need to focus on hiring candidates to fit future leadership needs, assessing leadership style, developing self-awareness and emotional competence, and using structured challenges and “stretch” assignments to get them ready to be leaders.
Taking the right approach to development is likely to yield the biggest gains. The key here is speed – the “war for talent” must be recognised. In Malaysia, the situation is even more acute once you factor in the “brain drain” phenomena. A lot of development needs to take place in a short amount of time.
Shift the emphasis away from traditional methods such as technical training and leadership development courses. They provide essential knowledge but there is often a leap from classroom knowledge to real-world application.
Instead, use your organisation as the classroom. Make sure that your high-potential leaders have assignments that not only stretch them, but provide the opportunity to practice and refine new skills required to lead the future organisation. The goal is to develop a leader who is both Asian and global iin his or her knowledge, perspective and style – thus moving away from the jaguh kampung to someone who can act local, think global – be “glocal”!
The Asian business landscape is full of both promise and peril. Success will require both courage and foresight. The right strategy will be needed, but more important will be having the right talent to drive and execute it.
It will require leaders who are open-minded, engaging, adaptive and creative. It is however up to the organisation and HR to play a key role in creating awareness of the type of individual that is needed and providing the framework and resources to identify and develop those with the potential to take the wheel on the next wave of growth.
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