14. BE A 360-DEGREE LEADER IN YOUR ORGANISATION
“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things." -- Ronald Reagan
I've written on personal growth in earlier sections. It's only through self-growth that you can add more value to yourself. The more value you create for your own self, the more value you can contribute to the growth of your organisation. As a human capital, your personal value to the company also appreciates over time.
If I translate this loosely to financial sense, you are just like the stocks and properties, which appreciate over time. The company that invests in you will reap its returns over time by your great contribution to the business growth of the organisation. Your increased skills bring more values not only to yourself, but also to the company you work for.
If you want to further progress in your career to the top of corporate ladder (hence higher income as a result of your career progression), I strongly recommend you to go beyond yourself and become a 360-degree leader.
I’ve learned about the concept of “360-degree leader” through famous author John Maxwell’s book with the same title. I have read the 356-page inspirational book several times. This book has impacted me so much so that it's my number one all-time favourite book on leadership. It has inspired me to be a 360-degree leader. I even created a 2-day in-house training program with a 3-month coaching session for sales managers in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand during my Jobstreet.com and Seek Asia days. If you haven't read it yet, I strongly recommend you to pick one up today.
What does John Maxwell mean by being a 360-degree leader?
360-degree leader is a leader who has influence from anywhere in the organisation. The person knows how to lead up (make your bosses look good), how to lead across (work well with your peers from all departments), and how to lead down (value add to your subordinates).
I would like to share 3 key insights about 360-degree leadership that I find to be very personal and relevant in my career journey.
A. Lead up
1. Lighten your boss' workload
When you do more than asked, you will certainly stand out from the rest of your colleagues in the eyes of your boss. By trying to lighten your boss’ workload, it also means extra effort, extra responsibility, extra thinking from you. However, when you have the whatever-it-takes attitude related to helping your boss, you will automatically be perceived as a go-to, proactive player.
Unfortunately, I have come across some employees who like to say, "It's not my problem!". They like to wash their hands to challenging problems. They are good at pushing responsibility away seeking easy way out. Yet this same group of employees demands for job promotion and higher salary increment. When their job promotions or higher salary increment are not granted, they blame it on their bosses, colleagues and management. I can assure you that if you belong to group, you are definitely not in the good books of your boss. You see, your boss has problems to solve. Yet, you prefer to sit on the bench and not to help.
What if you offer your extra help to lighten your boss' workload? Let's just say that you encounter some issues at work, your first immediate response will be to run up to your boss, hoping your boss will help you solve the problem.
Do you think you will be lightening your boss' load or you add more workload for your boss? You are basically dumping problem on your boss' desk and go away to look for more problems.
When problem occurs next time, apply the eight problem solving tips that you’ve learned to come up with a recommended solution and plan B using hypothesis-driven approach with supporting facts and figures.
Instead of bringing problem to your boss, you now present to your boss a problem with a proposed solution. Imagine what will your boss' impression of you be? I'm sure your boss will be super delighted. Instead of having your boss crack his/her head trying to solve mounting problems, now you are stepping in, lending an extra hand to lighten his/her workload. It doesn't matter if your recommended solution is correct or not. Your boss can now focus on decision making instead of thinking of a solution.
Throughout the discussion on the problem and potential solutions, I believe your boss will also guide you, and sharpen you to be a better problem solver in future.
Similarly, when you see your boss being bogged with a lot of work, you can simply approach him/her and say, “Boss, is there any way I can help you? How about you telling me how you want the report format to look like in excel, and let me come up with the draft template for you to review? This will save you time.” If he/she knows you are capable and trustworthy, your boss will be more than happy to let you ease up his/her burden. Once you can deliver what your boss wants, slowly but surely your boss will come to you for even more of your extra help to reduce his/her workload. Before you know it, your capacity and capability have increased. You have also gained even more trust from your boss.
I used to work for a boss who was notoriously known for his short temper and abrupt change of minds. He usually had no time to sit through long meetings. What he wanted was some facts to help him make decisions quickly.
I used to be very scared to meet him. I was scolded several times by him for not living up to his expectation. I wanted to quit the job several times. Then I realised that I had to learn to deal with all types of bosses. Complaining about him and quitting shouldn't even be considered as options.
I then focused on his positives - a fast decision maker, a shrewd businessman. As a founder, he had business appointments often running into the wee hours at night. What I did was I made sure I had all the latest reports (inventory status, customer orders, shipments, sales revenue, and company expenses, etc) with me all the time. I also did my best to have those important figures at the top of my head. If he needed to confirm on some figures during his business meetings, he could just simply call me and I could tell him the numbers immediately. He called me once at 11.30pm on Saturday night to confirm on some financial numbers. I was glad I had those numbers with me then. I was glad I could lighten his load in such a manner. My working relationship with him had improved tremendously ever since.
Besides not dumping your problem on your boss' desk, you shall also learn to stand up for your boss whenever you can to make him / her look good.
As a person holding higher position, your boss is bound to have heavier responsibilities. Office conflicts, business issues and people challenges occur daily at workplace, waiting for your boss to resolve. If you can, pour water on the fire for your boss and stand in for him / her whenever you can.
I used to follow Mr Thomas Hahn, my ex-boss from EP Manufacturing Berhad, on business trips to China, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore and Myanmar seeking business opportunities for smart water meter business with local water authorities. During those days, both of us had to endure a lot of entertainments (lunch, dinner, karaoke, drinking sessions, etc) with potential clients during our business trips.
One of the most unforgettable trips had to be the Harbin trip. Both Thomas and I were not drinker nor smoker. In order to build good business relationships with future clients, we would still drink with potential clients.
The clients were extremely friendly and welcoming. We had several rounds of locally made Chinese rice wine with them. In order not to get drunk easily, I had Chinese rice wine in one hand and Chinese tea in another. For every round of drinking, I quickly washed rice wine down my throat with Chinese tea to dilute the alcohol content.
Unfortunately, my Korean boss wasn't so lucky. He was apparently very drunk. The clients continued to ask us to drink. In their mind, Koreans could really drink. But I sensed that my boss couldn't drink anymore. I then stepped in and said in Mandarin Chinese, "My boss is already drunk! Let him take a rest. I will drink on his behalf." I took over from my boss and continued to drink with the clients while my boss was resting.
I knew I couldn't drink much more. But I didn't want my boss to look bad in the eyes of clients. Since my boss' condition was worse than me, I chose to stand in for him.
On our way back to hotel, my boss asked the van driver to pull over at highway. He vomited from over drinking. That was probably one of the worst business lunches I had ever had in my entire career journey.
Of course, not all bosses are perfect. Just like you and me, everyone has his or her own strengths and weaknesses. Instead of complaining about your boss' blind spots and weak areas, why not learn to focus on the positives and work around the negatives? When situations arise, stand up or fill in the gap for him/her.
Last but not least, do tell your boss what he/she needs to hear, not what he/she wants to hear.
I guess I could work very well with both of my bosses WK Leong and YY Chook at Jobstreet.com because I could openly speak what they needed to hear instead of what they wanted to hear. I applied one of Jobstreet.com's principles ,"being upfront and direct with problems".
We could discuss openly, honestly about any issues. We could sit down professionally and thrash out all things very upfront and direct. None of us had to sugar coat what we wanted to say. We spoke what we needed to hear. We were mature enough to know that we were addressing problems, not people. I was so glad to have such good bosses whom I could be so upfront and direct with.
Nonetheless, some people still love to tell their bosses what they want to hear. They are the "yes" men. They feel that they shouldn't offend their bosses. They also don't want to look bad in front of their bosses. However, they fail to realise that as organisations get larger, big bosses become so busy that they may become disconnected with people on the ground. These big bosses usually need their subordinates to see things in the company for them. They want the "perspective" of people they trust. They want subordinates who have their own opinion, who dare to speak their mind for the sake of organisation. They don't want to be surrounded by "yes" men who sugar coat what they say.
The next time you meet your boss on issues and problems, don't be afraid to tell your bosses the truth. It is better to be a "funnel" when conveying information without "spinning" it. Don't filter any information which sooner or later your smart bosses will find out anyway.
In summary, if you can really speak what your bosses need to hear, provide solutions instead of creating problems, stand in for your bosses whenever you can, and go the extra mile to do more than asked, you are definitely lightening your bosses' load. And you will find yourself on the right track to be promoted soon to be the next leader, hence higher salary package.
B. Lead across
1. Let the best ideas win amongst your peers
Besides learning how to lighten your boss' load, you also need to learn about interpersonal skills and build your inter-departmental relationships. It's about completing your peers instead of competing with them. And it's about working well with other departments, not only within your own department or team.
Of course, there is bound to be competition with your colleagues from the same department for a promotion or better job performance (hence leading to better career progression and better income). But keep the competition healthy for the corporate win, not for personal gain.
Embracing healthy competition is necessary. It helps to bring out the best in you and others for the betterment of the company. The key is to compete in a positive way. You must know where to draw the line. You must make sure you never cross the line by sabotaging your colleagues, etc for your selfish personal gain. It will backfire on you!
Since it's a healthy competition, always let the best ideas win.
When someone you don't like or respect suggests something, will you lose sight of greater purpose and resent the person's idea even if it's good? Or you will happily show your professionalism and maturity by accepting it?
As much as you are competing with your peers, you shall complete them if their ideas are better than yours. You shall not take it personally if your own idea is rejected. By doing so, you gain respect from others for your professionalism.
If your idea doesn’t win, it also means you have more room to improve. Humbly put away your pride and pretence. Ask for advice. Be open to learning from others. Who knows? Perhaps your next idea will be accepted unanimously.
If you can let only the best ideas win without any biases or prejudice, I am very sure that you will build a trusting working relationship with your peers and colleagues.
In many companies, there is so-called annual or semi-annual 360-degree feedback. One of the sections is to have feedback about you from your peers (same department and across department ). Their feedback about you will affect your annual performance review. Hence, having an interpersonal skills and trusting working relationships with your peers are important. Besides, should one day your boss decide to promote you, he / she would want someone who has gained respect and well-received by others, who can work well with others.
Now that you know how your working relationship with peers and colleagues will affect your job performance review, you shall put some effort in this area.
How many friends do you have from other departments? How often do you go out for lunch with them?
I'd asked these questions to a few team managers before. They told me they usually hung out with small group of people from same team or same department all the time. They hardly had lunch or liaised with other colleagues from other departments beyond work. I can tell you that this work habit is not encouraging!
First of all, how much can you learn from the same group of people? You may always end up talking about the same thing. You won't be learning about other expertise.
For example, if you are in sales and you are always hanging around with sales team only, your world can become terribly small and your thinking is limited. You won't be able to open up your mind to how customer service, or product development or finance work.
If you make the effort to make friends with other departments, when it comes to work, it makes it much easier to resolve any conflicting issues should there be any. It's because you have built that strong inter-departmental relationship with them.
I used to encourage my staff to have lunch with one person (particularly a manager or higher) from a different department at least once a week. I wanted them to go beyond their own comfortable territory. This week they may have lunch with customer service manager. Next week they may have lunch with someone from finance department. The week after they can have lunch with someone from marketing department.
I wanted them to do that so that they will learn to see things from different perspectives. It also helps them to understand and learn about other departments in an unofficial manner.
For those who practiced what I suggested to them, they found it to be beneficial. They said that they'd learned new things. It made their daily inter-departmental work much smoother.
If ever there is one warning to you, it will be to stay out from any office politics or gossips as much as possible. You can sit back and listen but don't jump in.
In all organisations, there are bound to have office politics. There is always this small group of people who just love to focus their energy on gossiping, talking about others behind their back. Listen if you must, but just don't jump in. Don't offend them either. However, it comes to the right moment for you to stand up for what's right even if it's unpopular, you should.
During those days when I was stationed in Jakarta, I was always asked by some overly concerned people about the internal issues challenged by Indonesia team whenever I came back to Kuala Lumpur office. Unfortunately, those questions usually circled around "Someone told me that so-and-so is not performing well. Is it true?”, or “Someone told me that so-and-so just resigned due to pressure from the boss in Indonesia. Is it true?” They wanted to hear some “juicy stories” or “behind the scene stories” from me since I was responsible for Indonesia team. My response to them had always been the same: "Sorry guys! I have nothing to share with you. For things that I need to update, I will update my boss." I felt that it wasn't necessary for me to spend time on these petty things with unrelated people. I felt that I should be professional and not be a gossiper. Whatever issues in Indonesia should be dealt with in closed-door discussions with relevant people only, especially with my boss. It was to show respect to Indonesia team. It was to stay out any potential gossips.
Having said that, when I heard someone said something bad about a particular person in Indonesia, I would then stand up to correct the person's point of view.
Therefore, be a professional and stay out of office politics and gossips.
1. Add values to your subordinates
If you want to progress well in your career, you shall aim to become a people manager one day. That means you will manage and lead a team of people who call you their boss. Yes, you have people reporting to you while you yourself have your own boss to report to. The longer you are in your career, the higher position you will go up. The higher the corporate ladder you climb, the more subordinates you have.
Hence, it's very important to learn how to lead your subordinates well. They can make or break your next career progression.
As their people manager or leader, your main responsibility is to add value to your subordinates. You shall constantly ask yourself, “How can I add more values to my staff? How can I guide my staff to be better? How can I develop my staff to learn more?”
By putting the majority of your effort to develop your subordinates, they will then perform well. Indirectly, your performance will be good too. Great thanks to your team's collective performances. It also reflects that you are a good manager.
The day you no longer bring any values to your staff, that's the day you will lose respect from your team. It's also the day your own learning has stopped.
Despite what you hear out there that there are many dominant managers who like to use their power and authority to make their team to work, please don't be one of them. You still can be a dominant manager, but most importantly, you need to express that you care.
How?
Make yourself visible and available to them. Connect with them. Engage them and take them along with you in your career journey. The people who follow you desire a personal touch from you. They want to know that others care about them too.
If you demonstrate yourself as a boss with genuine concern about them, I believe they can get things done for you or the organisation willingly. You don't need to use force or fear factor. They are more than willing to stick their neck out, or go beyond their normal duty to make sure things are done.
I was very fortunate to have many caring bosses in my 27-year career journey.
During one of the work days at Seagate Penang, a major defect caused thousands of computer chips to be due to cracks in the production floor. It costed Seagate to lose a few million US dollars. I was one of the engineers responsible to find out the root cause.
I recall vividly that after several days of evaluations, we still couldn’t rightly pin point down on a specific process that cause the major defect. On the third day, I took the initiative to conduct further investigations at night shift. It was around 5.30 am in that very morning that I finally managed to find out the root cause of the crack on the computer chip. It was due to poor handling of computer chips by night-shift operators at bar washer station.
Even though I was exhausted after working for close to 24 hours with sleep, I was thrilled that at least now we could resolve this critical problem in the production line. I stayed back until top bosses, my manager, other engineers, and production manager reached office to tell them the wonderful news.
The managing director Mr Gary said at the 8.00 am meeting, "Vincent has done great job in helping company to save millions. Since he has worked so hard for more than 24 hours to find out the root cause of the crack defect, why don't we let him go back to take full rest for today? Thanks Vincent! You have done well! You go back and rest well now. " My direct manager quickly nodded her head in agreement.
I was so touched and full of gratitude for their appreciation. I was so blessed to have such caring bosses who really took care of my personal feelings. Ever since then, I worked even harder at Seagate Penang.
Another memorable incident happened in 2016 when I was still with Jobstreet.com.
You see, my mom had a lethal fall at home on December 6, 2015. She left us within 24 hours. We were in state of shock, disbelief and sadness. It also meant my then 92 year-old dad could no longer depend on my mom for his daily meals and care. The whole house is left with only my dad and me.
Overnight, I became a full-time care giver to my dad. I had to cook, wash, clean, do gardening, etc. I couldn’t cope with both work and home. Hence, I tendered my resignation so that I could focus on family.
My boss, YY Chook, Jobstreet.com Country Manager at that time, refused to accept my resignation. She asked me to take 3 months sabbatical leave instead. If need be, I could extend another 3 more months until I fully sorted out family matters.
No matter how much I insisted on her accepting my resignation letter, she just refused to accept. With her advice, I went on sabbatical leave for three months. I wasn't working at all during those 3 months. Hence, I wasn't entitled to any pay during my sabbatical leave. Somehow, the management continued to pay me monthly salary. I was so surprised and moved by their kind gesture.
Later my boss told me that I'd been working so hard for the organisation all these years, including staying back late burning midnight oil countless nights, the least they could do for me was to pay my salary during my challenging times.
Their caring attitude really touched me to the bones. I'm forever grateful and feeling indebted to their kindness.
That's why some colleagues asked me if competitor were to offer me double the salary to join them, would I? My answer: "As long as these caring bosses, particularly Suresh Thiru, WK Leong and YY Chook are still around at Jobstreet.com, I will never join a competitor."
I hope from my two personal encounters, you can see how being a caring boss can impact someone positively. I hope you too will become a caring boss to your subordinates.
3. Map their strengths to their roles
No one is perfect. Yet, it’s good to see every one of your subordinates as a perfect "10" to start off with.
Be a discoverer who looks for great potential that is within each person under your care. Once you find it, do your best to draw it out. Develop them if you can even though people development takes time and effort. But when you see them grow and become a better version of themselves, your great satisfaction is beyond what you receive in your pay cheque.
This also means that you shall focus on their strengths.
If you don't know each person's unique strengths in your team, you should make an effort to find out and match their strengths with their jobs. Sometimes people don't like their jobs because they are not placed in the areas of their strength zones. Therefore, if you see a person who is analytically strong, you shall then help to give a job that requires strong analytical skills to him or her. You then use the job or project as a platform to further polish the person, making him / her shine. If you see a person who is very good in customer service, perhaps you may want to further engage him / her more with customers. You may see your customer satisfaction level shooting up through the roof.
An ex-colleague who was a junior administrator for product department in EP Manufacturing Berhad wasn't happy. He was bored being an administrator. When he was reassigned a new role as front office receptionist welcoming visitors to the company, he became so happy! He smiled every day! Then we knew that his strength was not so much in the back office but more at the front office. By mapping his strength to his ob really brought out the best in him!
SECTION 2
INVEST IN YOURSELF AND YOUR CAREER
“The best investment you can make, is an investment in yourself…
The more you learn, the more you’ll earn”
Warren Buffet
F I L L
Financial Independence, Live Life
achieving financial independence from 9-to-5 job before 50
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