Meaning of Work

This is excerpted from a book excerpt published in BusinessWeek from Dave Ulrich's new book "The Why of Work". Full article here.

Guiding questions on the journey of discovering the meaning of work in organisations.
1. Who am I?
Abundance includes clarity about identity and signature strengths and ensures that employees will build on their strengths that strengthen others.

2. Where am I going?
Abundance emerges from a clear sense of what we are trying to accomplish and why, sustains both social and fiscal responsibility, and aligns individual motivation.

3. Whom do I travel with?
Abundance is enhanced by meaningful relationships. High-performing teams need to be high relating teams.

4. How do I build a positive work environment?
Abundance thrives on positive routines that help ground us in what matters most. While bad habits thrive on isolation and shame, positive routines help us connect with ourselves and others. Routines and patterns driven by our deepest values help us stay grounded in what matters most and available to those who matter most.

5. What challenges interest me?
Abundance occurs when companies can engage not only employees' skills (competence) and loyalty (commitment), but also their values (contribution). The most engaged employees are generally those whose work gives them the opportunity to stretch while doing work they love and solving problems they care about.

6. How do I change, learn, and grow?
Abundance acknowledges that failure can be a powerful impetus to growth and learning. When we face change and take risks to work outside our comfort zone, resist defensiveness about mistakes, learn from failure, and keep trying, we become not only more resilient, but more satisfied with life.

7. What delights me?
Abundance thrives on simple pleasures. Sources of delight might include laughing at ourselves, appreciating excellence, relishing beauty, being present in the moment, and having fun at work. These sources of delight are highly personal, depending on the personality of the leader and the requirements of the employees.

I am lucky that I am able to interact frequently and work with very high quality talent in my profession. Some of these highly successful people have become a role model of sorts whom I often find myself referring back to, which in turn becomes a source of motivation for me to seek self-improvement constantly. Learning through experience and imitation has greater impact than reading a book and noting down what it is telling you to do. I think often about these people and analyse what is it about them that differentiates them from most others and why I simply can’t quite put them out of my mind. I identified the one star-like quality of each of the following four people (in pseudonyms), who have made the strongest impression on me so far.

Elephant – Positivism
- Enthusiasm is infectious
- Believes in the change for good and always strives for improvement
- Believes in the good of people => Build people’s capability = Building organizational capability
- Believes in the power of many as opposed to one = Empowers people
- Positive towards life and oneself = Exudes a can-do attitude

Maggot – Personable
- Easy to connect with and build a relationship
- Makes an impact on others = Memorable
- Hard to dislike
- Gives others a sense of comfort
- Non-threatening

Yellow – Discipline
- Stays focused day in day out = Cut straight to the core of issues.
- Is relentless = Putting in the effort consistently
- Stays engaged throughout all happenings
- Excellent time and self management ability

Jam – Serenity & Balance
- Exudes a calm demeanor = Reassuring presence
- Has a strong sense of self (“a strong core”)
- Ability to stay on an even keel when dealing with shocks/problems/conflict
- Imparts confidence to others (“There is nothing I can’t handle”)

Fishing for info (openly)

In my line of work, it is critical for us to know who people know. We are not satisfied with just getting to know people, because we are greedy and want to know who they know and what they know about these people. But unlike spies, we do not have to hide our intentions because the nature of the business is fairly open and above ground. So people speaking to us already know we are always interested to tap their networks, and the clever ones will know how to leverage that and get what they need from us, which is generally a better job (in their definition) than what they are doing now.

But obviously them knowing our intentions does not equate to them being fully co-operative, so a lot of effort has to be put in by us to milk that info and get what we want. So along the way, I have found myself using the same techniques over and over again, and have also observed how some of my folks execute these techniques with superb finesse. Generally the principles that belie these techniques are:

Stay honest

Never come across as lying, hiding something, holding something back etc (generally just don't come across as slimy). I am always open and specific about what I want. And I communicate my requirements effectively and specifically to them.

Paint a Picture/Profile

Which then brings me to the point about how to articulate and impress upon my sources what exactly I need. I find it helpful to describe in detail about the profile, like I'm talking about a real person, rather than just sticking to the general job description that is given to me. Example: I am looking for a VP Apac to start up a business in this region for a US ball bearing company that sells mainly to the pharmaceutical industries. I don't just tell my sources the job requirements like number of years of experience, what education blah blah. I emphasise the "person" behind this job description, saying "I need someone who has that start-up expereience, not too strategic but someone willing to get their hands dirty. Have experience in selling to the pharma companies. Able to go direct to customers instead of relying on channels, yet have the maturity and ability to build relations at the highest level. Something along those lines. As my sources go off scouring their brains for that someone, I contiue feeding them the information and building that image of this "ideal" someone. Sometimes, I get my sources excited enough to say "yes, that's it, there's this guy...." and off he goes.

A Dialogue

But it's dangerous at the same time to get carried away and come across as a juicer trying very hard to extract every drop from him. That definitely cheeses people off. I find it important to "stay with the person in front of me". I give him my full attention and make him the focus of the conversation right from the start, before leading the conversation subtly away to other issues. But before that, I give him enough airtime to talk about himself, his aspirations, his thinking. And, I give him feedback on what he is telling me, which benefits him and makes it sort of a fair "dealing". I also notice that letting people talk about themselves makes them feel at ease quickly, although what they are saying should not be like responses to an interrogation, which is an obvious no-no.

Steering

So while he is going on about himself, I take mental notes and at the same time look out for opportunities for me steer the conversation in order to induce him to talk about what I want to know. In this case, I am always direct and upfront. Example: "I am interested to get to know senior people with commercial background in industrial companies selling into the pharma industries. Do you know some people?" But of course, I can't just go in abruptly; there must be an opportune time for me to slot in my request smoothly. This is the tricky part, because you have to be constantly looking out for the right moment. Which is why it is so important to "stay with the person" and not glaze off while he is going on about himself.

So once I get him on track to where I want to go, the rest is just feeding him information constantly, building that image of an ideal profile, giving him ideas/options where these talents exist and hopefully get him excited enough that he will go back after the meeting/conversation, mull over it for a couple of days and send you a list of who he knows plus their contacts. You will be surprised how motivation can spur someone to do things that may seem out of the way, and how often this can happen.

We help each other

At the end of the day, he must go home with the feeling that I'll do my best to help him anytime I can, whether is it keeping him informed about the job market, linking him up to people, recommending him to a client. The important thing is he must go away thinking this is a person who will be there for him, not one who only calls when she needs something. That leads to the question about that initial approach. Generally, it makes sense only to tap people you already know or someone who has a mutual contact with you. Nobody is going to entertain cold calls especially when you are tryng to get something out of him. It's easy to call someone you already know, to say hi, find out what he is doing and take it on from there. It's a litlle tricker to call someone who has a mutual contact with you but it works too if you budget a bit more time to build some sort of familiarity and comfort before tapping him. I always find something to leverage: Example - a colleague from another office knows XYZ because XYZ was a candidate for an assignment. So I jolt his memory, talk about the assignment he was shortlisted for, find out about him, what he thinks about the company he interviewed with, generally prepare myself by finding out beforehand some background about this person. That will breed some sense of familiarity which can be built upon, perhaps leading to somewhere. But do not go in with the expectation that you will always get something out of a conversation, because it will then be difficult to NOT come across as desperate, overly persistent or even irritating. Just be nice, and people will be nice to you too.

Working with People

I find it very difficult to work with, and to a greater extent, work for people whom I cannot respect. Behave professionally, yes. I still can muster enough self-control not to openly display my thoughts and feelings but really putting in heart and soul to deliver is a major challenge. I think this is parallel to how difficult it is if one were not able to find purpose and meaning in doing whatever they are doing. Because being able to devote time, energy and effort to a task is directly correlated to how much passion we have for it. Lack of passion for something or someone (in the sense of respect/admiration) equals no motivation. So how to move on anything?

Need to be inspired

Bad week, shitty client, generally dragging my soul along as the long weekend draws closer. How shitty? Imagine opening your mouth, two sentences describing the industry and nationality of the client comes out and the candidate cuts you short, saying he knows who the client is and hem-haw...basically not interested to even say a word more. It doesn't help that the stupid client tells interviewees who have been persuaded to meet them: You have to come in at least 2 weekends a month, your leave is 14 days...blah blah, when they already are at the Corporate level. Nor is it particularly encouraging that previous employees bitch about their ex-company to industry insiders.

So it calls for supreme creativity and an iron will to plod along and hopefully dig out someone to plonk into the role. Stumbling across this photo/idea cheers me up immensely. Isn't this bedside bookstand/ nightstand/ lightstand idea ingenious? I'm always inspired by creative stuff.

via Apartment Therapy

What Superstars look like

Came across a superbly talented profile recently, whom I thought possess all the attributes of someone who will go very very far in his career. Pity I did not have the chance to meet the guy, who was surfaced before I came into the firm. So how good is he?

Rapid rotation with increasing job responsibilities within his company: he did 5 roles in 5 years in 3 different countries, moving up from marketing to business development to business unit manager and finally Country GM. Having the opportunity to be located in the US, where the headquarters are, for a couple of years is another indicator of how much potential he is perceived to have by his company. And he is only 30 years old.

Good academic track record: INSEAD MBA says a lot. Having a good MBA tells people this much: you must beat stiff competition to squeeze into the top schools, so you must be pretty good.

For the softer aspects: the ability to marry dichotomies and a high IQ and EQ

Marrying dichotomies: A strong strategic orientation and the ability to get things done is a pretty powerful combination. Going into a business, sizing up quickly and accurately the business space, set strategic goals and articulate them well, getting the team along to deliver the goods… Management consulting types are usually good at the strategic and planning level but may not like or have the ability to get their hands dirty. Operational guys, on the other hand, may not have the strategic orientation. If you can do both equally well, you will be prized in any market. And if you are a techie (education and work experience) with the ability to translate technical stuff into business value, you are practically Kobe beef. Employers get very excited when they see someone like this.

High IQ and EQ: Being smart alone doesn’t carry one very far; there is only so much you can achieve alone. If you can demonstrate the ability to grow businesses and grow a team along with it, you can be sure you are on the way to somewhere. Having a high EQ doesn’t mean you make friends easily or have a wide social circle. It’s about how you can motivate and influence people around you to work towards a common goal, day in day out. Easier said than done, or else why would those “Influencer” books be flying off the shelves?

A Good piece of Writing

I like this article from Finance Asia very much. And I never knew they write well. Why I like it: Informative, yet not bogged down by details. The style is engaging, with a good sprinkling of creative uses of language. A coherent piece that is highly reader-friendly. What could turn out to be a mere listing of appointment shuffles was instead cast from a business angle, adding great value to its consumers. Adopting a story-telling approach can work even in business (and supposedly boring) writing.

Rankin is going to Deutsche Bank
6 April 2009 FinanceAsia

Rob Rankin is to join the German bank as CEO for Asia-Pacific, while Colin Grassie plans to return to Europe.

After more than six months of largely bad news on the employment front -- here is an announcement that is a true win-win for both the bank and the individual. Deutsche Bank is in the process of finalising a contract to hire former senior UBS banker Robert Rankin as CEO for Asia-Pacific (ex-Japan, but including Australia).

Here is why the announcement is a coup. Rankin used to run the Asia-Pacific investment banking division for UBS. While at UBS, he was well known as a dealmaker who was able to juggle four transactions and keep his eye on the next six. A conversation with Rankin is an exercise in itself -- he's so genuinely excited about his projects that you can't help but get caught up. And when you're finished talking to him, you feel as if you've run a marathon. He's a deal man.

So, Deutsche Bank gets the opportunity to scoop up a truly senior banker who has his finger on the pulse. The German bank -- having not taken any government money to date -- is signalling it will have the money and the risk tolerance to invest in deals that Rankin believes in.

At the same time, Rankin gets a bigger job. "This is a very broad regional remit," says a source close to the negotiations. "Rob will bring enormous experience to the job but he's also taking on a very senior role within Deutsche Bank so this is a big step forward in his career."

Deutsche Bank has roughly 18,000 employees in Asia-Pacific, excluding Japan but including Australia.

Deutsche Bank officials declined to comment on this story. And so did Rankin, who is currently on vacation with his family after resigning from UBS in the first half of March.

Sources close to the negotiations say Rankin will succeed Colin Grassie, who plans to return to Europe in a senior role with Deutsche Bank. The hiring of Rankin could be announced later this month, however he is not likely to begin the new job for some months as he will still be on gardening leave.

Speculation about where Rankin would turn up has been a hot topic in investment banking circles. Many figured Rankin would likely take one of the head jobs around the region and Deutsche Bank and Barclays Capital were obvious choices. The rumours that Grassie was ready to leave the region have been around for some time, which is why Deutsche Bank was a likely alternative; at the same time Barclays Capital's head of Asia-Pacific investment banking, Darcy Lai, left the firm in early March. Of the two, Barclays is a smaller franchise than Deutsche Bank, so most put their money on the latter option. Barclays is said to still be interviewing candidates to replace Lai.

These changes on the investment banking front are part of a larger trend of banks reorganising themselves and -- partly as a result of that -- of high-up bankers leaving for firms that might be a better fit in the new financial environment. Invariably, the reorganisation includes relocating more top guns for jobs out here, taking two old-Asia hands and giving them a shared title, or even adding new jobs because, relative to the rest of the world, Asia is looking pretty good. The moves show the direction each firm thinks is its best bet.

For example, when Rankin left UBS in early March, the firm announced that he would be succeeded by David Chin and Matthew Hanning, who became joint heads of investment banking for Asia. Both are based in Hong Kong and have extensive experience in M&A banking -- Chin led UBS's financial institutions group and Hanning had headed up mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance since he joined from Morgan Stanley in 2006. In addition to Chin and Hanning, UBS added yet another layer. It appointed Henry Cai to a new role as chairman of investment banking for Asia, a job that he took on in addition to his current role as head of investment banking for China. That signals the firm is still putting its eggs in the China basket.

Over at Credit Suisse, Paul Raphael, who was head of the investment banking department (IBD) for Asia-Pacific for close to two years, also resigned in mid-March, although he is reportedly still in talks with the firm about a new posting. Raphael was replaced by Vikram Malhotra and Helman Sitohang who were appointed co-heads of IBD; both have years of experience at the firm in Asia. Malhotra was involved in the dual-listing initial public offering for Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which at $22 billion is still the largest IPO in the world. And Sitohang is the investment banker to turn to in Indonesia if you want to know what's what. Credit Suisse clearly saw that its Asia bench was deep and decided it didn't need to relocate bankers from other parts of the world.

And Citi, as part of its efforts to consolidate the corporate bank with the investment bank, announced a reorganisation in February. Mark Renton, former co-investment banking head for Asia-Pacific, became global co-head of the public sector group, while the job of heading up global investment banking for Asia-Pacific, which Renton shared with Dan McNamara, was eliminated as part of the restructuring. Instead, Farhan Faruqui was appointed head of global banking, Asia-Pacific -- global banking integrates Citi's corporate and investment bank in Asia-Pacific including Japan. This consolidation shows the rising importance of the commercial banking side of its business, but also that it didn't need to import talent.

Arguably the earliest to reorganise upper management in the region was Goldman Sachs, which in June announced that two senior bankers from London and New York were joining the Asia ex-Japan investment banking team. It was a move that many saw as an acknowledgement by the firm that, if any part of the world was going to manage to continue doing business during this global downturn, it was Asia. So in July, Ravi Sinha relocated to Hong Kong from New York to become co-head of the investment banking division in Asia ex-Japan, together with Mark Machin. And in August, Richard Campbell-Breeden relocated to Hong Kong from London to become co-head of M&A in Asia ex-Japan, alongside Johan Leven. Last month, the firm said that Machin was relocating to Beijing to help build the bank's business in China -- a move that outsiders say indicates that there's not enough room for so many chiefs in Hong Kong. They need to be spread around the region.

The hiring of Rankin underscores Deutsche Bank's intention to build its business in Asia, particularly its public market capital-raising and M&A advisory services. Initially an M&A lawyer, Rankin joined UBS in Australia in 1990 and moved to Hong Kong in 2000 to head up the investment banking team focused on telecoms, media and technology. He became co-head of Asia investment banking in 2003 and sole head of the same division in 2004, when his fellow co-head Peter Burnett moved on. In January this year, his investment banking coverage widened from head of Asia to head of Asia-Pacific as Australia was also included under his leadership.

Under his guidance, UBS built a strong domestic Chinese investment banking business, and the bank was ranked first by Dealogic last year in terms of investment banking revenue in Asia ex-Japan with $409 million. By contrast, Deutsche Bank ranked sixth in Asia with $226 million in revenue, according to Dealogic, which tracks financial activity.

Rankin's appointment also continues a trend of Deutsche Bank cherry-picking bankers from other firms. In February the bank announced that Richard Gibb would join as one of four new managing directors in its financial institutions group (FIG), which is part of the global banking division. He became co-head of FIG in Asia-Pacific, working alongside Bill Nicholl, the other FIG co-head for the region. Gibb joined from Merrill Lynch where he was previously head of FIG for Asia-Pacific as well as head of the financial sponsors group for the region. He was one of 12 new hires to join the German bank's global FIG team, all of whom came from Bank of America-Merrill Lynch. Deutsche has reportedly hired at least 25 senior bankers from weakened rivals globally since late last year. It is clear Deutsche Bank is building up in the region. Stay tuned to see how Rankin guides the business.

Why Bosses tend to be blowhards

The latest issue of TIME (Asia version) has an interesting article on a study conducted by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology which concluded that leadership is very often just "loudership" - People are likelier to be perceived as leaders if they offer more answers, even if those answers are wrong. Some excerpts from the article:

"Psychologists know one way to become a leader is simply to act like one. Speak up, speak well and offer lots of ideas, and people begin to do what you say..."

"(In the first part of the study where the players were given the task to organise an NPO) Both players and judges considered the people who spoke up the most to be higher in such qualities as "general intelligence". The ones who didn't speak much scored higher in traits like "conventional" and "uncreative"."

"(In the second part of the study where the players were set to work on solving math problems) Often the ones who were rated the highest (in the study) were not the ones who gave the most correct answers. Nor were they the ones whose SAT scores suggested they'd even able to. What they did do was offer the most answers - period. Even though they were not more competent, dominant individuals behaved as if they were. And the team fell for it: fully 94% of the time, they used the first answer anyone shouted out."

Love thyself

It's been a crazy week at work. They weren't kidding when they said they needed a guy to "hit the ground running". Work came non-stop and the worst thing is I was never really left alone to do it. Nothing drives me more nuts than having my concentration and train of thought broken every so often. It's difficult to maintain clarity of thought (I really like this expression and its meaning) when you are either being hauled away for something else or have someone barking orders at you. It takes a mighty lot not to rip loose and start barking back. But I tell myself, please do not create a shouting game because it's not worth it. Instead, preserve my dignity, speak calmly, sensibly and confidently and reason and sanity will prevail. Civilised, cultured and well-bred ladies do not shout or bark.

So anyway the weekend is here and I can indulge myself. But since my pay is very little having only worked a few days this month, I'll reward myself in a frugal manner:

food

sleep

nice ring

a beautiful apartment in a great locationsomething fierce, like me

Updates

2nd day at new work place and I'm already swimming in work. Can't complain since I have been moaning about the slower pace back at the old place. I have been thinking about how to keep my energy levels up so that I can max out my hours and make sure that I have time for everything else outside work, including this newly formed pact with hubby to try and capture little moments in life and keep a log about them on Monkeys Go Shooting. We take turns to decide the weekly theme and post a photo each daily on MGS according to the theme. The idea is to (1) slow down and try to take note of what is going on in our lives, and (2) attempt to interpret the themes in different ways and hopefully improve creative vision. I guess it helps him more when he is the one trying to take better pictures. Me, I am just not so into the technical parts of photo-taking, which is a convenient excuse for the ordinary photos I post. But I do hope that this project can lead me to view ordinary things in different ways. Let's see how long we can sustain this - I've not been able to keep posting on time and hopefully things will improve after I've settled down at work. Meanwhile, I'm still trying to figure out how to stay energetic.

Gallup's Q12

After hundreds of focus groups and thousands of interviews with employees in a variety of industries, Gallup came up with the Q12 - 12 key questions that identifies strong feelings of employee engagement. Results from the survey show a strong correlation between high scores and superior job performance. Those that I highlighted in blue below are what I deem as "must-have". If you don't, maybe that's why you are feeling less than fulfilled in your current workplace and it may be time to move on.

• Do you know what is expected of you at work?

• Do you have the materials and equipment you need to do your work right?

• At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?

• In the last seven days, have you received recognition or praise for doing good work?

• Does your supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about you as a person?

• Is there someone at work who encourages your development?

• At work, do your opinions seem to count?

• Does the mission/purpose of your company make you feel your job is important?

• Are your associates (fellow employees) committed to doing quality work?

• Do you have a best friend at work?

• In the last six months, has someone at work talked to you about your progress?

• In the last year, have you had opportunities at work to learn and grow?

Office

siew khim, esther, franz, grace, nori

Mantra, for my line

If they don't let you in through the door, you just have to climb in through the window.

Best Sales Mantra

If you can't convince them,

confuse them.

In a nutshell Episode 2

Rapid learning is an important clue to a person’s talent. Sources of satisfaction are clues to his talent.

Performance Management: Simplicity, frequent interaction, focus on future, keep track of individual performance and learnings.

4 Keys: Select for talent, define right outcomes, focus on strengths, find the right fit.

In a nutshell

Quite a useful handbook not just for managers but for anyone interested in getting good performance out of people. Talent is only talented when cast in the right role. It's not just about what one has in terms of innate abilities, skills or knowledge, but that these qualities are well-matched to the role in question.

3 kinds of talents: striving (motivations), thinking (how does he work as a person), relating (emotional aspects). Pare down to the essentials when evaluating a candidate; maybe 1 of each talent must-have.

Look beyond skills, experience and knowledge. How would the person fit into the organisation culture and values? Think about the type of management style and expectations and whether this person will fit. Look at the team members and assess whether there will be synergy.

Meeting Customers’ expectations
Level 1: Accuracy. Deliver what is expected.
Level 2: Availability. At your convenience please.
Level 3: Partnership. Empathy. From your perspective.
Level 4: Advice. Help them to learn and be better.

The critical SIX

1. Do I know what is expected of me?

2. Do I have the materials and equipment to do my work right?

3. Do I have the opportunity to do what I do best everyday?

4. Have I received recognition or praise in the last seven days?

5. Does my supervisor or anyone seem to care about me as a person?

6. Is there someone who encourages my development?

Managing around weaknesses

a) Devise a support system

b) Find a complementary partner

c) Recast the person

What all managers should know and do

The Recruit section of the ST sometimes has useful stuff, like this:

When you have a problem in your organization, look up the ladder for the cause and down the ladder for solutions.

Never give responsibility without authority.

Delegate outcomes, not methods.

You get the behavior you reward.

Heidrick & Struggles-EIU's GTI

Global Talent Map - heidrick.com

"Search firms need to continue to work much more strategically with companies; the ad-hoc filling of empty posts as they arise needs to be replaced by a holistic, focused and flexible approach which incorporates the assessment, development and training of existing executives alongside the recruitment of new talent." - more consulting, less selling; more partners, less client relations; more intellectual work, more thought leadership please.


"Managing potential paradoxes (strategic thinking vs focus on operational results; long term view vs short term views; cost-saving vs growth etc) is the key charactieristic of future top executives." - future? more like current.

Signposts

TALENT-SPOTTING

Honesty & Integrity
Intellectual Firepower
Energy & Passion
Humility
Leadership

THE SIGNS...

On his way UP

Feels GOOD to be around with

Do you want him to be next to you in war?

Self-confidence

Likes to WIN

Impatient & Gets to the point

Speaks his mind

Has a vision and ariticulates it well

Strategic Thinker & Good Listener

Surprises! me

What is a LEADER?

Eager to take control

Speak clearly and concisely

Gets quickly to the tough (unexpected) questions

Master strategist – always well-prepared

Quiet intensity

Feeling of trust/credibility

Humility

Has a vision and sticks to it