DDI’s Talent Management Intelligence

Leadership Lessons from Dr. Seuss

By Nikki Dy-Liacco

This week would have marked the 107^th birthday of the late Theodor Seuss Geisel, fondly known to all of us as Dr. Seuss. His colorful and best-selling stories Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat and How the Grinch Stole Christmas have captured the hearts of kids and kids-at-heart around the world. I still love reading my pop-up book of Oh, The Places You'll Go! and enjoyed the movie adaptation of Horton Hears a Who! from a couple of years ago.

Quotable quotes from Dr. Seuss continue to remind me of important life lessons. As I am currently preparing for an upcoming Leadership Development Program, a little light bulb went off in my head: there is also a lot to learn from Dr. Seuss on leadership! After a quick Google search, I realize that others have had the same a-ha moment. But because I am a big fan, I couldn’t not write this blog. In the spirit of freezy-breeze-made-these-three-trees-freeze-alliteration, here are a few C’s on leadership:

• Camaraderie. The all-time favorite The Cat in the Hat has a great line: “It is fun to have fun, but you have to know how.” Building true camaraderie in the workplace goes beyond just having fun for fun’s sake. I like how the Great Place to Work Institute defines camaraderie as one of their five dimensions; it is the ability to be oneself; a socially friendly and welcoming atmosphere; and a sense of “family” or “team” in the company. Leaders play a critical role in creating and sustaining a culture of authentic camaraderie. Their visibility and accessibility (especially of senior leaders), as well as the way they recognize and reward employees both formally and informally, can make a huge difference in making a company a great (and fun!) place to work.

• Commitment. The Lorax promises, “I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees for the trees have no tongues.” Unfortunately, not all leaders stand firm behind their teams, speak on their behalf, defend their direct reports as needed, or give credit where credit is due. It cannot be stressed enough how organizations need leaders who are committed to their teams and who can be trusted by their people. Through their behaviors and decisions, leaders must earn that trust every day. Their values must be visible through their actions, and they must walk-the-talk, and be both able and willing to be held up as an example to others. “I meant what I said and I said what I meant,” goes the line in Horton Hears a Who! “An elephant’s faithful one-hundred percent!”

• Confidence... not just in themselves, but more importantly, in others and especially in their teams. Organizations need leaders who encourage others to fly high: “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. Oh! The Places You’ll Go! You’ll be on your way up! You’ll be seeing great sights! You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.” In our white paper on Leadership Beliefs, leaders need to coach and set others up for success, to give up the limelight and let others shine—which also mean leaders need a strong, not a big, ego. Leaders who are secure about their own accomplishments and achievements are comfortable to take the back seat and truly enjoy seeing others learn, grow and succeed (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed!).

• Continuous learning. In I Can Read with My Eyes Shut, Dr. Seuss writes: “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” Imagine if all leaders took charge of their own professional development (which goes beyond just reading of course) instead of waiting to be sent to an assessment center or assigned a new project? A client recently shared with me how he wishes leaders would see their and their direct reports’ Individual Development Plans as a fluid process; not just an annual chore or a compliance document with check boxes to tick off, but an ongoing journey to improved performance and better results.

What are your favorite leadership or life lessons from Dr. Seuss or any other children’s book?

Nikki Dy-Liacco is DDI’s Marketing Manager for South East Asia.

Talent Management By the Numbers - 5 Ideas to Jumpstart Your 2011

By Nikki Dy-Liacco

On the last working day of the calendar year, we typically have a small gathering in the office pantry to celebrate and reminisce on the year that was. As a fan of the musical Rent, I added the song Seasons of Love to our year-end ritual.

525,600 minutes, five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear
525,600 minutes, how do you measure, measure a year?
In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife

In 525,600 minutes
How do you measure a year in the life?

While I can measure my 2010 in client events, boarding passes and loads of laundry, I could just as easily measure it in the number of times I heard “cautious optimism”; read another article on managing generational differences in the workforce; or received an invitation to a free Webinar on how to leverage social media tools. While I may or may not have had 525,600 interesting thoughts, allow me to share my five observations on the workforce from the last 12 months, that I suspect will stick around.    

1. An Alphabet of Generations. You know of X, Y and Z, but there’s yet another generation ready to wreck havoc on the workplace: Generation C for the 24/7 Connected Generation. I’m somewhere in between X and Y based on my birth year—I have a lot of strong characteristics associated with both—but if I read through the checklist of Gen C’s traits, I could be one too! Generational differences make up but one part of the puzzle, which also includes differences in culture, gender, personality, work styles, zodiac signs (you get the picture…). At the risk of creating a bowl of alphabet soup, the time has come to focus on Gen “I”—for each Individual. While there are many suggested tactics to manage the different generations in the workplace, leaders cannot take a cookie-cutter approach to managing people. A leadership style that motivates and inspires one individual may plunge another into poor performance. By better meeting the needs of Gen I, leaders will create higher levels of engagement and organizational results.  

2. A Home for Third Culture Kids. If you’ve ever struggled with the question “Where are you from?” or have spent a significant portion of your growing-up years in a foreign country, chances are you’re a Third Culture Kid or a TCK. According to Denizen.com, an online site dedicated to this unique group, TCKs “are the citizens of the future. [They] possess the globalized views and diverse experiences that are necessary in an ever-shrinking world. [They] will be the leaders of tomorrow, and will help others navigate this globalized society.” I had the good fortune of meeting Ruth Van Reken who co-wrote the book Third Culture Kids: The Experience of Growing Up Among Worlds which helped to popularize the term TCKs after writing a blogpost. Together with other adult TCKs here in Singapore, we discussed how today’s world is much more of a home for us global nomads than it was decades ago. Companies need more leaders with TCK qualities such as adaptability, cultural sensitivity and resilience who can help to expand and globalize. While you can’t make someone into a TCK, you can develop global leaders. 

3. One Skill to Rule Them All. While Tolkien’s One Ring promised great power, there is One Skill that could overrule all other skills. Mr. Lim Swee Say, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office of Singapore and Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress, was part of the closing plenary session The World in 2020 at the Singapore Human Capital Summit 2010. Given the looming reality of structural unemployment or the mismatch of current skills becoming obsolete with the requirements of the future, he shared that the most important skill to develop today is adaptability. While some may argue that it is difficult to develop, the Minister emphasized that the only solution is to build adaptable workers and to provide opportunities for continuous learning. While it’s not as easy to learn as riding a bicycle, there are practical ways to build one’s capacity to embrace change:

• Gain confidence in unstructured, unpredictable situations like task forces or projects that require you to adapt to different issues and people. Seek an assignment in a new environment or department.
• Get to know people throughout the organization, developing a network that you can depend upon during times of uncertainty and change. Join a cross-functional team that requires you to work with a variety of people.
• Ask your manager to help you identify situations when you have responded negatively to change and identify alternative behaviors that would result in a more positive reaction.
• When working with others, observe how they react to changes in tasks, deadlines, etc. Note effective behaviors and seek coaching from your manager on how you can model those behaviors. 

4. All Eyes and Ears on Asia. Galileo never claimed that Asia was the center of the universe, but it sometimes feels that way now that all eyes are fixed on Asia for business opportunities. At a panel dialogue on Leadership Capabilities for Success in Asia at the Singapore Human Capital Summit 2010, Mr. Gerald Lema, Corporate Vice President and Asia Pacific President for Baxter International shared how operations in Asia cannot expect all the answers from corporate headquarters. In fact, it seems that Asia is the new World Headquarters for most global firms. While their physical corporate office may not necessarily sit in the region, most head offices based in North America or Europe are looking towards their operations in China, India, and other fast-developing markets for direction, for answers and of course, for growth. Cordelia Chung, Regional General Manager for IBM-ASEAN, also shared her thoughts on how to lead in Asia. She stressed the need to increase communication, to speak up and to be more assertive. Now that the world is watching, leaders in Asia need to step up and be heard more than before--the rest of the world is listening!

5. You, Me, Five Bucks and Good Conversation. Do you remember that line from the movie Reality Bites? (I did mention earlier that I’m a Gen Xer, right?) I did after a conversation I had with my manager on a recent study on Boosting Productivity among Knowledge Workers from McKinsey Quarterly. The key to higher productivity is to identify and address the barriers they face in their daily interactions (and pay them more than five bucks, of course). Compensation and setting performance metrics are important, but because knowledge workers spend half their time on interactions, it’s the quality of their day-to-day interactions with their peers and managers that ultimately count. And what is an effective interaction but good one-on-one two-way conversation about an upcoming project, recent performance, career aspirations, or your last holiday?

A few months later I had a chance to hear CEO and President of Bersin & Associates Josh Bersin on upcoming talent management trends. One stood out which echoed the McKinsey study: all of talent management comes back down to the individual manager. While HR provides the necessary systems and tools, talent management is really about each manager taking the organization’s needs and the individual’s aspirations, and having a conversation to ensure alignment, engagement and success. The way I see it, the pressure is on for all managers. A selection system will fail if the hiring manager can’t excite the applicant with why-I-love-this-job stories. If managers can’t carry a decent conversation and workers feel “blah” after talking to their boss, I guarantee they will look for their “five bucks” somewhere else.

I hope these points can jumpstart your 2011—enough to generate your own list for your year-ender reflection to the tune of (sing with me now) 525,600 minutes... how do you measure a year in the life?

Nikki Dy-Liacco is DDI’s Marketing Manager for South East Asia. She’s proud to be Gen I Third Culture Kid, and is committed to being adaptable and loves to sing along to the Rent OST after a productive workday of good conversations