On the 24th of June, 2009, the Sheppard Moscow Asia Pacific office hosted a client event at the Hilton Hotel, Singapore; ‘Leading in Uncertain Times – A Time for Greatness’.

The conversations centred around sharing experiences and views on the challenges of developing talented leaders in Asia in the current unprecedented economic conditions. We talked about the differences between leading in times of certainty and uncertainty and how people are now looking to their leaders to provide a sense of reassurance. We also discussed how emotional awareness and emotional intelligence is more important than every: for example, requests from teams to their leaders have shifted from ‘help me with data analysis and logic’ to calls for reassurance, direction and acknowledgement of their emotional needs.

Sheppard Moscow Partner, Paul Spain, then told a story to illustrate how coaching can support a high potential senior leader’s development – both by receiving coaching and by adding a coaching style to his leadership. We discussed how current research relating to the benefits of, and return on investment from, coaching is inconclusive and that, right now, purchasing external coaching comes with a ‘Buyer Beware’ health warning. The number of coaches in the market and the lack of accreditation or evaluation means it is a real challenge to make the right choices.
(If you would like more information on this subject, please let us know and we can share some recent research undertaken by our partner, The Corporate Research Forum, who work with 120 blue chip multi- national companies to gather data and research.)

Next, Sheppard Moscow Partner, Ally Salisbury, talked briefly about the Sheppard Moscow stance on leadership the discussion focused on the relational and highly contextual nature of leadership, in a nutshell, leadership cannot exist without followership. Leaders need to constantly review their practice and mastery of leadership, to be open and authentic while maintaining their strategic direction amid the unprecedented economic turmoil.

We also explored cultural issues and talked about how leading in Asia presents challenges both for the ‘ex-pat as leader’ and for ‘locals’, in terms of followership and developing their own leadership style within a Westernised organisation culture – especially when this conflicts with their own country culture.

In summary, the event provided clients with a lot of food for thought - everyone who took part mentioned how useful their conversations had been. There was clearly a universal need to find meaning, share experience and simply to talk. We agreed that a prime role for leadership is now to facilitate and encourage meaningful, true two-way, conversations (not relying on email!). As well as maintaining a strong dialogue with staff, leaders need to talk with customers and suppliers, to enable responsiveness within the organisation as the context evolves. It was also agreed that, while the current situation may cause a great deal of hardship, a change in the conversation regarding leadership, corporate expectation and the meaning of working life, could facilitate a new and ‘more human’ way ahead for many organisations.

For information on this event or future Sheppard Moscow seminars in Singapore, please contact:

fernkan@sheppardmoscow.com

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