Preparing for the future

Kasikornbank and Advanced Info Service have become the first Thai organisations to receive the “Top Companies for Leaders Award” in the Asia Pacific from Aon Hewitt, a leading human resource consultancy.

IBM, General Mills, and Procter & Gamble took the top three spots in the Aon Hewitt survey this year, while Kbank and AIS are included in the list of the top-20 Asia-Pacific companies recognised for their best leadership practices. 

Aon Hewitt claims the annual survey is the most comprehensive global research on leadership and critical talent in the market that examines leading practices, metrics, and the link between leadership practices and financial results. 

Senior executive vice president Somkiat Sirichatchai of Kasikornbank, the country’s third-largest lender by assets, said the bank has what it calls “The Kgroup Way” that outlines 10 conditions for assessing, selecting, developing, and rewarding its leaders. 

“Our simple [leadership] model is: “Keng Kon, Keng Ngarn  [good at both work and people], and building results,” he said.

Somkiat said leadership at every level played a critical role at organisation although this was easier said than done. It required strong commitment and execution from the top management themselves, and a leadership model that is aligned to the organisation’s mission and strategies, as well as effective measurement methods.

“We want everyone joining Kbank to say they have good bosses here, they enjoy working and it is easy to work here because the organisation culture is supportive,” he said.

Aon Hewitt’s Thailand leader for leadership consulting practice, Luis Danai Kristhanin, said leadership development was not merely a duty of the human resource department, but was on top of the agenda of CEOs whose firms were honoured with the Top Company for Leaders 2011 awards. These “Top Company for Leaders” firms also shared five similar practices:

_ Uncompromising in their efforts to build leadership brands

_ Unrelenting focus on talent assessment

_ Customised learning opportunity

_ Taking top talent out of the comfort zone

_ Promoting “diversity of thought” at their organisations

 

“They focus not just on the right sizing but also on the bright sizing. Because even with the right sizing [of work force], the organisation cannot prevail if they cannot unleash the potential and create an avenue for their talents to show off their goodies.” he said.

Kbank’s Somkiat said the bank has been promoting younger staff. The average age of its top management is now about 45 to 46 years – about 10 years younger than it was a decade ago. The bank has a leadership development programme that set out skills and knowledge that its leaders at each level has to acquire. 

“But we don’t wait for them to be 100 per cent ready [before promoting them as a leader]. Only at 70 per cent, we send them out – but each of them will have a coach,” he said,

“I myself have been stretched. From being a fund manager, I had been switched to oversee strategies, then stretched to take care of HR, and now I’m responsible for the resource group of the bank.” 

To be eligible for promotion as a leader at KBank, one has to first pass three evaluations:

_ achieve good working results for the past two consecutive years;

_ a 360-degree evaluation conducted by his colleagues, subordinates, and himself;

_ an assessment on a set criteria by his boss. 

 

The bank has about 200-300 staff on its “talent pool”, said Somkiat.

The Kbank executive cited “the ability to provide negative feedback” and “playing favourites” as among the leadership’s challenges in Thai organisations.

“I feel that in the Thai society, we don’t dare to speak about negative things and they are needed to be further developed. This is what I wish to make happen, at least in the ‘Kgroup Way’,” he said,

Regarding “playing favourites”, Somkiat explained that Thais often regard personal relationships as more important than anything else, but a good leader has to stick to certain principles and find ways to balance these matters.

Aon Hewitt’s Luis said judging by his own experience in conducting leadership consulting in Southeast Asia, Thai organisations are second to none in Asean in terms of leadership competencies, except for Singaporean firms, which are further developed. Thai leaders’ challenges include their language competencies and their negative perception against coaching, nonetheless.

AIS’ senior vice president for human resources Jarunan Ithiawatchakul said the mobile-phone operator’s leadership development formula comprised four steps – setting out the leadership model, development practice, leadership accountability, and readiness assessment.

Three Indian firms top the Asia-Pacific list of the Aon Hewitt survey – Aditya Birla Group, Hindustan Unilever, and ICICI Bank. To share the best practices of Top Companies for Leaders, Aon Hewitt will hold a seminar in Bangkok on February 10. 

 

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