Biz Insight

Yanyong Thammatucharee

Head of International Finance and Operation at Central Marketing Group

 

THE SUBJECT of leadership has been studied and researched for a long time in order to understand and find out whether it can be taught or whether one is born to be a leader. From time to time, it is quite common in the workplace to hear some people who want to get things done refer to what the boss says. For instance, some people would say, “According to the boss, we should do this and that…” or “the boss has said so, hence we should do accordingly”. It is quite dangerous when companies have people who solely follow the boss’ instructions all the time. The important questions are: Why is there such a culture in some companies, and how we can improve it? 

Even though it is important to follow the leader so that everyone is headed in the same direction, it should not be to the extent that employees don’t dare to have any initiative, or don’t do things based on their own ideas. The company should encourage employees to try new things even if they fail, as long as they learn something out of it.

In Thai culture, respect for seniority can be part of the organisational culture and could lead to the above-mentioned situations. However, in today’s volatile business environment, things move very fast and it is not practical to wait for the top management to give advice on how to get the right things done. Well-managed companies are focusing on building successors to ensure growth and a smooth transition in the future.

Everyone in a company should know how to perform the task with minimum supervision from the boss while keeping the alignment of strategies and visions among the teams within an organisation. The following are considerations on how to improve the independence of staff at work.

 

n Be assertive: By creating an environment that encourages employees to speak up openly, the company can benefit by having new ideas and the sharing of knowledge. Top managers should support this practice at meetings so that employees can feel comfortable about doing the right things for the benefit of the company. 

n Be self-questioning: Finding the solution to a problem can be challenging. Employees may apply the concept of self-questioning by asking why the issue occurred and caused the current situation. This practice of asking questions can uncover the cause of a problem without waiting for the boss’s advice in many cases.

n Be flexible: To carry out a plan, employees may need to be prepared for uncertainties and unexpected situations that may need adjustments along the way. Being flexible in dealing with issues is a must for the team members so that things progress without stoppage. It doesn’t mean that any changes to the plan must be approved and agreed to by the supervisor all the time. Employees should be empowered so that they can make certain decisions in a more flexible manner.

n Be target-oriented: Companies should cultivate a culture of achieving targets as the preferred mindset for all employees. Once employees are committed to the target, they should try their best to figure out how to achieve it by using the available resources provided by the company. 

n Be entrepreneurial: Everyone in the company should cultivate the thinking of an entrepreneur in handling his/her responsibilities. By thinking as an owner, the employee will understand what is important to the success of the business and may try to exercise their capability with another approach. This could enhance the effectiveness of the company more than having a culture where an employee requires close supervision. 

In order to maintain competitiveness, employees should be encouraged to perform their jobs more independently. Efficiency can be enhanced when supervision is at a minimum. The leader should be spending most of the time in showing the right direction rather than going down too often to deal with detailed operational work. Otherwise some people could become redundant in the organisation.