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Welcome to the September/October edition of Human Capital Development

We are delighted to announce the completion of our first Coaching Skills for Managers Training programdelivered in Asia by Dr Anthony Grant.

Participants from our two sessions included directors and general managers in human resources,commerce, and operations for cosmetics, engineering and transport companies. Here are someexamples of their feedback from the program:

What aspects would you highlight as particularly effective or useful?

Tools and practical examples plus practice sessions

Theoretical tools applied in a commonsense, practical way. Easy to apply in the real world.

Anthonys vast experience and his method of communication, presentation skills are excellent.

Very interactive and role plays effective

Nice sized group

Various concepts and principles about coaching for change

It was fairly clear that participants enjoyed the program and found it worthwhile. They met theirobjectives to learn practical coaching skills. And these were delivered on a foundation of empiricallytested theory presented in a highly interactive and fun way!

Our next program with Dr Grant is scheduled for the week commencing February 17 th, 2003 after

Chinese New Year. He will be here to present a number of programs outlined below for the Singaporeregion. Please check with John Read to confirm the dates and program for next year or to indicate yourinterest in attending one of the programs.

So much for our newswhat about the industry? Our latest Job Index Survey results show a dim result:Employers not ready to increase hiring as economic uncertainty dampens optimism and attention turnsto China. Salaries will remain steady with little progression beyond economic adjustment. Thusmotivation will be achieved mainly through employees trying to hold their jobs and competitiveness isbeing driven by demand of business managers internally setting high revenue goals.

On the global scene there remains strong drive for re-structuring with many companies laying-off more

employees esp in the airline and technology sectors. Our local scene in Asia and Singapore is not soaffected by these global trends with these two sectors already quite competitive overall. Adjustment intech sector has nearly dried up apart from company specific needs usually as a result of M&A.

Human Resources staff are busy spending the last of their annual training budgets, and preparingbudgets for next year. In many cases they are meeting to plan their own strategies for Year 2003 as theymove to adopt a shared services or business partnering models.

If I could have input to their wish lists I might offer the following ideas:

Look at ways to help management to better manage morale in a fixed salary economy

Upgrade use of HRIS systems to deliver better performance measurement and support Management

and HR interventions in performance Seriously review performance and consider fine tuning the management talent bank to address the

tough issues facing business right now

Human Capital DevelopmentSingapore

Newsletter Sep/Oct 2002

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MOTIVATION AND PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTMost researchers say that motivation is driven by primary needs in the individual and their fulfilment or

not, from their external environment. How is important is this, is reflected in a recent statement by MIT

economist Lester Thurow who recently observed that successful companies (and countries) will compete

in the future based principally on the quality, capacity, and commitment of their human capital.

Helping managers to identify and change the motivating factors for their staff is a valid expectation ofhuman resources. However, this certainly cannot be achieved across the board with out involvement andsupport from senior management to put the tools of change into the hands of managers and equip themto use them.

Modern HR approaches expect managers to be leading the process of setting goals (Key performanceareas, key tasks, key performance measures) with their staff, monitoring their achievement andcorrecting deviations from them. This is fine as a framework, but it perhaps overlooks the role ofmotivation to work. Using any of the modern motivation theories we can see a trend towards capturingthe following critical attributes:

Self-preservation safety, rice bowl, bread-winner satisfaction of these needs is a common must

have driving many to work even though they may not have the other satisfiers below.

Relationships at work with significant others, these may be defined in order of priority: first and

most critical is the subordinate - immediate supervisor relationship (the critical retention relationshipfor almost all staff); then depending upon the nature of the work with peers, internal customers andothers as supporting relationships that help to satisfy needs for recognition and affiliation.

Job satisfaction the nature of the work and the individuals interest in the work, help to provide asource of achievement and self actualisation, for those who have moved beyond the first two above.

Perceptions of importance influencing perceptions of what is important is the role of leadership.

This is different from management in that it prefers to use a visionary model of communication andmotivation by building buy-in. In the longer term this is better for sustained performanceimprovements. Management can use disciplinary style or simple directive styles for short-term taskperformance but this will be unlikely to motivate better long-term behavior by staff. Helping managersto become managers and even assume a role as a better leader will help the company drive anagenda for better performance.

CULTURAL VITALITY MEASUREMENT AND IMPROVEMENTAt TMP we are helping a number of organisations to measure the vitality of staff and managementculture. The model used assesses both motivation and ability as the key factors driving performance. Ifyou are keen to know more about our services in this area, you can request a copy of our powerpoint

presentation of this program be emailed to you. Simply email me, John Read atjohn.read@tmp.com.

FUTURE PROGRAMS WITH DR. GRANT

We are exploring a number of possible program with Dr Grant for the first half of next year. If you arekeen to participate in any of these please drop me an email indicating your interest so that I can proceedto make arrangements.

www.sg.tmp.c

mailto:john.read@tmp.commailto:john.read@tmp.com

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