Issue 2 \\ 2013 • $8

Today’s Multi-Generational Workforce \\ Can They Work Together?

The Owen Perspective \\ View from the Top

Fast Expanding Markets \\ Looking at Global Markets

MaxiMising HuMan Capital

by Professor Sattar Bawany

COVER STORY

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SS

In today’s struggling global economy, it is im-portant for organisations to leverage the know-ledge, skills, and abilities of all workers, from all generations. By capitalising on the strengths and values of different generations, business leaders can create a sustainable competitive advantage for their organisations.

Changes in the demographic characteristics of Singapore’s workforce deserve more attention from academics, employers, employees, and

policy-makers. Today, many organisations have four generations working side-by-side in the workplace.

According to Kupperschmidt3, a generation of employ-ees consists of individuals born approximately within the same time span of two decades each. He explains that a generation is an: “…identifiable group that shares birth, years, age, location, and significant life events at

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Table 1: The multi-generational workforce

Generation Years Born Work Perspectives

Traditionalists 1922–1945

Company loyalty: Believe in working for the same company their entire career.

Baby Boomers 1946–1964

Live to work: Believe in putting in face time at the office. Women enter the workforce in large numbers.

Generation Xers 1965–1980

Work to live: Believe that work should not define their lives. Dual-earner couples become the norm.

Generation Yers 1981–1994

Work my way: Devoted to their own careers, not to their companies. Desire meaningful work.

Generation Zers 1995–present

Living and working their way: Their struggles in the work environment are tied to their youth and inexperience. Desire for change, stimulation, learning, and promotion that will conflict with traditional organisational hierarchies.

agers is: “Do we want our legacy to be of mentoring and empowering the next generations, or of fighting them tooth and nail?” Organisations that embrace gene-rational differences in values, ways of getting things done, and ways of communicating will thrive.

Demographic and social trends will have a significant impact on the workforce in the coming years. In today’s struggling global economy, it is important for organisa-

critical developmental stages”. Others believe that when individuals from the same generation share similar his-torical, economic, and social experiences, they will also have similar work values, attitudes, and behaviours4.

The business world is progressively becoming more global. Services and products offered by businesses are also becoming more focused and targeted at specific demographic segments. Many organisations today have worldwide customers who demand excellent services and products that meet up their diverse needs, expecta-tions, and priorities. Simultaneously, the composition of the global workforce is also changing significantly.

After World War II, the Traditionalist generation, born 1922 to 1945, tended to work at the same employer for an entire career. Beginning with the Baby Boomers, born 1946 to 1964, women and ethnic groups began entering the workforce in increasing numbers. They brought different needs and perspectives to the work-place. As the Generation Xers entered the workforce, they increased job hopping in an effort to increase their income and balance their lifestyle. Although some employers made accommodations in response to the demographic shifts, the basic work model—top down, command and control, one-size-fits-all, eight to five workdays—did not radically change.

Now, the emergence of the digital-savvy Generation Yers has the potential to change the face of work to be more collaborative, to use virtual teams, to use social media, and to offer more flexible work hours2.

The Fifth Generation Employers must be prepared for a new breed of em-ployee which is poised to enter the workforce. A whole generation of them, known as Generation Z, are highly connected individuals who have grown up with high-speed Internet, smartphones, and online shopping. Born from the mid-1990s onwards, they will enter the work-force in the next five years. This is a generation that has never known a life without superfast communication and unlimited access to media technologies.

The five generations and their birth years are depicted in Table 1.

Challenges in Managing a Multi-Generational WorkforceA major challenge for today’s Traditionalist and Baby Boomer managers is to figure out how to develop younger workers into tomorrow’s managers under a new business environment. A pivotal question for man-

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tions to leverage the knowledge, skills, and abilities of all workers from all generations. By capitalising on the strengths and values of different generations, business leaders can create a sustainable competitive advantage for their organisations.

Firms struggle with the challenge of effectively mana-ging a more diverse workforce. These challenges of-ten relate to variation in perspective, values, and belief systems as a result of generational and age differences between managers and employees. The assumption that people of varying ages will understand each other or have the same perspective and goals, is untrue. In order to be successful, managers need to understand and va-lue diversity that results from generational differences, varying perspectives, and differing goals.

Each generation brings different experiences, perspec-tives, expectations, work styles, and strengths to the workplace. Despite the perceived generation gap from differing views and potential conflict, organisations have the opportunity to capitalise on the assets of each generation to achieve competitive advantage.

Each brings unique assumptions to the job. As a result, events in the workplace are often interpreted differently by individuals in different generations. What may seem like good news to a Baby Boomer might be an unsett-ling and unwelcome development to a member of Gene-ration X. Things that members of Generation Y love of-ten seem unappealing to those in older generations.

Like any other generation, Generation Z brings its own mindset into the workforce. They are also called Linksters because no other generation has ever been so linked to each other and to the world through techno- logy. Their struggles in the work environment are tied to their youth and inexperience. They are complete dig-ital natives and cannot function without communicating through social media. Their desire for change, stimula-tion, learning, and promotion often conflicts with tradi-tional organisational hierarchies.

Leading and Engaging a Multi-Generational WorkforceWhen employees join an organisation, they are usually enthusiastic, committed, and ready to be advocates for their new employer because they are engaged.

But often, that first year on the job is their best. Re-search from Gallup Incorporation reveals that the long-er an employee stays with a company, the less engaged he or she becomes. This causes businesses to lose out

on profit and sales, and it lowers customer satisfaction. Gallup estimates that actively disengaged employees cost the American economy up to US$350 billion per year in lost productivity.

Managers who harness this unprecedented opportunity for growth, development, and collaboration can build bridges between generations and will thrive in today’s turbulent economic landscape.

For managers who have four generations of employees working on a project, it can seem like each generation has its own worldviews, priorities, career models, mo-tives, and values. They need to enhance their under-standing of generational characteristics and the impact of their own management practices on each of these groups. By doing so, they can leverage on the strengths of each generation. Taking full advantage of the multi-generational workforce will enable employers to effec-tively attract and retain employees, build teams, deal with change, and increase employee engagement.

Impact of Leadership Effectiveness on Employee Engagement and Organisational SuccessOrganisations need to deliver service value and build good customer relationships in order to generate sus-tainable results through their loyal customers. In Figure 1, we can see that employees at the forefront of the ser-vice delivery chain hold the key to building this loyal customer base1.

Employees who are engaged and motivated are instru-mental in delivering the service experience for clients which results in customer engagement. The level of employee engagement depends on the organisational climate, which refers to how employees feel about work-ing in the organisation. It is the process of quantifying the culture of an organisation.

We know that leaders create, transform, and manage or-ganisational cultures. The leader’s values, beliefs, and leadership styles will impact the organisation’s climate. We need “Level 5 Leaders” who demonstrate ontologi-cal humility and possess emotional mastery. They also need to possess essential integrity in discharging their day-to-day role and responsibilities towards engaging the employees.

In his book, Good to Great, Mr Jim Collins examines how a good company becomes an exceptional company. The book introduces a new term to the leadership lexi-con—Level 5 leadership. It refers to the highest level in a hierarchy of executive capabilities. Leaders at the other

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References1Bawany, S (2011). Ways to Achieve Organisational Success: Role of Leaders in Engaging the Multi-Generational Workforce published by Singapore Business Review, 1 November 2011.

2Bawany, S (2013). Unlocking the Benefits of a Multi-Generational workforce in Singapore published by Singapore Business Review, 24 January 2013.

3Kupperschmidt BR (2000). Multigenerational employees: strategies for effective management. Health Care Manager. 19 (1): 65-76.

4Smola KW, Sutton CD (2002). Generational differences: Revisiting generational work values for the new millennium. Journal of Organizational Behaviour. 23 (4): 363-82.

5Tay A (2011). Managing generational diversity at the workplace: expectations and perceptions of different generations of employees. African Journal of Business Management Vol. 5(2), pp. 249-255, 18 January, 2011

6Zemke R, Raines C, Filipczak B (2000). Generations at work: Managing the clash of Veterans, Boomers, Xers and Nexters in your workplace (2nd Ed). American Management Association, New York, NY.

Professor Sattar Bawany is the chief executive officer of The Centre for Executive Education. He is also con-currently the strategic advisor and member of International Profess- ional Managers Association Board of Trustees and Governing Council and is the co-chair of the Human Capital Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore.

Figure 1: Impact of Leadership on Employment and Cust-omer Engagement1

four levels may be successful, but are unable to elevate companies from mediocrity to sustained excellence.

Level 5 leadership challenges the assumption that trans-forming companies from good to great requires larger-than-life-leaders. The leaders that came out on top in Mr Collins’ five-year study were relatively unknown outside their industries. The findings appear to signal a shift of emphasis away from the hero to the anti-hero.

According to Mr Collins, humility is a key ingredient of Level 5 leadership. His simple formula is Humility + Will = Level 5. He explains: “Level 5 leaders are a study in duality. They are modest, wilful, shy, and fearless.”

Managers who build bridges between generations and harness this unprecedented opportunity for growth, de-velopment, and collaboration will thrive. Although it may seem like a monumental task for management to ensure that employees understand and accept the idio- syncrasies of each multi-generational group, it is not impossible. Management must be the first to acknow-ledge and accept the unique characteristics and expecta-tions of employees from different generational groups.

Management should also ensure that individuals from different generations perceive each other more posi-tively to avoid any intergenerational disharmony. The sooner employees from all the existing generational groups learn to respect and accept one another the easi-er it will be for them to welcome Generation Z employ-ees to the new workforce after the year 20205.

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Management & Leadershipwww.ft.lk

TUESDAY MAY 27, 201412

E f f E c t i v E l e a d e r s in organisations bring together both individu-als and organisations to solve customer and org anisat ional prob-lems, but there is a dif-ference between leaders and leadership.

L e a d e r s r e f e r t o individuals who have unique capabilities to guide the behaviour o f o thers to del iver o u t s t a n d i n g r e s u l t s o r r e s o l v e i s s u e s . Leadership refers to an organisation’s capacity to build future leaders and leadership bench strength.

A n i n d i -vidual leader matters, but an organisa-tion’s leader-ship matters m o r e o v e r t i m e b o t h t o s h a r e -holders and c u s t o m e r s . t h e r e f o r e , organisations must not only invest to help i n d i v i d u a l leaders to be m o r e e f f e c -tive through coaching, 360 feedback, and by executing i n d i v i d u a l development plans, but also must invest to build leader-ship depth by devoting sufficient time for lead-ership development.

Build leadershipGenerally there are

a few key things that organisations can do to upgrade the quality of leadership in a firm. the quality of leader-ship will drive busi -ness performance both inside and outside the organisation.

Org anisations with leadership depth will have the capacity to respond to changing business condit ions, e x e c u t e s t r a t e g y, increase investor con-fidence, and anticipate and deliver those cus-tomer requirements. Often leadership suc-cess remains inside the company. As a result potential leaders learn from other leaders in the company who have succeeded.

the criteria of leader-ship should start with customers. the owners in a fir m must define the company’s intended brand and then identify the leadership behav-iours consistent with this exter nal brand. When leaders inside the company behave in line with the expectations of customers and other stakeholders outside the company, the leadership becomes more sustain-able and effective.

Also by defining inter-nal leadership through exter nal expectations

w i l l s e t more rel -evant and impactful leadership standards. Once lead-e r s h i p standards a r e s e t , l e a d e r s need to be a s s e s s e d o n h o w well they meet those standards.

t o g e t an exter-nal view, leadership 360s may be expand-ed to 720s where cus-

tomers, suppliers, com-munities, re gulators, or other external stake-holders may be included in assessing targeted leaders.

the board of directors should also regularly assess the cEO’s perfor-mance both inside the company with his team, among his employees and outside the compa-ny with key stakehold-ers.

this type of assess-m e n t o f f e r s a m o r e complete view of lead-ers who have key roles to play with exter nal stakeholders.

Assessment also helps to identify high poten-tials and future leaders by looking at the extent to which they have aspi-rations to lead, ability to meet future challeng-es, and agility to learn and grow.

it is the responsibility of the board to keep an eye on potential leaders’ ability to serve custom-

ers and engage employ-ees to do their best work.

Leadership investment

the traditional for-m u l a fo r l e a d e r s h i p investment has been 70-20-10. the logic is that 70% of lear ning and development is on the job; 20% from feed-back and observation of role models, and only 10% from training.

Now it is suggested by Prof. Dave Ulrich, t h e a u t h o r o f t h e ‘Leadership code,’ that t h i s fo r m u l a s h o u l d shift to something like: 50% of learning from job experience, including mirroring role models, 30% of learning from updated training and 20% of learning from life experience.

M o s t l e a d e r s h ave learnt and learn from experiences outside of work, in families, social settings, social networks, volunteer work, reading, and travelling. When companies can encour-age and access knowl-edge from these l i fe experiences, leaders will broaden their repertoire.

for example, many companies now use their cSR efforts as develop-ment opportunities for high potential leaders.

this mix of leadership investments in my view is the foundation for a professional approach for development of lead-ership t h ro u g h o u t a firm.

(The writer is a thought leader in HR.)

IntroductionSO, what is all the fuss about Generation ‘Y’ (those born between 1980 and 1995)? Are they different? Yes. Are they difficult? Different is only difficult when we don’t understand or can’t under-stand what the difference means. As a leader, manager, supervisor, what can you do to increase your effectiveness when motivating and managing Generation ‘Y’?

influence and inspire. As a Gen Y myself, from discussion with my peers, we believe these are the two values Gen Y employees admires most about their leaders. their leaders must have the ability to empower and excite them towards not only the organisation’s goals but towards personal excellence as well.

Many bosses find themselves in leadership positions without ever having consciously made the choice to become a leader, let alone a great leader.

for these bosses to evolve into an exceptional leader for the youth, they first have to step down to the level of the youths. they have to show them that they were exactly where they are when they started and that it is indeed pos-sible to climb up the corporate ladder to reach the position they are in now. Now how exactly does one do so? Here are some practi-cal guidelines:

1. Talk to themEveryone wants to

feel important, and what better way to show the importance of your employees then to get to know them on a personal level. Share with them your personal journey about how you’ve reach to the top of the ‘food chain’. Provide them with that sense of belonging that motivated you to stay on with the organisation and it is likely that that same reason would be the rea-son that would make them want to stay on as well.

2. Hang out with themNow, i don’t mean to be weekend

hang out buddies, no. there still need to be a boundary between boss and employee. However, have a get together every now and then to show your employees that you care and that you are genuinely concerned about their well-being and their happiness in the organi-sation. Yes, there are retreats and all that usual shenanigans, but you need to show that you are involved. You are interested and involved in the team bonding efforts that go on in the organisa-tion.

3. Be a confidant Everyone loves a listening ear,

especially the youths at our day and age. they have the constant perception that the boss is only someone who gives orders and instructions and not to be messed around with. Whilst being firm, offer to be a friend to the employ-ees. Don’t just listen, but hear them out, their problems and what challenges they are facing. Help them understand the reason for some operation procedure and the direction the organisation is heading in the next few years. that way, everyone would be on the same page.

today’s Gen Y is an interesting group of people and a vital one for that matter. Succession planning is crucial and there is always a need to stay relevant, on that note youths are the future of the next generation, thus there is a need to invest significantly in them.

Leading and engaging Gen Y at work

for the first time in modern history, workplace demographics now span four generations, mean-ing that 20-year-old new hires can find themselves working side-by-side with colleagues who are older than they are by 50 years (or even

more). the five generations and their birth years are depicted in table 1.

Gen Y (including in large number of today’s Youths) are also individuals who holds on to grudges, any bad experience with you and they will remember it for a long time, so be careful what you do to them. At the same time, the youth these days make it a point to go above and beyond their call of duty and often produces excep-tional work. All they ask in return is acknowledgement. A simple pat on the back and words of encour-agement does the trick, trust me.

Leaders for the youths are scru-tinised pretty intensely at this day and age. they play a vital part in the motivation process of the youth’s professional journey. Leaders with the ability to present themselves well have already won the hearts of the youth. Youths feel that, “if i put in effort to look good and professional, you should too.” Now, i’m not talking about superficiality, i’m talking about looking professionally good.

All in all, the ability to connect and gel with the youth is not an easy task. it takes a lot of effort

and may be a little time consuming but the results would be tremendous. Good leadership is hard to come by, good leader-ship for the youth, is extra work. However, it would be all worth it when you hand over that office of yours to your predecessor who was once a youth under your wing.

t h e ‘ P e t e r Principle; states that in modern organisa-tions, most bosses rise to the level of their least competence, like the specialist (e.g. accountant, engineer, lawyer, etc.) who is

so good at their craft that they get promoted to a management posi-tion in ‘charge of people’ without having mastered any real leader-ship skills. And then they bomb. it’s not their fault; they were pro-moted into the position with little or no training or mentoring... it’s sink or swim.

What Gen Y looks for in their leaders?

things are not how they used to be. Employee expectations have definitely changed with regard to work. Leaders can no longer ignore these new expectations nor refuse to adapt their leadership style and methods to deal with these new expectations.

in a research report published in Singapore on ‘Gen Y at Work, their views and How they are viewed,’ Gen Y-ers believe that it is most important for their leaders to be caring, inspiring and compe-tent. On the other hand, manag-ers from the Other Generations believe in demonstrating compe-tence, honesty and a forward-look-ing orientation to the Gen Y-ers they lead and manage.

the overall pattern of results clearly suggests that there is a gulf between the Gen Y work-force’s expectations, and their managers’ beliefs about how to lead them. the results suggest that Gen Y prefers relationship-oriented leaders, while their man-agers believe in demonstrating a relatively more task-oriented approach to leading them.

What makes a great leader in managing Gen Y?

in several cases that centre for Executive Education (cEE) came across in consulting engagements, well intentioned promises of lead-ership development, coaching or mentoring were made to the leader when they were appointed, only to fall by the wayside because more pressing business matters crowded out the hours in the lead-er’s day.

Like a captain of a sporting team or a general of an army, leaders need to innovate, inspire, excite or provide a clear vision to others. they hold and believe in a vision and just as importantly,

have the self-belief and convic-tion to communicate it to others. furthermore leaders do not have definitive characteristics. Some inspire and organise, whereas others are strategic or tactical, spot opportunities or protect against disaster.

Leadership is a journey of dis-covery. it is the expression of a person at his or her best whose aim is to transform something for the better and to develop this potential in others. it is not a solitary pursuit but one that har-nesses the energy of those around you.

A manager can implement pro-cesses, monitor performance, set business goals and objectives and generally take care of the day-to-day needs of their staff. However achieving authentic leadership takes more than textbook man-agement skills.

cEE believes that with the rel-evant executive development sup-port, those with leadership poten-tial can be devel-oped into out-standing leaders.

N o o n e c a n argue that a great leader can boost an organisation’s growth and per-formance in much the same way a poor leader can run one into the ground. But what makes a leader effective or inef-fective is a more nebulous concept to pin down.

A c c o r d i n g to Jim Kouzes, author of the best-seller ‘the L e a d e r s h i p challenge,’ the qual i t ies that make an effective leader have two distinct perspec-tives: what follow-ers look for and what research from the past few decades has shown. “there are four things consistently that we have found that people most look for in a leader. Number one, people want a leader who’s honest, trustworthy and has integrity. Second (they want someone) forward-looking, who has a vision of the future, foresight and thinks about the long term. third, people want a leader who is competent, has expertise, knows what they’re doing, and fourth is inspiring, dynamic, energetic, optimistic and positive about the future.” these still hold true on what Gen Y-ers expects from their leaders.

Leadership stylesGen Y is well known for want-

ing more flexible work sched-ules. With mobile technology and cloud solutions widely available, resistance to alternative work schedules by Gen X or Boomers Manager is becoming a barrier to progress at the workplace. All managers must get to a similar understanding of why Gen Y looks at flexible work arrange-ments as a given. With globali-sation a force driving corporate strategy, allowing employees to choose to work nights and week-ends over day shifts makes sense. Working from a cafe today and

hotel, onsite tomorrow is smart business.

those managers who grew up in corporate-land believing work occurs between 9-5 need to learn to rethink how, where and when work gets done. Gen Y gets this. it’s time that Managers of other gen-eration must do, too.

Some people have one style of leadership, which is fine if they can find a situation that requires that style of leadership.

flexible leadership, however, involves being able to adapt your leadership style according to the generational make-up of the team and situation – e.g.: taking charge when a team is forming but play-ing the role of coach when a team is managing itself well.

Overall, cEE research suggests that Generation Y is an ambi-tious, impatient and yet tremen-dously promising generation, one that employers must listen to

in order to bring fresh ideas and per-spectives to tradi-tional operations. though success-fully connecting with Generation Y may be challeng-ing at times, the consequences can take employers from good to great, and prepare for an uncertain and rapidly-changing future.

ConclusionLeaders today

are facing a critical challenge: how to adapt their leader-ship practices and style to get the best out of Generation Y employees. they can’t do so alone. Organisations have a responsibility to help managers understand how workers’ expecta-tions have changed and how they can adapt their leader-

ship style to these new conditions. More importantly, organisations needs to provide leaders with the tools and processes which allow leaders to reward and recognise, train and develop, empower gener-ation Y employees more effectively.

for Singapore’s budding leaders to compete with the world’s best, managers need to embrace the lat-est techniques of executive devel-opment to enhance their abilities to better manage the Gen Y and soon Gen Z workers. the price of not doing so will create plenty of managers, but very few leaders.

finally, remember: Leadership development is a journey, not something that can be learned on a five-day training course. it requires time, reflection and a high level of self-awareness.

[The writer is the Gen Y Business Development Manager of Centre for

Executive Education (CEE Global) and is a recent graduate of Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s School of Business and

Accountancy. CEE Global offers execu-tive coaching and leadership develop-

ment programs that help professionals develop the skills and knowledge to embrace change and catalyse suc-

cess in their industries. Website: www.cee-global.com Email: adam.bawany@

cee-global.com.]

Generation Y: Are we preparing leaders to deal with this generation of new employees’ expectations?nFrom a Gen Y youth’s perspective

Leaders today are facing a critical challenge: h o w t o a d a p t t h e i r leadership practices and style to get the best out of Generation Y employees. They can’t do so alone. Organ isa t ions have a respons ib i l i ty to he lp managers understand how workers’ expectations have changed and how they can adapt their leadership style to these new conditions. M o r e i m p o r t a n t l y , organisations needs to provide leaders with the tools and processes which allow leaders to reward and r ecogn i se , t r a i n and develop, empower generation Y employees more effectively

Why companies must invest in leadership

Guest Column

By Dinesh Weerakkody

A n i n d i v i d u a l leader matters, but an organisation’s leadership matters more over time both to shareholders and customers. Therefore, organisations must not only invest to help individual leaders to be more effective through coaching, 360 feedback, and by executing individual development plans, but also must invest to build leadership depth by devoting sufficient time for leadership development

Guest Column

By Adam Bawany

Managementwww.ft.lk

THURSDAY JANUARY 17, 201314

By ShaBiya ali ahlam

Q: You conducted a CIMA master-course on ‘Leveraging on a wider

generation.’ This has both challenges as well as opportunities. What are the prevailing challenges in that area?

A: When discussing leveraging on a wider generation, we are talking

about leading and managing a multi gen-eration workforce which includes the tra-

ditional baby boomers and Generations X, Y and Z. In terms of the disparity due to the different age expiration, different value systems and different career aspi-rations, there is a chance of potential conflict since the ways and means of com-munication is different from one group to another.

When you look at people in Generation Y who are very intrigued with social media, they are used to using comprehensive elec-tronic communication methods while the baby boomers communicate in the old tra-ditional ways. Generation Y expects situa-tions to happen fast and immediately and anticipate instant gratification.

What it means is that a situation arises where managers are not able to deal with the communication conflict. The challenge there is removing the communication con-flict that prevails among the diverse gen-eration workgroup.

The opportunity there is that when you are able to engage and pull through

the differences well, you are able to have a cohesive and productive team working together while at the same time producing better results in the working environment. It is the role of the leader to communicate effectively to each of the groups of differ-ent ages and generation types.

Q: Can you stress more on the opportunities that lie there?

A: For example, looking at Generation Y, there lean more towards the use

of latest state-of-the-art technology. On recognising this, you can leverage on their expertise and have them extremely involved in functions of the company. For instance, they can be spokespeople and brand ambassadors of companies as they can communicate the company’s value proposition effectively through social media networks.

Each company has what you call a value proposition. Basically why should some-one join organisations like John Keells, MAS Holdings or Hayleys? Generation Y understands technology very well and they are able to communicate, broadcast and make known the working environ-ment and opportunities of being with the company. This is just one advantage of having younger generations as spokes-people as they are recognised as effective communicators.

There is a concept called reverse men-toring. This is where the younger group of employees who are intimidated by technology communicates to the manage-ment of the organisation certain aspects that they find difficult to master. For example, Nestle wanted to know what the younger population’s preferences are and wanted to get a good insight into the target group’s physiology and consumer behaviour trends.

If you are trying to sell and make prod-ucts that are for younger generation, you should speak to the younger generation. If you have employees who are young, they can provide insights into their gen-eration’s preferences. An organisation can depend on that to develop strate-gies on marketing and in other areas when catering to that target group. In a nutshell, reverse mentoring, employee value proposition and branding are a few opportunities leveraging brings in.

The other opportunity it provides is to look at the strength of each generation. For example, as you look at Generation X, they are very intrigued on working col-laboration. Interestingly, Generation Y is closer to the baby boomer generation because the parents of Generation Y are mostly from the baby boomer segment, so the opportunity is that you can form a very collaborative workplace environ-ment with baby boomers as mentors and supervisors for Generation Y.

The HR director or manager can actu-ally assign the two generations to work together. It is also advantageous to the organisation to be able to provide col-laborative team projects. Unfortunately, Generation X is perceived to have a ‘know it all’ attitude which is a misconception. The generation wants freedom, wants to be able to change jobs as and when they please, while for Generation Y, work has less meaning to them.

This can be explained better through an example. Companies that believe in CSR want to contribute to the society. Generation Y loves a company that has

a socially responsible policy and they want to able to effectively contribute to the company. They want to be more engaged and with that, they will be more productive. But one has to be careful with Generation Y as they do not want to be told what to do: they want flexibility.

Generation X is more about following the ‘do it my way’ strategy. Generation Y looks for involvement and their relation-ship with their boss in more important to then when compared to Generation X which puts more importance on finan-cial gain and compensation.

There is are a lot of differences and a good manager should understand this diversity and take the opportunity to make matters more productive.

Q: So basically, you cannot apply one set strategy when it comes

to managing generation diversity in the workforce?

A: Exactly. You need to look at what the different aspirations are in

each group and then look at how you can provide a strategy to enhance the pro-ductivity of the group. Customisation is necessary and the management should look into different value systems and strengths of the generations.

Q: At the directors’ forum, the topic ‘Intellectual capital, a

strategic difference’ was discussed. Tell us about the prevailing situation in South Asia in that scenario.

A: Intellectual talent is literally about the war of talent.

One should be very spe-cific on how one could win the war of talent. It’s about retaining and recruiting the right people and talent for the job to help in the execution of strategies. It is about defining recruit-ing, retaining and devel-oping of talent to help you reach the set goals through proper execution. That is about control and how you are able to get the most out of it, while creating sustainable competitive advantage.

We are talking about multigenerational talent as well. Looking at different age groups in the organi-sation, it is important how you identify the right talent and most importantly the right potential. We are talk-ing about future leaders. How do you develop future leaders? We should define the group of people who we can invest in over a period of time, allow-ing a smooth transition for them to take over the leadership position one day.

In South Asia, we have a shortage of talent and we have the older generation retiring. We have an influx of the young-er generation so how can you prepare the younger crowd to swiftly take on the role of leadership? They are inexperienced, eager and excited to play the role but how can we prepare Generations X and Y to assume the role of leadership when the baby boomers retire? These are aspects that need to be looked into.

Q: Certain research studies have explored the option of recruit-

ing known persons with known tal-ents rather than taking in unknown people with unknown talents. This is nepotism and cronyism to some degree and is against the ethics of HR. What is your opinion on that?

A: Unfortunately it is a reality, in countries even like the US, UK and

other developed nations – people tend to bring in individuals and former asso-ciates that they know and are familiar with. To me, that is not correct. To me, you should hire people with the right set of skills needed for the job waiting to be taken up.

It should never be a policy to look for someone who you know. Logically it is correct, play it safe by recruiting who you know rather than experimenting with an unknown person. However, by doing this, you will be missing out on better talents out there. It is about being fair and follow-ing good HR practices that are healthy for an organisation. It is important to give everyone an equal opportunity and based on that, may the best talent get the job! It is the best practice to follow irrespective of age and gender.

Q: What are the challenges you think organisations face when

trying to retain their ‘skilled’ employ-ees, and does it eventually tax them?

A: It is a challenge. When you have proven yourself to have high poten-

tial and when you have a high demand in the job market, the organisation wants to keep you and competitors want to employ you. For this purpose, leaders have to understand who the people with high potential are, identify them early on and engage them.

Let them know that they are valued and acknowledge their talents while let-ting them know that you are interested in investing in them to enhance their tal-ents and skills. They should be able to see a career progression. You have to make it clear that you want them. Having said that, there is the pull factor where com-petitors might offer opportunities with better salaries, benefits and a better posi-tion in their organisations.

It is the responsibility of business lead-ers to invest time to develop their star employees’ talents. This will not tax an organisation ever as when retaining high skilled and exceptional performers, due to their contribution made, the return the organisation would make is three or four times the investment.

Q: Singapore is a role model coun-try for economies like Sri Lanka.

What best practices we can bring from there to here?

A: Sri Lanka is a small nation with a small population and therefore

human capital is limited and scarce. Extremely talented individuals are lim-ited. The war for talent is not intense. If you ask me what to learn from Singapore, I would say two things: one is to have the desire to invest in and develop human capital, both from the side of the govern-ment as well as from the side of private institutions.

In Singapore, the government provides incentives to train employees. They give

tax breaks and training grants. Private companies are involved in training and developing while provid-ing opportunities for indi-viduals to go out to learn and then they welcome them come back. Many Singaporean companies of fer flexible workplace arrangements, for example they do not enforce a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. work period. They encourage working from home and also encourage mothers on materiality leave to return to the com-pany by giving them work-ing flexibility. These strate-gies have proven to be suc-cessful and help boost the economy.

The other learning is to bring in fair employment practices and Singapore is gaining ground in this area. We have an ageing popula-tion in Singapore and we do not want to discriminate the elderly. We want to give

the older population an opportunity to continue working. These practices could be considered in Sri Lanka.

Q: In Singapore, the public and pri-vate sector works hand-in-hand,

but in Sri Lanka we see a notable dis-tance between the two. How do you suggest Sri Lanka minimise this gap and help boost the economy?

A: It is a little difficult to comment on Sri Lanka. In Singapore, the

government emphasises the importance of productivity and the importance of investing in people and human capital. We are small, we want to be able to invest in people’s talent and provide organisa-tions with the means to train people and keep them employed within the country.

O n e g o o d e x a m p l e i s t h a t t h e Singaporean government provides an absentee payroll for employees who go on training. When you go on training, you are actually up-scaling your productivity and skills from which the organisation is also going to benefit. For this, the govern-ment will pay your company an incentive for you being absent from work.

The Work Force Development Agency of Singapore offers such incentives to the private sector, acknowledging their con-tribution to the economy of the country. Sri Lanka should consider such meth-ods as public and private partnership is very important. The Government should acknowledge the fact that the perform-ance of all organisations contribute to the performance of the economy. The public and the private sectors should work closely for the benefit of the nation.

Q: Given that this is your first visit to Sri Lanka, what will be tak-

ing back with you to Singapore from here?

A: I think my dialogue at the sessions with managers as well as CEOs was

a productive one. My observations are that people in Sri Lanka are very bright and are very eager to engage in learning. The senior leaders indeed are very expe-rienced.

Q: Do you see yourself visiting Sri Lanka again?

A: I certainly hope so. CIMA has invited me for the conference that

is scheduled to take place in July and I am thinking about it. I most likely will be coming down again, but it’s not certain.

Managing generation diversity and acknowledging human capital in a workforceProfessor Sattar Bawany, the Master Executive Coach and Facilitator Managing Director for Executive Development Associates Asia Pacific and Strategic Advisor for the International Professional Managers Association was in Sri Lanka recently to facilitate two mastercourse ses-sions organised by CIMA Sri Lanka. With over 25 years of international business management experience, including 15 years in executive coaching, group facilitation, leader-ship development and training with global consultation firms, Bawaney was impressed with the highly experienced corporate leaders of Sri Lanka and their willingness to learn more despite their seniority. Visiting Sri Lanka for the first time, he suggested that Sri Lanka should learn from other countries and revo-lutionise the country’s way of doing work. He has also been invited by CIMA to be a part of the conference that is scheduled to take place in July this year. Accommodating a slot into his tight schedule, Professor Bawany, who is also the adjunct Professor of Strategy for the Paris Graduate School of Management, spoke to the Daily FT prior to taking off to Singapore. Following are excerpts are from inter-view:

If you are trying to sell and make products that are for younger generation, you should speak to the younger generat ion. I f you have emp loyees who are young, they can provide insights into their generation’s preferences. An organisation can depend on that to develop strategies on marketing and in other areas when catering to that target group. In a nutshell, reverse mentoring, employee value proposition and branding are a few oppor tunities leveraging brings in

Master Executive Coach and Facilitator Managing Director for Executive Development Associates Asia Pacific and Strategic Advisor for the International Professional Managers Association Professor Sattar Bawany – Pic by Sameera Wijesinghe