theceomagazine.com | 31fully sponsored two-day course every
quarter. The modules in the course include
sessions requiring active engagement of
the participants in role play of several core
leadership skills. For example, emotional
intelligence is addressed in the first module.
Participants were tasked to discover
self-management skills through the role
play. In subsequent modules, they will also
learn influencing skills and the skill of
negotiation, and what it takes to lead a
high-performing team. The interval between
these sessions provides these leaders the
opportunity to apply what they have learned
in the program and put it into practice in
the real world. I believe this is a quick way
to reinforce the learning experiences.
We are hoping that at the end of the
two years, which will be by the first quarter
of 2019, we will be able to elevate most, if
not all, of these emerging leaders into
leadership positions.
Development program aside, I would
like to see every engineer I hire into my
firm find fulfilment in a meaningful career
with Beca. I want to uncover their potential.
My leadership team and I have the
responsibility to provide opportunities
for them, but it’s up to each individual
to work towards progressing the path of
reaching their full potential.
Is this a cycle that you’ll keep
repeating after the current batch of
leaders come through?
Yes, I will. I have presented this program to
my Asia board and they are very supportive
of it. After the current batch have graduated,
we will identify another batch whom we’ll
develop for the next couple of years. This
process will be repeated until we can find
other means of developing our people.
Quite often when someone rises to
the top of an organisation, they’ll just
stay there with no future plan. How
important is succession planning
in business?
I think that’s a good question. Apart from the
emerging leaders program which I talked
about, I have other initiatives that I’ve put
forward to my group’s HR to assist me
in terms of developing a succession plan for
my role as managing director. I believe in
leadership succession in a sustainable business,
and so, I need to have a plan to find
successors who will one day, when I move
on to other roles, take on my position and
bring the business to another level of
excellence and success.
Leadership succession is not just at my
level. In Beca, for example, below me are the
Operations Managers, below them are the
Section Managers and below them are the
Team Leaders. So you can see that we have
quite a hierarchy. These are the positions
that would require succession plans, in
putting people into these positions whom
we think can contribute and excel effectively
as a leader.
Succession plans may not be immediate
but at least the plans should be put in place
so that, in times to come, another group of
people will be able to move into those roles.
If an organisation keeps doing that, I »Interview | INSPIRE