Tag Archives: cultural understanding

5 Powerful Habits of Successful Leaders

  By hmteam • November 20, 2015 ,

Successful leaders are the ones who can get the most out of the people they lead. If you can keep your team highly motivated and engaged in their work with no negatives such as unwanted stress, your company will benefit. A happy employee is a productive employee.

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Here are some habits that successful leaders have.

  1. They Create a Culture to Fit the Company’s Vision

Every company has a vision but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have your own. So create a vision that translates to what a great leader you could be. Next, communicate that vision to your organisation and your employees. Once they are inspired to achieve that vision, let them know what you expect from their individual roles. Employ your management skills to build the perfect work culture to fit your vision. Encourage trust, openness, fun and creativity. Let everybody share new ideas. Remember, you need to reach your goals together. So figure out the best way to do that.

  1. They Follow and Communicate Positive Values

Personal characteristics including honesty, integrity, objectivity and independent thinking are present in thriving leaders. You need to demonstrate these positive values at all times. When people you work with realise that you take your values seriously, they will reciprocate. Keep your eyes and ears open for any conflict in values because they can affect your organisation badly. For example, an employee who believes in using dishonest means to finish reports as fast as possible can ruin the work culture and deliver substandard work. So talk to everybody and find out how things are going at their level. Be there for them so that they are there for you.

  1. They Set the Bar High

Great leaders challenge themselves. They have clear goals that they usually exceed. When your employees see you meeting and surpassing goal after goal, they’ll know that you mean serious business. Along with being motivated, they’ll push themselves to do their best on the job too. You can help them set realistic goals while allowing them to make decisions about how it is done.

  1. They Handle Pressure Well

Tough times can drive some people into negative behaviour such as self-doubt and anger. Bad things will happen and you have to deal with them. Being the leader, it’s your job to keep calm and let others look up to you especially when they need you. That means that you should learn how to assess situations and take action while you keep the employees in the loop. Never leave them in the dark and never lose your confidence.

  1. They Believe that Success is Achieved Together

A simple thank you can act as a major motivator. Celebrate your employees’ achievements. Be personal and consider sending them an email or dropping by their office so that they know you don’t take good work for granted. Share credit with them if your projects get noticed. These behind the scenes people are important to your company.

A leader has a deep, long-lasting influence on the people he leads. If you lead well, your team will do great things for your company. Be positive. Build a rapport. Show them the way to success.

Check out the impressive list of Nanyang Fellows MBA alumni who have become top leaders in their respective fields!

Gear Up for a Role in International Business

  By hmteam • November 12, 2015 , ,

In today’s world economy, almost every business career is an international business career. And you are an ambitious, tech savvy person who is ready to be a part of this diverse scenario. There’s a lot of cultural exchange and business knowhow involved in every business interaction these days. Do you have the drive to succeed in this challenging environment? If you answered in the affirmative: Does your skill set include what it takes? Here’s your checklist.

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  • Be culturally sensitive

If you want to succeed in international business, staying stuck in your local cohort will not get you very far. You don’t have to travel to Spain to know that a business dinner could go well into the wee hours of the morning because the mealtime commences so late. You also don’t have to spend time in Japan to find out that the Japanese don’t think twice about asking people what they earn. Taking out the time and interest to talk to international students on your campus is good enough to teach you a long list of things like this. Extensive reading helps too. Or you could end up offending an elderly Japanese individual by offering to shake his hand. Some cultural customs may even irk you, but the more you know, the better for your growth.

  • Work on your language skills

Simply reading books often is one way to improve your language skills. Getting As in English classes throughout school and college doesn’t say anything about your conversational skills. Work on your communication. Push yourself to talk to more people and to develop good conversational skills so that you can build lasting relationships. Plus, knowing multiple languages is essential. Chinese languages have become popular for B-school students since the country has a booming international business environment. The truth is that people are comfortable talking in their local language, so remove that barrier.

  • Stay abreast of world affairs

There is a reason that there are so many newspapers and magazines in the market; you need to stay in touch with what is happening around you and elsewhere. When you are working in an industry, staying in a vacuum is just not and option. You need to read the news, watch the news, sign up for online alerts and know what is happening across the globe. Daily events affect stock prices and the prices of raw materials. Rapid changes like a terrorist attack in a safe city result in changed business processes and demand and supply. For example, somebody working in the hotel/tourism industry would need to know about the 2015 Bangkok temple blast because it obviously affected business. Knowing what is happening enables you to change and adapt your strategy accordingly.

  • Learn about governments/political relations

In the current business space, organisations work with colleagues and clients in various countries. Develop your knowledge of international politics and economics of the nations and cities that you work with. Find out about the chief minister/president and the ruling party. Then do your research and understand where things stand between the government of your country and that of those places. Also understand the relationship between the ruling party and its opposition. That could help you avert trouble if you are offering goods or a service in their location. For instance, a multinational company that runs cab services globally will study each location, learn about its trade unions and understand how supportive or unsupportive political parties are when it comes to welcoming foreign business.

The Nanyang Fellows MBA programme

The Nanyang Fellows MBA programme nurtures candidates who go on to succeed in the international business world. From top experts teaching you to time carved out for a visit to a top US B-school, there are multiple elements to bring you closer to your career goals. Whether you want to start your own entrepreneurial venture after years in the workforce or join the coveted C-suite, the entire experience will help you build the skills and mind-set needed.

As a representative for your company in the global arena, you’ll enjoy new experiences each day. Even if you aren’t always on a plane, you’ll be going places as you continue to excel as an international communicator.

Making Sense of the Global Workplace

  By hmteam • October 25, 2015 ,

 

 

 

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Businesses have been tackling an evolving scenario post the 2008 market crash and the subsequent economic downturns. You’ve probably confronted some of those changes yourself whilst being part of a team. The demand for sales and trading roles isn’t as high as before. Mergers & acquisitions roles have gained popularity. With the jobs market being more stable now, a lot of people are interested in financial training as a key to switch roles or move to a different kind of a company. Reflecting on the globalised nature of the industry, top business schools are welcoming more and more students from around the world. There’s clearly been a rise in internationalisation.

Ethics and responsibility

The effects of economic ups and downs have not stopped impacting world financial centres. That is why there is a big emphasis on risk management, with B-schools updating their regulations curriculum consistently. Ethics is another area of interest that scores high on importance. Sustainability doesn’t lie far behind. What started as a small module in many business schools has become a core subject for many. A good knowledge of mathematical tools, plus a confident grasp of world financial markets, and IT techniques, is your recipe for success here. In fact, your current role has certainly exposed you to these aspects in some degree already. But even if you know it all, you need to know how to use it. An MBA programme such as the Nanyang Fellows MBA aims to create managers who are able to reflect on and look at the implications of their action AND their inaction.

Internal Collaboration

Collaboration and teamwork characterise today’s professional life, regardless of your location. Businesses want their employees to work together and create results even if they are thousands of miles apart. The global workspace now demands that you work together remotely, so a greater focus is given to international teamwork. If a business has teams collaborating efficiently, problem solving and the creation of positive results will come easily.

Knowing how to effectively collaborate is a skill you can nurture every day. Just always be open to spending time with all kinds of people even if you have a language or cultural barrier. Think of the executive who had coffee with a visiting colleague and how he found out that India doesn’t allow people to find out their unborn baby’s gender. That would definitely help him when he’s working on a campaign involving pregnant women in India.

Cultural understanding and agility

Global employers value cultural awareness and agility. You need to be ready to take care of yourself and business irrespective of your surroundings. That means that you could be sent off to live in a remote country for three months and you would have to deliver results while you are sitting there with the local people, eating their local food, speaking their language, and joining them for festive occasions. You may have already spent some time outside your home country, but did you stay there as a mere tourist? Next time you go somewhere, venture to spots that are not traditionally touristy. Who knows? You could find out something that the people don’t like and never repeat it again with clients from that country.

Leadership, consulting and entrepreneurship

Everybody wants to be a leader. The evolution of business and management careers has brought entrepreneurship and consulting to the limelight. It isn’t always about creating great products – it could also be about delivering unparalleled service that impacts multiple countries and thousands of people. The business industry sees people breaking away from the corporate ladder to start their ventures every day. When you choose to do an MBA, you get the opportunity to rethink your career path. Some successful start-ups have started from a college dorm room. So what are you waiting for with your years of experience? Build your business plan and take it from there. See how it goes. If consulting is your passion, then go for it. Once you are into it, you’ll know what is going right and what is going wrong.

The Nanyang Fellows MBA is for seasoned professionals like you, who are ready to embrace these challenges head on. The evolving business world needs well-trained professionals who can combine their experience with top class knowledge. That’s how leaders are born.