As a mid-sized company in our industry that is quickly growing, we are up against the same challenge that many other rapidly expanding businesses are facing here in China. That is, the ability to identify and develop top leadership talent among our mainland staff. As I often tell our relatively young management team, unless they are able to take on greater levels of accountability for managing and developing staff, then we aren’t going to be able to grow our business as fast as we’d like. In looking among them to identify who we should invest our limited time and resources into developing as high potential, future leaders in our company, I always focus on two main qualities that I believe are especially relevant to mainland professionals when it comes to their demonstrating their leadership to an organization and to others.
Are You Really Up For Being A Leader?
The first leadership quality that I try to identify is a person’s overall willingness to take on responsibility. If you are managing a team, then your team members’ quality of work, work attitude, and commitment to achieving results are a direct reflection of your leadership ability as far as your company’s top management is concerned. The success or failure of the team and each individual on your team is your accountability. Therefore, as a manager of people, you have to be prepared to take on the responsibility to do whatever is needed to bring about a successful outcome for those you are leading.
Actually, it is not just the people you manage that you need to be responsible for, but the decisions that you make as well. By definition, a leader is someone who is out in front of many situations, where you are constantly determining the direction and objectives for the group. As you move higher up in an organization, the impact on others from the decisions that you make increases. As a result, you have to be willing to not only make those critical decisions, but also stand by the outcomes that result from them.
What Value Do You Provide Others?
In addition, the level of responsibility and commitment that is involved to take on a leadership role requires you to have a basic desire to want to make a difference for those under your charge. As a result, the second quality that I look for when trying to identify strong leaders for our company is whether they fundamentally care about others. “Unfortunately, many of the mainland managers that I’ve seen tend to be me-centered and do not convey a real interest in the development and success of those that they manage,” according to the human resources director of one of our clients. “They place too much emphasis on authority as a leadership approach and do not recognize the effectiveness of providing value to others as a way to win over and motivate their team. Just ask yourself to what extent are you willing to follow someone that you do not feel has a genuine concern for your success or well-being? On the other hand, what is your willingness to work hard and overcome obstacles for someone that you feel has your best interests in mind?”
A True Sense Of Leadership
In providing a good example of this, I like to talk about the leadership approach of our Shanghai branch manager, Rita Dong. In addition to opening and overseeing many of our key client accounts, she leads a growing organization of over 25 search professionals in Shanghai. Not too bad for someone who only recently turned 27-years old.
Rita did not exactly begin her career on the professional management fast-track. Before joining our company, she was a hotel management trainee and then an executive assistant to the general manager for a leading international telecommunications company. When she came to Wang & Li four years ago, she began as the office administrator for our Beijing office. Within a month, however, it was apparent that she was capable of doing much more. She showed her capabilities in every opportunity presented to her and her career has been climbing with us ever since.
What makes Rita one of the most outstanding young leaders that I’ve ever met is that at such a young age she is able to develop and lead other professionals in our company, even those 5-10 years older than her. While I have met many impressive, young individual contributors over the years, I don’t know many who are mature and capable enough to be such a strong people manager at such an early career stage. What allows her to do that so successfully is that she always wants the team that she’s a part of to do well and does everything that she can to make that happen.
“The main thing that I try to do as a manager and leader is to help others be more successful. At my age, I know that people may be initially doubtful of my capabilities,” explains Rita. “So I don’t try to impose my ideas or presence on others. I just try to lead by example and support my colleagues in whatever ways that I can to help them do their job better. Actually, it’s much more satisfying to me personally to see someone on my team close a big case than for me to do that myself.”
“Rita’s generosity as a colleague and leader is really exceptional,” says Echo Cui, Wang & Li’s Beijing branch manager. “When I first joined the company as a new search consultant, she never tried to establish her authority or superiority with me. Instead, I really felt that she was interested in helping me out. She proved that time and time again by offering me advice, input, or whatever else I needed. Even though I’m several years older, I’ve learned a lot from her. In many ways, she’s my role model for many of the things that I’m trying to do well as a leader myself.”
In your own organization, who are the people who are willing to take on responsibility and who demonstrate a genuine interest in looking after and adding value to the success of others? In terms of staff who may be worth investing in as future leaders in your organization, I believe that the people who come to mind in response to these two key qualities are ones who are worth serious consideration.
