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| My new life | | Date Created: Apr 10, 2005, 06:38 PM |
It has been 40 days since I took over my new job. If it had not been clear to me before, it is painfully clear to me now how much of a misfit I was at my previous job. I left on what I thought was a sour note. I left without saying goodbye to anyone and clearing out my things on weekends when there was no-one to see my slink away in the dark of the night. There were weekends when I so dreaded going to work that I did not even bother to check emails during the weekends. This is a sacrilege for someone in my position who is supposed to be on call 24/7.
In comparison, I have felt so energised since coming over. The challenge of turning around a once-proud unit that has been blighted by poor management has given me a chance to apply my management philosophies to a cause that resonates with me --- the injection of more diversity into Singapore. It is a decidedly unpopular cause but something that I feel very strongly is essential to Singapore's long-term future. It reflects my own experiences --- seeing as a young undergraduate how the US embraced people of all states and emerging stronger as a result; or the various journeys that my fellow students in London Business School had taken and how I emerged stronger.
One significant point of departure that I have made from my previous organisation's philosophy is that I feel that change comes from people's beliefs and strengths, and not from structures and processes that management might have put in place. In the previous place, we put in many structures and processes, hoping that these would drive behaviour in our favour. What we have not understood is that people stymie or undermine our best efforts to influence them through structures with espoused aims that do not sit in with their own beliefs.
This is why I got my new senior group to take a Belbin profiling test that uses a 360 degree assessment to show you how you work best in teams. My individual profile was very revealing in that it articulated what I instinctively knew all along. I won't go into the technical details of the Belbin tool but here is an extract from my individual report that will shed light for those who are familiar with the two organisations that I have worked in, as to why I feel so much better now ....
"Yours is essentially a profiling profile. You are one of the few people equally ready to develop new ideas on your own or in conjunction with others. Your best line of work is one in which you are required to explore possibilities and to take advantage of new opportunities. You have some features of the visionary. But take care you do not become isolated from others and resistant to the contributions that they can make to the development of what is new.
The implications for career development are that you need to steer yourself towards areas where change is highly valued. That would provide an environment in which you could flourish. The only disadvantage is that it might not be so easy to establish a unique role for yourself. Paradoxically, the best opportunities may lie in a very conservative organisation that is now ripe for change. To take advantage of this you would have to take care on how you would proceed, for otherwise your non-conformist approach could land you in trouble. Do not try too many new things at once. Some people in well-structured jobs might feel threatened when you are around. Therefore it is important that you should not allow yout innovative tendencies and interests to unsettle others. Make sure the ground has been adequately prepared. Here you would be helped by working for a boss who can orchestrate your efforts and act as an intermediary with the establishment.
Your operating style is that of one who always seeks to be at the cutting edge of change. So remember that this is a hazardous spot to occupy. You will need to respect others of more traditional habits if you are to win respect yourself.
You do not have the characteristics of the practical organiser who attends to all things that optimise efficiency. So if you can work in harmony with someone who has these complementary qualities, your own performance is likely to improve."
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