All organizations depend largely on their leaders. A good leader not only supports development of an enterprise but also improve employee retention. However, is it possible to measure and improve leadership of a leader with specific parameters?

The answer is yes. At the “Leadership towards sustainable development” seminar which was organized by Le & Associates Corp. on April 21st in HCMC, participants were surprised by a comparison between Vietnamese leaders and leaders in the region and in the world. The results came from an assessment of over 50 business leaders in the country.

For instance, many Vietnamese business leaders stress the importance of encouraging employee development and put it into the top three of the 16 criteria of a leader. However, the result showed that some leaders do not really care about or do not know how to motivate and develop staff effectively.

This problem happens not only to Vietnam, but also other Asian countries. Generally, leaders in Vietnam and Asia are more driven for result. There is nothing wrong with it. However, Dr Joseph Folkman, co-founder and CEO of Zenger Folkman, advised that leaders should encourage their staff more often, as when leaders focus too much on management without a good overview, they may make the business head to the wrong direction.

Besides, compared to leaders in Western countries, Vietnamese leaders’ capability to do differently, think creatively and make bold actions is somewhat lower. This is because leaders of Asian companies tend to be humble.

The measurement helps leaders have the most precise overview at their capability. Thereby, leaders know strengths that they need to develop and weaknesses that they have to fix. What if leaders can either develop their strengths or fix their weaknesses, how should they choose?

Almost all participants at the seminar agreed that leadership could be trained. It is impossible to train leaders to have all leadership competencies. The training will be more effective when leaders only focus on three to five leadership competencies based on their strengths.

“In Vietnam, most junior managers and senior managers are promoted because they perform well in their professions before. We need to train their leadership early so that they can perform better at a management position. They not only bring good results, but also are able to motivate others with overall management vision,” Folkman said.

Le & Associates is the official strategic partner of Zenger Folkman in providing the strength based leadership assessment in Vietnam. The Extraordinary Leader assessment can be taken separately or bundled with L&A’s training services to maximize results for businesses. This is the effort of L&A to complete the “Total HR Turnkey Solution” in order to help local businesses to optimize their inner strength for smooth planning to implementation.

[Source: Sài Gòn Times]