Chinese Version

Tuesday, April 18, 2006 SCMP Business Post
Part seven of eight

Creating Organizational Capabilities

Jacques Kemp Chief Executive Officer, ING Insurance Asia/Pacific

Jacques Kemp is CEO of ING Insurance Asia/Pacific, directly reporting to the Executive Board of ING Group in Amsterdam. He has been named Businessperson of the Year by the Dutch Business Association of Hong Kong. He spoke to Richard Ivey School of Business on leadership, creating organizational capabilities and implementing difficult changes.

On leadership

“Leaders should build organizational capabilities to allow everyone to excel in everything they do or have to do. I know that there are a lot of things such as vision, strategy and implementation, but I consider these things to be the simple part. You can do them first thing Monday morning. But life – especially in today’s fast-changing environment – is very complex. So my emphasis is on creating a process in which people can personally build upon those capabilities and then collectively as an organization develop organizational capabilities. Leaders should help to de-complicate processes and to make them transparent so that people can succeed in what they have to do and what they want to do.”

On pitfalls that leaders often fall into

“Many leaders end up adding complexity rather than reducing it, and this can be perceived as bureaucracy. There are many situations in which complexities are needed, but generally speaking the role of a leader is to remove, diminish or reduce the impact of complexity. This should be done within the framework of a very solid process that should be put in place so that people can find ways to accomplish things in a less complicated way. That means creating a process that allows the alignment of strategies all the way through to execution. This must be a detailed process that allows people to find their way around an organization and decide on what they have to do to make things work.”

On implementing difficult changes

“I don’t like the word ‘change’. I prefer what I call ‘continuous improvement’. Change might mean someone losing his job whereas improvement has a much more positive connotation. If you say that improvements are needed, people will be more receptive. They will be able to visualize the direction that you are headed in in order to achieve your goals. Many changes are a win-win proposition, and this type of change is okay. But there are also changes that bring friction, and these need to be handled with more care.”

On staying with one firm

“Although I have stayed with the same firm, my employers have changed as there have been many mergers and I have had many organizational settings and worked for many different bosses. Sometimes people change jobs because they get bored or they feel that they are at the end of their growth curve. I think that in the end what most people should try to do is figure out what their personal capabilities are and then look for the right fit within their organization.”

On cultural differences

“I have worked in many different cultures, and if people think that there are big differences, I would argue the opposite. Of course there are differences – such as language, history and culture – but they are not that difficult to reconcile because the fundamentals in any market are the same. You always want to make money, have fun, succeed, get ahead and compete. Most people are now wise enough to accept that we speak different languages and have different working hours. Just be adaptable and flexible and have empathy for all those type of things.”

Advice for someone just starting out

“Someone once said that the ultimate test of intelligence is that you have to be able to keep on thinking even when you have two opposing thoughts. In other words, learn how to reconcile conflicting ideas. It is necessary to develop an understanding that things are not just black and white. There can be many shades of grey. You cannot just appreciate the advantages of one and deny the advantages of the other.”

Engaging Employees Through High Involvement Work Practices

Recent research suggests that high-involvement work practices can help engage employees, which in turn can generate enhanced performance.

Click on www.ivey.com.hk/iveybusinessjournal.html to see what Alison M Konrad, professor of organizational behaviour at Richard Ivey School of Business, has to say about what managers can do to achieve a high-level of employee engagement.

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