A stellar example of empowerment, humility and respect; a stellar example of MY LEADER.
A living example of commonly cited hallmarks of great leadership. Walk the talk.
Me and my former boss, forever leader.
Empowerment, humility, respect—traits often cited as hallmarks of great leadership. Here’s a stellar example of MY leader, Tony Cousens, the outgoing General Manager of Aloft Singapore Novena.
Recalling the day I joined Tony as Director of Human Resources for the pre-opening of the very 1st 2 properties under the Wyndham Hotels & Resorts in SG, we knew we had a tough battle ahead regarding manpower. Tony said, “I am not afraid of not being able to fill the rooms. I am more concerned that we cannot find people in this climate.” We talked about the need for a solid organizational culture as our strongest competitive edge. Since culture is about collective behaviors anchored on shared values, we agreed to prioritize screening the values of every candidate, ensuring everyone who stepped through our door shared the hotel’s values. I got permission that as DHR I’d have an equal say in every recruitment thereafter for a good check-and-balance.
The fun began.
One Saturday morning during the pre-opening stage, Tony called me, excited about a candidate for the F&B Exec Asst Manager role he had spoken with and that we needed to ‘quickly grab’ him. The second interview with me happened that same afternoon when I rushed back to the office to meet the candidate — just to disagree with his choice. The first test of recruiting based on common values. When I shared my views and my ‘no’, I looked straight into Tony's eyes for response. Without any hesitation, he accepted my ‘no’ as a ‘no’. There was no negotiation for someone he was excited about. He won my 1st respect. That was the 1st time, and more ahead, that my view as DHR was respected, with whom decisions of recruitment were jointly made, from the senior roles, to the most junior of staff.
Given also that behaviors are mainly driven by senior leadership, we agreed to be each other’s sounding boards in our leadership behaviors.
Came another test of walking the talk.
When the hotels were in full operation, there was an occasion where an employee was misunderstood, and I felt she deserved an apology from the senior leadership. I told Tony we owed her an apology. He patiently listened to me, and then asked for the staff. The next thing I learned from the staff—Tony apologized to her.
And I can rattle on with such humbling experiences with Tony.
Empowerment, humility, respect. So easy said than done. It is when a leader walks the talk that he or she will be highly respected, and a healthy organization culture can be shaped.
As a leader, how do you walk your talk? How do you watch your own leadership behaviours at work?