• Swindon & Wiltshire Tech
• Friday June 21 2024
• Author Name: Peter Davison

Sydney, Bangkok, Singapore… Swindon – speakers provide fascinating insight into what Asian businesses are getting right (and wrong)

Bogged down by bureaucracy – that’s why fast-moving firms in South East Asia think their counterparts in Europe and the United States are experiencing sluggish performance. Meanwhile, companies in the East are battling conservative cultural attitudes.

During a Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce seminar in Swindon, local business leaders were joined virtually by young professionals from Sydney, Bangkok, and Singapore.

The session, chaired by leadership coach Jeremy Blain, sought to look at business transformation – the implementation of new digital technology into all areas of business – to better serve customers and give companies a competitive edge.

While the transformation will be digital, the panel agreed that humans will be at the centre of the transformation. “Digital transformation is not about tech, it is about humans,” said Jeremy.

Jeremy’s new book, Unleash the Inner CEO, is not a self-help tool. Rather, it is a call for action for businesses to empower employees at all levels through ‘distributed leadership’.

Speaking from Sydney, Georgia Ronald, head of talent, and leadership development Asia Pacific for Becton Dickinson Group, said South East Asia had a young population and was experiencing fast growth.

Yet it is difficult to implement digital transformation from the UK and US. “Employees need to be on board. Empower them to be part of the change,” she said.

She also said companies were grappling with ’20th-century thinking’ originally imported from the West. “Culturally, young people are taught not to challenge authority.

“One manager takes the view that if you don’t wear a tie, you’re not talent,” she said.

“Leaders here need to unlearn the old ways of thinking, and companies need to create leaders at all levels.”

Delfin Juan, communications and engagement director for Standard Chartered Bank Asia Pacific in Singapore, argued that transformation leadership was about ‘how to let go’.

He explained his job is to “connect people at the top and bottom” of his organisation. “Inclusivity, engagement and wellbeing are important,” he said.

“People are still your biggest asset, and they are not robots. Always consider the people at the core of the transformation.”

“But we are taught not to answer back. It’s hard to express thoughts and emotions. Employees need to have a safe space to voice concerns.”

Speaking from Bangkok, Tareef Jafferi, founder and CEO of Happily.Ai, explained how the AI-powered software he has developed to understand staff satisfaction in real time was revolutionising employee engagement in ways that monthly catch-ups or annual appraisals cannot.

“Businesses need to understand Generation Z and what drives them,” said Tareef.

The event was held at The Royal Agricultural University’s Swindon Cultural Heritage Institute, part of the Carriageworks development.