He is known
for his uncompromising attention to quality and service. He has a sharp
intellect, notoriously well-read and has no patience for idle chatter. He constantly refers to key management books
like Good to Great, The Toyota Way (which is mandatory reading
for all new hires within 6 months of joining his organisation), to illustrate
how his organisation continues to top MOH’s customer service satisfaction
surveys year after year.
He made sure I attended his organisations 2-day induction program for new employees before I
conducted classes in performance management for his management staff so that I was familiar with the organisational culture and ethos. Such is his
attention to detail.
A pharmacist
by training, Liak Teng Lit is Group CEO of Alexandra Health (formerly CEO of
Alexandra Hospital), one of the 6 health clusters in Singapore. It is anchored
by the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital and tasked to look after the health of more than
700,000 residents in the North of Singapore.
He was
speaking at a HR conference this week, where the majority of the audience were
SME bosses, and he shared a talent management snippet from a person he said he
admired greatly – billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist Li Ka-Shing.
In Mandarin,
it simply says 会认人, 会用人, 会做人
会认人 – means being able to identify talent
(and attract them to your organisation)
会用人 – means being to leverage and deploy
that talent (to your organisation’s advantage)
会做人 – means to know how to treat people
well & fairly (which will engage and retain talent)
This
resonated well and deeply with many within the audience and his sharing that
day was rated the best amongst all the assembled speakers.
For all the
many management philosophies, principles, theories and even fads from the more
well-documented and vocal West, the simplicity and elegance of these words, is
just inspiring.
What are you doing today to Retain, Identify, Deploy and Engage your talent?