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April 2015, 36th edition of my newsletter for Vietnamese & international relations.
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In this issue:
The 36th Dutch Vietnam
Management Supporter
This magazine was first
published in March 2007. It is
digitally distributed among
my Vietnamese & Dutch
business & private associates.
Purpose: to keep you
informed about my activities
in Vietnam and overseas
This amazingly attractive and
energetic country has rapidly
conquered my soul. It is my
home away from home.
Loek Hopstaken
Pr o f . L oe k H o ps t ak en
Em a i l :
l o ek . h o ps t ak en @ gm a i l .
c om
C e l l : 0 9 0 8 8 8 9 4 5 0
April, 2015
9th year, no. 2
Managing training
Picture Tet
1
2
A Learning Attitude
Givers & Takers
3
4
Truth in recruitment
Patronizing CEO’s Customers decide
Is work meaningful?
HRM & Leadership
5
6
7
Clients, services &
contact information
8
How do you manage
your training time? Why do companies train their staff? Most CEO’s will re-ply: “To increase productivity”, “To motivate staff”, or “To keep staff from quitting”. They expect a return on invest-ment. MNC CEO’s go for the middle or long term, most Vietnamese CEO’s for the short term. During our first meeting we identify the need for training. Usually this is
followed by intake interviews with prospective partici-
pants. The average time between a first meeting about a
workshop and the actual delivery is 5 months.
Speed record: less than 24 hours to decide & organize.
Procrastination record: 3 years, 3 months.
One often-heard reason to postpone training is: “We are too busy”. Another: “It is hard to get everyone together for two days.” How do you manage your training time?
Be who you are and say what you
feel, because those who mind don’t matter & those who matter don’t
mind. Bernard M. Baruch & Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss)
The 36th Dutch Vietnam
Management Supporter
9th year, no. 2 2
Shortly before Tet a VTV producer called me. She wanted to make a
program about a foreigner having a Vietnamese family, as they prepare for &
celebrate Tet. After consulting my wife I politely declined the invitation. Tet is
private: family, food, drinks, laughs, plus a short holiday. No tv crew please.
Therefore my 7th Tet was like the previous ones: family fun, followed by a
short holiday in Dalat. A great destination, just a bit too crowded during Tet.
We spent a few nights at one of Cadasa’s redecorated old French villas on Tran Hung Dao. A local pundit told me Villa Cadasa is losing money: “Vietnamese don’t like old houses.” I don’t believe it. Fact: the villas have been poorly redecorated, & refurbished with low quality furniture. Can’t blame Vietnamese for disliking that! Tip: restore & get quality furniture.
Tip 1 for Dalat visitors: try bun cha
Ha Noi at 28 Quang Trung.
Tip 2: avoid Duong Ham Dieu Khac.
This “theme park” pretends to give an overview of Vietnamese culture,
history & myths. Whomever
“designed” & executed it did an awful job. Never seen anything so
ugly. Still, some visitors don’t mind.
To me Dalat’s main attraction is its nature, coupled with a fine climate.
I’m not the only one who dreams of retiring in a restored Dalat villa,
somewhere in the hills, with a lake
view. Xuan Hung lake will do, but
Lang Bian lake (right) as well.
Is there life after work? Villa Cadasa, Dalat Duong Ham Dieu Khac theme park
3 9th year, no. 2
The 36th Dutch Vietnam
Management Supporter
Anyone who has ever been active helping new colleagues do a task knows the phe-
nomenon. Some listen attentively, ask specific questions and display eagerness to start
working. She easily connects with her new colleagues. Her attitude confirms you have
hired the right person. She becomes productive fast. This kind of recruit makes onboard-
ing fun. Then there is the other kind: bad listener, know-best, displays disagreement (or
lack of understanding), doesn’t socialize. Perhaps the CV was impressive, but a CV is on-ly part of someone’s full profile, saying very little about character or behavior.
Working with all kinds of groups taught me: forget satisfying everyone’s needs & expecta-tions. Groups consist of individuals, each individual having personal needs & expecta-
tions. Many have express them easily. They participate & contribute. Afterwards the re-
sponse of contributors is always positive. The person who hardly contributed however, is
not. He was passive & quiet, often distracted. Kept a distance (often sitting in the back),
sneaked out for a while, didn’t share thoughts. He’ll use a team assignment as an oppor-tunity to talk about other topics, disrupting the team process. Later he’ll complain: “It was not what I expected.” Or: “I don’t see the relevance for my job.” To others, not to me.
Of course there are many more than just these two types of learners. To keep it simple:
not everyone has a learning attitude. No. 1 Learning Inhibitor is believing you already
know everything. Ears are open to confirm known insights, but closed the instant some
unknown insight is highlighted. Learning Inhibitor 2 is having no, or a wrong purpose.
Examples of wrong purposes: to get a certificate; to please the boss (or family); to take a
break from work; to gain status. Learning Inhibitor 3 is wilful ignorance (= stupidity).
Learning Inhibitors are tough. Those who display them actively inhibit learning by the
group. However, you cannot tell a person he doesn’t know everything. Or change his pur-pose. Or explain that choosing to be ignorant is just a stupid, childish decision. My client
may insist this person participates (“It’ll be good for him.”). But I know what will happen when we deliver the training: he will not participate, drop out, disrupt others’ learning, make phone calls, play with his smartphone, and is likely to have negative comments.
To know everyone’s training needs, I usually conduct intake interviews. During an intake interview I check the participants’ Learning Inhibitors. While designing the training pro-gram, to maximize satisfaction of everyone’s individual needs & expectations, I will make it the best possible compromise. But I’m always aware of William Shakespeare’s wise words: “You can take a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink.”
Do you have a learning attitude?
Learning is finding out what you already know. Doing is
demonstrating that you know it. Teaching is reminding
others that they know it just as well as you.
You are all learners, doers, teachers. Richard Bach
4 9th year, no. 2
The 36th Dutch Vietnam
Management Supporter
Traditional for profit companies aim to maximize profit. Often ignoring its social & natu-
ral environment. It’s all about: conquer the market & make money. Nowadays, more & more young entrepreneurs disagree with this taker’s attitude. Their companies do not aim
to enrich the owners as their no. 1 goal. They actually care about people & nature, and
don’t want to cause damage. These entrepreneurs adopt the principle of sharing, or “giving back to society”: a giver’s attitude. It is based on the idea that a commercial com-
pany has a responsibility for both its social and natural environment. A famous example
is the “Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation”. Gates uses his immense fortune to fund many worthwhile causes, many in the field of science and education. These entrepreneurs —you
will find them all over the world—add action to words, funding orphanages & housing for
poor people, paying for operations, and arranging scholarships for children whose parents
cannot afford to pay tuition fees. They often set aside a fixed percentage of their profit.
In Vietnam we see a similar development. Both Vietnamese & foreign enterprises adopt
this giver’s attitude, some seeking publicity to enhance their reputation, others matter-of-
fact like, or just quietly. You know Pomina Steel from television. Lesser known—you have
to look for it—is Future.Travel, a travel agency in Ho Chi Minh City. On their website
there is a tiny link: corporate and social responsibility. There you can find out how a mod-
ern yet small company incorporates the idea of a giver’s attitude: “On check-out for a purchase, customers are presented options for supporting a Social
Enterprise that is endorsed by Future.
Travel. It may be building a house for
marginalized people in Southeast
Asia, buying a wheelchair for someone
who has no possibility of affording
such a luxury, or simply repairing a
congenially ‘broken’ heart through a simple operation.”
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
is a way to answer the question:
“How can we give back to society?”
See what you can do to incorporate
CSR. It enhances your corporate image
& will make your staff proud.
Are you a giver or taker?
85% of your financial success is due to your personality
and ability to communicate, negotiate, and lead.
Only 15% is due to technical knowledge.
Carnegie Institute of Technology
The 36th Dutch Vietnam
Management Supporter
9th year, no. 2 5
In recruitment the market mechanism of demand &
supply is always in full force. A job applicant is a
sales person who displays knowledge, experience &
skills. When he/she has a 13-in-a-dozen
combination, the recruiter determines the salary.
But when a company desperately needs a rare
combination of know-how & skills, the job applicant
may dictate the terms. That is, if she negotiates
cleverly.
The world of job market self-promotion has changed
dramatically. Internet dominates the job marketing
mix. It took 10 years, but today social media offer
the no. 1 networking & meeting platform for both
recruiters & job seekers.
The CV is still part of the mix. It’s a fairly detailed “product description”, with the sole purpose of convincing the recruiter that the person behind the
CV will be the perfect match for the job. And just
like in marketing & promotion, little & big lies slip
into the process. The recruiter must be aware of
this, and able to look behind the self-promotional
effort. It all starts with knowing the job—for many
recruiters a weak point. All they have is the vague
description of tasks as posted on internet. They
have no clue. In addition, they can’t detect lies. Yet, they should select a person who not only has a clue
& will deliver a top performance.
Another weak point of many recruiters: their
inability to appreciate corporate culture & to see if
a candidate would fit in. I had a talk with a
recruiter who flatly told me “culture is irrelevant”. Yet, it makes a big difference whether you work for a young Vietnamese startup or a Korean multinational, a state-owned enterprise or a factory run
by a European expat, a traditional Vietnamese family company, or an NGO. On top of that, job
requirements are often unrelated to the job. I see “bachelor degree” as a requirement for jobs where completed high school + on-the-job training would suffice. They are unable to recognize genius if they
met one. Who would identify the Vietnamese Gates or Musk?
Some recruitment agencies ask the right questions, both to client and candidate. They frequently
succeed in finding job-fit candidates. Still, I keep meeting highly qualified job seekers who had been
interviewed by “recruitment executives” who couldn’t answer one simple question about the vacancy. In need of a second opinion? When in doubt, let me know: [email protected].
Recruitment: searching for truth
Oh what a tangled web we weave / When first we practise to deceive!
Sir Walter Scott
The Fairy to Pinocchio:
Lies, my dear boy, are found out immedi-
ately, because they are of two sorts. There
are lies that have short legs, and lies that
have long noses. Your lie, as it happens, is
one of those that have a long nose.
From: Pinocchio (Carlo Collodi)
If you tell the same story five times, it’s true. Larry Speakes (White House Press Secretary under Reagan)
Not everything that sounds like a lie, is a
lie. It may be a viewpoint different from
yours. Reality often has many sides!
The 36th Dutch Vietnam
Management Supporter
9th year, no. 2 6
Ever worked for a patronizing CEO? How was it?
In the Top 10 of Vietnamese management
issues the non-listening, patronizing CEO
is a contender for the no. 1 position.
As you will know, most people don’t leave jobs, they leave managers. Some of these
managers are simply incompetent across
the board. But most—so it seems—are out
of touch with their staff. They only
communicate with their inner circle of “yes men & women”. Their problem is that they don’t see it as a problem. They continue to accuse resigning staff of disloyalty &
incompetence. Their friends are likely to
be managers with a similar problem. They
will meet, and agree that today’s staff is ... disloyal & incompetent. What to do?
I’m afraid there is nothing we can do for a patronizing CEO. Shakespeare’s words on page 3 apply: “You can take a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink.” Cartoon: Nick Galifianakis/For The Washington Post
But … that doesn’t make any sense! It does, when you’re a goat.
Linda Medley
We mature with the damage, not with the years.
Mateus William
Finding out what the end user wants is hard.
However, many marketers & product manag-
ers just skip it. Deeply in love with their own
ideas, they like to justify this omission with a
Steve Jobs quote. They convince themselves
they know what consumers like & are willing
to spend money on. 25 years ago it was a fact:
4 out of 5 new products failed upon introduc-
tion in the market. Reason: no market re-
search. They didn’t fill a need—despite slick
packaging. It’s 2015 & it seems to get worse. Wilfully ignorant marketers? At the end of the
day it’s the customer who decides. Be wise.
Photo: Valer Parvu—LinkedIn
The 36th Dutch Vietnam
Management Supporter
9th year, no. 2 7
Ever wondered why you do your job? The easiest reply: it enables me to have money. Suppos-
ing this is true for many, if not most, what would be a second reason? When I pose this ques-
tion to learners, I often get answers like: I need to do something I’m good at. And: I like work-
ing with nice colleagues. I like producing something. Some say: without work, I’m disconnect-ed from society. An Asian one: Being jobless means no money, but also loss of face.
The question “Why?” is a hard one. It immediately makes you think. It can paralyze discus-sions. Parents go nuts when their kid asks: Why do I have to go to school? “Why?” may halt
careers, cause confusion & wrong decisions. “Why?” is the phi-losopher’s question. HRM’s philosophers are the Ulrichs.
In their book The Why of Work (2010) Dave & Wendy Ulrich
ask seven questions to address the issue of why we do our jobs.
Answering these questions is a personal journey of discovery in
finding The Why of your
work. No why-
questions, but what,
where, who(m), how.
The road to answering
Why? is paved with
worldly questions, such
as: “What am I known for?” (your identity). And: “What challenges interest me?” (your per-sonalized contributions).
Why? triggers the philosopher in us. We need to contemplate these fun-
damental life issues. Contemplation helps us understanding who we are,
and getting a clear view—on the road in front of us, and behind us.
In The Leadership Code (2008) Dave Ulrich & his co-authors present a
handy model for your journey when you intend to lead people. I see it as
a companion volume to The Why of Work. I use the Leadership Code in
my leadership courses. It is part of Authentic Leadership (see: DVMS no.
35). As a mirror it reflects one’s core leadership duties. The Leadership
Code is a complete toolset to improve & refine them. Oh yes: it works.
I believe leadership is of crucial importance to successful business + life.
Not everyone has the talent to lead. But when you have it, use it.
Is your work meaningful?
Q: What is the meaning of life?
A: I think people ask that question on the assumption that
meaning is something you can look for, then: “Oh, I found it”. And it doesn’t consider the possibility that maybe meaning in life is
something that you create. Neil deGrasse Tyson
8 9th year, no. 2
In Vietnam: a.o. business field
Tan Thuan IPC Industrial development
HCMC University of Technology internat. MBA program
RMIT (HCMC campus) Pro Comm faculty
Royal Business School Courses & seminars
Int. Business & Law Academy (IBLA) Training & consultancy
Vietnam Airlines (ISM) International airline
Vietnam Singapore I.P. (SPECTRA) Industrial park
Petronas (SPECTRA) Chemical factory
Petronas Carigali (PACE) Oil & gas
Nike (Tae Kwang Vina) (SPECTRA) Shoe factory
Le & Associates Training & consultancy
Sacombank (Training House) Training & consultancy
Ministry of L.I.S.A. Civil Servants
SONY Vietnam Consumer electronics
CapitaLand Vietnam (SPECTRA) Real estate
Institute for Potential Leaders / PACE Courses & seminars
Dalat Hasfarm (Agrivina) Pot plants, cut flowers
Hoanggia Media Group Key to Success TV Show
Fresh Green Earth Hi-tech agriculture
Unique Design Interior Design/archit.
ERC Institute Vietnam Business school
Schoeller Bleckmann Vietnam Oilfield Equipment
Robert Bosch Vietnam (PACE) Electronics
De Heus Vietnam Animal food
Control Union Vietnam (SPECTRA) Quality inspections
Centre for Tropical Med.—Oxford Uni. Clinical research
Khue Van Academy Courses & seminars
CARE Vietnam (AIT) NGO
Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) Training & consultancy
HCMC Finance & Investment Cy (AIT) Investments
Academy of Finance MBA (Un. of Gloucester)
ITEQ Vietnam Mono-parts/assemblies
Vietnam Breweries Ltd (Heineken) Brewery
In The Netherlands, a.o.
ING Bank Financial services
Philips Electronics
Heineken Brewery
Yamaha Musical instruments
Damen Shipyards Ship repair wharfs
The 36th Dutch Vietnam Management Supporter
Loek Hopstaken’s Clients
Live long &
prosper.
Spock
Leonard Nimoy
1931—2015
The DVM Supporter is published by
Prof. Loek Hopstaken
Email: [email protected]
Cell Vietnam: (84) 090 888 9450
Cell The Netherlands: 06 510 97328 Assistant: Ms. Vo Ngoc Lien Huong
Email: [email protected]
Cell: (84) 090 888 9451
Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/loekhopstaken
Wisdoms
There must be
quite a few things
that a hot bath
won’t cure, but I don’t know many
of them.
Sylvia Plath
You take a poll of
any people. What
is it they want? The
right to write an
editorial as you
like? They want
homes, medicine,
jobs, schools.
Lee Kuan Yew
1923—2015