By Ramesh Subbaraman
What is the definition of leadership success? Is it about winning medals and awards when one is in charge or is it more about a team in an organisation that continues to perform once the leader has left?
NTUC Secretary-General (SG) Chan Chun Sing shared his thoughts on the subject at the recent Labour Movement Servant Leadership Conference 2015 with the theme ‘Make A Difference’.
The conference was organised by the Ong Teng Cheong Labour Leadership Institute.
The Journey Onwards
Putting his audience of trade union leaders at ease with personal anecdotes, SG Chan said one of the things he had learnt during his Boys’ Scouts days at Raffles Institution was the definition of success.
Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew once said: “When you are around and things get done, I am not impressed. When you are no longer around and things are still done, I am impressed.”
Relating the thought to his work in NTUC, SG Chan elaborated: “Very often we benchmark our success on what we can achieve at work. So when I joined NTUC, I asked myself what I can do these few years. These few years are not a distinct phase of NTUC’s journey. They are a continuation of a journey undertaken all these years that, regardless of whoever is the leader, the broad direction of taking care of our workers, to better the lives of our workers, must continue.”
Mr Chan stressed that it is not what is achieved during one’s tenure that is important. It’s the team continuing with the work and achieving beyond, that is important.
No One Left Behind
According to SG Chan, the next lesson in Servant Leadership is to ensure that no one is left behind.
Reflecting on his days with the Singapore Armed Forces, he spoke of how he led and turned around a unit of obese personnel and nearly a hundred men with secret society links.
Mr Chan reminded unionists that in the quest to win and do well, there’s often the tendency to disregard those who may not excel in the organisation.
“Is our definition of success to bring in all the best people we can find to build the team, or is our definition of success, regardless of the team that we are given, to bring out the very best in them so that each and every individual in the team can feel a sense of pride, a sense of accomplishment and that they too will work hard and lead successful teams themselves.
“If we can do that, maybe one day, it will inspire us to define our success as not just something for ourselves but something for those we are leading… but most importantly, those whom we are serving, according to their needs to bring up the best in each of them so that they can be proud of themselves and be contributing members in the Singaporean society,” said SG Chan.
Concluding, SG Chan said, “We never aim to be a solid Labour Movement. But if we do the right things for our workers, being a solid Labour Movement is inevitable”
Source: NTUC This Week
