Asian Talent Development

Asian Talent is a strategic necessity, not a ‘nice to have.’ We shape Asian leaders to transform the region in visible, impactful ways.
Asia as a region is known to be synonymous with the word “opportunity”. Increasingly, the emerging economies of Asia are playing a critical role globally, while the rest of the world faces unprecedented uncertainty. Asia is undergoing its own transformation with greater economic prosperity, ease of access, a rising middle class, increased Global MNCs, and new customer segments. As businesses tap into the opportunities presented by an emerging customer base in Asia, they need to be mindful of the intensifying competition for Asian talent and leadership, which are fundamental assets to achieve business sustainability, competitiveness, and success in the region. In terms of regional talent, leadership pipelines in some organizations in Asia are weak, and experience significant challenges with overall talent scarcity, especially with talent retention and attraction.

We find 5 common areas of development for Asian talent:

  1. Creation of a strategically healthy pipeline of Asian talent with ready-to-move positions
  2. Leaky pipeline – Retention of High Potential Talent is a challenge with ”the lure” of competitive offers from industry
  3. A robust system to marry performance with potential, for proper Talent Identification
  4. Insufficient Sponsorship and Mentorship from Leaders to promote Asian Talent
  5. Resolving dilemmas with Asian Talent who look for faster career progression and better work life balance

Developing Asian Talent on the executive level requires the ability to hold complexity at a large scale, while simplifying the needs and methods that will take the organization and its leaders to where they need to go. CorporateDNA helps organizations and its leaders to bridge gaps while appreciating what makes each market unique – honouring the strengths, challenges, interferences, and passions that are unique to the region and their OpCo identity.

CorporateDNA’s Asia Talent Development program recognizes that executives themselves are key stakeholders. CorporateDNA co-creates a fully customized learning journey that is relevant to your organizational needs within the APAC context, and personalised to individual competencies; combining the precise functional, management, and leadership skills that are required of your leaders.

There’s a heart centeredness in CDNA’s work that is so apt for these times, when we need increasingly more authentic leaders in our midst. Creativity and flow mark our collaboration with CDNA for our Asian talent program. Nothing ever feels false, but yet no matter what the medium, they always manage to get the people in the deep space necessary for important self-work to be done. Nowhere have I seen this tested more than during this COVID period where we were forced to shift our leadership program online and work with emerging leaders across the region. There’s also sustainability. Two years on, our pilot participants have continued to grow and mature, often referring back to the live exercises as not only the pivotal moment, but also the grounding of their leadership foundations.
General Manager Global Operations and Sponsor of Asia Leadership Program,
Shell
CorporateDNA integrates 5 key principles in building an Asian leader

CorporateDNA integrates 5 key principles in building an Asian leader, which keeps development objectives and methodologies consistent and simple, while keeping the program personally relevant and nuanced.

  1. Showing up with Authenticity – on the personal and professional level without leaning on a “mask to fit in”. We address blockers, interferences, and relational crutches that steer Asian leaders to stay safe, default to the status quo and edit themselves to fit in.
  2. Courageous Conversations – where clear communication and psychological safety is ensured. Truly productive and necessary discussions are embedded into daily working practices, rather than caging areas of development due to fear of consequences, hierarchy-laden processes, or siloed working environments that produce unhealthy competition. Developing Asian leaders to hold and to encourage courageous conversations means that Asian leaders are able to accelerate value and faster-decision making, which cascades in all layers of the organization.
  3. Multiple Pathways for growth and discovery – we develop Asian leaders at different inflection points. At the Leadership Team, Management Team, and the layers below (MT minus 1 and MT minus 2). The core of developing Asian leaders is about maximizing potential, which can mean upward expansion, lateral movement, and taking on different niches.
  4. Leadership Agility – instilling agility in Asian Talent requires confidence and a sense of adventure. There is a need to empower leaders to break free from edited selves. In developing Asian Talent, we address the introvert vs. extrovert disparity, levelling up cultural-awareness, building up globally-ready competencies, driving purpose and passion-led leadership. When Asian Leaders realize their authentic selves in leadership, challenge upwards, and match up to their true potential, breakthrough performances and enterprise-wide revitalization truly begins.
  5. Mastering Storytelling – in Asian Talent there is a need to activate themselves as compelling and invigorating leaders, in addition to effective execution. Many Asian leaders need that extra push to overcome their edited selves, and take a heart and people-centric approach. Obligation and liability can only take a leader so far. The best way to unlock their true potential is in mastering the art of storytelling, which provides self-initiated passion and purpose as a foundation to the work they do, amplifying their impact through inspiration and vision.

CorporateDNA customizes each learning journey to the needs of a specific learner, through adult learning principles, psychometric analyses, self-exploration and mindfulness, frequent 1:1 coaching from experts and in small groups, and intense individual feedback with key stakeholders and talent experts. This is combined with intimate knowledge of the functional and relational challenges of each leader’s role, through an intimate working relationship with each leader’s department head. This program will challenge candidates’ belief systems and previous successes, in order for them to thrive in a new, more advanced playing field.

CorporateDNA’s Asia Talent Development program has proven successful over the last 12 years and has helped fast track people’s careers toward globally ready, confident, and motivated leaders in senior management. More than 85% of the candidates have discovered a greater sense of mission, insight, self-awareness, and belonging within their team, function, and organization. CorporateDNA has also been rated one of the best providers to deliver a structured, leadership development experience virtually with the same impact and ROI (face to face, live online, moderated online, or as self-directed learning.) 

In addition to the ROI on the delegate, CorporateDNA is committed to activating the power of the Asian Talent development cohort as a critical mass of influencers that breathe life, drive, and purpose into their teams and peer groups. This ensures that the reinvigoration that your delegates experience will be paid forward to the wider business and inspire others to create sustainable shifts in the organization.

CorporateDNA knows all the processes, tools, and levers for highly experiential execution that delivers results.

Here are our illustrative tools that activate the magic of the 5H©:

In all of our programs we always:

Engage us when:
What we Deliver:
You want to nominate a global pool of 50-100 high potential leaders across your Asian/APAC region.
  • Our trademark Asia Talent programs start by co-creating an end-to-end process of defining the key success criteria for the ROI, followed by a careful nomination process to develop a critical pool of high potentials, to engage and develop them through a holistic development process toward destination roles.
You want to create a local Asian Talent Development program to drive a pipeline of local talent
  • Our program is tailored to your regional business needs and delivers a robust pipeline of ready-now Asian talent through an end-to-end Asian talent elevation experience.
  • We design constructs that offer roadmaps ranging from 3m to 18m designs based on budget, availability, and resources.
You want a compelling narrative with a clear WHY to engage the organization on Asia Talent Development
  • Asia Talent development usually lines up under two strategies – driving performance or preparing for the future.
  • We deliver upfront investment on “whatever it takes” to create a roadmap of engagement, hard proof points with key milestones, and a strong narrative around your leadership purpose so every stakeholder is aligned with the “Why”.
You want flexibility, relevance and choice

Designed by experts in learning design and content curation, enabling learners to advance their personal development – when and how it works best for them

  • Personalises learning to the delegate / cohort
  • Develops Asian talent with relevant, recommended learning stimulus
  • Engages learners with curated, updated content on a wide range of topics
  • Integrates learning into busy work diaries through “bursts and sprints” approach 
  • Creates a community of social learning
You want to retain talent in critical roles through long term engagement and retention.
  • Our process to helps your talent drive growth opportunities in the Asian business to improve bottom-line performance and drive strategy execution without getting stuck or stagnant.
  • Create learning teams that show impact through a few important projects, creating a “halo effect” that builds confidence with other stakeholders.
  • Create an organizational culture based on values of ownership, and releases energy back into the organization through strong business contribution.
You want to drive Inclusion and Diversity in the Asia organization as a real enabler of success through the talent agenda.
  • Our inclusion-rich design where diversity of composition and inclusion of diverse perspectives is a central red thread of the Asian Talent program in leadership from across gender, nationalities, and functions.
You want to Make Asian Talent development sustainable beyond the planned program delivery
  • Education for sponsors and leaders on how to apply CorporateDNA’s proprietary 5H© method (Head-Heart-Hunch-Hands-Habits©) to sustain the transformation and measure it year on year.
  • A fully owned digital ecosystem using the “behavioural nudge theory” to hardwire the shifts in leaders so you can continue progressing on your own through self-sustainable methods.

CONTACT US

Ready to change your conversations? We can help transform your teams at all layers of the organization, from Executives, Board-Level Leaders, New Talent, and more.