Getting involved in organisational development and training management; I thought I had better read up on the basics of learning organisations. So I pulled a copy of Ten Steps to a Learning Organization out of my bookcase to help me to learn the process – then I need to apply in the workplace.

While I work in training, our organisation is pretty regressive, failing to embrace and adapt to current technologies and practices. The book, while a less than exciting read allowed me to reflect on what we do and how bad we are at it, the ten steps are pretty mundane and are:

1. Assess your learning culture. 
2. Promote the positive. 
3. Make the workplace safe for thinking. 
4. Reward risk-taking. 
5. Help people become resources for each other. 
6. Put learning power to work. 
7. Map out the vision. 
8. Bring the vision to life. 
9. Connect the systems. 
10. Get the show on the road.

Ok, so accessing your learning culture is the first step in pretty much a training needs analysis is required. For me, Chapter 6 Putting learning power to work contained the best information with the sub-section Why most training doesn’t work reviewing current training methodology failures. Keeping up with current practices is paramount to maintaining professional practice and remaining relevant – I hope this increases my future opportunities after a decade in the job. Professional development is an important aspect of maintaining a professional standard. 

The continued growth of social media site LinkedIn to assess potential candidates for recruitment is an interesting trend. If Jobvite’s figures are to be believed, the preference of 94% of recruiters to review potential candidate’s credentials via the site is an interesting development. A candidate is able to showcase their profile on the site reaching a larger cohort of potential employers.

The growth of LinkedIn as a professional networking site has grown exponentially since the site’s 2003 launch. According to Statista, LinkedIn’s 380 million users in the second quarter 2015 have increased from 364 million users from the first quarter 2015 figures. Now that Microsoft has acquired LinkedIn, one expects this professional site will continue to grow with employment opportunities to grow. I have personally noticed upper management viewing my profile and this is an excellent feature to keep track of who is viewing your profile.

The essence of the leadership construct is the synergies created within the power and influence paradigm; however, what I learned from leadership literature is no one true definition of leadership actually exists.

Management is coping with complexity whilst leadership is coping with change according to Kotter (1990). I found that to be an extraordinary explanation; change management certainly underpins management processes and is taught both within the existing management frameworks and as a stand alone course. I prefer to define leadership as influence that is exercised by providing purpose, direction and motivation. Leadership is more concerned with mission, direction and inspiration.

Management involves designing and implementing plans, team-work and getting the job done. As such, management is measurement and leadership is inspiration developing personnel to achieve shared goals. I see plenty of mid-level managers trying to fulfill the classical management principles of planning, organising, leading and controlling where they do plan and they control.

Organising is usually undertaken at a senior management level although controlling definitely occurs at the middle management level with mid-level managers reporting to senior management. It was once thought that leadership could only be fulfilled by senior managers within the organisation but I argue leadership is commonly exercised at not only middle management, the most effective leadership actually occurs at worker level with smarter managers recognising this.

Hong Kong is one of, if not the most significant prestige watch markets in the world for predominately Swiss and luxury timepieces. When the Hong Kong watch market declines; the heads of the main horology conglomerates get very nervous.

Hong Kong is significant for a number of reasons, this former British colony is a major financial district within the region linking Asia to not only Europe but the United States, the Middle East and Australia. Hong Kong as a financial centre is also significant for China; although areas within China, such as Shanghai control financial flows. Notwithstanding, international businesses still operate within Hong Kong and hold a regional presence and finally, Hong Kong is a major logistics centre.

For an extended period, Hong Kong was the gateway to China with the inhabitants building significant wealth over the years that was influenced by dual Chinese and western interests. From my limited travels to Hong Kong, interactions with locals through extensive travels throughout the region and personal studies, I have witnessed the Hong Kong appetite for luxury goods.

Hong Kong is an important international hub with international airlines offering great deals for stopovers from Europe, America and Australia redirecting airlines to both Asian shorthaul and longhaul destinations. Hong Kong is also a major travel destination with tourists and lets not forget business travel. Shopping in Hong Kong is world famous and although the great deals Hong Kong once offered tourists no longer exists, the reputation of major retailers is ingrained within the very fabric of Hong Kong.

Needless to say, the wealth of Hong Kong residents demands the latest trends in luxury goods with the aspiring middle class of a resurgent China keen to display their new found wealth. Thus, Hong Kong is in the envious position of generating high volumes whilst maintaining high prices and margins. The geographic location of Hong Kong works well to service Chinese buyers as well as the countries in the region including the airport hub.

You can’t be fired for reporting wrongdoing, this is the sad fact that a few people in my organisation are going to have to come to terms with, yet they can’t let go. What they fail to comprehend is the reporting of wrongdoing is not the issue, the real issue is why the conditions to engage in wrongdoing are allowed to prosper – it really isn’t that hard.

They might not like me, I might not be part of the cool crowd but people who stand up against the prevailing order can’t be disadvantaged either – that’s the rules. The real issue here is not just the reporting of the wrongdoing, but the actual wrongdoing – what are they going to do about it? Why don’t they just concentrate on addressing the issue instead of trying to track down the whistleblower?

Even better, from my perspective as a reporter of wrongdoing is the failure to follow state government recruitment and selection policy – the exact policy designed to prevent such occurrences happening. So we need to start asking questions such as who authorised this recruitment policy? Who knew about this? How far up the executive chain of command did this go? What other appointments are tainted? Unraveling this interconnected web of corrupt activities is going to be fun, we know there will be roadblocks at every juncture, false leads and a distinct possibility of a cover-up. This is going to a very interesting period so let’s get this party started.

The Longines Conquest is a steel sports watch with a pretty decent pedigree, released back in 1954, this timepiece has gone through a number of transformations.

Running through the base models of the TAG Heuer range of the 1990s; a restructure of operations was brought about largely by the disruption caused by the introduction of quartz technology during the 1970s. The Heuer watch company was in severe financial distress by the 1980s and not only financial rationalisation was required; a review of all products that formed the basis of the current TAG Heuer range was undertaken.

In what could be described as outrageous styling of the 1970s, the Heuer Montreal 110.503 white dial adds a little colour to what I thought was a pretty outrageous time of styling. I was all aboard 60s styling, but there are times I have thought that this is the decade that style bypassed.

As Heuer moved from the 1960s into the 1970s, the Carrera, Autavia and Monaco were the backbone of the Heuer range. That could be considered 1960s styling influences, the big and bold Silverstone and Montreal represented the early 1970s with the Calculator and the over-sized case with rotary slide rule. 

Moving to the mid 1970s, the style required was more elegant, so enter the Daytona released in 1975 and later the Cortina released in 1977. Heuer had a long history of naming their watches after racetracks and the name Daytona clearly targeted the US market, the Cortina was  named after an Italian town. The Calibre 12 chronograph movement that was introduced in the late 1960s and the pushers on the right and crown on the left suit the distinctive style of the Daytona. 

The integrated bracelet was an early 1970s style with the Gérald Genta inspired Royal Oak in 1972 and Nautilus in 1976. Unlike both these iconic integrated bracelet designs, the 1976 Daytona was more rounded and I feel the three link bracelet is better integrated into the case. The two sub-dial chronograph at 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock with the date window at 6 o’clock makes for a pretty decent dial with the chronograph as part of the chapter ring allowing for a rounded case. I reckon the Daytona is a pretty decent timepiece and I hope it is reissued some time in the future.

I’ve studied both leadership and management so what I have learned about leadership and management has been part of my formal education. I can’t say I hang my certificate on the wall but I do admit to framing it and giving it to my mother as a token of appreciation for all she has done for me.

I really learnt leadership from thirteen years employment in the state government; that supplemented my textbooks and course work. What I really learnt about leadership from this particular state government department is how badly leadership failure can affect an organisation. Now I am back employed in private enterprise in a role that my former colleagues would be unable to do. The manager of my division is a mechanical engineer who holds an MBA specialising in leadership and also project management – a handy knowledge base for an engineer.

The superintendent whilst not degree qualified has worked on numerous mining operations on a number of continents. Ten years as a technical adviser at Caterpillar in the United States really fills out a resume – not hard to see why he is a superintendent. I may talk the superintendent into undertaking a Graduate Certificate in Management, with his actual experience he would breeze through the program as long as accounting, economics and finance were not part of the program.

Dealing with guys of this calibre allow you some freedom; sure, they expect a lot but they also want you to succeed and will do whatever it takes to make it happen. As we are expats, our role is to provide leadership to the national workforce, we are basically hands-off and advisors. I was basically taught at state government level how not to go about leadership; in private enterprise, they do the exact opposite to government employees. Naturally, the government talks a lot about leadership without show any interest in actually providing it.

In their defense, they have absolutely no idea of how to lead so you can’t blame them for getting it so miserably wrong. Whilst they regurgitate the term constantly, they haven’t the slightest clue about leadership as I have dealt with so many career bureaucrats who have little knowledge of private enterprise and are totally out of their depth but are totally unaware. Our role is to provide structure and accountability, our behaviour has to be role model and we must maintain the highest standards. This is where the textbook leadership models come into play, we can now utilise proven leadership models underpinning core values.

I am enjoying the challenge of being part of a professional team where we are all working towards the same goal; there is no sniping, white-anting or undermining. This is teamwork at its and we are all attempting to perform in a difficult environment and not take credit for anyone’s work; this working environment is so different from the government.