Ramping up productivity

Ammar Hindi

Managing Director for Asia Pacific, Sourcefire

Trust is the core to maximising work performance. When leading across markets in Asia, leaders need to understand how approaches differ, agree on a methodology and a process for each region. This is to ensure that we are all on the same page.

In my role, I manage a vast territory of different markets. Travel is a large part of my role and I hardly find myself in one place for more than a week. Therefore, the key to maximising my work performance is to hire the right people to manage different countries in the territories that I oversee. These hires are vital to the growth of the organisation as they act as my right hand. I trust them to make strategic decisions on my behalf.

In order to keep moving the business forward, I am in touch with my teams on a regular basis to show them support and address areas of concern at an infant stage. As the direction setter, I think it is imperative to gain a macro perspective outside the organisation that influences the business. This can be achieved through multiple information resources such as partners, industry analysts, media, and security providers adjacent to our field of business. This makes me more efficient and puts me in a good position to make strategic decisions.

Leaders must be taught both how to trust, and how to be trusted to maximise work performance no matter where they are in the world.

Jim Watson

Vice President and Corporate General Manager, APAC, Good Technology

Mobile devices have changed the entire notion of the way I work. They have evolved into supremely functional and highly portable mobile computers with the ability to connect to corporate networks and applications, but they are also inherently more personal and deeply integrated into my daily life than traditional business desktop or laptop computers.

As my job requires me to regularly travel across the Asia Pacific region, I rely on my iPad and iPhone, for email and calendaring, but also to access corporate Intranets, applications and collaboration tools.

I also use secure applications such as iAnnotate to view and edit documents on my iPad. The selling point for bringing my own personal gear to work is simple: it’s familiar and it makes my job easier.

As a leader, I encourage my employees to do the same. Our team in Australia and Singapore work remotely with their own personal devices.

It is also important to ensure that we implement a security solution such as Good for Enterprise’s secure container that separates business data from employee’s personal information to prevent data loss and deliver seamless, secure mobile workflows that drive employee collaboration and productivity across the company.

Shantha De Silva

Director of Operations for Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG)

Maximising work performance comes down to effective time management for the whole team. The key is to be an effective leader, by strategically evaluating and prioritising projects that have the largest impact on company performance, maximising these opportunities and delegating accordingly to increase the collective productivity of the team.

Sharing the responsibilities of a project recognises the team’s strengths, and enhances potential for individual growth. It is also very important to set a clear direction, so that whilst everyone takes ownership, and is accountable and autonomous in the tasks they undertake, we are all very clearly moving in sync.

At IHG, we champion such leadership competencies to fuel a dynamic and high-performance culture. The result is an environment where our colleagues encourage, provide support, celebrate wins and recognise efforts, which boosts morale and productivity. This also enables us to work collaboratively within our organisation and with our business partners.

Through proactively sharing knowledge and expressing ideas and agendas across teams, working together effectively will give rise to mutual beneficial outcomes. We are committed and accountable to one other, and this drives the team to go even further and deliver great results together.