What professional service firms in Singapore need

Singapore is the perfect base for the professional services industry.

This is according to Contact Singapore, an alliance of the Singapore Economic Development Board and Ministry of Manpower.

The country’s cosmopolitan makeup, diverse population and proximity to emerging Asian markets attract management consulting, market research, audit, human resources, advertising, training and talent management companies. It is home to nine of the top 10 HR consulting firms in the world, eight of the top 10 business and management consulting firms, and nine of the top 10 global advertising agencies. Singapore’s professional services industry currently contributes over SGD 9 billion annually in revenue.

Singapore’s workforce has been recognised as the best in the world, according to the Business Environment Risk Intelligence's 2007 Labour Force Evaluation Measure report. The continued development of the professional services industry however, will hinge on how its professionals are groomed and developed. Afterall, it’s your people that your clients pay you for after all – their talent, experience and professionalism. It’s not about your office address or IT system, even though these may help things along a little.

With all that’s going on at work on a day-to-day basis, how do you attract and retain the best talent so your professional services firm can continue to be successful with no major disruptions?

Besides paying reasonably well and creating a good working environment, there are three key things that many senior executives or partners of consultancies in Singapore struggle to do, especially if they are the founders and view the business as their ‘baby’. It’s no surprise these are HR blind spots for you too.

Educate your leaders to become nurturers, not work allocators
Allocate responsibility, provide stretch targets and emphasise intellectual challenge.

Encourage managers to change their mindset from one that previously saw them telling their subordinates what to do day by day, towards one that advocates helping colleagues find their own motivations for achieving their stretch goals.

Get your managers to set an example for subordinates, and provide the necessary frameworks, guidance and coaching when needed.

Empower your people
Empower your people across all levels, allowing them to deliver at their best. Empower them to achieve their goals by having flexible task-based teams. Encourage initiative and remember to provide constructive feedback. Don't make money the number one reason for working at your company.

What helps retain quality people at the firm is a combination of renewed intellectual challenge and ability to influence their own development.

In addition, it’s important to play to individual strengths; don't box your people in or force them to do things they don't like to do.

Empower your people to be involved in the success of the business, and you will notice your culture evolving. People start imposing their own quality standards at the individual level. Over the years, this will reduce the reliance on people at the top of the company to deliver on all of a client’s needs personally, which enables the company to grow.

Encourage knowledge development through the entire organisation
Actively encourage information sharing and knowledge development.

Encourage a working environment that promotes open exchange of information among consultants and allows people to become more specialized in the areas they are passionate about if they so desire. Learn only to employ people who really fit the culture, not just to ‘fill a gap’ – in other words focus on personality and attitude during recruitment, rather than the skillset.

Survival and success in a professional services company are intrinsically linked with its people and how well they are motivated and empowered to perform.
 

Peter Read is the Senior Vice President Asia Pacific at Global Intelligence Alliance