Telikom
PNG Limited is committed to bringing the world closer to every single person in
PNG. With good leadership, Telikom keeps growing and anticipates making it a
reality for every person to advance, transform and enhance their lives at an
affordable cost for a better tomorrow. In our drive to discover practical
business leadership approach, Pacific Business Review journalist interviewed
former CEO of Telikom PNG on business leadership principles that he used to
turn in K37 million in revenue.
Here
are the most important business leadership lessons we can learn from Mr. Loko.
Blend
The Best of Indigenous and Foreign Business ideologies
Great
leaders are great teachers. One of them is Confucius. He had a teachable point
of view and passed on his wisdom through stories. Former CEO of Telikom is not
different from Confucious. He had a teachable point of view and efficiently
communicated it down to the very low level.
The
secret of this multi-million kina corporation success was its ability to
understand PNG culture whilst constantly learning the western business
ideologies and adapting the necessary ones. Mr. Loko identified the mission, laid
out the core values, fostered a strong corporate culture and invited people to
work according to those values.
He
believes people are the key asset in business. “Manage people and you manage
multi-million corporations” he says. His management revolves around people. To
prove what he said; the author of this article decided to examine the existing
core values of Telikom PNG, and no without doubt, Telikom PNG is a people
centered company.
Core Values
- We care for our employees by investing in their personal and professional development.
- We engage committed employees who are focused on providing excellent services always exceeding customer expectations.
- Our customers are important. We are continually providing advanced innovative solutions to meet their needs.
- We are proudly PNG owned and operated and therefore add value to the lives of our people.
- We are a company of integrity. We will always deal with our employees, customers, suppliers and shareholders with honesty and by the highest ethical standards.
- We are a winning team therefore we foster an environment where people work together, have fun and celebrate success together.
- We value change; therefore we encourage and recognize innovation, continuous learning and improvement.
Source: http://www.telikompng.com.pg/
Set
Audacious Goals
Amid the face of growing local and international competition
and customer demands, an effective business leader raises bar for its employees
higher. He sells to his employers the corporate goals. Someone once said this
about USA most criticized but most successful billionaire entrepreneur Donald
Trump;
“Donald
Trump is a billion dollar worth negotiator because he sells to his prospects,
fantasies that they buy”
There is so much truth in that. Corporate business
leaders have a role no different from that Donald Trump plays. They must sell
their corporate goals right from the executive level down to those who are
employed as cleaners and create a conduce environment for their employees to
reach the highest peak of their performance.
Embrace Open Communication
Without
efficient and effective communication, an
organization dies a natural death. Some initiative Mr. Loko had was to have
open talk with his employees at NCDC hall. In the first week of every month, he
invited a school in Port Moresby to join his staff at NCDC hall to sing the
national anthem as a show of patriotism.
Mr.
Loko communicated precisely and honestly what the organization wanted. A
complete shift is mindset was achieved with his open communication approach. He
says “I tell them before they ask me what is going on….That is a reason why we
had fewer problems with the union who in the past would go on stop work every
six months”
Inspire
and Stretch People
It
is a scientifically proven fact that part of the human body that is used most
develops most. Mr. Loko realized that he has to grapple with the mindset of his
employees. And he did that by positively empowering the employees to grow and
reach their true potentials. Those that worked under Mr. Loko at that time
would remember his habit of keeping a data base of the birth dates of his
workers and sending them personal messages. Mr. Loko recalls having in his data
base 1425 birthdates that he wakes up around 5 am and goes through his data
base to send birthday wishes to those whose birthday fell on that particularly
day.
Isn’t
this a powerful initiative to show your workers that you as CEO is not a robot
but a human being who cares for other fellow human beings. This is character
typical of 21st century, information age business leadership. In the
industrial age, business leaders led with iron first leading to natural death
of those corporations that were once worshiped during the industrial age. Those
that embraced changes are still existing and doing even better in the
information age.
Define
Peoples Responsibilities
The
ants have survived 150 million years on earth and have documented 12, 000
species all over the face of earth. So we ask. How did the tiny, powerless
creatures survived whilst the bigger and powerful dinosaurs become extinct? To
answer that, the author studied the success habits of ants. One success habit
that is relevant to this discussion is their ability carry out their
responsibilities with greater commitment. In an ant colony, there are nest
builders, food gathers and even those who specialize on reproduction. Even
without a leader, every single ant in the colony knows what it’s supposed to do
for the survival of the colony. Individuals put in collective effort. We call
this collective individualism.
This
is one thing Mr. Loko did. He was able to define the roles of every employee.
He says “You do it or you go find
somewhere else to work”.
Everyone
starting from the chairman of a multi-million corporation down to the cleaner
should know their responsibilities. Often times, problems in organizational rise
not because some is ineffective but most times because someone doesn’t know
what to do. Accurately defining their responsibilities helps minimize lot of
misunderstanding that cause problems in the workforce.
Next
time if you around Vision City ask one of those security guards “What is your
job here”. Please be prepared to hear a response like “I guard this property”. What does that tell you? Vision of the
company not communicated down to the lowest level.
Manage
Change –Develop Change Leaders at All Level
“My management revolved around people”
Mr. Loko said. And to manage a company,
you must manage people and change. Mr. Loko is a change thinker and changer
maker according to Tony Buzan, founder and author of Mind Map book and program.
Change, either big or small makes people comfortable of uncomfortable. Learning
to manage those changes were itself a lesson to Mr. Loko, who as every good
leader never stops learning. Managing changes involves every body and Mr. Loko
being a globally literate leader very quickly worked on building a team
environment that embraced culture of commitment trust and result.
Everybody
must learn to be a leader at the level they are operating as this is crucial
for the overall performance of the company. As they are difference between a
manager and a leader, Mr. Loko encouraged leaders to be develop at all levels
in the organization.
Key
leadership elements
·
People
·
Relationships
·
Strategy
Unique
contributions that Telikom PNG made to the development of PNG
In his time as the
CEO of Telikom PNG, Mr. Loko travelled to over 500 to 600 placed around PNG and
do what all good leaders do; communicate his vision. Telikom has reached places
never reached before. It had partially achieved its dream and turned in K37
million in revenue.
A
Business culture emerges
From Peter Loko, we
learn valuable lessons about being independent and being connected at the same
time. Telikom PNG has learnt to value people, technological advancement and
building strong values to compete and be successful in the face of high local
and global competition.
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