Lead by example

Show, don't tell: exemplary behavior is a more effective leadership style than just giving orders.

If your boss always comes to the office in shorts and a T-shirt but demands you wear a suit, you might be reluctant to follow his orders. Conversely, you'd probably feel out of place wearing a T-shirt and shorts when your boss dresses formally to make a better impression on clients.

If you're gonna talk the talk, you gotta walk the walk. That means leaders need to make sure that they themselves act according to their team's values.

Steve Skarke makes for a great example. When he became plant manager of Kaneka Texas, a polymer manufacturer, he realized that the company's goal of becoming a "world class plant" was not reflected in their housekeeping: there was garbage everywhere.

What did Skarke do? He bought a garbage pail and, without comment, started collecting garbage in the plant every day. After just a few weeks, he noticed one day that there wasn't enough garbage around to fill his pail. What changed? The employees had learned from his behavior: they realized that in order for their plant to be "world class," it had to be clean, and started cleaning up themselves.

Since no single person can do everything, the best leaders encourage others to behave in line with established values. They need to make everyone feel responsible for teaching others to live the shared values.

Telling stories is one effective method of doing so, because people can relate to stories and are likely to retell and spread them. Phillip Kane, president of Wingfoot Commercial Tire Systems, would send a regular letter to his 25,000 employees with stories about the most important lessons learned in the company each week. By talking about the stories, and reciting them to others, Kane's staff indirectly started educating others.

Be clear of shared values, and stick to it

Avoid flip-flopping: leaders should be clear about their own and the team's shared values.

Have you ever known people who constantly change their opinion depending on who's around? Chances are you don't feel comfortable placing a whole lot of trust in them.

As a leader, it's critical to be clear about your opinions. Doing so inspires trust and increases good work performance in teams.

But before openly defining the team's and their own values, leaders need to know exactly what those personal and professional values are.

Our own values affect everything we do. For example, if a leader values an obedient staff over a staff that takes the initiative without his permission, it will affect the way the staff acts.

According to studies, leaders are more motivated and productive when they define their own personal values. So at this point, you need to define your own values. One way of doing so is to examine your past and ask yourself which values have influenced your decision-making processes.

At this point, leaders should be clear about their own and the team's shared values. They should ensure that everyone's values are talked about openly. That way, the team can reach a certain level of agreement.

What's more, research shows that, if team members' values match the firm's, commitment to the firm will increase. One General Electric (GE) employee proved just that.

Set team goals, not personal goals

Effective teams focus on collective results rather than individual goals.

Every team has goals that they strive for, results they wish to achieve – whether it is to design a new product line or win a game of basketball. This is true for most individuals as well, but in great teams, team members understand that shared goals must take precedence over individual ones.

So what kind of common goals keep the team focused? Clearly defined ones that are easy to measure.

If the intended results are clear and leave no room for interpretation, then it's not possible for any individual to weasel away from the team goal to work on their own goals instead.

For example, at DecisionTech the clear and measurable goal of having 18 customers by the end of the year was set, and everyone united behind it.

When common goals are embraced, individual team members are willing to support and help each other even across lines of responsibilities. At DecisionTech, this meant that the engineering department was willing to mobilize its resources to help the sales team with its product demonstrations. This was the best way that they could help to get more customers and meet the common goal.

Great teams have peer-to-peer accountability, meaning everyone’s performance is transparent.

One of the most uncomfortable moments imaginable in any team occurs when you have to point out to a peer that he or she is performing below expectations or behaving inappropriately. This is awkward because most people feel like they are sticking their nose into someone else's business, or artificially elevating themselves above their supposed peer.

Unfortunately, if team members do not call each other out in such cases, it will make everyone feel less accountable, which in turn results in missed deadlines, mediocre results and poor team performance. The team leader is then burdened with being the sole source of discipline in the team, as there is no peer-to-peer accountability.

In some teams, when members have developed good rapport, they are then reluctant to hold one another accountable, because they fear their valuable personal relationships will be jeopardized. Ironically, this reluctance can and will damage those personal relationships, because the team members will begin to resent each other for not living up to expectations and for slipping from the team's performance standards.

However, members of great teams do hold one another accountable and this actually improves their relationships, because they develop respect for each other for adhering to the same high standards. When there is trust in a team, the members who are pushed to perform better will understand that it is being done for the common good, and not take it personally.

At the end of the day, peer pressure is by far the most efficient and effective means of maintaining high standards of performance. Individuals who fear letting down teammates they respect will naturally feel pressure to work hard and improve their performance.

This is why peer-to-peer accountability is a key component in enhancing team performance.

Hope for team and employee result in positive value for firm

People are most likely to excel when they have hope, so it should be fostered.

Hope influences your emotions, thoughts and actions. When you're hopeful, you feel more capable of reaching goals, and this in turn translates into confidence and action.

Some great leaders have focused on instilling hope in others. For example, Nelson Mandela fought for human rights improvements primarily by raising hopes for a better future in others, even though he himself had to suffer for it.

There are many ways to cultivate hope.

One effective method is to act as if your desired goals were feasible, no matter how unrealistic they seem. Taking that first step is crucial – if you never try, you'll certainly never succeed.

Consider Ray Anderson, founder of Interface Inc., a carpet company worth $1.1 billion. In 1994, he declared he would totally eliminate any negative impact his company had on the environment. This seemed ludicrously naive at the time, but nevertheless he took action as if the goal was totally achievable. The result? By 2009, he was already halfway there.

Hope is especially important when times are bad, so it must be fostered and cultivated.
Amid the gloom of post-genocide Rwanda in 2005, one local called Odile Katese decided that life should not just be about struggling. She wanted to redirect people's attention into something that would bond them together and bring hope and joy to others. So she founded a women's drum group, which became so successful that it rapidly achieved world-wide fame. Clearly, people had been craving hope.

Promoting better work relationships (Blinkist)

By nature, we humans are social animals: we blossom when we have lots of positive interactions with our friends, family members, colleagues, and so forth. And when we are confident, we're at our most creative and energetic.

Specifically, we thrive when we have lots of high-quality connections: interactions where both participants' energy levels are increased. An example of a high-quality connection would be if you're feeling tired in the morning and have a chat with a colleague about something that energizes you and makes you feel alive – like the football game last night.

Barbara Fredrickson, one of the pioneers of the positive psychology movement, considers high-quality connections a prerequisite for people to grow and thrive both personally and professionally.

For organizations, a creative and energetic staff translates into a real competitive advantage, so companies need to do all they can to foster these interactions.

Research shows that employees with many high-quality connections are more creative and motivated to learn new things, both of which are important for companies trying to come up with innovative schemes.

So how can company leaders encourage high-quality connections between their staff?

There are two main strategies to follow.

First, when interacting with employees, leaders need to demonstrate that they respect and value them. In practice, this means paying close attention to what they say and being positive when they voice their opinions.

One concrete gesture is to turn off your phone and move away from your computer to show that you're giving the employee your full and complete attention.

Second, leaders can facilitate teamwork and positive interactions by encouraging employees to play more games. This could mean organizing a team-building activity like orienteering, or having equipment like ping-pong tables, chessboards and basketball hoops at your workplace.

The 5 wallets that have already launched to watch in Singapore

                   

In the hope of becoming the world’s first smart nation, Singapore is giving great impetus to digital payments. We compared the features and user experience of several payment apps in Singapore. We picked out 5 top apps of different kinds. DBS Paylah and Singtel Dash tops in prepaid wallet (to purchase, user needs to top up money to the e-wallet first). NetsPay and OCBC Pay Anyone are the best “pay from connected bank account” kind of apps. Youtrip is a rising star of overseas payment and currency exchange.  In this article, we will introduce the 5 recommended payment apps.

NetsPay

NetsPay screen

NetsPay focused on micropayments. Users can add DBS Bank/POSB, HSBC, Maybank, OCBC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank or UOB cards to NetsPay. NetsPay users can scan QR code to pay, pay on Nets terminals and make in-app payments. User can add up to 10 bank cards to NetsPay account; credit cards are not supported.

In September 2018, NetsPay co-operated with UnionPay. This enables NetsPay users to make cross-border payments at over 7.5 million UnionPay QR code merchants. The acceptance points are distributed in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand. Users can also use the near-field communication (NFC) enabled smartphones to make payments. Ther are 12 million UnionPay QuickPass contactless acceptance points.

DBS Paylah!

DBS Paylah! screen

Users can make online payments as well as offline payments, send money to friends and request money from friends. Users can sign up with DBS/POSB bank ID directly. The mobile wallet has a daily transaction limit of S$999. DBS Paylah! partners with some big merchants in Singapore, such as Qoo10.sg, Courts and MSIG TravellerShield.

Like NetsPay, DBS Paylah! also cooperates with UnionPay for overseas development. DBS Paylah! users can pay at 10 million UnionPay QR code merchants in 24 countries. The countries include Australia, China, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and the United States.

Singtel Dash

Singtel Dash screen

Standard Chartered Bank and Singtel launched Singtel Dash. Singtel is one of the largest telecommunications carriers in Singapore. Users can scan pay, top up mobile, transfer money to their friends, pay Singtel bills and make online payments through Singtel Dash.

Singtel launched Via in October 2018. Via combines Singtel Dash with AIS Global Pay and Rabbit Line Pay. Singtel users can therefore make payment in Thailand now. The exchange rate is flexible and competitive.

OCBC Pay Anyone

OCBC Pay Anyone screen

OCBC Pay Anyone is not a wallet, but a mobile payment app. Users will need to link an OCBC online banking account, an OCBC savings or current account to OCBC Pay Anyone. Users can scan the NETS QR or PayNow QR to pay merchants and transfer funds to friends. OCBC Pay Anyone also allows the user to send money directly to any bank account in Singapore. They just need to enter the recipient’s mobile number. The daily transfer limit on OCBC Pay Anyone is S$1,000.

Youtrip

Youtrip screen

Youtrip was launched in August 2018. Youtrip cooperated with Mastercard and EZ-Link. Users can make in-app currency exchange 24/7 for 10 major currencies (SGD, USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CHF, HKD, NZD, SEK, AUD). Overseas travallers can use Youtrip to make payments at merchants who accept Mastercard. Cash withdrawal feature is also available in Youtrip.

Overall comparison of the 5 apps

Comparison table for the top 5 payment apps

Note:

1.     QR code payment means the user can scan merchant QR code to pay or show payment QR code to merchants to pay.

2.     Request payment means to ask for a certain amount of money from a friend.

3.     In-app payment means to pay online in the app.

4.     Cross-border payment means to make overseas payment using the local currencies. The app will help exchange the currency accordingly.

5.     Transfer means to send funds to a friend. DBS Paylah! allows user to transfer money to non-DBS/POSB users.

6.     Auto debit: funds will be deducted from your linked bank account automatically when your wallet balance is insufficient.

7.     Ang Bao means “red packet”, i.e. to send money as a gift to a friend in specific festivals.

8.     Top up means to transfer money to e-wallet from bank accounts

9.     Promotion means sales campaign. For example, to offer an S$5 coupon, etc.

10.  Split bill means to share the bill to a friend to split.

11.  Withdrawal means to cash out funds from e-wallet to bank account.

Major data for the top 5 payment apps

Sources: Strait Times (1, 2, 3), CNA, DBS (1, 2), OCBC (1, 2), Singtel, Tech Crunch, Business Insider

Onboarding table for the top 5 payment apps

Here is the registration flow for the apps:

Choose the most suitable payment app

None of the apps allows guest login. The onboarding flow for all the 5 apps are rather complicated, but NetsPay flow is the simplest.

The 5 payment apps have their own advantages and disadvantages. Most of the apps provide promotions to users as well as fund transfer among friends. DBS Paylah! even allows users to send payment to non-DBS/POSB customers.

If you need to make cross-border remittance, Singtel Dash would be the best choice. Singtel Dash supports overseas remittance to Philippines, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh and China. It also allows users to top up and check their EZ-link balance. Besides, users can pay for their daily commute on trains and buses using Singtel Dash. This is convenient for daily life. Users can also top up Singtel prepaid account in-app.

DBS Paylah! and Singtel Dash users need to top up their prepaid wallets before purchasing. It can help control budget, but some users might find the top up step troublesome. There is an auto-debit feature for DBS Paylah! users. The money will transfer from linked bank account to DBS Paylah! wallet automatically if there is insufficient balance in the wallet. With this feature, there will never be a run-out-of-cash moment.

If you are travelling overseas to Paris, Hong Kong, Bangkok, etc., Youtrip will be a good choice. Youtrip provides transactions in more than 150 currencies for 0 transaction fees. There is an in-app money exchanger service for 10 currencies. You can make overseas payments at fair FX rate at any Master card accepted points.

There are daily transaction limit and wallet balance limit for each wallet (see above “Major data for the top 5 payment apps” table ). So the mobile payment is currently suitable for micropayments only. Singapore users would hope for a unified QR code with all the payment methods integrated. This will facilitate the cash-less payment a lot.

The mobile payment market in Singapore is becoming crowded. There are already 42 active mobile payment players in this island country. Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) launched the Singapore Quick Response Code (SGQR) in September 2018. SGQR is a unified QR code with 27 payment schemes integrated, which makes the QR code payment for both merchants and users easier. With more and more mobile payment players joining the battlefield, we can expect further consolidations in the future.