The nature-loving boss

Agatha Koh Brazil, Today Online 21 Apr 09;

IF YOU want to emerge stronger and fitter from this downturn, take your cue from nature, says Tan Tong Hai.

“We cannot go wrong following the flow of it,” says the IT veteran. “We have to accept that there are certain things that cannot be changed, just like the seasons.

“Birds undergo a period of moulting every year (when they) will usually eat more, sleep more and sing less. One wonders why birds have to undergo this painful period of renewal of feathers.”

But if we apply the understanding that birds cannot sing all year to people and businesses, we can appreciate ups and downs better, he says.

Nature has its “own way of telling us that we need to take time off to renew ourselves so that we can drop our old thinking and replace them with new thinking”.

StarHub’s chief operating officer maintains that “we have to leverage this downturn period to renew ourselves and come out stronger when the upturn happens”.

He jogs on weekend evenings with his parrot Uno perching, untethered, on his forearm. The half-hour run is as much for the three-year-old bird as it is for him.

“It gives Uno a chance to view the ‘world’ and at the same time simulate the same flight sensation that he would never get at home,” says Tong Hai, who ruled out the parrot accompanying him on his 6am runs as the bird may catch a cold.

The family pet, which took him a year to teach how to talk, embodies his management beliefs.

“If you look at any parrot, you will not be able to tell whether the parrot can sing (or) talk. It will take time for you to engage with it before it can accept you as the owner and sing (or) talk for you.”

So, for staff: “We must spend sufficient time to engage with them before they are willing to run the extra mile. Often bosses fail to understand this and expect staff to adapt to them. For true engagement to happen, it must be both ways.”

Not all parrots take to different owners — the African Grey parrot is loyal to one owner but an Amazon Green Parrot (like Uno) can adapt to different ones. Ditto with employees.

Some can adapt to different bosses, some do better if they stay in the same department under the same boss.

Tong Hai keeps seven birds, and his three sharmas won eight prizes, including a first, last year at bird-singing competitions. “You can either buy a baby bird and groom from scratch (start-up) or buy an ‘older’ bird and groom from there.

“The best approach is to buy ‘fallen champions’ — birds that have won championships before but fail to perform under the care of current owners. So long as the birds are healthy, given the right grooming, engagement and competitive environment, they can be groomed to regain their former glory.”

Pretty much the strategy he adopted at Nasdaq-listed Pacific Internet and SGX-listed Singapore Computer Systems, turning them around in a short period of time. “They were former champions and given the right employee engagement and right happy environment, they were able to deliver profitable results.”

The best way for senior management to find out more about company morale Tong Hai believes, is to “run with your people”. “Your staff will know that senior management are not super-beings ... not afraid to try, and expose their weaknesses in running. If you are older but can run faster than your staff, it will inspire them to work harder.”

Last Thursday, he ran in the 5.6 km JPMorgan Corporate Challenge with 440 staff, completing it at 29.15 mins. His target was under 30 minutes.

“Our mental power increases as we grow older. That is why we are able to run longer distances and participate in marathon races,” says the 45-year-old father of two, drawing a parallel with his return to StarHub. (He was general manager of StarHub Internet a decade ago).

This time, as the COO of a 2,700- strong multi-service infocomm provider, his main challenge is “not just about hubbing strategies” but also about “hubbing execution both externally and internally”.

Birds must be healthy to be happy, and comfortable where you put them. They must also have sufficient competition from other birds to prompt them to sing better. So “we cannot simply provide ... a good office environment and employment benefits,” he says.

“We need to create a happy culture. You will know whether staff are happy or not by observing their pre-meeting or corridor conversations. If they are smiling, talking more openly ... you have happy employees.”

He believes in doing “the toughest thing” first. “It is not natural for a person to wake up in the morning and feel like running as it defies Newton’s Law of Inertia,” he says.

But he pushes himself to run, pumping his heartbeat as fast as he can. That way, no amount of work or surprises during the day can raise his heartbeat any faster.

“There are no shortcuts in life. Do the toughest things now so that you need not do them when you are older.”