September 10, 2007

Bangkok Post - As part of the sixth Thailand Corporate Excellence Report for 2006 prepared by the Thailand Management Association (TMA), the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration of Chulalongkorn University and MarketWise Ltd, there was...

Today we present excerpts from the interview we conducted with our second leader, Khun Banthoon Lamsam, the CEO of Kasikornbank Plc.

Q: What do you see as the key drivers resulting in KBank achieving several Thailand Corporate Excellence Awards?

A: The fact that people know us, or are aware of our brand. After people saw us survive the financial crisis they might have believed that we were excellent but, in fact, we were lucky.

After we survived the crisis, we implemented several initiatives. These led to significant news exposure and, finally, our brand registered with people.

Q: How do you believe Thai companies should develop in order to achieve corporate excellence?

A: Each industry is different with its own different issues. However, management must first have "clarity of thought". This will lead to the survival, success and growth of the company.

Once you have clarity of thought and strategy, then management must be able to communicate clearly to employees. People will then have clear goals in mind and they will be able to execute the plan successfully. With clarity of thought we must be able to explain to our team the reasons or rationales behind each strategy. This can be applied to most organisations, regardless of size.

It's an ongoing process. The environment changes, so your strategy changes. Today your strategy is clear but tomorrow it may not be, so you need to adjust it, and then re-communicate.

Q: What future business trends do you foresee?

A: Business will be homogeneous. Everyone will have similar product offerings, so the margins will be minimal. You will need to come up with new products to expand your margins. If you continue doing what you do, your competitors will copy it easily, and this will lead to a price war and lower margins.

Q: What would be the solution?

A: I don't know. I'm still figuring it out. But you have to use your imagination and think as a team. That's where innovation comes in. It might be product innovation or a totally new breakthrough. Also, you must have good cost management by process re-engineering. All this is easy to say but hard to do.

Q: What do you consider your main strength?

A: I do situation analysis to really understand the environment and issues. Then I have to think, but not too slowly. Next, I come up with possible solutions and make sure everything is clear to me first. Then I clearly communicate it to my team. If you don't communicate clearly enough, people do not buy in. Some people may believe that they communicate clearly, but the audience misunderstands the message. Communication is a key for management at any level.

Communication to promote our brand is also important. Branding is about talking a lot about yourself to many different audiences. I have to talk with our people about what we do and what we expect them to do. Otherwise they might only be living day-to-day.

A large organisation can be sluggish, We cannot survive if we do not change and it is difficult for people to perceive that it is dangerous out there. "We are big, we are stable, and we have security."

Communication is the key. But you have to have clarity of thought before communication. Most importantly, do not act slowly. No one will wait for you.

Q: What are your tips on managing people for high corporate excellence?

A: We have to continue to learn how to manage people. People are different, we have different preferences. We have different levels to deal with adversity. It is hard to read people's minds all the time. It's all about experience and learning. Two people can say the same things, but may not think or feel the same way. It all depends. There is no "right" answer for people management. It is a process of discovery.

But when managing people we cannot let them work day-to-day. They have to stay alert, but not through punishment and threats but rather through inspiration. We have to continually inspire people in two ways: clearly communicate your thinking in a manner that is sensible to them, and make them like and trust you.

Kriengsak Niratpattanasai provides executive coaching in leadership and diversity management under the brand TheCoach. He can be reached at coachkriengsak@yahoo.com. Copies of previous columns are available at www.thaicoach.com.

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