Suite talk: Nov 09

Jessica Tan

Managing director

Microsoft Singapore

What is your leadership style?

I’m tough but fair. I look for people to do their best work because you are only successful, both personally and as a corporation, because of good people.

I pay a lot of attention to getting the right people. I make it a point to be clear on the goals that we want them [to achieve] – and these are usually stretched goals.

And you must reward as well. It’s not about giving employees a job but about rewarding, recognising and differentiating talent. You must also provide feedback when things are not going well, so there must be performance management and addressing gaps and allowing people to improve on it, as well as celebrate success.

What does it take for HR to help you in your role?

I don’t see HR as helping us, I see it is a business partnership.

At Microsoft, we make sure that the senior leadership team and managers own the people agenda. It isn’t just HR’s responsibility. HR in turn, provides value in ensuring that we have the right policies, processes and the right guidance. But the business must own the people agenda and the business must feel accountable for the success and failure of the people.

Someone asked me a question of what HR has to do when they have to retrench someone, and I said that this is not HR’s job, that’s the job for the business. And when employees succeed and fail, the business must be accountable to that. The day we hand it to HR to do this [layoff], that is the day I think we will have a very weak people agenda.

What do you look for in talent?

I look for people who dare to dream, who have drive and passion. I look for people who are competent.

I also look for people who know how to collaborate, because you can never be the best manager. But if you know how to collaborate and bring out the best in everyone, that’s where I think they will succeed together.

How do you give feedback to your employees?

I think it is important that feedback is done in a respectful manner both ways. I encourage my staff to give me feedback on what I could do better and where my gaps are.

I keep my feedback to my staff in a way that is fact-based and I don’t give it at a point where the employee cannot do anything about it. I think if we are genuine about developing talent, we have to give feedback on areas where the employee can do something about it. They may not like what they hear, but they can do something about it and not get into the pitfalls after that.

How do you manage your time?

Be clear on what is important. The acid test is: If you don’t do it, what will happen? And I think whether it is in business or in our personal lives, we would be able to come to the top three priorities.

So be clear on what your priorities are, communicate them, build the right team and never be afraid to surround yourself with good talent. Surrounding yourself with good talent can be tough because they are also tough to manage and demanding. But if you build a good team, you would be able to achieve a lot more and scale your efforts.

For me, I’ve been fortunate, in all aspects of my life. I’ve a good team or teams – even at home. This has allowed me to do the things which I do best and have the most impact at. And if all else fails, just take the journey and look ahead and give it your best shot.