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01 Sep 2010
A friend of mine, Doug Fike, recently introduced a leadership principle to me that is particularly evident and applicable to China. He asked me, “Do you want to have an organization like Santa and the Elves?”
Here’s what he meant. There are two kinds of organizations out there:
1. Santa and the Elves. There’s one central motivating personality that everyone wants to see come down their chimney every Christmas. He’s the star of the show, and without him, there really isn’t any point to the organization. No one wants to see an elf come down the chimney. Santa knows that the elves will never be Santa, and the elves know this, too.
2. Santa and the Future Santas. This is where Santa spends time investing in the elves, because they are going to be Santa one day. So he sends them down the chimney a couple of times wearing his big red suit, and one day, none of the kids notice the difference.
In China, to run a Santa and the Elves organization is tempting for the Expat entrepreneur. It’s easy to be the star of the show because of your skin color, language, cultural understanding, and sometimes your education. Furthermore, building a “Santa and the future Santas” type organization is slow, has greater potential for failure in the short term, and relies on the hope that your future Santas have some drive to actually become Santa one day.
Further complicating the situation is that your Chinese staff (especially if they are outside the major cities) will expect you to be the Santa, while they play elves. Not only do you have to fight the natural tendencies that make you the only possible Santa, you also have to reprogram their philosophies.
(I note here that this philosophy among Chinese staff that pushes the foreigner into the Santa role is rapidly changing in China, but is still held by the majority.)
Modern leadership principles teach that the only way to build a successful long term business is to invest in the future leaders of the organization, even when it means that they create huge disasters, or don’t want to be a leader. It means empowering our future Santas even when they start to look more like future Satans. I’ve come to realize that the future of my organization rests on my ability to change my staff into leaders.
As I heard John Maxwell, a popular writer on leadership topics, say: “There’s only one thing worse than having trained people who leave – not training those who stay!”
But this “future leader” principle goes beyond training – it’s a way of life. It’s a form of thinking. And it takes a long time before you can tell that your staff even desire to rise to a leadership position. For me, the determining factor in knowing I’ve got great leaders is when they start recognizing that the people below them are potential leaders themselves.
Here’s some questions I’ve come up with to help me know if I’ve got an Elves situation or a future Santa situation:
1. What decisions am I making by myself vs. decisions made with my staff?
a. Are the staff included in those decisions that may personally affect them?
2. What will my staff be doing in 6 months, 2 years, and 10 years?
a. What am I doing to get them to into that position?
b. Do they see themselves doing that?
3. Do my staff realize that they may be required to make greater sacrfices to achieve the goals of the organization as the organization grows? Or do they value comfort and predictability over success?
To be honest, after writing this article, I’ve got some homework to do. I don’t think that I would answer all those questions in a way that would indicate I have a future Santa organization. But I’ll be working on it.
If you’ve got any ideas how to do this with a cross-cultural staff, please send me an e-mail at dcoyle@importsoriental.com, or leave a comment.
About the Author
Danny Coyle is director of Imports Oriental, an international apparel manufacturing and sourcing company with offices in Seattle, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shantou. Danny has lived in Asia since 1986.
Comments
Hi Danny, excellent post!!! and I wish I had an answer..but I don't. I would be very interested in hearing from someone who has managed to do this in China.
Maybe a mix of elves and future Santas is best. Some staff will never advance to the Santa role, nor do they want to. Nice article. Gave me fresh ideas.
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01 Sep 2010
Are You Staffing Your Company with "Elves" or "Future Santas"?
by Danny Coyle, Imports Oriental|
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Here’s what he meant. There are two kinds of organizations out there:
1. Santa and the Elves. There’s one central motivating personality that everyone wants to see come down their chimney every Christmas. He’s the star of the show, and without him, there really isn’t any point to the organization. No one wants to see an elf come down the chimney. Santa knows that the elves will never be Santa, and the elves know this, too.
2. Santa and the Future Santas. This is where Santa spends time investing in the elves, because they are going to be Santa one day. So he sends them down the chimney a couple of times wearing his big red suit, and one day, none of the kids notice the difference.
In China, to run a Santa and the Elves organization is tempting for the Expat entrepreneur. It’s easy to be the star of the show because of your skin color, language, cultural understanding, and sometimes your education. Furthermore, building a “Santa and the future Santas” type organization is slow, has greater potential for failure in the short term, and relies on the hope that your future Santas have some drive to actually become Santa one day.
Further complicating the situation is that your Chinese staff (especially if they are outside the major cities) will expect you to be the Santa, while they play elves. Not only do you have to fight the natural tendencies that make you the only possible Santa, you also have to reprogram their philosophies.
(I note here that this philosophy among Chinese staff that pushes the foreigner into the Santa role is rapidly changing in China, but is still held by the majority.)
Modern leadership principles teach that the only way to build a successful long term business is to invest in the future leaders of the organization, even when it means that they create huge disasters, or don’t want to be a leader. It means empowering our future Santas even when they start to look more like future Satans. I’ve come to realize that the future of my organization rests on my ability to change my staff into leaders.
As I heard John Maxwell, a popular writer on leadership topics, say: “There’s only one thing worse than having trained people who leave – not training those who stay!”
But this “future leader” principle goes beyond training – it’s a way of life. It’s a form of thinking. And it takes a long time before you can tell that your staff even desire to rise to a leadership position. For me, the determining factor in knowing I’ve got great leaders is when they start recognizing that the people below them are potential leaders themselves.
Here’s some questions I’ve come up with to help me know if I’ve got an Elves situation or a future Santa situation:
1. What decisions am I making by myself vs. decisions made with my staff?
a. Are the staff included in those decisions that may personally affect them?
2. What will my staff be doing in 6 months, 2 years, and 10 years?
a. What am I doing to get them to into that position?
b. Do they see themselves doing that?
3. Do my staff realize that they may be required to make greater sacrfices to achieve the goals of the organization as the organization grows? Or do they value comfort and predictability over success?
To be honest, after writing this article, I’ve got some homework to do. I don’t think that I would answer all those questions in a way that would indicate I have a future Santa organization. But I’ll be working on it.
If you’ve got any ideas how to do this with a cross-cultural staff, please send me an e-mail at dcoyle@importsoriental.com, or leave a comment.
About the Author
Danny Coyle is director of Imports Oriental, an international apparel manufacturing and sourcing company with offices in Seattle, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shantou. Danny has lived in Asia since 1986.
Comments 
Sean Morris | posted over 1 year ago
Hi Danny, excellent post!!! and I wish I had an answer..but I don't. I would be very interested in hearing from someone who has managed to do this in China.
Luke Wiley | posted over 1 year ago
Maybe a mix of elves and future Santas is best. Some staff will never advance to the Santa role, nor do they want to. Nice article. Gave me fresh ideas.
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