ADI Visit Launches Promising Asian Alliances                               Download PDF

In recent months, ADI has entered into two new alliance agreements in Asia: the first with R+ China, a start-up company based in Shanghai, China, and the second with the Behavioral Excellence and Development Strategy (BEADS) Institute, an established consulting organization based in Singapore. These new alliances extend ADI’s strategic partnerships in Asia to three. The first was with a Japanese training firm founded by Jun Ishida (Will PM), who is also one of Japan’s top-selling business authors.

What prompted ADI to establish partnerships with R+ China and the BEADS Institute?

ADI’s deliberate model is to disseminate and certify others to do what we do, to transfer our technology.  Our goal is to extend the reach and impact of ADI so that we can truly change the way the world works. Each of these alliances does that for us.

Our newest expansion in Asia started with the CEO of ADI, Dr. Darnell Lattal, discussing a strategy of broader dissemination in Asia with ADI COO, Dr. Tom Spencer, and founder, Dr. Daniels. They wanted to aggressively pursue this distribution strategy with a few carefully selected alliance groups to help disseminate ADI’s technology more broadly throughout Asia. Our alliance partners were selected because of their excellent reputation with their business communities, their strong ethics, their consulting skills and business acumen, and their shared vision for how behavioral science can accelerate business success while building great places to work.

What’s been happening with the new 
alliances?

Ken Wagner, Ph.D., Vice President of ADI, recently returned from an eventful trip to Asia, where he provided comprehensive certification training to the R+ China team in Shanghai, delivered ADI’s proven two-day Precision Leadership® Workshop, and facilitated several interactive work sessions. Wagner’s Asian tour then took him to Singapore where he met with BEADS Institute leaders and a contingent of interested business representatives, and finally with company leaders in Malaysia. The following dialogue details Wagner’s perception of how Asian businesses will take to the science of behavior and what these relationships mean to ADI and its new partners.

What about ADI’s behavioral technology attracted R+ China and the BEADS 
Institute?

That is a good question for them. For me, it’s the precision of our work and, in turn, its visible and measurable impact, well documented through years of case studies written by or inspired by our clients. Precision is key.

The philosophical approach of positive management strategies of building on successes, of looking at top performers and what they do well does not seem to be a novel idea for people. Yet, the way we discuss it, the way we teach it, and the way we help companies implement it are certainly different, intriguing, impactful, and informative.

What does ADI hope to gain from forming these global alliances?

We teach a management process based on the science of behavior that helps them design their organizational systems and structures to optimize performance. We do this through teaching Precision Leadership® and applying our Coaching for Rapid Change™ technology. These processes and tools are not available from other consultancies.

We partner on client engagements, work together on the design of implementation strategies and co-develop content. We share the best of our content and the best of their work. A lot of our interactions occur through remote communication channels. They are using our technology, a lot of our materials, and we’re working with them to open opportunities on both sides of the alliance. Both of us are sharing best practices in methods of marketing and distribution. ADI gains in understanding the cultures of Asia and in how to advance our technology to bring benefits to this exciting part of the world.

Are there cultural differences in implementing behavioral technology in Asia?

The typical thing that we always hear is: “I know this technology works over there, but it’s different here. We’re different here.” The answer to this objection is always the same. Of course, yes, you’re different. Not only are you different in Asia but, the fact is, people in New York differ in ways from people in Texas. However, the concepts and principles are the same; they hold true and they work no matter the location, the culture, or the industry. How some of our work is delivered may indeed change based on cultural constraints. As a company, we are seeking guidance as to how issues of communication, teamwork, individualization, motivational approaches, and leader/employee interactions, including our own social approaches, can accelerate or impede our work. While behavior science is the same, the rules of conduct, the accepted practices in how people interact—those vary and we are working to better understand these unique factors. Our alliance partners help us greatly in this regard and that is one of the reasons we are so delighted by the association with them. ADI has worked in 30 countries around the world and we know this science is universal, but the specific tools and techniques can be customized, if needed, to produce a respectful and strong effect.

What industries are your new partners targeting?

In Shanghai, I presented to approximately 22 potential and current clients of the R+ China group, providing an overview of Precision Leadership and an overview of the science. Executives from a variety of companies (some very large and international organizations) and from a number of industries attended. We received very positive reactions there. The industries we’re looking at are very broad, including entertainment, health care, and hospitality. I also met with the senior vice president of a large hotel/casino in Singapore. While there we had a three-hour meeting with a number of CEOs that received a lot of attention. The session was videotaped and the press attended. Executives represented some very well-known companies from the mining and banking industries as well as government. Later that afternoon, we had a meeting with the vice president of sales for a software company and then a dinner with 15 CEOs.

The following day we flew to Malaysia where I had a live radio interview that focused on safety. Given what’s happened in Japan, companies in Malaysia are thinking even more about their own safety. They have some heavy and dangerous industries in Malaysia, so they are looking for more actions that companies can take to keep employees and communities safe.

What business issues do your alliances anticipate facing in the near future?

Four types of business issues come to mind. Behavior-based safety and safety leadership is an emerging interest in Asia. More and more companies are increasingly aware of safety being a key part of how they do business, and we are a world leader in our behavior-based safety leadership approach. Helping with mergers and acquisitions—merging cultures, acquiring new companies, and assimilating operation—is also an area of opportunity. Also of concern are rapid expansions and start-ups. Especially in China, businesses are growing quickly. They’re starting new ventures and forming new companies. Rapid expansion, rapid start-up, reducing the time it takes to get people to adopt change, reducing rework, training people faster but to fluency—all of these challenges are relevant to business in Asia—and this alliance can really target those issues in strong and effective ways. The fourth area, in many ways foundational to the others, is aligning strategy to practice—precisely defining a behavior-based implementation plan in reaching financial and cultural workplace objectives.

Coming off of this exciting trip, what will your partners do next and what are you most excited about in helping them bring this technology to their countries?

The next steps are to continue to work jointly on projects, to find ways we can support clients internationally and/or throughout Asia. As a combined group, we have a variety of expertise and experience. We’re going to work together hand-in-hand supporting organizations in many different industries as they make the transition to more effective leadership management strategies using the principals of behavioral science. The reaction we’ve had as people learn about this science and technology has been more than positive. Despite the perception that cultures are so different, people everywhere tend to embrace a positive, objective, people-based approach. We were overjoyed by the reception we received and how readily the technology was embraced. ADI, R+ China, and the BEADS Institute have particular expertise in a variety of critical business areas. We believe we can add value where others can’t. Our newest alliance partners in Asia, joining with Will PM in Japan, are bright, forward-thinking, and entrepreneurial in their approach. We look forward to working to build business together. We are excited by the possibilities it brings to all of us and to global businesses.

Published April 15, 2011