The 39th Dutch Vietnam

Management Supporter

Presentation Skills:
The Number One skill?
Prof. Loek Hopstaken

Do you (dis)agree? Fact is that most successful people are

expert in selling ideas. To investors, to staff, and last-butnot-least, to clients. I have been delivering Presentation
Skills courses for 20+ years. In Vietnam, at RMIT, Royal
Business School, and in-company. Its always fun seeing
participants developing new skills within hours. They
learn to share their personal stories & have an emotional
impact on their audience. Recently my long-term associate
Mr Dung (ISM) invited me to train a group of VietJet Air
managers.
Q. What makes it
the no. 1 skill?
A. Imagine being
unable to inspire &
persuade. Youll fail
to contribute in
meetings. You
cannot convince the
CEO. You have
trouble getting staff
to perform.
Management skill no. 1: you cant perform without it.
It takes practice. My participants deliver 3 presentations.
They learn from others presentations, and their & my
feedback. At the end they can confidently deliver a decent
presentation. They now have the no. 1 management skill.

Educating the mind

without educating the heart
is no education at all.
Aristotle

Email:
loek.hopstaken@gmail.
com
Cell: 090 888 9450

9th year, no. 5

September 2015
This magazine was first
published in March 2007. It is
digitally distributed among
my Vietnamese & Dutch
business & private associates.
Purpose: to keep you
informed about my activities
in Vietnam and overseas
This amazingly attractive and
energetic country has rapidly
conquered my soul. It is my
home away from home.
Loek Hopstaken

In this issue:
Presentation skills
HRM in Vietnam

1
2

Localized training
Coaching or
Mentoring?

Control Union 12
Breaking a leg at the
Opera
Invest in Paradise!

5
6

Clients, services &

contact information

quality:
fit for use
Joseph Juran

9th year, no. 5

The 39th Dutch Vietnam

Management Supporter

Human Resource Management in Vietnam

After working for 7+ years with many Vietnamese & multinational companies, I have met &
workd with many HRM departments, their managers & staff. A few observations.
Most HRM departments are still purely operational: tasks are limited to admin & legal,
recruitment, salaries and organizing incentive events called team building. Some HRM
departments have rudimentary tasks relating to HR policy (staff handbook), performance
appraisal & staff development (training)
Many structural tasks that are part of a
full HRM package are missing.
Meanwhile, top management takes care
of organizational development & related
issues, usually ad hoc. Most top
managersincluding expatslack the
necessary HRM & organizational knowhow.
Recruiting HR pros in Vietnam is like
looking for a needle in a haystack: in
Vietnam there is no formal HRM
education. Titles are deceptive: HR
Executive, HR Strategic Partner: not
quite.
Above: an overview of most HRM fields. Green = personnel-related, blue = organizationrelated. Below right: reality. In 7 years I have observed little improvement.
Solutions
The best solutionidea no. 1is of
course to have a quality vocational HRM
college. Unfortunately, there isnt any in
Vietnam.
So we need to cope.
Idea no. 2: organize a class with HR staff
from several companies.
Idea no. 3: invite a professional to train,
coach & mentor your HR talents.
In case you wonder who should conduct
the training, coach & mentor your staff:
lets meet. Ill explain how we can make
this work & create your pro HRM unit.

People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who
are doing it.
George Bernhard Shaw

9th year, no. 5

The 39th Dutch Vietnam

Management Supporter

Designed to deliver results: your localized

corporate training program
When a multinational company (MNC) establishes itself in Vietnam, it often ignores local
culture. Instead of trying to assimilate, it tries to replicate its home-grown business methods
& values. These work in the MNCs home country, so why not in Vietnam? Behind it lies the
belief that home-grown business methods & values are superior. During their formative
years abroad MNCs send trainers unfamiliar with Vietnamese culture to deliver training
programs. Where instruction & hard (job) skills are involved, this inhibits the learning process. Yet, it may work when the instructor knows his cross-cultural basics. With soft skills
the cultural differences may run deep. The application of foreign training methods simply
doesnt produce satisfactory results. To successfully design & deliver soft skills training programs a trainer needs to be thoroughly familiar with what works with Vietnamese of different backgrounds & generations. All Vietnamese are products of an educational system
which deeply affects their learning skill. (See: Blooms Taxonomy, DVMS no. 35). This
means you cannot just transplant foreign training methodology and expect it to work. Important: hire a proficient interpreter. Always. The following 12 steps offer a guideline to
make corporate training programs for MNCs and Vietnamese organizations more effective.
The 12 steps to design & deliver a localized training program for high potentials
1.

Assess levels of know-how, skills & talents of your staff (show them on your organizational chart). Include top managers.
2.
Conduct a Training Need Assessment (TNA) to determine the future need of know-how,
skills & talents of your organization; formulate the intended training program results.
3.
Consider what will happen if you dont train your staff & managers (competitiveness;
cost; staff turnover; qualified staff joins a competitor).
4.
Finalize the TNA. Set aside enough budget to finance & complete the program.
5.
Select high potentials who wish to grow & have more responsibilities.
6.
Interview the (future) participants to define their individual development programs.
7.
Based on analysis of 1, 2 & 6, blend corporate + individual needs to design the overall
training program. Localize: do not enforce headquarters-specific but locally less effective
training methods. Allow room for personal coaching & mentoring.
8.
Select a trainer or trainers with a proven record of excellence. A good interpreter is a
sound investment. Dont go for cheap: minimum investment minimum or no results.
9.
Plan the program delivery & arrange the logistics (training facilities).
10. Inform the organization that a group of high potential staff will participate in the
training program. The participation level will be part of staffs performance appraisal.
11. Do the corporate training program. Regularly evaluate progress, adjust when needed.
12. Evaluate after completion. Check intended results; changed behaviors.

Clients do not come first. Your employees come first. If you take care of
your employees, they will take care of the clients. Richard Branson

9th year, no. 5

The 39th Dutch Vietnam

Management Supporter

Coaching or Mentoring?
Global players consider it to be vital to keep talents. Coaching & mentoring have been
around for ages, in all kinds of organizations around the world. Their purpose: to develop an
individuals talents (coaching) and personality (mentoring).
Only the past 30, 40 years coaching & mentoring have been codified and brought to a higher
level of workability. Today youll find coaching & mentoring institutes who provide the latest
methods & tools. While basic coaching & mentoring are being practiced in Vietnam, both are
still limited to coaching top talents and mentoring successorsmostly in non-asian multinationals. For some reason coaching & mentoring doesnt get off the ground in Vietnam. Why?
Problem solving in Vietnam
A skill often addressed in coaching is problem solving. Coach asks
coachee to name a problem. Coach
doesnt solve the problem, but instead asks specific questions to
stimulate coachee to analyse &
solve the problem.
However, most older Vietnamese
managers firmly believe they are
their staffs problem solvers. Most
older Vietnamese staff strongly
feel their manager should solve
their problems. An unwritten contract: part of traditional Vietnamese business culture. So why
change? Interesting concept, they think, but Business Culture says no. Yet, in a non-asian
multinational environment staff is expected to solve their own problems, while the manager
takes care of problems that exceed a staffs authority. Interestingly, once Vietnamese managers & staff grab the concept of skill development, they dont want to go back to their traditional ways. In that sense coaching & mentoring are causing a shift in business culture.
Right or wrong? Effectiveness matters, right?
Vietnams new generations: a future for coaches & mentors
The past few years many young Vietnamese managers have become aware of the benefits of
coaching & mentoring. An increasing number of them have less difficulty facing their inner
cultural barrier. It takes time. Yes, it does. Just dont allow the reasons not to train your
coaches & mentors to negatively affect your decision. They are key to business success.

People are generally better persuaded by the reasons

which they have themselves discovered than by those
which have come into the mind of others. Blaise Pascal

9th year, no. 5

The 39th Dutch Vietnam

Management Supporter

Control Union Vietnam: 12 years of Quality

Quality Management has
been a long-time passion.
I explored the ISO & TQM
worlds. Learned about the
many ways to continuously
improve processes &
products, but first of all,
people.
As a Senior Quality
Consultant at ING Bank, I
trained, worked with &
translated for the Juran
Institute. Completed the
BVQI Lead Assessor Course.
Since then I closely follow
the developments in quality
management.
I see Ron Kaufmans
endeavor to improve customer service for companies around the world as a major, highly successful
& lasting quality improvement effort. Like the impessive work he did for Singapore Airlines and
Changi Airport). Yes, once you get infected with the QM virus, it remains in your system forever.
So I was more than delighted when Control Union Vietnam invited me last year to train its
managers on the tailor-made Allround Manager program. This November we will finalize it & the
participants will receive their Allround Manager certificate.
September 10 Control Union Vietnam celebrated its 12 year anniversary. Leaders from its mother
company in the Netherlands had come to Saigon. Ms. Nga & Ms. Tam have been with CU from its
start. Mr. Richard de Boer, Control Unions GD, made sure their contributions & loyalty were
publicly appreciated. Many clients & relations joined the party at Ly Club Saigona fine place.

3 recently developed training courses

The art of course development is 1) translating a specified need into course content that addresses this need, 2) making it fit for use by the learners and 3) choosing training methods to
maximize achievement of the course objectives. Three recent examples. Curious? Lets talk!

9th year, no. 5

The 39th Dutch Vietnam

Management Supporter

Breaking a leg at Ho Chi Minh Citys Opera

What a week it was, when the Ho Chi Minh City Ballet Symphony Orchestra & Opera
(HBSO) rehearsed for their concert. Dutch Conductor Jan Stulen did what he could to uplift
the orchestras competence. Jan told me this week in Saigon will be a chapter in his next
book, covering memories of his impressive 50+ years musical career. But its not easy when
the sheet musicin this case, from the movie department of Disneyarrives late. Or not at
all, like the score for
Frozen. Little time for
rehearsals. But: in the
theatre you have to
deliver what is promised.
The performance date is
set, tickets have been
sold. The concert starts
on time; it better be good.
On top of this, a Disney
concert attracts families.
Disappoint adults is bad
nough. Disappointing
kids is worse. They are
tomorrows audience.
Amongst each other, artists use a weird expression for these occasions: Break a leg. At first
hearing it confused me. Breaking a leg? Are you serious? Now I have witnessed its meaning.
Artists are not known as easy or flexible characters. But when they have to deliver quality,
their artistic pride takes charge. They work so hard they out-perform themselves. They dont
care if they break a leg.
Thats what they did on July
19 at the Saigon Opera. Jan
& his musicians pulled it off
in grand style, to a cheering
audience & standing
ovations. Encore: the Pirates
of the Caribbean Suite.
Afterwards Mr. Tran Vuong
Thach, HBSOs founder,
director, conductor and
Jans former student, treats
Jan, his wife Aimee & us to
a cold, tasty German beer.

Promise only what you can deliver.

Then deliver more than you have promised.

9th year, no. 5

The 39th Dutch Vietnam

Management Supporter

Why not invest in Paradise?

Mountain Flower (Hoa Son) Eco-resort
When first visiting Dalat in 2007 my first
thought was: this is the place to establish a
top class resort. Also, a retreat to deliver my
services to CEOs & managers of top-class
organizations.
There are a few good resorts in & around
Dalat. But I havent seen paradise. So when
a friend told me about Hoa Son (Mountain
Flower) eco-resort, I was all ears. Hoa Son is
a 37,8 ha area of tropical forest, 10 km from
Dalat. Accessible by road. The owner has all
the necessary licenses. But due to retirement she has decided to sell the property
instead of developing it herself. This offers
an opportunity for an investor or entrepreneur whose aim is to establish a resort & spa in
one of the most beautiful areas of Vietnam. A place for holidays, but also a wonderful environment for a wedding, a conference, a staff retreat and of course, a corporate training.
If you are interested, or know anyone who thinks of owning
and developing a 5-star eco-resort in Vietnams tropical
highlands, let me know. I will then introduce you to my
friend. She is authorized to negotiate the terms on behalf of
the owner. So, why not invest in Paradise?

Who is David Lee Andersen?

As an eco-resort needs an architect, I would recommend the
new owner to engage David Lee Andersen. He is an international architect, specialized in what he calls sculpting
eco-resorts amid the spectacular wonders of nature. His
eco-resorts promise to provide guests with the feeling of
paradise here on earth. Two of his designs are in Costa Rica: Tabacon (www.tabacon.com) and Lapa Rios
(www.laparios.com). Just take a look & you will get an idea
of why Hoa Son might become a paradise. David is no
stranger to Vietnam. Check his LinkedIn profile.

All things created have an order in themselves, and this begets

the form that lets the universe resemble God.
Dante Alighieri, Paradiso

9th year, no. 5

The 39th Dutch Vietnam Management Supporter

Loek Hopstakens Clients

In Vietnam: a.o.

Tan Thuan IPC

HCMC University of Technology

RMIT (HCMC campus)

Royal Business School

Int. Business & Law Academy (IBLA)

Vietnam Airlines (RBS; ISM)

Vietnam Singapore I.P. (SPECTRA)

Petronas (SPECTRA)

Petronas Carigali (PACE)

Nike (Tae Kwang Vina) (SPECTRA)

Le & Associates

Sacombank (Training House)

Ministry of L.I.S.A. (RBS)

SONY Vietnam (RBS)

CapitaLand Vietnam (SPECTRA)

Institute for Potential Leaders / PACE

Dalat Hasfarm (Agrivina)

Hoanggia Media Group

Fresh Green Earth

Unique Design

ERC Institute Vietnam

Schoeller Bleckmann Vietnam

Robert Bosch Vietnam (PACE)

De Heus Vietnam

Control Union Vietnam (SPECTRA)

Centre for Tropical Med.Oxford Uni.

Khue Van Academy

CARE Vietnam (AIT)

Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)

HCMC Fin. & Invest. Company (AIT)

Academy of Finance

ITEQ Vietnam

Vietnam Breweries Ltd (Heineken)

VietJet Air (ISM)

In The Netherlands, a.o.

ING Bank

Philips

Heineken

Yamaha

business field
Industrial development
intern. MBA program
Pro Comm faculty
Courses & seminars
Training & consultancy
International airline
Industrial park
Chemical factory
Oil & gas
Shoe factory
Training & consultancy
Training & consultancy
Civil Servants
Consumer electronics
Real estate
Courses & seminars
Pot plants, cut flowers
Key to Success TV Show
Hi-tech agriculture
Interior Design/archit.
Business school
Oilfield Equipment
Electronics
Animal food
Quality inspections
Clinical research
Courses & seminars
NGO
Training & consultancy
Investments
MBA (Un. of Gloucester)
Mono-parts/assemblies
Brewery
Airline
Financial services
Electronics
Brewery
Musical instruments

The DVM Supporter is published by

Prof. Loek Hopstaken
Email: loek.hopstaken@gmail.com
Cell Vietnam: (84) 090 888 9450
Cell The Netherlands: 06 510 97328
Assistant: Ms. Vo Ngoc Lien Huong
Email: jane.hopstaken@gmail.com
Cell: (84) 090 888 9451
Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/loekhopstaken

Oneliners

The play was a

great success,
but the
audience was a
disaster.
Oscar Wilde
No matter what
people tell you,
words and ideas
can change the
world.
Robin Williams

There is no
business like
show business.
Irving Berlin