From the glass-clad boardrooms of corporate powerhouses to the verdant campus of SMU, Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKCSB) Adjunct Faculty Nina Tan's journey is one of drive, curiosity, and tenacity.
Following an illustrious career in the corporate world, Dr Tan pursued her PhD in Business Management at SMU — delving into Business Management, Leadership and Organisation Behaviours, and Human Resources.
But it's not just about numbers and theories for this dynamic professional. After helming multiple corporations in roles such as CFO and Managing Director, she now bridges the practicality of real-world business with academic rigour to shape the minds of the next generation.
“To optimise your learning experience, it is important to have a personal direction that guides you through the doctorate candidate’s journey,” shares Dr Tan.
“For example, think of a business problem that most companies are faced with, but lack an effective solution for, and allow this challenge to shape the direction of your study.”
Upon graduating in 2018, Dr Tan returned to LKCSB as an Adjunct Faculty, teaching strategy, entrepreneurship, and finance subjects such as the Corporate Strategy and Financial Accounting modules. In our conversation with Dr Tan, we dive into the fascinating journey of this business maven turned academic stalwart.
Mindful leadership: the secret sauce for enhanced performance
Through her distinguished career across various senior regional business management roles, Dr Tan observed that most companies manage economic performance by cascading strategic objectives into quantitative performance goals. Through experience and empirical research, she witnessed how the transformative power of talented team dynamics played a pivotal role in enabling organisations to achieve outstanding business performance.
These experiences served as the catalyst for Dr Tan to take up a PhD in Business Management at SMU. “I wanted to dedicate time to conducting empirical field research and developing a system that builds high performance team dynamics that could accelerate business goals,” she elucidates.
Her research aimed to demonstrate that systematic leadership training, focusing on mindfulness and introspection, significantly improves leaders' effectiveness in all interactions.
Following a six-month quasi-experimental study in a real-world setting, Dr Tan found a strong causal link between mindful leadership practices, enhanced creative thinking among employees, and an overall improvement in workplace performance.
While these findings were within expectations, Dr Tan uncovered a surprising discovery during this study. “Participants shared the positive changes perceived by their colleagues in terms of their leadership effectiveness after they had participated in mindfulness-based leadership training,” she explains.
“Furthermore, they explained that a systemic self-development coaching process that led them through an experience of introspection was a critical aspect of sustaining the positive changes to their leadership behaviours.”
Bridging behaviours to achieve sustainable business goals
In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, the key to sustainable success lies in the ability to align employees’ behaviours with overarching business economic goals in an ecofriendly manner. This synergy not only drives productivity and efficiency but also fosters a company culture that thrives on adaptability and innovation.
Besides publishing her findings, “Effects of a Mindfulness-Based Leadership Training on Leadership Behaviours and Effectiveness”, Dr Tan also used the research to produce an AI system that assesses employee performance, identifies competency gaps, and enables effective coaching for improved performance. This online system also enables the upskilling of employees to lead to the organisation’s economic success.
“The system is capable of analysing multimodal inputs such as verbal, facial expressions and body language pattern recognition to groom motivational leadership behaviours,” Dr Tan elaborates, shedding light on the system’s proficiency in assessing performance.
The AI system’s potential is evident, as it can effectively align organisational behaviours with business goals. Notably, both Enterprise Singapore and Innovation Partner for Impact (IPI Singapore) have expressed their support for the deployment of this system.
In recognition of her work’s potential to contribute to businesses’ success, Dr Tan was honoured with the Management Excellence Award presented by the Singapore Business Review.
Shaping the next generation while making waves in the industry
In the world of academia and industry, the journey of knowledge often traverses diverse landscapes. Dr Tan views the SMU PhD programme as uniquely valuable for management leaders, offering them the chance to share experiences, engage in problem-solving discussions, and formulate problem statements.
“The cross-exchange of ideas and networks (within PhD candidates) can facilitate a rich foundation for data collection opportunities,” she reflects.
SMU’s PhD programmes empower candidates to extend their connections to corporate entities, facilitating collaboration with decision-makers to address real-world challenges. This synergy enables candidates to engage in research that offers innovative and practical solutions.
Having derived immense value from the distinctive learning journey offered by SMU’s doctorate programme, Dr Tan has chosen to pay it forward by imparting this invaluable experiential knowledge to the next generation as an adjunct faculty member at LKCSB.
“As a lecturer, I facilitate the connection of workplace experiences with solutions driven by conceptual frameworks,” she says.
“As an SMU alumni member, I wish to implement the research work done by converting the work into a system that can bring evidential results to an organisation.”
With her extensive research and practical experience, Dr Tan blends the complexities of business with the academic rigor of research, imparting her wisdom to future trailblazers. Her journey exemplifies the power of combining academic inquiry with real-world impact, setting the tone for leadership behaviours that can transform the business landscape.
