Leadership

Leadership

What is Leadership? 

Leadership is a unique trait that only a few people possess.  Leaders are enablers.  They have the ability to see things other people don't.  They can see through mounds of unrelated data and see a path to success. They are looking at the big picture and want to help everyone achieve mutual success. They can 'read' people.  People want to follow them.  People want to learn from them.  People trust them.  They (the leaders) want to serve the organization and the people in the organization, not the other way around where poor leaders (not really leaders at all) think that the organization and people must serve the leader.

Good leadership in the 21st Century Company requires attitudes and behaviours that relate to humanity.  Of course leadership involves decisions and actions relating to all kinds of other things as well.  However it is unique in its special relationship to people - the people who follow leaders.  The leader is always serving these people and looking out for their welfare and the company's.  Leaders' followers trust and respect them (the leaders) rather than the skills they possess.  Skills are important but not the most important factor.

Leadership traits can be learned to make you a better manager - but only a few people actually possess the true innate ability to be leaders.  When you are going about your everyday work look for the people who seem to automatically become the team leader on any team they are assigned - they rarely possess any more skills related to the assigned task than most other team members.  So why are they chosen to or automatically assume leadership of the team?  Or  how about the person that you feel you can trust or that their organization seems to be always ahead-of-the-curve? Or the 'manager' who is more concerned with their people than with his/her standing in the organization? These are people in your organization that need to be sought out and moved into roles where they can feel comfortable helping people and the company succeed.  They are the visionaries.  They have a positive attitude that is infectious. They are the enables to success. They look for mentors that can guide them, not manage them.  They must enable, that is what they must do or they will move on to other companies where their rare talent may be used by your competitor to negatively affect the fortunes of your company.

Leadership is absolutely essential to the success of any company today!  There must be one or more leaders to lead the managers and every successful company will have, must have, one or more leaders in the C-suite.  A company led by managers will not be successful in the long term. Generation X and Y employees need managers with leadership skills and love to work for Leaders versus Managers.

Leading, Coaching, Praising - R. Hibbard

Causes of Failure for Change Drivers within the Business Infrastructure

You are all excited about the results and business improvements you are going to achieve as you implement your first process change or embark on the development of a new market.  As you move down the road things do not seem to be happening the way you thought they would.  What went wrong? 

To avoid the bumps - opportunities for failure - you need to know what to watch out for and when to take action.  There are five major reasons that Change Drivers fail due to the business infrastructure.  Please look at these areas carefully because they will be some of the most difficult obstacles to overcome on your road to Leadership and Lean Practices!  They must be dealt with head-on and may require a change in your business culture, procedures, IT, and information dissemination, etc.  Look at how these areas will affect the possible outcome of your Change Process or Organizational Innovation Process.

Remember:  Failure is not an option!

Failure could mean the loss of your competitive edge, revenue losses, etc.  It must be avoided and the only way to avoid it is with an open, enlightened environment of collaborative personnel at all levels.

In today's 21st Century Organization knowledge is a valued commodity.  Knowledge is something you must retain and manage.  We will speak in more detail about knowledge management in future posts. Every organization has a vast amount of knowledge about their processes, products, and customers.  Keep that in mind as you look at the five most common reasons for failure for Change Drivers within the business infrastructure: (O'Sullivan, 2002)

1. Poor knowledge management (of people, processes, products, customers)
2. Poor organization of company infrastructure
3. Poor communication within the company in general
4. Poor empowerment of individuals to do the job
5. Poor leadership of the change and the company, division, unit, etc.

See also:
- Drivers for Organizational Innovation
- Causes of failure for Change Drivers within the Change Driver Process
- Example of a corporate Quality issue and suggested leadership approach

Lean?

What do you think of when you hear the word lean?  Lean muscle? Lean meat? Lean protein? Lean cuisine? Lean manufacturing? Lean leadership?  Since this is a blog about Visions of Leadership you should have thought of Lean Leadership. A lean body and lean leadership have a lot in common.  Like the guy pictured, this is how you should visualize your business - lean, muscular, agile, strong ethics, handsome.  This picture represents your customer's expectations of your business - value, stability, flexible, integrity, great image.

So let's look at how lean is being applied.

1. What is the meaning of the word lean?
2. What is meant by this term in business?
3. Why is it in use today?
4. Why associate it with leadership?

The word lean has a number of meanings.  It can refer to 'moving toward', as in she is leaning toward this candidate.  It can refer to something which is tilted, like a tree or building is leaning.  However in the case of business processes it seems to refer to thin, sparse, to-the-point, minimum, no waste, only what is needed, pure, like lean muscle!

The word lean would seem to take on the meaning - that only the essential elements are to be considered and utilized, that there is no waste, no fat in the approach to manufacturing processes or recently in terms of leadership.

It has become fashionable today ( and essential to stay competitive)  to think in terms of lean methods, or to adapt many of the processes pioneered in Japan to your business. The lean process used by Toyota Motor Company focused on the customers needs and desires, which in turn required a re-think of how things were manufactured to allow for more variety, lower cost, and fast changeovers. As with everything in life... overindulgence can produce unpredicted outcomes such as Toyota recently faced.  The focus on the customer must be maintained. As Toyota moved from total customer focus to a focus on becoming the largest car manufacturer in the world they missed the point.  By staying focused on the customer they would still have achieved the 'world title' it just may have taken a little longer.  Most car buyers want zero failure, stylish cars that meet their transportation and/or psychological needs. If you provide cars with the customer's need in mind better than any other car manufacturer you will become the the number one car manufacturing company. Toyota only went a little bit astray but it cost them billions to correct.

The lean concept has moved from the manufacturing process to the management/leadership process over the years due to the need for a new kind of leadership approach to business.  Lean manufacturing requires 'out-of-the-box' thinking to be successful.  It requires managers with special skills to see and effectively lead  a lean organization's ongoing changes needed to stay competitive. Lean in terms of leadership refers to a focus on the key elements of personnel styles, traits, and needs to effectively motivate personnel and maintain the focus on the company's goals.  It is a - 'just what is needed'; 'just enough'; 'at just the right time'; and  an 'agile and flexible' approach.  In other words a to-the-point, consistent, and supportive approach to leading.

Look for additional posts that provide more insight into each of the areas outlined here.  Follow this blog to obtain the latest posts on the subjects you need to incorporate lean into your business operations. 

Translation of a Vision into Results

The translation of your Vision Statement into actual business results requires diligence, focus, project management, and desire.  If you just have a fancy vision statement without a strong commitment to support it then you have the wrong vision statement for your company (department, etc.) or you are not serious about what your vision is. Your employees and customers will quickly become disalusioned.  You and everyone around you must have a passion to succeed.



Lean Leadership Translation of a Vision into Results...

See other posts for additional information:
- Focus for Success
- Vision Statement
- Mission Statements
- Objective - objectives
- Meaningful Success Factors
- Competitive Advantage
- Strategic Actions
- Key Performance Indicators

21st Century Organizations

“On the road to exceeding customer expectations in the 21st Century organizations must be  flexible, fast learners, adaptable,  know where they are headed, and how to get there. Yet, everyone from the CEO to the hourly employees must be aware that everything could change in the blink of an eye and are prepared to meet any new challenge faster than the competition.”                                                    

Richard R. Hibbard

How can I implement Lean Leadership principals and programs with limited consulting services?