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By
Paul Deis, CEO, PROACTION
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Article Summary:
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Leadership - the foundation element
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Improvement is change
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Engagement drives improvements
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Action steps you can take now
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Leadership - the Foundation Element
This nebulous behavioral trait, "leadership" is
receiving more attention lately than in the past, or
so it seems. We were fortunate, in that we
received some real education and training in the
leadership arena long ago. At the time, we
didn't realize fully, just how powerful it was.
In addition, as our career moved forward, it became
increasingly clear that the ability of an
organization to continually improve, to renew, adapt
and change itself is perhaps the critical success
factor over the long run. So the question
becomes "how to we enable this process?"
Who would have believed it if someone asserted in
1975, that Toyota, which up to that point, had made
pretty junky cars and had failed to establish a
"beachhead" in the US market, would eventually
become the largest car manufacturer in the world?
And there are others. Remember Westinghouse?
Bendix? General Electric's culture has, over
the long haul, enabled it to become a globally
dominant player in many markets, whereas the others,
which were not dramatically different 75 years ago,
are either gone, or are mere shadows of their former
success.
It is leadership that is the primary
differentiator. These effective
organizational cultures are successful, are
effective primarily because of the solid foundation
of real, effective leadership. Not just from a
few charismatic "leaders" but everyday, down-to
earth, walk-the-talk examples at every level.
This is coupled with a management awareness of the
personal nature of all work and that it is in their
best interest to make working at their company as
inspiring and meaningful as possible.
Improvement IS Change
We have worked, in detail with literally dozens of
companies, nearly 60, and have seen, time and again,
how hard management works to get people to change
something. While everyone says they are all for
improvements, often they really mean “as long as we
don’t change anything here.” We realize there is a
“duh” factor here, but perhaps it needs to be
re-emphasized that improvement IS change.
Otherwise, we are back to the old definition of
insanity – “expecting different results from the
same actions.”
Struggle, resistance, sometimes real battles,
political alliances, testosterone contests and the
like go with it, or so it seems. It is an axiom at
most companies that “people resist change.”
Fortunately, it is very easy to show how untrue this
is and illuminate what is really going on.
Ask you self some test questions:
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Pay increases – this is a change. Does anyone
NOT want this change?
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More job security – this is also a change. Does
anyone want more job insecurity?
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Easier, more productive work – many gripes about
work have to do with difficulties people
experience in simply having things go well,
without a struggle or conflict with others. Who
wouldn’t want things to go smoother, less
effort, with a greater feeling of reward,
contribution, of being useful? These are also
changes, of course.
So, it is easy to see that people do like, even
embrace changes that are positive, which
enhance their lives in some way. So what is this
”resistance” stuff about? Let’s cut to the chase:
Insecurity
– anything that increases one’s insecurity will be
opposed, often vigorously. The inner thoughts
behind this include:
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“I’m afraid that I’ll be abruptly laid off.”
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“I no longer will know where I stand.”
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“I don’t know if I can do the new system or
process.”
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“They might find out that I don’t really know as
much as they (now) think I do.”
In short, people oppose “change” because it puts
them in a place of risk, of feeling out of control
in their lives - i.e., insecure. Remember, most of
the people working for you live paycheck to
paycheck, with little cushion. Superficially
everyone acts “cool” – like he/she “has it under
control, all together.”
However, beneath the veneer of daily interactions
and social skills, life is essentially an insecure
game. Most management styles which seem to
emphasize threats, fear, and various actions that
demean, discount and in general make people feel
that they don’t matter much to managers.
Historically, it has been these traditional,
heavy-handed management styles, which are usually
completely oblivious to these insecurities, or
worse, actually hostile to them, that has caused the
aggressive labor unions that so many companies had
(many of these companies are now gone – wonder why?)
Early study missions to Japan, in the late 1970’s
and early 1980’s often resulted in the Japanese
managers asking their American visitors “how does
this (a management method) affect the morale of the
workforce?” The American visitors frequently were
completely baffled. “What does that have to do with
anything?” was a common response.
Thus, all efforts to make improvements must, to some
degree, explicitly address this security/insecurity
issue.
To be clear:
it is not about “touchy-feely” stuff, about
“self-esteem,” being morally correct, ethical, etc.
It is about what works, what produces results
in the form of increased sales, greater profits,
market share, etc. Look inside these globally
dominant companies, which have risen to power over
decades, and without exception you’ll find that this
issue has been addressed well and clearly.
Once people’s security and dignity has been
reasonably assured, they will then be in a
psychological and emotional place where they can
become involved in changes that lead to improved
results. But until then…. managers seeking
sustained, continuous improvements are truly
dreaming.
Engagement Drives Improvements
The next step, assuming you have assured your people
that their involvement in changes that lead to
improved results will not put them on the street
without notice or help, is to understand what it
takes to get them fully engaged in their work, and
so that “everyone can work for the company”
(number 8 of W. Edwards Deming’s 14 points).
In our October 4th newsletter, we
reviewed excellent research by Marcus Buckingham on
engagement. We recommend a re-read of this one.
Summary of this research – it is the presence of
effective leadership, behavioral styles by managers,
that causes line people in companies, including
middle and first-line mangers and supervisors
especially, to care about the company and its
goals.
At Best Buy stores, for example. Otherwise
identical stores produced dramatically, and we
mean dramatically better performance where
this was the only variable, compared to other
similar stores. This statistical observation was
confirmed by on site, in-the-store observation of
how store managers led and inspired their people,
rather than directed and controlled.
Once the combination is present in an organization’s
culture of reasonable security and respect for
individuals, the next critical step is to add the
“secret sauce” of awareness of the need to improve.
This can come from an air of crisis, of seeing the
company as being in a very competitive market, or
from the desire to excel, to become the best there
is at what they do.
Toyota, for example, is famous for its ability to
maintain an atmosphere of crisis within the company,
of intense urgency, all the time, even in the face
of remarkable operating results. Top Toyota
executives make statements about all the problems
and challenges facing the company and otherwise
never, ever brook any talk that even sounds like
over-confidence, let along anything arrogant.
Our personal favorite of all time in the “arrogance”
category is the public statement made in 1994 by
then-Chairman of Chrysler, Robert Eaton, that “they
had completely implemented the Toyota production
system and had nothing more to learn from
Toyota” (emphasis mine). A follow up visit, 6 months
later, by another Chrysler executive to the major
plant in question resulted in the finding and report
that “we have learned nothing.”
Action Steps You Can Take Now
Your organization is somewhere along the continuum
of inspiration-driven actions by everyone that are
the hallmark of excellent leadership at one end, and
the “hunt-‘em down and punish ‘em” culture of the
worst of the direct and control management style at
the other. The objective, clearly, is to move
toward the inspiration end of the spectrum.
Recommendations:
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Assess your status
– frankly and honestly. Involve others.
The only truly meaningful assessments, in
our opinion, are the 360 degree type. Take
the “sacred cows” out of the dark. Discuss
the company’s challenges and problems
opening. Solicit input, then involvement
from others. When in doubt take
responsibility for things yourself. Blaming
is not effective as a leadership style.
Period.
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Assess your own leadership style (or where
it is lacking) – using some of this 360 degree information, or an assessment of the
type that PROACTION can provide, become
aware of where you are on this
spectrum. With this information, you’ll
know where to begin, what to work on.
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Articulate your vision
– for yourself and for the company. If you
have trouble here, this is the place to
start. Without a clear vision, leadership
is impossible.
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Create vision alignment
– work with others in your organization to
bring everyone into alignment, and agreement
with the vision for where the organization
is going, and their individual lives. Some
individuals may decide they don’t want to
“go there.” This is fine. Accept it. Find
new roles for them, making sure that people
in key roles are in alignment.
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Bring in a leadership coach
– until the leadership skills become a
deeply imbedded habit at all levels, the
most successful companies we’ve worked with
in this context, have all used an external
facilitator, team-builder, executive coach,
or similar outside person to support,
educate, train and otherwise powerfully
assist the organization in developing and
reinforcing these habits of effective
leadership. It is hard to “forget the old
ways” as many of found. Remember – all
world-class performers, athletes, and the
like have a coach, a mentor – someone to
consistently remind them of where they need
to focus and what to work on. No one,
absolutely no one, can do it alone.
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Education and training
– leadership principles, styles and methods
need to be included in your on-going
education and training program. If you
don’t have an education and training
program, well….. you know what to do!
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Start at the top
- if you have a senior executive role, this
is an excellent place to implement the
improvement process. There are, of course,
activities that only senior leadership can
do – such as vision articulation, strategic
planning, investor relations, etc. Examine
how these are done and start a continuous
improvement process for these. |
In conclusion, we encourage you to seek the path of
leadership. Become conscious of your own leadership
style (or where it needs improvement). Realize that
becoming a good leader is somewhat like achieving
high integrity. It is a paradox of sorts. One
achieves high integrity be constantly struggling
with areas where one lacks integrity. It is similar
with leadership. One achieves capable leadership by
constantly working on the areas in one’s behavior
where it is lacking or weak. Study the principles
of effective leadership. Internalize them, work on
them with the goal of mastering them. The rewards
are truly enormous!
Spread the Word:
We welcome your feedback and comments. Send us your
questions and we'll answer them in a future
Newsletter. Please type in the address.
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Paul
Deis
