I once attended a global operations strategy meeting where all the top managers came to collaborate, share best practices, and develop strategies. The local host and manager had arranged for their people to basically act as janitors for these senior managers from around the world. For each event, his people were tour guides, providing information about our events, but they were never part of the agenda for any meeting. They all seemed happy, but I wondered how motivated they were to contribute to the strategy or even fully understand it.
In a similar global operations strategy meeting, the leader of the local organization had a very different approach. This local organization had achieved world class business results in productivity, quality and delivery. When all the top managers arrived, the agenda for the first day’s meeting was filled with presentations from each of the high-performing teams in the value stream.
As each team presented their accomplishments and best practices, the excitement, care, and gratitude from all managers was palpable. Some managers even started videotaping the presentations because they sensed something sublime.
The result of this latest meeting was that managers returned to their locations with newly inspired methodologies and best practices in which they strongly believed. The pride of the High Performance Team was almost tangible and during the next work day it was the main topic of conversation.
This same leader was invited by the Governor of Maryland to present the organization’s success to a manufacturing operational excellence consortium. This leader was only in the spotlight long enough to introduce one of the teams (no one on this forum knew he was going to do this). Each team member then presented their successes and contributions toward this ongoing journey of excellence. Of the four notable Lean Sigma authors, other organizational leaders and the Governor himself were the only ones to receive a standing ovation!
Recently Anthony Thirlby (who is a leader who has achieved world class results in print operations) shared a LinkedIn update (article written by Gary Neville) which really inspired me to write this article. Please take the time to read it, I know it will inspire you too.
During the 1980 Winter Olympics, the US hockey team, made up of amateur and college players, won the gold medal. They were trained by Herb Brooks who, within a short period of time, brought them together as a team. He used divergent and sometimes questionable techniques, but mainly he wanted all players to have a single-focus strategy that they can’t compromise on to win the gold.
In 2014, the San Antonio Spurs won their fifth NBA title since 1999. They did it as a team by defeating an opponent with a few vital stars. No player on the San Antonio Spurs averages 15 points per game, while the Miami Heat’s LeBron James averages 27, Dwayne Wade 22.8 and Chris Bosh 15.6. The players have a leader but they all contributed to the goal.
Companies like Virginia Mason, Google, Zappos, and 3M have employee empowerment as part of their values. It is a significant part of why they are so successful. Organizations like these understand that the vital few leaders are not enough to succeed in today’s ever-changing marketplace. They understand their role in enabling all employees to contribute to a focused strategy.
Throughout a leader’s day there are many opportunities to provide inspiration, once they are able to recognize these opportunities. Have you ever witnessed a manager ignore a question from a value stream worker because he was taking his boss on a tour of the operation?
Beyond this daily recognition, there must first be a transformation of leaders to understand the benefits of empowerment, how all employees can contribute and build momentum toward achievement, every day. Today’s leaders must have the 4C attributes of Solidarity, Creativity, Communication and Coaching. It no longer works to promote people to leadership roles just because they did a good job in their previous role.
Once transformational leadership is adapted, a plan can be established that enables everyone with the ability, motivation, and empowerment to deliver on the overall strategy.
One of the attributes of a leader is to create. He starts working on his Pareto contribution so that there is no longer a distribution of vital few.