I once attended a global operations strategy meeting where all the top managers attended to collaborate, share best practices, and develop strategies. The host and the local manager had arranged for their people to basically act as concierges for these top managers from all over the world. For each event, their people were tour guides, providing information about our events, but they were never part of the agenda of any meeting. They all seemed happy, but I wondered how motivated they were to contribute to the strategy or even fully understood it.
At 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 first day’s meeting agenda was filled with presentations from each of the high-performing value stream teams.
As each team presented their accomplishments and best practices, the excitement, attention, and gratitude from all the managers was palpable. Some managers even started videotaping presentations because they perceived something sublime.
The result of this latest meeting was that managers returned to their locations with freshly inspired methodologies and best practices that they strongly believed in. The pride of the High Performance Team was almost tangible and during the following day of work 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). Next, each team member 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, they were the only ones to receive a standing ovation!
Anthony Thirlby (who is a leader who has achieved world-class results in print operations) recently shared a LinkedIn update (article written by Gary Neville) that 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, in a short period of time, brought them together as a team. He used divergent and sometimes questionable techniques, but mostly he wanted all players to have a one-size-fits-all strategy to win gold.
In 2014, the San Antonio Spurs won their fifth NBA title since 1999. They did it as a team by defeating a rival with a few vital stars. No San Antonio Spurs player is averaging 15 points per game, while the Miami Heat’s LeBron James is averaging 27, Dwayne Wade 22.8 and Chris Bosh 15.6. The players have a leader but all contributed to the objective.
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 a few vital 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 value stream worker’s question 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 tailored, a plan can be put in place 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 the vital few.