·
How
would I make time for staff meetings?
·
How
would I answer calls?
·
Take
care of issues regarding Human Resources?
·
How
would I keep up with evaluations or performance expectations?
·
Maintain
my key performance indicators for my group?
·
Maintain
budgets?
·
Keep
up with my visual management system. So
on and so on!
Had I taken on more than I could
handle? These were my thoughts as I
tried to imbibe everything as a new member of management with high
expectations. I think many leaders in various
organizations have many similar responsibilities and often find themselves in
that reactive (fire hose) mode of doing business. Unfortunately, some companies promote based
on how many fires are put out the quickest.
This management process is short-term gains at best and slowly eats at
your culture/morale like a virus. It
also tends to tell the ones you are managing the wrong message and terrible
habits are formed that we often label as “tribal knowledge”, or assumptions. How do you remedy this? This is a reality for many!
I can remember when I took on the
responsibility I felt the urgent need to always have the answers; if I didn’t,
wouldn’t I come across as an inadequate leader? Isn’t the leader supposed to
know everything? What would my people think if I didn’t? How do you gain knowledge or experience and
train others to do the same simultaneously?
I remember my trainer calming me by
saying, “it’s ok not to have all the answers or even have failures along the
way”. His biggest concern was that mistakes
were learned from and they weren’t repeated.
He told me regardless of my level or role I was in for the organization,
there was one thing that never stopped; that was “leading and learning”. No matter how much time a person invests in
a role or gains experience there will always be a level of “leading and
learning” that simultaneously happens with any individual in a leadership role. The key point he told me which I believe is
the essence of how they do business- that is as a leader, “you must always
study harder than your subordinates”! As a current instructor in corporate America,
I still find myself practicing this type of thinking. As consultant do I always have the right
answers? As a consultant will I make a
mistake? Of course, but my goal is to
study harder, learn, listen and engage others.
By doing this I’m practicing continuous improvement for myself so I can
then share that new wisdom immediately!
For me this could happen week to week.
I could learn something from client A and share with client B the very
next week. I may develop a new
“cheat-sheet” or handout that helps explain a theory by bringing it to
life. This is my constant challenge of
“studying harder”. As a leader we must
constantly find ways to teach/lead by our actions. Actions should be lead with a PDCA-mindset
that supports our Business plan/True North.
With that as our guiding beacon and our willingness to engage it’s a
recipe for a culture where people are your most important asset. Hence the 50% rule!
I think in the beginning start up
phases at TMMK we were ALL leading
and learning at the same time whether we realized it or not. The Japanese were trying to teach us a new
way to think in a different language, set up systems, lines and standards while
newly promoted leaders were learning their role, yet at the same time teaching
others, if you didn’t study harder then you may be passed by. There
was no room for complacency when the discipline is “everyday-everybody-engage
people in problem solving”
When it was explained in this way, it
took a little pressure off of me because I realized quickly that being present
on the floor (at the gemba), involving, engaging, challenging my people pushed
me to be better at asking the right questions and developing their
thinking. It was really a continuous improvement cycle as a
person, and believe it or not the people start to mimic your actions as you
mimic the actions of your leader. This
is how you “grow” your own leaders!
I often tell folks that are trying to
embed a Lean Culture in their organization that as a leader if you are
“comfortable” in your role then you probably aren’t challenging yourself or
others. In all my different roles at
Toyota they always challenged me, personally, to be better and I had to challenge
others, my goal was to just be one step ahead at all times. My leader was doing the same thing with me;
this was cascaded downward throughout the organization from the President down
as I’ve stated. One thing to remember it
was an expectation of our job not a choice.
This is where I feel there is such a disconnection with companies trying
to embed lean; it comes across as this “add-on
choice” not an
expectation/discipline, or a way to do business. When we try to
label it and something special I truly believe it loses its importance. In the late 80’s we didn’t call it anything
we just lead by actions which supported the business. Does that really need a label other than our
job? Think about that!
So my message to you if you are a
leader out there and “work for” your people , you
must do this at the gemba real time, asking questions and understanding current
situation. This mentality must be passed
down to your leaders and the people below them. My goal as a consultant/trainer is to always
be uncomfortable in my role- that is to say challenge yourself to be better
each day through self-development by engaging others in what they do. This is the key to success not only for you
as the leader and your people, but the organization as a whole which creates
long-term sustainability and continuous improvement. “Lead and Learn” give it a try!
Until next time,
@tracey_san
Tracey Richardson
