In my previous blog post, “Employees Goofing Off,” I made the case for why the standard for leaders and managers must no longer be the average — characterized by those who follow the herd in both mindset and method, and whose first reaction when trouble arises is to lay people off, close facilities, and squeeze suppliers. Instead, the standard for leaders must be the best leaders, first-class leaders — characterized by those who think, improve or replace existing methods, and who, when trouble arises, does everything possible to avoid taking horrible actions that harm employees and other stakeholders.
The method for making first-class leaders is:
- Connect the leader to the worker, similar to how Taiichi Ohno connected the worker to the customer.
- Three rules: 1) Simplify, 2) Standardize, and 3) Specialize.
Connect the Leader to the Worker
How do we connect the leader to workers? First, consider how Ohno connected the worker to the customer. He started by acknowledging the existence of the perpetual mismatch between the rate of production and the rate of customer demand. The former usually exceeds the latter, often by a great margin, which results in high costs and innumerable other difficult problems. All you have to do is count the number of units produced and compare that to the number of units sold to know mismatch is large. These are the facts. Ohno went on to develop a management system to correct this and other problems, and which proved to have far wider utility than just production management. The basic idea being: Don’t produce stuff for which there is no demand.
You connect the leader to workers the same way. Start by acknowledging the existence of the perpetual mismatch between them. Namely, the production of errors made by leaders and compare them to the demand from workers for leadership errors. Since there is no demand for leadership errors from employees, the mismatch is great, and it results in innumerable problems for employees – problems in completing their work, engagement, and many other work- and non-work-related problems. These are the facts. And the basic idea is the same: Don’t produce stuff for which there is no demand.
How does one know the errors that leaders make? All you have to do is ask workers. They have no trouble identifying leaders’ errors — hundreds of basic errors. This is at odds with leaders’ positive perception of their own abilities. It is also at odds with the common view that leaders learn to make fewer mistakes in their interactions with employees as they advance up the hierarchy. That is true for some leaders, but it is not true for most leaders.
Next, what are the three rules?
Rule #1 – Simplify
People tend to make things far more complex than is necessary. For example, they buy large, expensive, and complicated capital equipment that has more capability than what is actually needed to do the job. People justify this by saying: “The process is complex. It’s the only way to do the job.” Others, however, say: “We have to simplify the process. Let’s start by simplifying the equipment. Let’s rightsize the equipment.” So, they carefully determine the necessary function and replace the big expensive equipment with much smaller and far simpler “rightsized” equipment, thereby reducing cost of the process, improving its quality, and reducing the lead-time.
Leaders are very expensive employees. They tend to make things complex as a result of the leadership errors that they make. As a result, the job of leading people becomes even more expensive, with low quality and long lead-times to get a job done. Likewise, we must simplify leadership. How do you do that? The only practical way is to comprehend leadership as processes — 15 processes in fact. These account for the great majority of what leaders do at work every day. Comprehending leadership as processes allows us to “rightsize” leadership so that the function of each leadership process is both narrow and unambiguous. This, in turn, enables leadership to be simplified.
Rule #2 – Standardize
When the standard for leaders is the average, then the many mistakes that they make in their interactions with employees are seen as acceptable. Why is the standard for leaders average, and why are their mistakes seen as acceptable? The standard for leaders should be those who make the fewest mistakes. Recall what Taiichi Ohno said: “Take the shortest [best] time as the standard” (Workplace Management, Chapter 36, pp. 151-153). Likewise, “Take the fewest mistakes as the standard.”
The leader that makes the fewest mistakes is the standard. The leader who does that is using processes that yield the fewest mistakes, and these processes should therefore be the standard. The next step is to document that process using standard work and standard work combination sheets. That now becomes the baseline for future improvement. This is how mistakes are eliminated and how processes are improved over time. But, to assure quality and safety, and to avoid backslide, some complimentary steps need to be taken. Therefore, visual controls are created and simple mistake-proofing devices are created for each leadership process. These help guide and monitor processes, and alert leaders to abnormal conditions that arise in their leadership processes.
Rule #3 – Specialize
The third rule is specialize. Leaders, advancing up the hierarchy, often continue to do parts of their old job and perhaps even the job before that. This annoys and frustrates employees who are assigned to do those tasks. It culminates in leaders micromanaging the people that report to them. The corporate culture is one in which people do parts of one another’s job, thereby blurring roles and creating confusion over who is responsible for what. Poorly defined roles and responsibilities, and diffuse departmental boundaries, generate organizational instability that render it incapable of responding effectively to changing conditions.
Leaders wish to retain generalist capabilities “just-in-case.” And, their boss usually allows them to do that. Retaining generalist capabilities “just-in-case” is sensible from a selfish perspective, but it is not sensible from an organizational perspective. Nor is it practical, and it conflicts with Rule #1, Simplify, and Rule #2, Standardize.
Instead, what leaders must do is specialize. Much like a musician, leaders must be totally devoted to their craft and focus on their leadership processes in order to develop and improve their leadership competencies and skills over time. This, in turn, enables workers to work at their best pace to help the organization achieve its goals and objectives with the specified time-frame or sooner.
Without specialization, leaders are of little use to employees. They are not leaders; they are workers who are not doing the type of work they are assigned to do — which is to lead.
Making First-Class Leaders
Are you a leader? Do you want to become a leader? If so, I hope your aim is to become a first-class leader. For that to happen, the standard for leaders can longer be the average. Instead, the standard must be the best leader. My new book, Speed Leadership, gives you all the information you need to learn and put into practice the new standard for leadership.
It will also inform you that your role as a leader is vastly different than what you think it is. Most leaders think they are responsible for a department, the budget, the people, and the output. If you instead think about your role as leader in relation to time and information flow, you will see your responsibilities and the people that report to you differently. You will also understand the budget and output differently. And you will see your department as possessing far more knowledge and capabilities than you ever imagined.
Learn about my new 3G Lean Leadership Lab: Article • Brochure.
from Bob Emiliani http://www.bobemiliani.com/making-first-class-leaders/
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