Transformational Strategies

Leading change in today's fast paced world is tough. Not only are we experiencing new paradigms in economic and geo-political fluctuations but we are forced to learn and accept new technologies, innovation, and communication methods... on the fly. Too often change is forced upon an organization due to a lack of willingness to prepare, unforeseen circumstances, or just being stuck in outdated ways of doing business. Whatever causes the need for change it is a tough undertaking to successfully lead the change initiative in a positive direction.

This week we researched a few remarkable examples of organizations who transitioned through change. We looked at Home Depot and how Robert Nardelli impacted this giant in both positive and negative ways. We read a story of a furniture company who reengineered his team's approach towards  customers, and we listened to General Stanley McChrystal, US Army retired, discuss how he had to make drastic changes in himself as well as his leadership techniques post 9-11. These were some powerful examples of leading through transition. The one clear message I learned from all these examples was the importance of sharing the vision and gaining confidence in the movement.

Robert Nardelli changed Home Depot when he took the helm as CEO in 2000. His style and strategy was process driven and he effectively streamlined and automated many of Home Depot's processes. This saved the company millions of dollars, but he failed in the long run. Why? He didn't share his vision with the thousands of employees who would be forced to work in a new, changing environment. He didn't share his vision, or his vision didn't include the culture of the Home Depot family.

Jim McIngvale, owner of Gallery Furniture in Houston, TX, was forced to reengineer his business strategy in the face of a nationwide recession. He never lost focus on the opportunity Gallery Furniture had, and he needed to make some changes in the culture of his employees to see this vision through. It took redesigning the sales process, incorporating technology, changing the mindset of his sales staff, and redirecting production in a safer, more efficient operational direction. He made his vision known, and through a series of training programs, reenforcement of small successes, and a continuous desire to adapt to a new breed of customer. The results of his shared vision effectively changed the culture of his employees, revamped their sales approach, reduced delivery reworks, improved safety records and employee wellness, and reduced his inventory. McIngvale lead change for his organization by never quitting on his vision for what could be.

Genreal McChrystal, after almost 30 years of serving as an Army Officer, had to readjust his leadership style after the attack of September 11, 2001. His command spanned continents, employed new technologies that had yet been battle tested, encompassed a broad range of ages, sex, and experiences. He had to learn to lead all over again in order to carry out his mission. What made him successful was his ability to relearn how he viewed leadership. He learned from his troops. He gained trust through superior communication over a range of media. And, he shared his vision up and down the chain of command. Trust in combat is just as important than the equipment used to fight, and he had to learn how to build mutual trust in a "new breed" of soldier. He discovered that men will only follow a vision if they know about it, can understand it, and believe it has the best intentions. He succeeded, and many lives saved can be attributed to his ability to learn how to lead in new, unprecedented times of change.

Being a leader in these times does not mean being right, it means acting right. Being able to incorporate new ideas, innovation, and technology and make them work to produce positive results takes determination, hard work, and vision. It is the shared vision that can change a culture. This is the face of "new leadership". Being able to identify the need for change, make the right choices to effect a change strategy, and sharing this vision with those who will be instrumental in making change happen. Communicating vision to those you lead is the foundation for leadership moving forward in this fast paced world.

JP

Leading System-Wide Change - What Makes a Leader

"People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things." ~ Sir Edmund Hillary

How exactly does one become a leader of industry? What is it that separates the few from the many? Some would argue it takes an unparalleled desire to succeed, a tireless work ethic, or the ability to transform dreams into reality. Our world is filled with over 6 billion people, yet there are very few success stories in comparison. So, what does it take to be a leader and effect change?

When I think of leaders who have changed the world I think of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mahatna Ghandi, Winston Churchill, and Nelson Mandela. People who over came incredible odds to accomplish extraordinary things. Thomas Edison patented over 1,000 ideas, products, and concepts including the light bulb. To me that is incredible because I couldn't imagine a world lit by candles and oil lamps. I wouldn't be writing this blog on my Mac using Google Blogger without the visions of ordinary men who created extraordinary things. Leaders become who they are by doing things other people haven't done, aren't willing to do, or haven't thought of yet... and they do it better than anybody else.

By definition, being a leader means you have to lead people in a direction. You have to have influence over others to want to follow you. You have to lead by example. Jim Rhone, one of my favorite authors and motivational gurus, said "if you want to be successful help others around you to become successful". Ideas and visions are only ideas and visions until they become action, and that takes people working together towards a common goal.

Obstacles are opportunities for a leader. I can't think of too many people who became leaders of industry without fighting an uphill battle. The illusion is that these people made it look easy. Where the masses may only see the results they seldom see the rocky, uphill battle to achieve the level of success they are in awe of. When Bill Gates dropped out of college, turned down a job with IBM, and began writing software and building computers in his garage his family thought he was crazy, but this is what it sometimes takes to effect change. No one could do what Bill Gates did... until he showed the world what he could do. His efforts effectively changed the world.

Not all leaders create change, and change is never easy. It is human nature to find the easy way. No one searches out the most difficult path, but when trying times are upon us it takes people with vision, guts, and determination to push through and use change to make things better. This is also a characteristic of leadership. When Nazi Germany was beating the British in WWII Churchill didn't throw up his hands and say "well, we gave it our best lads". No, he said "Once more into the breaches dear friends!" and lead a country against a powerful force to changed the course of war. He gave hope through action, and lead the minds and hearts of the English to rally up and fight through the toughest of odds. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things... this is what makes a leader.

I am a leader... not in the sense of Bill Gates, Churchill, or Ghandi, but I have a responsibility to my family, colleagues, and God to be a leader. My eyes are open to the struggles of raising a family and providing for them, finding solutions to problems at work, and walking in the path laid before me by God. None of these are easy, and it takes hard work, discipline, and a focus on what I believe is the right thing to do. For me, failure is not an option, which doesn't mean I won't fail, but I will get up more times than I get knocked down. I will continue to learn and grow as a person and do what I can to make those around me better. One person can't change the world, but if you can establish a good example for others to follow great things can happen. This is what it means to be a leader.

JP

Self-Managed Teams

Incorporation of teamwork is a growing ideology in today's organizations. We can do more than me, and teamwork combines the talents of the many versus the skills and abilities of one to accomplish more "work" in a shorter amount of time. Utilizing teams, more specifically high-powered teams comprised of highly skilled people working towards an objective, can cause obstacles for traditional styles of leadership. In essence high-powered teams are fully capable to manage themselves thereby shifting the purposes of leadership to guider-ship (trademark patented word not to be used without the expressed permission of Jody Powell Inc.).

There are many benefits to a self-managed team. The purpose of a team is to accomplish a goal, or purpose. These goals and purposes are laid out into objectives by project managers. Once the objectives are shared with the group get out of the way and let the team do what they do best. Simple, clean, and efficient. This would probably drive middle-managers and traditional leaders crazy. Where is the accountability? What if they accomplish their goals in a completely different way than upper management had anticipated? Who do we hold accountable?? The answers to these questions lie within the team itself. The team does not generally make the goals or objectives to hit (although it would be a good idea to include the team in on the ideas and direction planning process). The team purpose is to make it happen, and the self-managed team knows how best to do that very thing. Set the team in motion, provide guidance when necessary, track progress, and be of support and assistance... this is all that needs to be done to "manage" a self managed team.

Personally, I worked in self-managed work teams in the Navy. This typically happened when our Leading Petty Officer was a technical expert and used the junior people, with varying levels of experience, to accomplish tasks. The goal of this type of SMT was to keep Chief out of the team. Chiefs always had a tendency to over-analyze and micro-manage, so to counter that the team work autonomously to accomplish our mission feeding the Chief the information he/she required.

Currently I work in a similar situation. I am the team leader for a store in Corpus Christi, TX with our corporate offices in San Antonio about 2 hours up the highway. We have three sales people including an assistant and 4 production team members. We have goals and projects passed down from corporate and we carry them out how we see fit. As the team leader I make the reports to my boss and inform home of our progress. We manage our own issues, find solutions to our market's unique obstacles, and work interdependently with each other to accomplish our goals. We vary in our collective expertise, but compliment each other with different skill sets. I didn't realize until this week's lesson on SMTs how many similarities we share with Brown's definition, but we are very much an autonomous unit.

Managing a self-managed team requires more guidance than leadership in the traditional sense. Brown describes upper management as a support team in this scenario, which is exactly what is needed for a SMT to operate at capacity... support. Being able to track production and effort is part of team management. Keeping the team on track is a shared responsibility of the internal team leader and the support team. Overall, self-managed teams run themselves. Point them in the right direction, provide as much support as the team needs, and let them do their thing.

JP

Goal Setting and Feedback

Many motivational speakers have shared a variation of the phrase, "No one plans to fail, but many fail to plan". Why is this such a strong message that so many use it as fodder to get people on track for success? Simply, if we don't know where we are going we will never truly know when we get there. You have to have a plan. In this sense a plan is a goal, or something to be attained. In order to get somewhere or something there is usually a series of steps to be accomplished in order to get there.

Without doing a study in human evolution or socialization I would wage a stiff bet that as long as man has been mobile he/she has devised some sort of map to chart progress, report new discoveries, and help others save time by avoiding pitfalls along the way. The earliest humans might have written the directions to a food or water source on cave walls. In the discovery age when explorers were searching new trade routes to India they charted their courses and passed on the information to following travelers. Today, we have our Garmins and smart phones with Google Maps. Charting our courses and passing on information is probably as old a human trait as utilizing fire. We have a need to know where we are going, and the best way for us to get there is to have a plan or goal.

Goals can be big or small, long range or short sided. Goals are our mental maps to get what we want. Establishing little goals in the effort to accomplish larger ones requires feedback and evaluation from time to time to ensure we are tracking for our ultimate destination. Feedback throughout our progression is important to us. Whether we hit a landmark on our way to the watering hole, took that left at Albuquerque, or received some praise from our bosses/coworkers for a job well done feedback is important for us to measure our advancement. So, goals are planning strategies written down and feedback acts as reinforcement along the way.

Brown discusses in his book, An Experiential Approach to Organization Development, that younger generations require more frequency in feedback. He claims that "a combination of goal setting and feedback on individual performance has a positive effect on performance". Brown also alludes to a trend that older generations are less dependent on feedback as younger folks. This does not surprise me in the least. If we take a simple look into how older generation acquired information and compared this to how we get information today we can see why younger people tend to respond better to instantaneous feedback. When my mother was working towards her Masters Degree in the 80's I distinctly remember her spending hours at the library, researching books and journals, following one source to another and tracking her progress on a Big Chief tablet. She put in considerable time and effort to find answers to her questions, and once her knowledge was attained it was reinforced by the fruits of her labor. Today, as I am working on my Masters Degree I can Google, Wiki, Hunt Library Online, and click away to find instantaneous answers to my questions with little effort. A smart person would have that lingering internal voice inside their heads questioning the information source, if the information is relevant, or pertains to the ultimate goal being pursued. So, for me I require feedback from my sphere of influence. My theory is this... when less effort is made to attain information the higher the need for feedback.

We live in a fast paced world and the speed in which information is available to us can be overwhelming (and it's only getting faster). When we set our sights on a goal and make a plan we need to be aware of our progress. I am reminded of Chris Kyle's book, American Sniper, when he was discussing that being an 8th-inch off target on the scope could mean feet off target down range. Little miscalculations now could mean huge deviations down the road. This is why, in my life, it is important to plan accordingly, make goals and track them, and seek feedback throughout my process. We all want to get somewhere in the least amount of time, and the best laid road map comes with a series of landmarks. Planning to succeed requires planning to achieve. Set goals, accomplish them one at a time, seek feedback, and get to where you are going. In the immortal words of General George S. Patton, "we are either moving forward or we are moving backwards". Stagnation is not an option... plan accordingly.

JP

Team Cooperation and Competition

The decision to form a team should stem from the purpose in which the team is designed. The goals, or purpose of the team needs to be realized by all participants and understood in order to move forward with a common sense of direction. With the purpose in mind, and as the initial formation stages of team take place, the individual members should have a say in the ground rules. This is the essence of a Team Charter.

Recently, we have formed a team in our Master's program to build upon team concepts, teamwork, and accomplishment of team goals. By this time in our program we have all participated in some form of "online team" and we all have a sound concept of what works and what doesn't. So, we made our Charter and expressed our individual strengths, expectations, past challenges, team goals and barriers, as well as some simple ground rules. This particular team is comprised of five motivated professionals sharing a common experience in self-education, and this blog is dedicated to the process of forming our group.

First off, we were given an outline for our charter. Each member was to include their respective contact information and fill out the fields with their thoughts and expectations. There are several ways to accomplish this with members scattered around the US, and we chose the "hot potato" method. The first team member out of the gates posted his portion of the charter to our file exchange, and then posted a discussion board comment on how others should follow. Each person was to download the file, add their information, and repost to the file exchange for the next person to complete. The final member to fill out the charter then posts it for the group to review and submit for grading. Simple and effective.

Not only is the content of our charter and submission process effective, but it allows us to catch a glimpse into the thought process (behaviors) of our members. Will anyone wait to the last minute? Does anyone object to this process? Or, will we all build upon a solid foundation of teamwork? It is a good test to establish the working behaviors of a new and dispersed team.

The main theme throughout our charter was communication. We have assignments that have deadlines, and we need participation from all members to accomplish these tasks. We also all have very busy and productive professional and personal lives that demand our attentions. So, if someone is going to be late or having trouble with their submission we all agreed we need to know about it sooner rather than later. We can only bridge gaps if we see them coming in enough time to fix them.

Our results were successful. We now understand each others' strengths and expectations of the group. So, what if someone doesn't hold up there end of the bargain? Simple... we complete the task, submit our work as professionals do, and confront the slacking member to find out why they dropped the ball. I believe that we all are in this program to succeed, and we all want to perform well (mainly an assumption on my part based on my own feelings and personal expectations). Life does have a tendency to happen, but we now all agree that communicating situations that will compromise the teams purpose is expected from all five.

Personally, I love these team projects. Online Teams, or virtual teams, have unique obstacles inherent... mainly time zone barriers. Learning to overcome these barriers is best done through understanding, communication, and respect of other members. In my personal and professional experience I will always be a part of a team in some way, shape, or form. My wife and I are a team for our family. At work we operate as a team, and understanding, communication, and respect are all necessary elements that ensure solid teamwork. In the immortal words of John Madden, "It's the team that gets into the end zone the most that is going to win". NO one gets ahead by themselves, and if they do they will probably be too tired to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

JP