Leaders, "Get in Costume"!

What?

Brad Rex writes that leaders should "get in costume".  By this he means that a "leader" (he later defines leaders as "executives and managers") should spend some time working as "frontline employees".  In fact he did this for "over 1000 hours" while working for Walt Disney World (averaging around 7 hours per month).
Why?

Working with his followers, Brad learned about barriers to them providing "outstanding service" and this knowledge allowed him to fix those issues when he was "back in the office".

Real leadership

I wouldn't want to dissuade any executive or manager from spending time with their staff, but there is a "leadership" alternative.  A true leader would create an environment where employees can address the "barriers to outstanding service" themselves.  This would be much faster and more efficient than waiting for the boss to visit.  Although, to Brad's credit, he does take calls from frontline people, with whom he has "developed relationships", about new policies.
How Brad Manages Labour
He does it "intelligently", by being "acutely aware of guest traffic and deploy[ing] labour accordingly" - managing them in 15 minute increments so that their are never too few or too many staff serving customers!

Perhaps this is why the employees can't fix the problems themselves?

Steve Jobs' Leadership Lesson 7 - Bend Reality

According to his colleagues, Steve Jobs used a "Reality Distortion Field" to push people to do the impossible* and he believed that "life's ordinary rules didn't apply to him".  When a supplier complained that over confidence would not overcome real challenges, Jobs' replied "Get your mind around it.  You can do it".

A leader often has to ask the seemingly impossible of his/her followers, and followers often rise to this challenge.  The leadership lesson is that people have more in them than they and their manager or leader realise.  To rise to a challenge they must be motivated, and the motivation comes from their leader's confidence that they can do so.

Next: Lesson 8 - Impute

*Adapted from "The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson, in hbr.org. 

Managers and Leaders

I'm continuing to clarify and make cogent and coherent my thoughts on managers as leaders.  The current vogue is the make the two synonymous when talking about CEOs, in particular.  I believe that this is simply "spin" - the Management "brand" has been soiled, now we have the New! Improved! Fresh! Leader running our businesses.  Unfortunately this has given CEOs a false sense of their competency and contribution, allowing them to present themselves as experts in business, economics and politics.

Are managers also leaders?

Certainly there are times when managers are required to lead.  But one can only be leader of people, not a business or an asset or resource.  Generally, managers supervise people.  In the day-to-day events of a business, leadership is not required.  A managers responsibility is to ensure an organisation serves its customers; from this service benefits will flow to the other stakeholders.  To serve its customers, the people, activities and resources of the organisation must be planned, organised, directed and controlled, in some fashion.

Are leaders also managers?

Not necessarily, certainly not in a supervisory manner.  Followers can organise themselves.  The leaders responsibility is to serve the organisation's followers - its people (employees, in a business organisation).  This is a secondary responsibility of managers.

Managers following Leaders

Semco is a business where senior management have come closest to being leaders.  In Semco, the business is managed by the employees (the followers).  In most businesses, supervision rules, and leadership a mere platitude.

Steve Jobs' Leadership Lesson 6 - Don't Be a Slave to Focus Groups

Think in terms of what people need, not what they want.

Make a difference.

Albert Scheiwtzer (1875-1965)

Next: Lesson 7 - Bend Reality

Adapted from "The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson, in hbr.org. 

Reflections upon the last two lectures

Thinking about Leadership

We were asked what we had found affirming and disturbing over the past few lectures

Affirming

I found that my misgivings concerning the current management paradigm - both its theory and practice - were affirmed.  Although leadership is not just about management, the two have become conflated (see my post from the 16th of April on "Leadership Competencies")  and, rather than address its low competency in management, those in management have shifted our focus to leadership.  We now have poor management and poor leadership.

Disturbing

At the core of this problem is the hierarchical approach to management so common in the modern economy.  The approach creates management problems and comes up with new approaches to address them.  These new solutions are then misapplied, causing further problems.

Hard Decisions

It is common the read of managers describing how it was necessary for them to make the "hard decisions" such as sacking workers and closing factories (such as in the King Gee immersion experience).  Hard for the worker, not as hard for the manager!  The hard decisions were those not made by the managers; the ones that may have allowed the factory to be more productive; the ones that would have given the workers machinery, facilities etc to start their won textiles business.  This would have meant hard work and arguing (with their management).

Positive Organisational Scholarship

I find the topic fascinating but disturbing!  Such an effort to make a positive workplace when the standard management approach is so negative.  Again, new tools to fix problems that are inherent in the system.

The End of Leadership - Barbara Kellerman

In her new book, Kellerman decries the gap between "the teaching of leadership and the practice of leadership" and expresses her concern over the rise of the "leadership industry, of which she is a part.  She, in the extract we read in class, also seems to conflate "leadership" and "management".  Why do we need 24x7 leadership?  Why do we need a specific leader?  Why do we need 24x7 management? Why do we need a specific manager?   We we don't.  But when we try, we create more leadership and management problems.

Ricardo Semler and W. Edwards Deming

These two gents provide solid and successful examples of a different management/leadership paradigm.  Deming in Japan and around the  world; Semler in Brazil at Semco.

If the many solutions tried don't solve the problem, then perhaps we are looking at the wrong problem.

Summary

So far I've found the Leadership, Coaching and Mentoring course to be confronting, revealing, enlightening, provocative.  Oh, and formative in a visceral sort of way.

Steve Jobs' Leadership Lesson 5 - Put Products Before Profits

Jobs' view was that Apple should be "an enduring company where people were motivated to make great products. Everything else was secondary.  Sure it was great to make a profit, because that was what allowed you to make great products.  But the products, not the profits, were the motivation".  Isaacson sees the leadership lesson as "put product before profits", but isn't this too narrow for a leadership lesson?  Doesn't this reflect Jobs' staying true to Apple's purpose (see Lesson 1 - Focus)?

An organisation (company, team, government) needs a clear purpose and must stay true to it.  This doesn't mean that all other aspects are ignored.  The organisation must continue to exist if it is to achieve its purpose, but mere existence is not its reason for being.

Next: Lesson 6 - Don't Be a Slave to Focus Groups

*Adapted from "The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson, in hbr.org. 

Toyota - Altona, Values ...

Altona
ABC Online reported (April 18th) that Toyota has "assessed more than 3,000 workers at the site and says it is firing those with the lowest ratings".
Federal Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten says "last night and tonight people will be at home their kids will be asking them mummy, daddy did you lose your job because you are a slacker and that is not the case".

Values

Toyota's Values include "Respect for people".

... and Leadership?

Steve Jobs' Leadership Lesson 4 - When Behind, Leapfrog

Isaacson* believes that an innovative company isn't only one that comes up with new ideas, but one that "leapfrogs when it is behind".  He cites the iTunes-iTunes Store-iPod combination that changed the industry - making CDs obsolescent for swapping music -  when Jobs discovered his error in not providing the Mac with a CD burner.

The broader lesson is that continuous improvement must be coupled with "breakthrough" innovation for a company to progress and dominate its markets.  The lesson for those who are passed by is that competitors don't always respond to competitive disadvantage by emulating the successful player(s).  They may also change the game and send everyone else "back to zero"**.

Next: Lesson 5 - Put Products Before Profits

*Adapted from "The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson, in hbr.org. 

**Barker, J. A. 1993, Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future, HarperBusiness

Multiple Leaders - an afterthought

Thinking about David Clutterbuck (see yesterday's post "Multiple Leaders"), led me to recall how this can be an effective approach in practice.

Project and Product

When I was involved in bespoke software development, we used a project structure that had a Project Manager (PM), as the overseer of the whole project, and a Technical Director (TD) who had responsibility for the quality of the "end-product" (the software and its associated documentation etc).

Different responsibilities, different people

This approach was recognition that a person who could plan, organise, direct, and control (and yes, "lead") a team was not necessarily someone with the technical skills and experience to build the product.  This was the responsibility of the Technical Director (TD).  Both were required, at times, to be leaders, but in different situations and in different ways - and they had different traits, competencies and power sources.

Recent experience

On a recent engagement in an IT department, I noticed that they appointed a PM but not a TD.  The PM carried technical responsibility.  My observation was that this was risky and led to a poorer outcome.

Put the data to work!

Timberland

In the Timberland: Commerce and Justice case study covered in the 21722 lecture on April 14th, Jeff Swartz (p. 2) "believed finding more quantitative or analytical ways to demonstrate the link was becoming an imperative" to showing that Timberland's investment in social programs was critical to its business success.

Sears

This reminded me of an article I read a long time ago about how the US retailer Sears, Roebuck and Company implemented their Employee-Customer-Profit Chain (Rucci, Kirn & Quinn, 1998).  This model "tracked success from management behavior through employee attitudes to customer-satisfaction and financial performance" (p. 83).

Science!

Without relating the article, their approach to measurement was standard scientific method:

1. Ask a question
2. Do background research
3. Construct a hypothesis
4. Test the hypothesis using an experiment
5. Analyze data and draw a conclusion
6. Communicate the results

Cause and effect

Sears used an econometric statistics firm to analyse the enormous quantity of data on training, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, revenue and more that they had been collecting over the years.  The experts uses "causal pathway modeling" (p. 90) to explore the connections.  Their work clearly showed that employee attitudes (5 unit increase) drove their behaviour, which determined the helpfulness of the service they provided, which determined customer impressions (1.3 units), retention and recommendations and finally resulted in revenue growth (0.5%) and profit.

Employee-Community-Profit?

The Sears approach might be applied to Timberland.  The company has collected a lot of data on employee attitudes and involvement, social investment and financial performance.  Economic. demographic and social data might be available for US Federal, State and Local governments where Timberland and its community partners operate (and don't operate).  Then, causal analysis may quantitatively show the relationship between commerce and justice that Swartz is convinced exists.

Postscript - Sears "Leadership Skills"

The Rucci et al article also relates the skills expected of its managers:

Rucci, A. J., Kirn, S. P. & Quinn, R. T. 1998, 'The Employee-Customer-Profit Chain at Sears', Harvard Business Review, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 82-97.

Talent and Leadership

Multiple leaders

In the Australian Financial Review today, there's an article  (pp. 58-59) titled "Talent spotting gets it wrong most of the time" by Fiona Smith.  Two quotes from David Clutterbuck ("management author") related to leadership, management and their respective competencies took my fancy - and fed my convictions on these matters:

1. "unless the talent looks like them, managers just can't see them"
2. "organisations need different kinds of leaders for different situations"

On the second point Clutterbuck describes how firefighters need "one leader who manages, organises and makes things happen" for one situation and when things get hot (my lame joke) they need "someone they would follow into hell".

Managers not Leaders/Leaders not Managers

The first situation described above supports a typical "management" role - making the hum-drum happen and continually improving performance using, perhaps, both positional and personal power.  The second doesn't necessarily require someone with positional power, just personal power.  They do not necessarily need to have legitimate power.

But does the first have to be someone in formal authority?   Why could a team not have a person or person who organises etc?  Couldn't it also have multiple leader(s) who take charge depending on the situation?

Leadership competencies

How firms now select a CEO

During our recent 21722 lecture, we heard how an internationally successful executive search firm - Egon Zehnder International - assesses leadership skills.
The example assessment shown here is from CIO magazine and highlights competencies such as "Team Leadership", "Strategic Orientation", "Collaboration & Influence", and "Results Orientation".  Others include "External Customer Focus" and "Commercial Orientation" and indicate that the competencies are more fitting a "senior manager" than "leader".  Are they the same?

How firms used to select a CEO

Levinson (1980) listed 20 behavioural dimensions of chief executives under the categories of "thinking", "feelings and interrelationships" and "outward behavior characteristics" including "judgement", "sensitivity [to] others' feelings", "sense of humor", "vision", "integrity" and "social responsibility".  Behaviours that seem applicable to any leader, not only CEOs.

Begone!

In their 1985 book "A Passion for Excellence", Tom Peters and Nancy Austin (p.265), declare that the Manager (the "dispassionate analyst, professional, decision maker, naysayer") must give way to the Leader ("cheerleader, enthusiast, nurturer of champions, hero finder, wanderer, dramatist, coach, facilitator, builder").

It seems that "leadership" and "management" have become conflated since the 1980s.  But why?

Peters and Watson believe that Hayes and Abernathy's "Managing Our Way to Economic Decline (1980) was the "cornerstone of the corporate revolution" that they describe as "attacking the "MBA/number-only mentality of American managers".  Hayes and Abernathy themselves declare that there had been  "broad management failure" of "vision and leadership".

Leadership sells

Who would now admit at parties that they were a "manager"?  Who would answer a job ad the spruiked a "management" role?  The word has become a pejorative.  Better to be a "leader" even if the job description hasn't changed!  Just as "frozen food" is hard to sell but "fresh frozen food" walks off the shelves, so is "leadership" sellable while "management" has passed its use-by date.


Peters, T and Austin, N. 1985, A Passion for Excellence - The Leadership Differences, Collins: Glasgow.
Levinson, H. 1980, Criteria for choosing chief executives, Harvard Business Review, vol. 58, no. 4, pp. 113-120.
Hayes, R. H. & Abernathy, W. J. 1980, Criteria for choosing chief executives, Harvard Business Review, vol. 58, no. 4, pp. 67-77.

The Secret of Leadership - Black Turtlenecks!

"Wannabe bosses take a leaf out of Jobs book"

Well, it has happened.

The WSJ reports that Jobs' disciples are proliferating.

Oooweeee!  This leadership thing is sooooooo easy.

Steve Jobs' Leadership Lesson 3 - Take Responsibility End to End

Unlike Microsoft, Apple did not surrender control of its complete offering (except for a short time during Jobs' interregnum when an OEM was licensed to produce a Mac clone).  This meant that Apple did the integration for its customers, enhancing their user experience.

The broader lesson here is that an organisation can't simply see itself as a supplier.  It must take responsibility for its complete value chain - from its suppliers' suppliers to its customers' customers.

Next: Lesson 4 - When Behind, Leapfrog

*Adapted from "The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson, in hbr.org. 

Please excuse the break in transmission.
Easter and multiple assessments intervened.