For more than 20 years, MAGNET has collaborated with thousands of manufacturers large and small throughout Northern Ohio. In every case, the companies we meet urgently seek to improve their manufacturing processes, grow profits and become successful competitors.

Inevitably, we see some clients who only partially realize their goals, even after major investments of time, effort and money. Some companies do reach their initial goals, but miss the potential long-term benefits due to backsliding after initial gains.

In my experience, the long-term success of a project comes down to whether the company enjoys effective leadership at the very highest levels of management. When I see sustained interest and involvement from a company’s executive team, that’s when I feel confident the best outcome will be achieved.

If you are considering launching a new product, entering a new market or undertaking a lean project, consider these five key elements of effective leaders.

1. Vision
2. Mutual Trust
3. Communication
4. Execution
5. Sustaining

Vision creates buy-in

A customer-focused vision is the foundation for strategy and sets the direction for the organization’s change effort. Effective leaders realize that a vision statement has to be flexible enough to accommodate change, because internal and external change are inevitable in any organization.

To minimize the risk inherent in change, successful leaders empower their employees to plan and implement the changes in their own areas. This empowerment motivates employees and provides a powerful motivation for them to buy-in to the vision.

Mutual trust can be built or destroyed

Mutual trust between leaders and employees grows from shared experience. When employees trust a leader, they will enthusiastically engage with the leader’s decisions and actions.

Employee trust is based on observing the leader’s behaviors and responses. Trust grows when leaders are personally involved in a project, for example by providing honest feedback and impartial coaching. In any project involving change, leaders remain aware that employees are observing the leaders’ own behavior and attitude as a role model.

Unfortunately mutual trust can be destroyed in many ways including:

• Control: Paradoxically, the more you try to control people, the less control you have.
• Inconsistent management: Are guidelines and standards observed consistently? Or does management convey the message, “Do what I say, not what I do.”
• Fear: Employees will not engage with change if they fear retribution due to the risk of failure. And leaders will miss critical information if employees are reluctant to report “bad news” honestly.

Communication gets people talking AND listening

Clear two-way communication is critical to a project’s success and is based on listening. As an old saw says, each of us has two ears and one mouth, so we ought to listen twice as much as we talk.

Really effective leaders realize that listening to their employees should come first. It is important to get people talking to each other. The individuals closest to the work almost certainly know how to do it better than a manager.

Here’s an example of a possible leader-employee interaction (excerpted from Certain to Win by Chet Richards) that demonstrates the importance of vision, mutual trust and acceptance when a leader communicates a goal:

• Here’s the situation we face.
• Here’s what I think we should do, and why.
• Here’s what we should keep our eye on.
• Now talk to me.
• Here’s what I want you and your team to accomplish. Will you do it?

Execution depends on realistic, measurable goals

Effective leaders have high expectations for their employees, leading to aggressive, but realistic goals. In contrast, low expectations produce low results.

The previous elements mentioned, vision, mutual trust and communication, are a foundation that enables individuals to focus in on the goals. These elements also empower employees to make decisions without fear of being second-guessed.

Goals need to be specific and measureable, for example:

• Increase sales by at least 25% in four months.
• Reduce inventory by at least 15% over the next six months without impacting customer service.
• In the next six months, shorten the time it takes to convert customer orders into product deliveries by at least 25%.

Sustain the change

A key to sustaining the change process is identifying what is working, what is not, and adjusting the vision to compensate. Mutual trust is essential for employees to communicate what is not working within the organization. Leaders must stay engaged over a long period of time to reap the real benefits of a vision change project.

Check out these results of a 2004 survey by the Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc. about the obstacles to sustaining change:

Summary

Consider how these five elements of effective leadership—vision, mutual trust, communication, execution and sustaining—can contribute to the success of your company’s project. In addition, study the history of companies with exceptional leadership like GE, Honeywell, Dell, Southwest Airlines.

And last, but not least, be sure to reward your employees who embrace the vision and celebrate your team’s success.

Originally published in the September/October 2009 issue of the MAGNET Roundup newsletter.

For more information about MAGNET's Lean consulting services, contact Linda Barita, voice: (216) 391-7766.