3 ‘Brilliant Basics’ for Plant Leadership
By Studiowide
“If you’ve got the right person leading your improvements, your problems are fundamentally solved.”
If there is one core theme running through the ‘Brilliant Basics’ like the words ‘Blackpool’ running through Blackpool Rock, it’s Leadership. If you’ve got the right person leading your improvements, your problems are fundamentally solved.
All of us within the Productive Industries team have spent years working with clients on the ‘nuts and bolts’ of process improvement and improvement methodology in order to turn their operations around. In almost all cases it has worked out well, but if there is a major problem with the person leading the effort you are in for a long and arduous experience.
One of the toughest lessons I learned in life (thankfully at a young age) was whilst serving in the Royal Air Force. After a disastrous ‘short intervention’ exercise that I was leading where everything that could go wrong did go wrong, I found myself falling into the trap of blaming members of my team for the woeful performance I was now obliged to debrief to my Commanding Officer. Mid ‘whinge’ he stopped me in my tracks to remind me ‘Cadet Kelly …. there are no such things as bad teams, only bad leaders’. Lesson learned, I took a moment and started again to explain where my leadership skills had fallen short of the task and what I was going to do to address my shortcomings. Admittedly, this was military life in the late 80’s when attitudes and dialogue were perhaps a little more direct than what we are used to today.
Nevertheless, the important message in the advice was that Leadership is more than just being a figurehead. The leader is ultimately responsible for the major decisions about where the operation is going. The person who decides on the big issues that will make things happen differently in the future. To do this job well this person needs to have rather exceptional qualities most of which can be learned with good coaching and mentoring.
“Part of what a good operational leader does it take complex issues, break them down and lay them out in a way that is easy to understand.”
1. Clarity
A leader needs to be crystal clear on what the ‘Top 3’ problems are and what exactly they plan to do to overcome them. Too often people in lead positions are confused about where they want to get to and why. For more on this read my article entitled ‘Using Top 3 Questioning To Drive Breakthrough Performance‘.
Part of what a good operational leader does is to take complex issues, break them down and lay them out in a way that is easy to understand. This ability is crucial and needs to be accompanied by a strong desire to simplify things rather than complicate them. It is worth reminding ourselves that our capacity to see what we want to see is incredible. Effective leaders understand this and are able to fight the temptation to good effect because it is extremely difficult to get from A to B if you’re kidding yourself that you’re starting point is C.
Not only does the leader need to see clearly and objectively, but they also need to be direct and straight in the way they communicate with their team. It is frustrating to say the least to work with someone who goes ‘around the buoy’ several times to get anything done. It is crucial to convey a problem so that, because of seeing what it is, team members can buy into and accept it and go forward.
“A good leader’s ambition for the operation is nearly always beyond what most people think is possible.”
2. Vision
If you aren’t clear on your Top 3 or you are missing an objective, get one!
Define what it is you’re aiming to do and don’t waffle. Surprisingly, this critical point in leading an operation forward is often forgotten. Your objective should tread that fine line between being something stretching and something that is do-able. If it is impossible, it demotivates people. A good leader’s ambition for the operation is nearly always beyond what most people think is possible, but you as a leader must have a real sense that it is possible – and this involves good judgement. The Construction Materials industry has its own nuances and it’s the leaders responsibility to set appropriate, challenging objectives for everyone in the operation to aim for. For more on this read my article on ‘The 8 Brilliant Basics of Building High Performing Teams‘.
“Passion on its own without good judgement is dangerous.”
3. Passion
This quality is the most problematic. You really need to have a passion for leadership otherwise you simply won’t be able to deal with the stress levels and when the going get’s tough your people will see through you. If you consider the equation M=V x L where Motivation is the result of perceived Value multiplied by the Likelihood of Success, it’s key to understand at a very personal level where that ‘Value’ is derived from. Some people it’s financial, some security, others it’s status …. everyone is different.
Secondly, to succeed you absolutely need to have a real passion for the business you’re in. But a word of warning. Passion on its own without good judgement is dangerous and it’s far better to do nothing than to lead an operation passionately down the wrong path. It’s not vital that leaders get everything right however, it’s important that they do their homework, examine carefully whatever information they have before them and them aim that passion at an objective that makes sense and one in which they can engage their team on.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading our 3 Brilliant Basics For Plant Leadership.
Finally, don’t forget that creating a high-performing team enables managers, team leaders, and colleagues to achieve world-class levels of Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost, and People performance. However, getting there requires the adoption of an essential set of practices that when done well and done habitually combine to create a results mechanism that we call ‘The Brilliant Basics’.
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