How can someone start on the road to a systematic approach to becoming a true leader and developing others? The first step is to identify the gaps between where you are and where you want to be and a vision of uncompromising excellence and a brutally honest assessment of yourself and your organisations current condition. The gap between the ideal vision and the current state helps in identifying the problem around which you can focus your efforts to self-development, develop others and promote continuous improvement by both small and large changes. This process of identifying the gap between the current and the ideal will repeat itself many times in the life of your company and the career of a aspiring leader.
Use the following pints as reference as a diagnostics for your organisation:
• Is the vision shared and understood within your organisation? Is their a sense of accountability and ownership of the vision? Not just from the Leadership group, but everyone within the organisation. The vision needs to be believable, actionable and reinforced in concrete terms as the work is done. Is everyone working towards the vision everyday?
• Do we have the right leaders in place who are willing to take on challenges with a positive mindset and develop themselves? The long term goal is to have all leaders, up, down and across the organisation, busy self-developing. Self development does not mean you have to do it alone. Every leader (or aspiring leader) should have a mentor and/or coach (sensei) to work with them and challenge their thinking. This sensei does not have to be a senior, it can be someone on the shop floor who is able to challenge you and make you think outside the square with a focus on continues improvement.
•Are leaders at all levels embracing their roles as teachers, developing others to lead the way in the future? Starting the process of self-development is a challenge, but in some ways its simple compared to the process of transforming leaders who have learned over decades to be decision makers into teachers who are developing others. Learning "servant leadership" and focusing on developing others, instead of using your power to give orders. This requires remarkable maturity and discipline. The starting point is to make clear the expectation that leaders will develop others and to make that part of their ongoing performance assessment and feedback.
•Are all leaders at all levels using a rigorous process to solve the right problems step by step? Root-Cause problem solving involves fundamental behavioural tendencies. Its natural to want to jump in with :solutions" so that you can see the "results" quickly. The Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) process focuses the majority of the effort on the planning and then stresses that the job in not complete until we Check and start planning for the future action.
Use the following pints as reference as a diagnostics for your organisation:
• Is the vision shared and understood within your organisation? Is their a sense of accountability and ownership of the vision? Not just from the Leadership group, but everyone within the organisation. The vision needs to be believable, actionable and reinforced in concrete terms as the work is done. Is everyone working towards the vision everyday?
• Do we have the right leaders in place who are willing to take on challenges with a positive mindset and develop themselves? The long term goal is to have all leaders, up, down and across the organisation, busy self-developing. Self development does not mean you have to do it alone. Every leader (or aspiring leader) should have a mentor and/or coach (sensei) to work with them and challenge their thinking. This sensei does not have to be a senior, it can be someone on the shop floor who is able to challenge you and make you think outside the square with a focus on continues improvement.
•Are leaders at all levels embracing their roles as teachers, developing others to lead the way in the future? Starting the process of self-development is a challenge, but in some ways its simple compared to the process of transforming leaders who have learned over decades to be decision makers into teachers who are developing others. Learning "servant leadership" and focusing on developing others, instead of using your power to give orders. This requires remarkable maturity and discipline. The starting point is to make clear the expectation that leaders will develop others and to make that part of their ongoing performance assessment and feedback.
•Are all leaders at all levels using a rigorous process to solve the right problems step by step? Root-Cause problem solving involves fundamental behavioural tendencies. Its natural to want to jump in with :solutions" so that you can see the "results" quickly. The Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) process focuses the majority of the effort on the planning and then stresses that the job in not complete until we Check and start planning for the future action.
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