The Christian Digest [#9] Presents A PASSION FOR EXCELLENCE--The Leadership Difference
Excerpts from the book by Tom Peters and Nancy Austin
(New York: Random House, 1985)
THIS IS A BOOK ABOUT LEADERSHIP and the role of the boss. The superb business leaders we use as models in this book are tough as nails and uncompromising about their value systems, but at the same time they care deeply about and respect their people.
In the private or public sector, in big business or small, we observe that there are only two ways to create and sustain superior performance over the long haul. First, take exceptional care of your customers. Second, constantly innovate.
MBWA: Management By Wandering Around
In our work with groups of all sorts we have commented time and again that we can make a strong case, which boils down to this: The number one managerial productivity problem is, quite simply, managers who are out of touch with their people and out of touch with their customers. And the alternative, "being in touch," doesn't come via computer printouts or the endless stream of overhead transparencies viewed in ten thousand darkened meeting rooms stretching across the continent. Being in touch means tangible, visceral ways of being informed.
"Daily Dose of Reality"
Three mornings a week, all executives of Castle, a company that makes hospital sterilisers and surgical equipment, find a 5" x 7" yellow sheet of paper on their desks. The title: "Daily Dose of Reality." Below is the name and phone number of a customer who bought a new piece of equipment from them about six weeks before. (Better yet--the phone number is of the person who actually uses the equipment.) The routine is stated in full in an internal memo: "We will simply be asking our customers if they are satisfied with our product."
The objective is threefold: "To let our customers know they are important to us, to uncover problems before they become major irritants, and to give management a daily reminder of where the real world is--with our field representatives and our customers."
Innovation
To innovate is to pay attention to innovation.
"Naive listening" is a term we have coined for listening to the users of our products, the customers, with no preconceptions or defensiveness. The studies continue to pour in. Virtually all of them say the same thing: The lion's share of new ideas comes from the users. (3M adds an important twist: A substantial share of their ideas come in response to the complaints of users.) Do you listen to these new ideas directly (via MBWA), act on what you hear, and listen naively (i.e., consider their perceptions more important than your superior technical knowledge of your service or product)?
Complaints CAN Be Golden
There are two kinds of companies. The first, the most typical, views the complaint as a disease to be gotten over, with memory of the pain rapidly suppressed. The second, exemplified by IBM, views the complaint as a luscious, golden opportunity. The logic behind the IBM view of the "joy of complaints" is evident in the words of one retail executive: "For every complaint you get, remember, 50 people walk out and don't even bother to tell you they're mad."
Yet another approach when it comes to complaints is the blithe assessment, "This problem is an anomaly (an abnormal occurrence)." True, at some level each complaint is unique. On the other hand, in our experience in working with companies on this issue and in running our own small business, there is no such thing as a unique complaint. If you get a complaint about a lack of phone courtesy that you can readily explain away as having been caused by a "uniquely busy day," the odds are very high (about 99 percent) that there are a lot of "uniquely busy days," and that the apparently anomalous complaint is but the tip of an iceberg.
It's a constant source of amazement to us: Simple common courtesy, such as a personal call after a foul-up, makes someone feel special. It shouldn't (it should be commonplace), but it does.
Glad He Asked!
Todd Fraser [not his real name] is in a mundane business: Plumbing supplies. He has about forty locations. In the last couple of years he's added 50 percent to his revenues, in a no-growth market, and is able to charge premium prices. How has he done it?
Several years ago Todd determined to become the "best service company in his business." To figure out what that meant, he asked his forty branch managers for advice--a sensible enough idea, or so it seemed at the time. What they said sounded good, and he did it all. And then waited. And waited. Nothing happened.
A couple of years later his frustration reached the boiling point. Then he got an idea that he proceeded to carry out with all his energy: he simply visited his customers and asked them what they wanted, what was bugging them. He patiently devoted a full year to carefully visiting the "bad" as well as the "good" customers of every single branch. (Now he says that idea was so obvious it's impossible to think that he hadn't done it before.)
It turns out his branch managers had been out of touch. He found that some had literally not visited a single customer on the customer's own premises in up to five years! The results are history. Todd Fraser did his customers the rare courtesy of "naively" asking them what they wanted. And they told him. And then he did something about it. His business was truly revolutionized as a result. Says Todd of the process: "Best service in the customer's terms is what counts. And I don't know for the life of me why it took so long to figure that out."
Creech's Laws
General Creech, as he prepared to turn over his command of the U.S. Tactical Air Command in the Fall of 1984, published a set of 15 organisational principles. Here they are:
1. Have a set of principles and philosophies. Have an overall theme and purpose.
2. Use goals throughout--goals at all levels, from crews to senior command. There should be only a few--and they should be clearly achievable--i.e., most people should end up as winners.
3. Measure productivity at several levels. But don't "strangle in paperwork."
4. Create leaders at many levels. With this goes a plea to "get leaders where the action is. Leaders support the field. Not vice versa."
5. Match authority and responsibility and instill a sense of responsibility. "Ninety-nine percent will accept responsibility if authority goes with it. I'm not wild about accepting responsibility without authority," says the general. "Why should my people be?"
6. Set up internal contests where feasible. "Reward success" is the key. The resultant enthusiasm is high: "Nobody wants to report that his unit is last, month after month."
7. Instill individual dignity. Provide challenge and opportunity to each.
8. Create a climate of professionalism.
9. Educate, educate, educate, by means of regular training, counsel, answers to questions, etc.
10. Communicate, communicate, communicate. Do not depend on the formal hierarchy. Skip down several levels--regularly.
11. Create organisational discipline and loyalty. This is vital, but will inevitably stifle initiative. Hence, specific devices must be in place to reward initiative.
12. Provide everyone with a stake in the outcome. Make each job meaningful. Reward good performance in all areas.
13. Make it better. Create a sense of individual and organisational worth. Create an optimistic organisation. Provide a climate for continuous change. Above all: "The leader is not just a scorekeeper and steward. He is responsible for creating something new and better."
14. Make it happen: Vigorous leadership at all levels is the key. The leader is responsible for creating the dynamic spark and simultaneously working out the details that make it happen.
15. Make it last.
Fun and Applause
We've often commented that we have a secret hypothesis. The hypothesis is that over the entrance to Business School (or the business/professional school of your choice), there's a giant stone lintel. Deeply inscribed in the granite are the following lines: "All ye who enter here shall never smile again. Business/education/etc. is damned serious stuff!" And yet time and again, we've observed that winners are people who have fun--and produce results as a result of their zest.
The head of a 15-person accounting department in a little electronics firm commented: "Hoopla is it. I've gotten into the habit of finding, at least once per week, an event of some sort to celebrate. It can be somebody's birthday, but preferably--and we've gotten good at finding these--some positive accomplishment at work. The celebration doesn't need to be dinner at an expensive restaurant, it can be a box of doughnuts. But we celebrate. And it does work! The morale of the place has turned around in just three months."
What should the average prize be? What's the role of cash bonuses? For one thing, people will work eighteen hours a day for months for a T-shirt if the contest is meaningful and the presenter is sincere. For another, big cash awards can be horribly disruptive. We observe that small gifts or sums of money and equal gifts (monetary or otherwise) to all members of a team are the most effective.
Empathy
We have found no more eloquent source on what it means to care than this from a speech given a number of years ago to the Armed Forces Staff College by a former commander of the Army's 101st Airborne, the late Lieutenant General Melvin Zais:
"I will stop providing you with pearls of wisdom and I will elaborate on one. The one piece of advice which I believe will contribute more to making you a better leader and commander, will provide you with greater happiness and self-esteem and at the same time advance your career more than any other advice which I can provide you. And it doesn't call for a special personality, and it doesn't call for any certain chemistry. Any one of you can do it. And that advice is that you must care.
"How do you know if you care? Well, for one thing, if you care, you listen to your junior officers and your soldiers. Now, when I say listen, I don't mean that stilted baloney that so many officers engage in and stand up to an enlisted man and say, `How old are you, son? Where are you from? How long have you been here? Thank you very much. Next man.' That's baloney. I'm not talking about that kind of stuff. I'm talking about listening, . . . listening 'cause the little soldier won't come out and tell you that everything's all wrong. He'll be a little hesitant. If you ask him if he's getting along all right and he just shrugs, he's getting along lousy. If he's not enthusiastic in his response, there's something wrong. You better dig a little deeper."
* * *
We sorely need, in managing our enterprises, to get beyond our almost total dependence on committees, staff, reports, and rules. We need desperately to get back in touch. We need to begin to depend, instead, on people--the power of commitment, individual initiative, verve, zest, enthusiasm, celebration, and love.
Take a look at your calendar--now. Are you living your proclaimed priorities--when it comes to people, to quality, to innovation, to service? Have you held a celebration? Have you eliminated at least one unnecessary rule or form? Have you responded to a customer's complaint or query? Have you shared doughnuts on the loading dock with your workers at 2:00 A.M.? If no to all the above, you're out of touch.
Look in the Mirror First
How can you reduce the risk that your actions contradict your stated values? The first step (again and again) is to appraise honestly and critically the way you spend your time. This theme pervades every chapter in this book. We revisit it here because coaching (shepherding) is made up of actions, not words. You will unfailingly see your behaviour reflected in that of your team: They see what's really important to you. Look for the tiniest inconsistencies (the tiniest are the most important, it turns out): Do you sit in your office talking about quality, yet spend the bulk of your time on factory visits reviewing inventory levels? Take an unflinching look at what your calendar says about what really matters to you. Like it or not, that's the sincerest--and only--measure. And the reason (again, it's absolutely vital to the whole issue of leadership) is this: People will believe and imitate what you do more than what you say, and what you do will have an impact on your team or followers, because all your people are boss watchers.
Coaching
(Editor's note: In the following sections there are references to "coaches" and "coaching." To make it more meaningful, simply substitute the words "Shepherd" and "shepherding.")
Is There a Leader in Your Company? In an open memorandum to the "outside directors and trustees of all the organisations not in the Fortune 1000," Robert Townsend, author of Further Up the Organisation, posed one question: "Ask yourself if you have a leader as a Chief Executive Officer." Do you have a leader in your company? (See page 5.)
The Leader and the Non-Leader
Leader: A coach appealing to the best in each person; open door; problem-solver and advice-giver; cheerleader.
Non-Leader: Invisible--gives orders to staff--expects them to be carried out.
Leader: MBWA (manages by wandering around).
Non-Leader: No MBWA.
Leader: Common touch.
Non-Leader: Strained with blue collars (the common labourers).
Leader: Good listener.
Non-Leader: Good talker.
Leader: Fair.
Non-Leader: Fair to the top; exploits the rest.
Leader: Humble.
Non-Leader: Arrogant.
[Continued on page 6]
CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD COACHES
We've learned about coaching from participants in our seminars. Here's what they've said about the characteristics of good coaches and leaders:
* Challenges me to do my best.
* Sets a good example.
* Explains the reasons for instructions and procedures.
* Helps me polish my thoughts before I present them to others.
* Is objective about things.
* Lets me make my own decisions.
* Cares about me and how I'm doing.
* Does not seek the limelight.
* Won't let me give up.
* Gives personal guidance and direction, especially when I'm learning something new.
* Is empathetic and understanding.
* Is firm but fair.
* Makes me work out most of my own problems or tough situations, but supports me.
* Lets me know where I stand.
* Listens exceptionally well.
* Doesn't put words in my mouth.
* Is easy to talk to.
* Keeps the promises he or she makes.
* Keeps me focused on the goals ahead.
* Works as hard or harder than anyone else.
* Is humble.
* Is proud of those managers he or she has developed.
* Gives credit where credit is due.
* Practices MBWA.
* Never says "I told you so."
* Corrects my performance in private.
* Never flaunts authority.
* Is always straightforward.
* Gives at least a second chance.
* Maintains an Open Door Policy.
* Uses language that is easy to understand.
* Lets bygones be bygones.
* Inspires loyalty.
* Really wants to hear my ideas, and acts on them.
* Lets me set my own deadlines.
* Celebrates successes.
* Is open and honest.
* Doesn't hide bad news.
* Gives me enough time to prepare for discussion.
* Is enthusiastic.
* Follows through.
* Is patient.
* Wants me to "stretch" my skills.
* Gives me his or her full attention during discussions, won't be distracted.
* Has a sense of humour.
* Handles disagreements privately.
* Reassures me.
* Makes me feel confident.
* Says "we" instead of "I."
* Makes hard work worth it.
* Can communicate annoyance without running wild.
* Is courageous.
* Insists on training.
* Is a stabilising influence in a crisis.
* Gets everyone involved.
* Wants me to be successful.
* Is optimistic.
* Operates well under pressure, or in a rapidly changing environment.
* Has a reputation for competence with his or her peers.
* Has a good understanding of the job.
* Is tough and tender.
* Believes we can do it.
* Sets attainable milestones.
* Communicates philosophy and values.
* Has a strong sense of urgency.
* Preserves the individuality of his or her team members.
* Thinks and operates at a level above that expected.
* Wants to make the organisation the best in the industry.
* Is there when we need him or her.
* Enjoys his or her job.
* Likes to spend time with us.
[Continued from page 4]
Leader: Tolerant of open disagreement.
Non-Leader: Intolerant of open disagreement.
Leader: Knows people's names.
Non-Leader: Doesn't know people's names.
Leader: Often takes the blame.
Non-Leader: The reverse.
Leader: Gives credit to others.
Non-Leader: Takes credit; complains about lack of good people.
Leader: Knows the business, and the kind of people who make it tick.
Non-Leader: They've never met him or her.
Leader: Admits own mistakes; comforts others when they admit theirs.
Non-Leader: Never makes mistakes; blames others; starts witch hunts to identify culprits.
Leader: Sees mistakes as learning opportunities.
Non-Leader: Sees mistakes as punishable offenses.
You now know more about leaders and leadership than all the combined graduate business schools in the Western World.
The Leader's Role
Great coaches stretch you to a previously unknown limit, but no further, because their chief concern is turning you into a successful person, to have you experience some stretch and lots of success, to build momentum and enthusiasm for further accomplishment.
As one top executive told me, "The leader's role is to create a vision, not to kick somebody in the ass. The role of the leader is a servant's role. It's supporting his people, running interference for them. It's coming out with an atmosphere of understanding and trust--and love."
General Douglas MacArthur said he learned one thing, above all, from his almost equally celebrated father, a hero in the American Civil War: "Never give an order that can't be obeyed." The ultimate loss is to push your people beyond their capacities. Business's classic "stretch target" (setting goals that are unrealistic, unattainable, way too high) more often than not leaves us appalled. It's stretch for stretch's sake, creating "can't win" situations.
Counselling
The counselling role at its best leads people to understand and overcome problems that get in the way of top-notch performance. It's a question of always taking the time--now.
Preparation
Getting ready to counsel has mainly to do with defining the key issue as you see it: improving working relationships, bringing slipped project schedules back into line, improving customer-service track records. Develop a focus on objective behaviour and measurable results that the individual can do something about. Hazy interpretations are always misunderstood, and are rarely, if ever, very helpful.
Schedule the Meeting
Some times are better than others for a counselling discussion. Counselling is a promise you must keep: Don't squeeze it between meetings. Don't cancel your first two tries. Pick a time when you both can give it your full attention.
State the Problem
The counselling process begins with a face-to-face discussion that you open with a brief, straightforward statement of why you wanted to meet. At this point you don't have to agree on the problem--just that you have something to talk about. This is not the time for drama. Open the discussion, and then listen.
Listen
The most important part of counselling is listening. Nothing matters so much as your full attention. See what you can learn. What's at the root of the problem?
Confronting
Don't live with a problem--face it honestly and correct it. Confronting low performance is probably the toughest responsibility to carry out, but the alternative, observed all too frequently, is worse. When unaddressed, chronic, serious difficulty not only demoralises the organisation, but undermines an individual's confidence and may make it nearly impossible for the person to bounce back. That's the crime of refusing to act, and act quickly.
(Quite simply, nothing reduces the manager's credibility faster than the unwillingness to address an obvious problem. Our people rightly ask, "What is he or she [the boss] waiting for?")
Confrontation Defined
Confronting does not mean a tough battle, clash or personal attack, an unplanned hostile discussion, browbeating or threatening. It never means treating people badly, nor is it in any way an opportunity for a frustrated leader to unload on someone else. Confronting is a form of counselling in which the alternatives and consequences are clear and close at hand, provided the individual understands your expectations.
The Discussion
Once you are committed to a course of action, express yourself directly. Words like "sometimes," "maybe," "sort of" or "a little" confuse. Your language must convey respect and clarity. Look the individual in the eye and try to put yourself in his or her place: How would you want to be treated?
Doing MBWA
There's a fine line between instilling your values and "managing" a project, and it's a line not easy to establish or maintain, because whether you are a first-line [lowest-ranking] supervisor or Chief Executive Officer (CEO), your innocent question is so readily turned into a command--a stone tablet delivered from the mountaintop.
There are some aids to help in MBWA, such as:
(a) Talking last, not first.
(b) Consciously using, "What do you think?" and avoiding, "Why don't you try X, Y, Z?"
(c) Pushing people to give you a detailed narrative, so that they expose their reasoning to themselves, with you continually interjecting, "And then what did you try?" rather than, "Why didn't you do thus and such at that point?"
(d) Not forcing them to blame others, with questions such as, "Did purchasing get you the parts on time?"
(e) Leading them to generate the next steps with indirect (at most) guidance, with queries such as, "And what should that fact lead us toward in the way of tests?"
(f) Asking them to stop by and tell you what was tried, or to give you a call, if it would be helpful, when the next step is taken, thus instilling urgency but not forcing them.
It boils down to thinking ahead some, and trying to replay (ahead of time) what a typical question from you sounds like. Is it truly a question, merely aimed at stimulating thought? Or is it a piece of rigid "advice"? Just thinking about it is a very useful first step. Few of us do so, regularly or systematically, and even if we do, we readily forget to what degree our innocent question sounds like a direct order to those ten years or two rungs more junior.
Frequency
The simplest point to make about MBWA--and the toughest to get most of us to act on--is one that has to do with frequency: If you are not a regular wanderer, the onset of wandering will be, in a word, terrifying. Terrifying for you and terrifying for those with whom you come in contact. (This is true whether you are a first-line supervisor, a small business person or chairman of a Fortune 500 company). Nonwanderers' infrequent forays usually amount to "state visits," prepared for by the "subjects" months in advance, with the result that what one beholds bears no relationship whatsoever to reality. MBWA is decidedly not about "state visits." It is a method for keeping in touch, getting real impressions, reinforcing strategic themes. The fact is that the most vital function of MBWA, listening, is not accomplished effectively in the "state visit" or by "selecting the good customer to visit".
By frequency we mean exactly that. In order to visit each of the over 700 Wal-Mart stores at least once a year, Sam Walton took a minimum of three full days a week; much of the rest of his time was spent visiting distribution centers, riding with Wal-Mart drivers, and visiting suppliers. Robert O. Anderson, Arco's chairman, averaged about 500 miles a day during his 15 years as CEO of that company.
Quite frankly, we believe that any supervisor probably ought to be out of the office, and in the field (if he or she has multiple, dispersed geographical sites) at least 50 percent of the time.
Maintaining the Chain of Command
Let's not kid ourselves. Wandering down, skipping two or five or six, or, heaven help us, ten layers is violating the chain of command, regardless of your purpose. You're there to hear it firsthand, and you're there to do some teaching firsthand. No bones about it. But there are degrees.
Consider former Chairman Ed Carlson of United Airlines. Soon after taking over the ailing airline, he hit the field, asking very direct questions--in detail, for his objective was to clean up the bureaucratic mess he had inherited. He took endless notes, usually on scraps of paper, and stuffed them into his pocket. He never told people down the line what to do or change, he never fixed what he disliked (unless it was a matter of safety) on the spot. But what he did do--and this is vital--was promise that he would get back to people in a very short time (five working days at most). And he promised he would get back with action, not the announcement of the appointment of a six-month task force or study group. When he returned to home base, he played it straight: He let the chain of command know what he had found.
Carlson's unabashed objective was to skip steps in the chain of command, get on directly and rapidly with debureaucratising, using himself in a highly visible fashion to make his point. (He called it "visible management.") But the implementation was done in a relatively traditional, if uncommonly rapid, fashion.
To make MBWA credible one must promise fast action and then make sure that it occurs within the proposed time frame; but to do so does not mean (or should not mean) impetuously issuing the order to the first-line person on the spot.
Again, frequency is a key issue. The screams about violating the chain of command will be particularly loud at first. Your presence (even if you're a second-line supervisor) is initially awkward. People overlisten to you and overinterpret the subtle inflections in your voice. And that will happen. But it will happen less--this is a simple law of nature--the more you are around. People will figure out what sort of person you are when they've had a chance to be exposed to you. Your managers will come to accept the fact that you're not going to destroy the chain of command when you repeatedly demonstrate that you won't.
Passion doesn't have to be flashy. Garden-variety, everyday passion is the stuff of excellence, the sort of stuff you need when you face the prospect of managing by wandering around. Being visible takes guts. There you are, a regular person, stepping out from behind your desk, where it's safe. You have to believe that the stepping out is worth the trouble.
When you have a true passion for excellence, and when you act on it, you will stand straighter. You will look people in the eye. You will see things happen. You will see heroes created, watch ideas unfold and take shape. You'll walk with a springier step. You'll have something to fight for, to care about, and to share with other people.