Leadership Part #2

Howdy folks and thanks for stopping by.  Continuing on with our leadership series here out on the range.  I'd like to really look at what leading and cultivating a Lean culture is.  Leaders lead.  What is that exactly one may ask?  I'm here to tell you what leading is all about.  Leading is knowing when to keep your mouth closed and listen to your direct reports.  As we have seen in my past blog postings, at times as an uber Alpha, we have a hard time listening to our people.  Isn't that where it all starts, the respect for people component.  When we have a disconnect with the individuals doing the work, and those giving direction there is a problem.  There must be open channels of clear direction and communication both ways from your direct reports.  If you are the top performing cowboy on the ranch and your subordinates do not know where you are heading.  You are more than likely going to infuse variation within the work, and guess what?  Yes induce DOWNTIME.
     It may sound elementary to effectively communicate, yet I see this every day as a real disconnect between leaders and their direct reports.  Yes, that includes me. Now that we have identified a problem, let's look at some tools we can use to prevent these situations.
     Standard work, elementary right....  Well standard work needs to be standard, not a constantly fluid process.   Rather a continuously improving process that has set points in which we can check the results.  Yes, we are looking at communication in a PDCA format.
     Listening to our direct reports helps us as leaders in a few ways.  First it gives them a voice, and secondly we as the leader receive a first hand report of what is going on from our front line people.  I remind myself every day of how I need to listen.  Yes, even this cowboy has a tendency to develop selective hearing.  When that happens I am the cause of the breakdown, and we all have been part of that.  Most recently I failed to listen to one of my lead individuals, guess what?  A shop order that could have been prevented from going late went late due to my own arrogance for lack of a better term.  Yet it is during these moments we emerge, or as my ink pen states I-Emerge.
    I'd like to thank everyone for stopping by for part 2 and I hope that your Thanksgiving was filled with family and good spirits.  I'll be back in a few days with more words from the front line and the lessons I'm learning as a Lean leader.  Happy trails......

Cowboy