,Remember you’re leading people, not just a company or department. So, let’s look at the people first.

When you’re newly appointed to run a business operation, you need to set out your strategy going forward. And the only way you’re going to realise that strategy is by leading your people. By convincing and inspiring them that your vision is achievable.

Your people are usually the most difficult element of your strategy to get right. I learned early that I should always strive to have the highest calibre people in my group. When hiring at any level I’d always hire the best, with the right personal and technical skills.

But what about the people already in the group? Those that you inherit in your new role?

I also learned that most of these people were grossly undervalued. They often had lots of skills and capabilities that were never even recognised, far less used to the benefit of the group or the company.

This fact gives you a great opportunity to become an inspirational leader. Let me tell you how.

,Become an inspirational leader

Inspirational leaders consistently generate trust and raise the self-esteem of their staff. They spend at least an hour a day on the shop floor or office areas talking positively with people. They also know their names without having to refer to name tags.

Typically, the inspirational leader will subtly probe to uncover the USPs of his or her staff. I use the term USP (unique selling point) in this context to refer to unique aspects of the individual’s off-work experience that the leader can develop and utilise productively for the benefit of both the individual and the business.

Here are some examples from my personal experience.

– A young man in the warehouse who emerged as the Captain of his local football team.

– A young girl in the planning department, quiet and conscientious, who we discovered had been the Captain of her University College Rowing Club.

– A young machine operator doing a good job, who turned out to have previously been a check-out operator at a large retail store. In that job he was trusted to close down the tills each evening and transfer the cash to the office.

– Another machine operator who overcame a personal fear of heights by doing a solo sky-dive for a charity that was important to her family.

In all of these cases, and many more, we uncovered their unique personal assets – their USPs – which we then used to unlock the constraints on their personal growth and develop them for their benefit as well as for the business as a whole.

As a result, people then have a sense of pride in working for the company. And that’s the ultimate aim of this highly personal leadership approach.

To have people proud to work for the group is the greatest endorsement a leader can have. He can’t tell people to be proud of their job. They only feel proud if everything else is right. It’s the ultimate endorsement of leadership.

So, follow these points to develop a dynamic, enthusiastic culture and have your people proud to work for you as an inspirational leader.

So where are you going to lead them? Why not to world-class?

It’s a tough, highly competitive world out there, both for individuals and businesses. To be really successful you’ve got to improve ahead of your competition and stay there. But improve what?

I wrestled with this problem when I started. And then discovered what really determined my success against my competitors was the extent to which I consistently added value in everything I did. (See my other Post, Road to Business Success 1)

I found that typically between 50% and 80% of my total time at work was spent not adding value. But that was the way everyone worked. That was normal.

If I could eliminate all this non-value-adding activity, then I could become much more productive than everyone else and leap ahead. Once I realised this, I began to really develop the right leadership objectives and solutions. Let me explain how I did it.

Everything you do in business should be part of a defined process for a customer, external or internal.

In a manufacturing process, you only add value when you change the raw material you receive closer to what your customer is paying for.

In a non-manufacturing process, such as an administrative or service process, you only add value when you change the raw information you receive closer to what your customer, whether internal or external, really wants.

Nothing else you do adds value.

So I’d now figured out that adding value was the key. And I wanted to get my operations up to world class. How could I combine these to give me what I wanted?

I gradually developed a grid of world-class performance levels covering three key operational parameters using value-adding as the basis. These were Responsiveness, Productivity and Right First Time.

I called the grid the Path to Excellence and I reproduce part of it here.

‘Responsiveness’ is the ratio of overall time to complete any process to the actual value adding time involved in that process

‘Productivity’ is the proportion of the total time that your assets (whether people or equipment) are used productively to add value.

‘Right First Time’ is the proportion of the total items or transactions that start a process which finish it right first time with no defects or rework.

I ensured that ‘Excellence’ represented world-class standards of performance for any operational process. I could then assess my performance against these standards.

I discovered to my horror that the performance of my processes sat somewhere left of centre on this grid (see red line). But what it also highlighted was what I had to do to reach the level of ‘Excellence’.

And that was the breakthrough for me in planning and developing my leadership strategy.

Once I achieved that ‘Excellence’ level on all three of these parameters (see green line) my businesses transformed from being okay to becoming the best in their sector.

And to me, that’s what the right leadership strategy and tactics should achieve.

Since then, as a consultant, I’ve applied this approach to all my clients in many different sectors with huge success. And you can do that too, in your world.

 So how do you reach these world-class standards?

Really by focusing on these three parameters – Responsiveness, Productivity and Right First Time.

First, Responsiveness. Analyse each of your key processes, whether they’re manufacturing, administrative or service processes, and eliminate the many steps that do not add value. As a result, your processes complete much more quickly, and give a more responsive and superior service to customers that can potentially generate more revenues.

Second, Productivity. Ensure the step that sets the pace for your process operates at its most effective. You then get the maximum volume through that step – and therefore through the whole process – which gives you maximum productivity, lower costs and improves profits.

Third, Right First Time. Ensure all your processes operate right first time. Apply root cause analyses to ensure minimum rework, which then helps you achieve the two other main objectives.

It takes time and effort to get there. But it’s not rocket science. I can assure you that once you’re operating your processes at the ‘Excellence’ level, the operational, financial and business benefits are amazing. It will transform your life and your company’s competitive position.

That’s my basis for great leadership qualities. That’s how to achieve world-class levels of performance. That’s what you really need to aim for in this highly competitive world.

Mitigate the risks – and avoid the ‘What about Malta?’ syndrome

Over the years, I’ve worked in both the US and Europe. And when it comes to risk mitigation, I much prefer the US approach. Let me explain why.

Imagine that you’ve worked out your strategy for improvement and the tactics for achieving it. To ensure success you now need to check that the main risks are covered.

In the US, the approach is to look at the number one risk and assess what needs done to mitigate that risk. Then look at the number two risk and do the same with that. Then perhaps look at the number three risk as well.

Usually, these first three risks take care of around 80% or more of the total risk.

Our approach in the US was then to say that we’ve got good people and we trust them to deal with other minor risks within our framework guidelines. So let’s get started now.

On the other hand, in Europe, particularly central Europe, the approach is a bit different. They go through the first three risks just as in the above US scenario. But they then go on to look at the fourth biggest risk, and the fifth and the sixth, and so on. They analyse things to the ultimate to make sure they haven’t missed anything. I dubbed that European approach the ‘What about Malta?’ syndrome.

This arose when we were re-engineering a European product portfolio. More than 80% of European business was covered by the big five – Germany, UK, France, Spain and Italy. By assessing the risks in these countries, we had covered the vast majority of project risks.

However, that wasn’t enough for the central Europeans on the panel. They wanted to go on and work out the risks in the smaller European countries as well. Until we got the call ‘What about Malta?’

Business on the relevant products in Malta was 0.3% of the total, but the person involved stated that even though it was small in global terms, they were class A products in Malta. We should really know how we were going to deal with them there. It was frankly ridiculous, and was the trigger to finally stop the discussion.

We agreed that our people were excellent and could be relied upon to take the right decisions within the framework guidelines. Any exceptions would be covered by weekly or monthly steering group meetings. So, let’s get on with it now.

That difference between the two approaches for me is very significant. In my view it contributes to the greater success of the US in driving forward and achieving new ideas more quickly.

So, as you approach the problem of mitigating risks in your projects, make sure you adopt the US approach rather than the European. And absolutely make sure that you avoid the ‘What about Malta?’ syndrome.

Make sure you finish the job – and achieve the objectives

With your weekly or monthly steering group meetings and progress updates, make sure that you openly support your people and that they actually deliver the objectives in the agreed timescales. Remember that delegation does not mean abdication. You have to stay on top of the project team and make sure that you quickly resolve any difficulties that may arise.

I hope you find all of the above practical advice shows you how to take six steps to great leadership and will really make a huge difference to you and to your people and to your business. Enjoy your success.

Use these Steps to become a really successful, influential leader and a powerful change agent. Become the best in your business sector. Become one of the ‘Elite’.

You can do it.

Apply the thinking in the ‘Elite’ Business Series of books here under the Books tab, and Beat the Competition!

Let me know how you get on.

If you need any help or advice, contact me at jim@oneoftheelite.com or via Linked In here.

Thanks for visiting,

Jim McCallum