ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: New Generation of Leadership
By Ken McGuire
Cultural change needed to successfully compete in global markets demands deep strength and capabilities from senior leadership.
CEOs face many challenges. Complexity leads the list, according to a recent IBM Institute survey of 1,500 CEOs, followed by market shifts, currency and supply chain volatility, environmental issues, multicultural workforce environments, legal and regulatory headaches.
Given the complexities and challenges, leadership sees greater capacity for change and consistent performance improvement throughout the organization. CEOs must nurture and sustain an innovative, flexible culture to meet current challenges and unknown future territory. It’s not enough to be fast, reliable, and low-cost. Leaders find that today’s operational excellence improvements do not guarantee customer loyalty.
Addressing Tough Challenges
To help leadership cultivate the capabilities and understanding required for long-term organizational success, the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) partnered with Arizona State University (ASU) Ira Fulton Schools of Engineering to launch a leadership development program. Participants in the first program, launched in February, addressed three big questions:
- Where is “lean” going, and what will be needed?
- What must we, as leaders, and our companies do to prepare for this?
- How must I develop my personal leadership characteristics to successfully lead my company in choppy, uncharted water?
In an assessment step, a review of each participant’s company highlighted the organization’s current state, performance gaps, and company values. After an evaluation of strategic options/potential outcomes, management and the participant determined a mandate for the course objective and a strategic-level project. After four workshops on leadership subjects, student interns from Arizona State, assigned to each participant’s company for 10 weeks, assisted with the strategic project. The program also included mentoring by a seasoned AME executive and access to “stuck coaches” when handling perplexing issues.
The program dealt with core issues of leading a culture and sustaining the changes in order to grow the business. Students mixed on-site observation and discussions with management at an advanced lean operation with high-level presentations on academic subjects and exercises designed to let them experience issues confronting a lean organization. They explored new lean leadership skills. The final capstone program session will be a peer-reviewed final report. The report will be available at the 2011 AME Annual Conference Oct. 24-28 in Dallas. Participants will share brief reports of their program learnings and related plans for organizational change. Leadership program participant Brandon Leslie said he is seeking an effective means to lead cultural change in his organization. He is regional sales manager for Nichols Farms, a Hanford, CA, company that grows and processes pistachios and almonds.
“We are going to have issues in the way we lead. We have a diverse culture, and we need everyone to get on board as we start our lean journey,” Leslie said. “Lean is the direction the company wants to go. We are looking at ways to involve employees in decision-making, how we work on problems, etc. We are empowering employees -- teaching them how to lead themselves.” He said he found useful material about communications and how to reward people in the leadership program.
Both the AME Institute and ASU are committed to making 2012 Leading the Innovative Enterprise an effective program for preparing company leaders to guide practices that will shape the futures for their organizations. Registration is limited. For information on the program, contact Ralph Keller (rkeller@ame.org) or Ken McGuire (kmcguire@ame.org).
McGuire is principal of Manufacturing Excellence Action Coalition and point person for AME’s leadership program.
