How many of us drink Starbucks coffee? How do you drink it? Venti Mocha double-shot? Fat-free Tazo Chi Latte? We all have our own, special way of having our Starbucks drink; what happens if you get it and it isn’t exactly what you ordered? Not hot enough? Tastes “off,” for some reason?
How long does it take for your Barista (server) to coordinate that “do-over” decision with the various levels of supervisory management? How about “instantaneously??” Those employees have the training to know what to do, the knowledge to be able to recognize it, and the authority to do what’s right. In short, they are empowered. Yes, that “E” word. It’s overused today, but don’t let the fad of word overcome value in the process. Empowered employees make their company’s money.
Starbucks may not know it’s exemplifying high performance; the company may not realize it is a shining example of effective principles to run a service retail business. They just know it’s good business, and frankly, common sense.
The Principles of High Performance Leadership are just that – principles. Basic truths or assumptions. They are the essential qualities that determine characteristic behaviors. It’s not rocket science. They can help guide your organization toward desired behaviors and business outcomes.
What are we today, then, if not High Performing? Let’s take a look at “traditional” organizations. In 1903, a man named Frederich Taylor coined the phrase scientific management. He and other big thinkers of his time believed that standardization and control were necessary for organizations to be successful. For brevity’s sake, we won’t list each component of scientific management here; suffice to say it was most everything we have come to resent in a typical workplace.
In the industrial era, Traditional Organizations, and Scientific Management, worked. New manufacturing processes were being developed, mass production was introduced, quantity was the name and manufacturing was the game.
Today, we have the real need to better use employees, their talents and abilities, and creativity. We need flexibility, integration, synergy. And we need a common purpose. Enter the High Performing Leader. The basic principles – and remember, they are merely principles, include things like a shared purpose, a holistic view, structure that fits the organization, continuous learning,employee empowerment, and managers play a more developmental or facilitation role.
The real key to High Performing Organizations is, of course, leadership. How much impact does leadership have? Does it help if you realize that the average multi-billion dollar company has a lifespan of 17 years?
I’ll say that again: The average multi-billion dollar company has a lifespan of just 17 years…
How about the fact that one-third of the companies on the 1970 Fortune 500 were not on that list in 1983? And 35% of those in 1983 are not on the list today. Why? Typical answers include the influx of competitors, not understanding customer requirements, under-capitalization, and lack of business strategy and/or goals.
Clearly, today’s senior managers can no longer do it alone; they need help and resources from the entire organization, including our workforce.
Leadership principles – all of them – have been in use for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The theory is not new. Some of the applications may change over time, but the theory is not new. Consultants occasionally need to sell a book, so they’ll take a tried management concept, give it a new name and an interesting “spin,” and off we go… fad of the month. And we sometimes get too wrapped up in this whole leadership versus management issue.
Let me offer a compromise look at leadership, since I believe it to be folly to consider an ineffective manager capable of being a successful leader. Leadership is the successful application of sound management practices, effective motivation, and personal credibility. All must exist to be a successful leader.
The principles of High Performing Organizations aren’t a magical list to tick off, or a series of tables and charts to compare. It can really be summed up as a combination of empowered employees alongside successful empowering leaders. If we can teach both employee and manager to lead… well, we’re almost there.
But that’s just me…
