Leadership Challenges: How World Class Manufacturing improves Overall Leadership Excellence

Elevating Overall Leadership Excellence

Leadership is like a journey that's always changing and getting better, moving from what you are now to what you could be. In the realm of World Class Manufacturing (WCM), a distinctive approach to leadership takes center stage. Every organization grapples with leadership challenges, demanding innovative approaches to foster Overall Leadership Excellence (OLE). This is where the WCM structure steps in—it's not just a set of rules; it's a dynamic force that sparks positive change that elevates OLE.

Learning isn't reserved for a select few; anyone can do it, and if you learn something, you can pass it on thus harnessing the collective intelligence of the entire organization. WCM pillar meetings go beyond routine reporting; they're vibrant discussions about crucial business issues. WCM pillars empower industries to confront their most significant challenges, nudging team members to see things differently, step out of their comfort zones, and tackle tough questions head-on.

Embarking on empowering leadership

Empowering leadership is about creating more leaders, not just followers. WCM pillar members achieve this in three key ways:

1. Resonance: Members discern the difference between clueless and empowering leaders, and this realization resonates deeply.

2. Realization of Cluelessness: Every WCM pillar member acknowledges some level of cluelessness within, whether small or significant, thus creating awareness.

3. Resolve to be Empowering: After recognizing cluelessness, there's a genuine desire among members to be empowered. However, the challenge lies in navigating the path from insight to impact and fostering a collective empowering culture.

Becoming empowered

Becoming empowered is a journey that some members may stumble upon over time, but a targeted approach can speed up the learning process. Here are five catalysts to expedite the journey:

1. Assumption Check: Unveiling the Power Within

Starting with assumptions is the key to unlocking potential. Our assumptions shape our perspectives and actions, influencing outcomes. Consider this: clueless assumptions hinder engagement, while empowering assumptions open doors to new insights. Challenge your assumptions, and watch as new possibilities unfold.

2. Extreme Empowerment: Amplifying Strengths, Neutralizing Weaknesses

In the pursuit of empowerment, working the extremes is the compass guiding the way. Forge an extreme development plan by assessing and addressing empowering practices. Neutralize weaknesses and top up strengths, echoing the wisdom from the Zenger-Folkman study: leaders excel not at everything, but in mastering a few crucial skills while minimizing glaring weaknesses. It's not about balancing; it's about maximizing potential.

3. Experimentation Unleashed: Small Steps, Big Impact

Running an experiment is the heartbeat of enduring learning. Take small, successive steps using fresh approaches. Test new behaviors, analyze feedback, adjust, and repeat. Each successful experiment fuels the next, creating new patterns of behavior that set a transformative benchmark. Embrace the power of experimentation, and witness the ripple effect of positive change.

4. Resilience in Action: Navigating Setbacks on the Empowerment Journey

Anticipate and prepare for setbacks as an integral part of the empowerment journey. The common trap lies in assuming that easy-to-understand ideas translate to easy implementation. To weather possible setbacks, plant and cultivate the seeds of new empowering assumptions while gradually uprooting old habits. Grant yourself permission to stumble, and share challenges with pillar members to reduce anxiety and garner the crucial support needed to stay committed to the plan. Setbacks are not roadblocks but stepping stones toward lasting empowerment.

5. Teammate Collaboration: Elevating Leadership Together

In the pursuit of empowerment, don't go it alone—ask a teammate to join the journey. Choose someone who can identify your blind spots and understands your intentions. Inform them of your commitment to better leadership and seek their assistance in selecting experiments that bring out the best in the entire team. Together, unlock the potential for collective growth and excellence within the team.

Cultivating a Dynamic WCM Culture

The WCM structure acts as a catalyst, fostering an agile workforce that embraces calculated risks and values every voice. Recognizing that no single leader can transform an organization alone, WCM establishes shared beliefs across the entire organization, enhancing leadership capabilities.

Elements of a WCM Culture:

1. Building bridges through a common language: Establishing a shared vocabulary to facilitate open dialogue about winning behaviors.

2. Unlocking potential through learned behaviors: Encouraging a culture of continuous learning, adapting, and improving.

3. Unity of purpose through shared beliefs: Building a system of common values that guide collective efforts and decision-making.

4. Inspiring greatness through heroes and legends: Recognizing and celebrating individuals who exemplify desired leadership values.

5. Cultural foundations through rituals and norms: Instilling routine practices and behaviors aligned with WCM principles.

Power of WCM Culture:

The WCM culture is a potent force that reshapes behavior and redirects individual actions toward collective success. It goes beyond individual intent, creating a powerful framework where new beliefs become deeply rooted and ingrained.

Building Sustainable WCM Culture:

Successful implementation of WCM practices requires more than a one-time effort. It involves connecting with the deeper layers of culture, transitioning from surface-level elements to deeper cultural practices like 6S application, group activities, and visual management. As the organization delves into these deeper practices, surface-level insights transform into ingrained beliefs, and new behaviors become standardized operating practices. Cultivating a sustainable WCM culture involves turning innovative ideas into lasting norms, ensuring the organization thrives in its commitment to continuous improvement.

Building a Culture of Empowered Leadership

Common Language

In any group, having a shared language makes it easier to identify good and bad behaviors. To strengthen a culture, create a safe space for leadership discussions. Two practices can help:

• Empowerment Leadership Talk: Essential to uncover underperformers in fast-growing companies and tackle the challenges of bad management and leadership development.

• Discuss Cluelessness: Establish comfortable spaces to address clueless behavior and collaboratively replace it with empowering practices.

Learned Behavior

Moving from unaware cluelessness to automatic empowerment requires a shift in learned behaviors. WCM pillar members can use these practices:

• Introduce Empowering Mindsets: Flatten the organizational hierarchy, fostering trust and transparency, and encourage a collaborative style for a faster operating model.

• Teach Empowerment Skills: Conduct workshops focusing on empowering frameworks aligned with WCM objectives. Introduce "Empowering Moments" for team members to share instances of turning challenges into opportunities.

• Fuse Empowerment with Daily Decisions: Translate training scenarios into real-time decisions in members' daily practices.

Shared Beliefs

For a strong culture, define core beliefs about leadership. Ensure these beliefs are affirmed more often than violated.

Heroes and Legends

Identify individuals embodying sought-after leadership values to serve as powerful role models:

• Spotlight Empowerment Moments: Recognize leaders within the organization for exemplifying empowering leadership, creating heroes.

• Measure Managers: Regularly assess how well WCM pillar leaders integrate empowering behaviors into daily management practices.

Rituals and Norms

Institutionalize empowered leadership through integrated disciplines:

• Pilot 6S, Cross-Functional Activities, and Visual Management: Normalize empowering behaviors in routine activities.

• Integrate with Overall Leadership Excellence (OLE): Create an OLE plan connecting empowering behaviors with WCM pillar goals and Key Performance Indicators, tying it to the corporate strategy for clear alignment.

In the ever-evolving landscape of leadership, WCM Pillars stand as beacons of transformative change. By embracing challenges, implementing empowering practices, and building a culture rooted in shared beliefs, organizations can cultivate an environment where leadership excellence thrives. The journey within WCM Pillars is not just a professional transformation; it is a commitment to continuous empowerment and collective success.