 |
Most of what is taught in
business school has a focus on steady, incremental improvement. I don’t want to throw that out. I do, however, suggest that businesses
can create quantum leaps. And the
difference between the two processes is what defines leadership.
So, where do I start? I ask: What’s the difference between a manager and a leader? Managers become managers because they
were great at solving problems.
Those that make the transformation become senior managers. Senior leaders transform from problem
solvers to problem creators. If a
President or CEO spends more than 5%-10% of their time solving problems, they
need to devise a plan to change that.
What do I mean by creating
problems? When Jack Welch became
the CEO of GE, he declared that every business unit had to be ranked #1 or #2
in their respective industries. If
not, they would be sold. If you
were ranked number 6, you had a problem.
If you are ranked number 6, you
have to look at your unit from another perspective. Simply reducing costs and
cutting jobs and expenses will not grow the business from #6 to #2. You need
new relationships with your staff and management, customers, vendors as well as
the media. You need innovation to
create new products and services. Ultimately, as the unit leader, you need to
create problems for your people to solve.
If you look at any extraordinary
accomplishment, you find that it always followed a problem. However, creating problems is
counterintuitive. We are taught to
solve them, get rid of them or find out who created it and get rid of
them.
To create problems on purpose
requires some training as well as a new mindset. So, I have 4 do’s to support leadership’s commitment to use
problem creation strategies:
1. Constantly develop yourself. Books are great. However, quantum leaps require you to
get out of your comfort zone. It
is much easier to do that if you see yourself as a high performing athlete who
wants to significantly improve his or her performance. Therefore, I suggest you hire a coach
or an advisor.
2. Develop an intimate understanding of your
customers. Understand what their development needs are and what they anticipate
in the future. Oftentimes,
customers need things they don’t know how to describe. That’s an opportunity to create
something that has not existed, and your problem lies therein.
3. Delegate! If you
try to do it all yourself, the growth of your company will be limited to what
you can do. You can’t do
everything. Besides, if you are
doing everything, you are an employee, instead of the President of the
company. As you delegate, you
create a learning organization.
Your people will learn new skills and competencies. More importantly, it frees you up to
learn new skills and competencies.
4. Always create new products, services and
productivity processes. If you are
not doing it, your competitors will.
And then it is difficult to make up for lost momentum. As a side note, when disruptive
technology is created, someone from outside the industry usually creates
it. They look at your industry
from another perspective. This is
why it is important to develop yourself and constantly pull yourself out of
your comfort zone.
Creating problems intentionally
gives you a much better chance to be the master of your destiny. Additionally, when unexpected problems
arise, you will have skills that empower you to handle them much more
effectively.
What do you
think? I would love to hear your feedback. And I’m open to ideas. Or if you
want to write me about a specific topic, connect through my blog www.turnaroundip.blogspot.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment