Book Review: The Leader's Compass

A Personal Leadership Philosophy Is Your Key to Success (2nd Edition)

This was a quick read told in a story about a rapidly growing organization, their journey to excellence, and the role that mentors play in the building of people, specifically Leadership.  The story's main characters are Guy, a 29 year old Marketer from Penn State, and Stanley, a retired Naval Officer that is a good friend and neighbor to Guy.  The new leader was 'sort of' put in charge after an acquisition with a new large scale and ill-defined project.  With this acquisition are new team members who are trying to fit in the organization with no information from the boss.

Quality and Acceptability of Solutions

In the past we have explored the difficulty of change.  One concept attributed to General Electric that we can wrap our heads around is Q x A = E.

Q = Quality Level (1-10) of the Solution to Solve the Problem

A = Acceptance Level (1-10) of the Solution in the Organization

E = Effectiveness (0-100) of Deployment of the Change

Transparency

Part Four of the Foundation Thinking Series

The word Transparency has received much attention over the last few years, yet I believe it is misunderstood among those who use it most.  Transparency implies openness, communication, and accountability. Transparency is operating in such a way that it is easy for everyone to see what actions are performed and how decisions are made.  We can see the results of actual Transparency in our Behaviors, Performance, and Values.

And since companies can't actually be accountable, communicate, be open, or exhibit other human behaviors we are really talking about the people in the company.  The people in the organization must have the right behaviors, performance, values, and integrity.  Problems around those issues will not be repaired if they stay in the dark bureaucracy where "people" barriers stop the flow of information.  If people in your organization have integrity problems, you will not like the results of you new-found imperative.

Accountability

Part Three of the Foundation Thinking Series

Accountability is the acknowledgment and assumption of responsibility for actions, products, decisions, and policies including the administration, governance, and implementation within the scope of the role or employment position and encompassing the obligation to report, explain and be answerable for resulting consequences. If you are accountable for the performance of the team, then when things go right it's you who will receive the benefit, but when things go wrong it's you who will receive the blame. When you are accountable you own it, not the last guy.

Leadership

Part Two of the Foundation Thinking Series

According to Ruggero & Haley, Leadership is influencing people by providing purpose, direction and motivation while operating to accomplish the goals and improving the organization.  This means that Leaders are Involved and Active in the Processes.

Let's break this down one piece at a time...

Independence Day 2014

Happy Independence Day to my friends, fans, and followers at home and abroad!  May all your Journeys of Excellence find solid relationships and satisfied repeating customers.

Process Discipline

Part One of the Foundation Thinking Series

In its original sense, Discipline is systematic instruction intended to train a person, sometimes literally called a disciple, in a craft, trade or other activity, or to follow a particular code of conduct or "order".  It also involved the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience.  "And you will report status every day until it is fixed!"

Then there is Process Discipline and the "Rule of Rules”: Never make a rule that you are not willing to enforce every time. Every time equals consistency. In order to be consistent, therefore, the line between acceptable behavior and unacceptable behavior must be crystal clear. You must know exactly when to act.  Two ways we can cook discipline into our processes are by using standard work and by using a reaction plan in the process control tool.

Can it be any more clear than this??