Staying Lean, 2nd Edition

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© 2011 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Chapter 4

Leadership

Leadership is often seen as the holy grail of successful

management. Indeed, poor leadership has been identi-

fied as the reason for poor sustainability of Lean change,

as the top ten reasons for failure in Table 4.1 reveal.

These findings (Table4.1) are based on a review of the

major issues leading to poor sustainability across a range

of manufacturing and distribution organizations.

We have found that there is often some confusion

between management and leadership. Many people talk

about managing transformations rather than leading

change. This may sound like a subtle difference, but it

Table4.1 Top ten reasons for failure.

1. Lack of a clear executive vision.

2. Lack of an effective communication strategy.

3. Failure to create and communicate a real sense of urgency.

4. Poor consultation with stakeholders.

5. Lack of structured methodology and project management.

6. Failure to monitor and evaluate the outcome.

7. Failure to mobilize change champions.

8. Failure to engage employees.

9. Absence of a dedicated and fully resourced implementation team.

10. Lack of sympathetic and supportive Human Resources policies.

62  ◾  Staying Lean: Thriving, Not Just Surviving

© 2011 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

is an important one. Warren Bennis, in On Becoming a

Leader (2003), describes some of the differences he sees

between managers and leaders (Table4.2).

Think of some managers in your organization. Are they

leaders or managers? Leaders, in our view, foster change

and create an environment where change is the norm,

whereas managers stabilize the organization and ensure

that the changes are well implemented. In fact, both sets

of behavior are necessary to achieve excellence, and

different approaches may be needed at different times,

depending on where you are in the transformation. Also,

leadership is not confined to the top level of an organi-

zation; leaders can emerge at all levels, and part of the

role of managers is to recognize and develop potential

leaders so that they can contribute to the business goals.

Think about some of the other people in your organiza-

tion—trade union shop stewards, supervisors, influential

employees—how would you describe them?

Table4.2 Differences between leaders and managers.

Leader Manager

Innovates

Is an original

Develops

Focuses on people

Inspires trust

Has a long-range perspective

Asks why

Has his eye on the horizon

Originates

Challenges the status quo

Administers

Is a copy

Maintains

Focuses on systems and

structure

Relies on control

Has a short-range view

Asks how and when

Has his eye on the bottom line

Imitates

Accepts the status quo

Source: Bennis, On Becoming a Leader.

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© 2011 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Leadership is about establishing direction, developing

a vision of the future, and setting strategies for making

changes to achieve that vision. Leadership involves align-

ing people, communicating the direction by words and

deeds to the entire workforce to get the cooperation that

is needed. It is about influencing the creation of teams

that understand the vision and accept their roles in the

implementation of the strategy. It is really about inspiring

people to want to change.

My role has been to give the direction and perspec-

tive, to provide the means and resources, to support

the people and protect them from criticism, but they

have trained themselves in what was expected and

they have executed Lean. I am quite happy with

the way we implemented it. You can always say

it could have been better, but I think we did very

well. Anyway, sometimes you need failures to con-

vince people what could have been done.

—Marcel, Managing Director, Cogent Power Group

Level 5 Leadership

In Good to Great (1991), Jim Collins found that success is

due primarily to the abilities, competence, and style of the

leader. He identifies five levels of leadership (Figure4.1),

with the highest level leading to the most sustainable

and effective business.

Level 5 leaders channel their ego away from them-

selves and into the larger goal of building a great

company. It’s not that Level 5 leaders have no ego or

self-interest. Indeed, they are incredibly ambitious—

but their ambition is first and foremost for the insti-

tution, not themselves. (p. 21)