Role Growth Is the Key Part 2

 Role Growth + Engaged Leadership = High Performance

Master the Process to Improve the Performance

If you talk to anyone who has excelled at a high level, one phrase will emerge at some point – master the process. Success didn’t happen because they worked hard. Success happened because they followed a process consistently over time. Sure, they worked hard, but their hard work was directly connected to mastering the process they were using.

When my cardiologist told me a few years ago that I had significant calcification that could lead to a heart attack or stroke, I was faced with a choice. Do I take the pill that he recommended and go about my life as usual, or do I learn the process to improve my chances of living a long and productive life? I did start taking the pill as an immediate solution, but what I really did was learn the process to build a strong healthy mind, body, and spirit - diet, exercise, meditation, therapy, and more. Over time the process became the lifestyle. Now when I stop following the process I can feel the difference quickly, and I know how to reengage the process to build a healthier life.

Early in my career I worked with numerous manufacturing team to improve performance. One of the first groups was a mechanic and 5 machine operators. There was significant frustration in the team. The mechanic believed that his job was to fix the machines when they broke down. As a result, he would spend most of his time in the machine shop waiting on the operators to call him when their machine had a problem. The operators saw their job as keeping the machines running. The fewer the breakdowns the higher their performance. The first step in improving their performance was to get everyone aligned with the same goal. That took a few meetings. Once everyone embraced the idea that everyone’s job was to keep the machines running, performance began to improve. The mechanic began spending more time on the production floor and less time in the maintenance shop. The real game changer, though, was when everyone became engaged in keeping the machines running. While the mechanic still fixed machines when they broke down, his main responsibility shifted to teaching operators how to keep the machines running. Startup, the beginning of the shift, was a key to higher performance. The mechanic began teaching the operators what they could do during startup to increase performance. The operators also made an important shift. They started thinking of themselves as a team of operators not a group of independent operators who had the same mechanic. The more experienced operators began teaching the newer operators technics for better start up, how to clean out breakdowns, and how to recognize changes in the sound of the machine and what these changes meant. The result improved and stayed high for the three years I worked with that organization. Why? It all started with a shift in what everyone believed about their role and goals.

Using Outdated Leadership Models

I often get mixed signals when working with leaders. They say they want self-starters and high performers, but their actions reinforce the opposite. These leaders focus on people doing tasks and being compliant instead of thinking, adapting, and innovating to drive growth. Instead of helping their team get better and better at what they do, these leaders reinforce plateauing at this week’s goal. In this setting compliance and conformity are more important than mastering your craft. And, by the way, these are not bad leaders or bad human beings. They work hard every day. They are good, decent human beings that want success. The problem is that they are using outdated leadership models. They are using leadership models that were designed for success in the previous eras, not the era we live in today.  Are you driving a car that was built in the 1990’s or early 2000’s? If you are, it’s almost an antique now. Are you using a phone that was built in the 1990’s or early 2000’s? You can make calls, but not much more.  Are you using a computer that was built in the 1990’s? If you are it is really, really slow! Here’s the point. We live in a different era. We need leadership models that help us build the workforce we need today, not yesterday. That model begins with understanding the stages of growth in every role.

 We will explore the stages of growth in the next blog.