Strategically creating your pockets of excellence.

This industry has got to take a hard look at its practices and decide who can fix it; it’s the guy you look at in the mirror every morning. We’ve become too caught up in the tactical problems of the day, and for understandable reasons. Let me remind you of the biggest issues that we need to consider today, next week, and next year; we need to think bigger than we currently are. We need to have a coherent long term goal we are shooting for and a plan to implement that plan.

Leadership
Leadership is key. Someone in the front, pushing ahead and bringing others onboard. Not just a powerful person driving a cool car, living in a big house and hanging out in the corner office, but someone really involving others for the betterment of the team. The leader should be respected, a listener, showing strong moral character and able to effectively communicate the direction of the group and instill a sense of urgency. Leaders can be quiet, or they can be boisterous, but the point is they need to be able to get others to act in a constructive manner. Leaders need to create opportunities, build respect, and empower other. You’ve been this guy in the past, it’s time to do it again.

Vision
The leader has a much easier time bringing the team onboard when his collection of managers have determined why they are in business; what is the purpose? What is the company shooting for? How will the company measure its success over the short and longer time horizon? Your vision may be difficult to implement on your own, but imagine enlisting the entire organization into your endeavor.

Keep your vision simple and refer to it often. I can’t stress this firmly enough, your vision needs the buy in of ALL employees, not just a few in upper management. Additionally, the employees unwilling to buy in need to go work for someone else, make them former employees. Either your employees believe in the mission and how it will be implemented to positively impact their own situation, or they don’t. If they don’t, they probably don’t respect you as a leader, either. Find a replacement for your disgruntled employee, it may hurt for a while, but this is about team. This is a good time to make a gut check and ensure that you really have the right vision for the team. It sure would be a bummer deal if you sent the wrong guy packing.

A quick story for illustrative purposes can’t hurt right here. You see, I’m a Vikings fan. I’m not face painting or anything too crazy, but I like the Vikes. I dare say they have a vision of what they would like to do this year; win the Superbowl. I tend to think that Brett Favre my team’s ex-nemesis will be a huge help here. What if the equipment manager decided it was too hard to do all that laundry, and that he wasn’t being recognized to extent that he required and so he just wasn’t going to do his best with the teams jocks and socks. Lets just say the team was uncomfortable for a game, lost the game, and lost homefield advantage through the playoffs. Can we all agree that this is selfish sabotage could negatively impact the team and cannot be viewed as acceptable. My point here is that you truly need ALL employees committed to your vision. It’s not ok to have the saboteur on your payroll. To the extent that you outsource, you should also expect your vendors to be performing to your level.


Training and Trust
I’ve heard more times than I can count about how an employee is not able, or can’t be trusted to do this or that and therefore X is not possible. I’ve been guilty of it myself, many times. But we need to seriously think about what this implies and where it leads, we need to remember that our parents raised us out of diapers. This employee who cannot fulfill simple requirements either doesn’t understand why they are doing the procedure or truly is incapable of doing it.

Work on building into your team an openness to explain the why and focus on end results. I dare say I have yet to see two lumber processing facilities that are set up the same. Perhaps this is a good example of how the end result is more important than the precise steps that must be followed in between the start and finish. The steps in between are important and necessary,(and must be done with excellence) but they may allow for some creativity to give value, meaning, and ownership to the employee on the floor.

Another classic management story is the one where the man in charge really isn’t in charge, he’s only in charge until his plan doesn’t quite jive with the REAL bosses vision (which if you follow from above clearly was not fully embraced or communicated). This is the point where the real boss jumps to the rescue and micromanages to his satisfaction all the while cursing about how incompetent everyone is around him. News flash for you here….. the economy has built in incentives for competent people. They will be successful and more fulfilled when they are allowed to innovate elsewhere. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to work for a micromanager, and I don’t know how a micromanager can truly add value to a business. What he really is going to do is drive the competent crazy. Given enough time in a leadership position he will, however, be right; he may be left with only the incompetent folks if he is not careful! Oops.

Implementation
Just saying you want to do something is not actually doing it. I have a Bowflex in the basement, but that doesn’t make me fit or even mean I work out. The implementation is the taking of the abstract and turning it into a habit. Make a habit out of doing things right. Make a habit out of succeeding. Success breeds success. Stick with it.

Urgency.
If we are content with believing that the only ones who can properly lay out a plan and successfully implement it are either our competition or some foreign power we had better sell our mills and kilns today before we are out of business and watching our property sold at auction of 20 cents on the dollar. Now is the time to take control of the wheel and drive your business like it’s a new Cadillac, not some beat up Kia.

When reading this I hope you find a way to convert these words into some potential energy; positively impact your business, for crying out loud. If you own the company, think about what I’ve said and consider the type of leader you are and how your vision is being put into motion. The process is never done, there is always room for improvement. Don’t forget, these are your chips the team is playing with, make sure they are equipped to win!

For you working stiffs, I command you to work to the benefit of your employer within the confines of your corporate vision. No vision, hmmm, well remember, in the absence of leadership, the next best thing fills its place. Find a way to drive your cell or department as if you own it. Make your cell a pocket of excellence in a world that needs some. Good luck to us all.


Greg Blomberg is the Principal Advisor of GreaterValue Consulting. He can be reached at gblomberg@moulderblank.com or milldoctor.com.