When Captain J. K. Ready commanded the impressive U.S.S. Ashtabula, a stately sign perched above the cabin door served notice to all who exited his suite: "No task shall be evaded simply because it is impossible." While others may have viewed paradigms as walls, he considered them stepping stones. Serving under his command was nothing short of a lesson in leadership and a directive to defy the norm, making his rise to the admiralty altogether inexorable. Turnaround performance goals are never etched in stone by true leaders but rather are redefined by these visionaries who have the audacity to challenge the industry's highest standards and the foresight to insist on something grander.
The term "impossible" is overrated and outdated. Much that is thought to be impossible is merely pre-possible. Many Olympic performances that once won gold would today not even earn bronze. We live in a world where records are made to be broken.
Turnaround managers must not only embrace but champion the concept that incredible improvements are not only possible but imminent. If a leader is not improving the performance of his team, the leader is not leading; he is at best managing their stagnation. Here are five strategies for creating an "improvement is normal" culture:
1.Reinvent normal. Constant improvement is normal. Realize your highest standards today will be considered low and unacceptable standards tomorrow. Realize that you have not yet given your very best. Resolve that being limited to current best practices is not an option. Study established policies and best practices within and without your organization, analyze which ones are truly instrumental to improvement, and focus weighted effort on key performance-building factors -- not all policies and best practices are of equal value. Recognize which institutionalized beliefs, policies, restrictions and impediments need to be strategically and diplomatically challenged -- not all policies and best practices make sense.
2.Reinvent yourself. Push yourself up a notch. Seek the right outside help to allow your vulnerabilities to be studied and challenged. Maintain sufficient humility to realize: a) you do have blind spots and b) you truly do not see your blind spots. Generally, people do not change the way they think and act without significant outside intervention.
3.Staff for innovation. Stack your team with "radical" individuals who tend to be independent thinkers. This may make them harder to manage but easier to lead. An effective leader does not surround himself with people who will never challenge him; those are lower-octane people who do not tend to think outside the box. They are not revolutionary in their thinking. An individual who never respectfully challenges his manager is more of a liability than an asset.
4.Train for innovation. Know that your team has not yet achieved its maximum accomplishment. Be intentional about growth and improvement. What skills deficiencies need to be addressed? What assumptions of the team need to be challenged? What biases and preferences must be overcome? Do a case study on paradigm shifts and learn what drives these "punctuated equilibrium" events. Lead your team through the case studies. Bring in innovative influencers, and expose yourself and your team to the inspiration of passionate radicals who are modeling and leading change. This great new technique is being used to help teams see beyond their current paradigm.
5.Undergird team support. Push the support structure that surrounds your team up a notch. Develop a strategy to help those who directly support your team to be better engaged and better aligned with your team.
New safety and environmental regulations may add to turnaround inefficiency, and perhaps worker skill levels have declined, but new solutions are being engineered, and training is more accessible than it ever has been before. When tools and technology have gotten progressively more efficient and most other industries are becoming leaner, how is it OK to assume turnarounds will progressively take a bit longer and cost a bit more?
For more information, contact Onpoint at (281) 461-9340, email sales@onpoint-us.com or visit www. Onpoint-us.com.
