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Leadership Development
Impact Factory runs tailored
Leadership Programmes Organizational Leadership Report On Increasing Business ProductivityOrganizational Leadership change management book report/executive summary on increasing business productivity by creating a heroic work environment. A Journey into the Heroic Environment: A Personal Guide to Creating a Work Environment Built on Shared Values, 3rd Edition Rob Lebow (SelectBooks, New York 2004 1590790618) $21.95 The Secret of Organisational LeadershipSo that's the Big secret? Sounds like the everyday sage advice that a Corporate Yoda would give to his executive team of Jedi knights. Admittedly, this is something we all know and have heard before. They are timeless leadership principles - psychic energy patterns memorialized in the collective unconscious - embedded in human experience itself. But how many of us actually practice these principles?What makes this work significant is not the list of values which are bandied about at boardroom meetings and showcased on fancy plaques, but the Process ("acting Heroically is a process") that the Lebow research group has engineered in implementing these Shared Values company-wide through stories, examples, illustrations, charts, graphs, ways of communication, and sequential steps to follow. Lebow provides readers with practical tools they can use to actually practice these principles in transforming their corporate culture into a heroic environment. So what does a 'heroic environment' look like? Lebow gives us a model, a vision, to look forward to: "Imagine what would happen in a work environment if people were given the freedom to act the way they really wanted to act - with courage, creativity, and independence from fear of criticism, or worse. And when people are respected and appreciated, they want to contribute even more, to rise to their true potential. I call that kind of place - a place where people act heroically - a Heroic Environment." I was skeptical at first with this rather rosy picture - feeling that employees given too much freedom would slack-off or go into their own little dream-world. But after finishing the book, I felt Lebow had pulled it off, in terms of providing tools that managers, employees, and consultants can use in transforming corporate culture for the better. After all, people don't get up in the morning wanting to fail; they want to feel significant - knowing they've done a job well-done. One of the main tenets of the book is that the traditional corporate approach of solving problems from the top down is the kiss-of-death. Frontline workers need to be given autonomy, responsibility, and accountability to solve problems themselves, letting the customer's needs, rather than the company's policies, drive each transaction. To accomplish this, 'only hire people you trust, but once you've hired them, trust them.' Management's leadership role is simply to encourage people on the frontlines to experiment and explore new ideas on their own. The best way to manage is to let go and let great, not stepping in to fix problems or criticizing, but to examine the breakdown of the workflow and empowering frontline workers to make their own decisions and changes by providing them with the necessary resources. According to Lebow, this is the only way to bring back respect to the phrase, "Made in America." He recounts how Toyota's plant workers average 50 changes every two and a half shifts, which would give most American managers a nosebleed. In America, Lebow states, fixing problems is management's job! In contrast, by empowering its frontline people to experiment, fix problems, and make continual proactive changes without fear of failure, Toyota is now financially worth more than Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler-Mercedes all put together. To put things in perspective, Lebow goes on to point out that it took Ford about nine months to make a change to their production line, while it only took Toyota three and one-half hours! Overall, A Journey into the Heroic Environment, accomplishes its main purpose in serving as a guide to creating a Freedom-Based work environment built on Shared Values. This is not an academic book or scholarly read, nor is it a scientific journal. Use the information and The Personal Work Style Assessment^(TM) (included in the book) to formulate your own leadership hypotheses and come up with your own conclusions. The book itself, from start-to-finish, can be considered a case study in corporate transformation told in the form of a business story with a chance meeting between John, a disgruntled assistant plant manager of a telecommunications company, and Kip, a mysterious, senior executive mentor figure. The book is simple in its approach to leadership, but not simplistic; easy-to-read, but certainly not easy to implement. I highly recommend this book as a path to a rewarding journey that will open up the soul to a brave new heroic world. Sharif Khan (http://www.sharifkhan.blogspot.com) is a copywriter and communications specialist, inspirational keynote speaker,and author of the leadership bestseller, "Psychology of the Hero Soul." (http://www.herosoul.com). He publishes his monthly Hero Soul ezine for cutting-edge advice on success, leadership, and personal growth. To contact Sharif Khan about his business writing, consulting, or motivational speaking services, call 416-417-1259. 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