Leadership Done Right

Brandon W. Jones

Leadership Done Right Blog

Level 5 Leadership

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Level 5 Leadership

In the case about on level 5 leadership, the main theme was how to become a level 5 leader. Although the attributes explained in the article are good attributes to obtain, after reading the case study “Good to Great, or just Good” by Bruce Niendorf and Kristine Beck, I have the strong tendency to discount the research that he states backs up his findings.

Level 5 Leadership

Because the research that he states was not properly obtained according to a statistics analysis, I will just review the value of his thoughts as a suggestion and not as being backed by research. The two qualities he stated leaders should have are personal humility and professional will. These two qualities are very valuable and important to have.

Humility

When an individual or leader has the quality of personal humility, they are then teachable and open to change. Without change an organization will fail. Change is essential to growing the business because customer needs are continually changing. It is not good to change in the sense of sound moral values and principles; the change I am referring to is the change in product, production techniques, marketing, etc.

Leaders need to be humble to effectively create change in an organization. If the leader is not humble and he or she tries to create change, the individuals within the organization will resist the change and then when the leader is not around they will go back to their old ways. When the leader humbly instigates change, the followers will be more likely to buy in.

In addition to being humble, great leaders must also have a professional will that drives them to do their best. The professional drive must come from within. The professional will is the desire the leader has to do their very best and be great even when no one else is looking. It is the drive the leader has to continually do more with less. Professional will is the desire to succeed. As Jim Collins pointed out, professional will is essential for a leader to reach the next level in their leadership ability.

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Col. Joe Dowdy

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In the article about Col. Joe Dowdy, it showed that he was a strong leader of principle. Although he was pressed to change his principles, he was unwavering. His leaders pressed him to go faster than he was comfortable with to invade Baghdad which would put his soldiers’ lives at risk.

Col Joe Dowdy

Col. Joe Dowdy

He felt the lives of his soldiers were just as important as his mission. Because of this belief, he was forced to take a slower pace when invading Baghdad. His leaders were very against this approach. He was, however, not willing to lower his standards in order to meet their demands because he knew his soldiers would die. [Read more…] about Col. Joe Dowdy

For Lt. Withers, Act of Mercy Has Unexpected Sequel

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The article “For Lt. Withers, Act of Mercy Has Unexpected Sequel” is an amazing article. It was about an army lieutenant that made an impact during World War II. As an African American Army Lt., John Withers was a by the book leader that did everything by the rules. When he was in the army, there was strong segregation. Because of the segregation, the African Americans were watched very closely. John Withers was very diligent in doing everything right.

Act of Mercy Has Unexpected Sequel

Act of Mercy Has Unexpected Sequel

When two prisoners were released from one of the concentration camps, he made the decision to go against protocol and serve them. There are some important lessons that can be learned from Lt. John Withers.

  1. Stick to your values at all costs.
  2. Teach those you lead by your actions as well as words
  3. Learn from the past

Lt. Withers knew the rules for the army and he did everything he could to follow them. He did not, however, compromise his values when it came to the rules. When first approached about harboring refugees, he was not going to allow it so he would be upholding the rules, but when he saw the condition of the refugees, he decided to help them. To him it was more important to save a life than follow the rules, so that is what he did.

Lt Withers constantly led his soldiers by his example. He also led his family and children by example. Because his example was so powerful, he was able to teach by words as well. His words were able to change those he came in contact with.

Lt Withers was able to take the lessons from his WWII experiences and teach his children. He learned from the past and constantly worked to share those lessons with his children so that they too could learn.

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Diamonds in the Data Mine

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The approach that Gary Loveman used as the COO as explained in the case study, “Diamonds in the Data Mine” was very interesting. Rather than go off of feelings and emotions as many people tend to do, he was very analytical in every aspect of his decision making. As he ran Harrah’s, he constantly was using the data that they were receiving from slot players. He constantly mined the data to see trends that were occurring and how they could use that knowledge to better the company.

Diamonds in the Data Mine

Diamonds in the Data Mine

Performing data mines is one aspect that he used constantly which is overlooked by many companies. It seems like there are many companies out there that are looking for some special secret sauce from researchers that will solve all of their problems. When they take this approach they are completely discounting all of the data that the company is or could be gathering. By recording data on the customers on a regular basis, they could be seeing trends within their own company.

One of the most successful methods for progress within a company is to find out what you are doing wrong and fix it. Although that may seem very obvious, the only way to find out if a practice is correct in the sense that it draws in more customers is to review the data that you can receive about the customers.

Once a company or organization records data they mine the data to identify which methods work and which methods do not work. As a company looks closely at their processes, they will be able to see what they can do better or what they are doing wrong and they can then fix it. Progress is all about finding out and recognizing what you are doing wrong and then fixing it.

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Good to Great, or Just Good?

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The article, “Good to Great, Or Just Good?” is very insightful because it explains all of the flaws in the statistical research behind the book Good To Great by Jim Collins. He did not set out to prove a specific hypothesis; instead he just found similar characteristics between 11 successful companies.Good to Great - Jim Collins

Good To Great

This is very important because it is very easy to just read an article with new ideas and concepts and then accept them as the truth. It is very important to do a logical analysis of the methods used to derive the theory. If the theory is based on a solid statistical analysis it can be accepted, but if it is based on a flawed study it may be just commonalities of several test subjects. It is also very important to look at causality and not just associations. The two are very different and must treated as such.

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Evidence-Based Management

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The case study, “Evidence-Based Management,” was very interesting to me. In the case there were three points that stuck out to me. They were:

  1. Demand evidence.
  2. Examine logic.
  3. Treat the organization as an unfinished prototype.

Evidence-Based

When each of the points is followed, the organization will be on its way to progress towards becoming an evidence-based organization.

Evidence Based Management

When it spoke about demanding evidence it really made me think about how the organization can be bettered when changes are based in concrete evidence. It explained the importance of having relevant evidence. The evidence must come from data and experimentation from within the company. [Read more…] about Evidence-Based Management

Strategies of Effective New Product Team Leaders

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There are many important factors that must be followed by product team leaders for the team to be successful. One important factor is that the system be set up so leaders and team members work together. In addition, for the team to be successful it is essential that the team members be allowed to make decisions for their specific responsibilities.

Strategies of Effective New Product Team Leaders

Product Team Leaders

I have been involved in many different team projects in school as well as in the work force and there is a significant difference in the outcome of the project depending on the role of the leader. There are two types of leaders that I have seem and worked with: the leaders that stand back and tell others what to do while not getting involved themselves and the leaders that jump in and get just as involved as the team members.

The leaders that get involved know exactly what the team members are going through and they are a strong support to the team. The uninvolved leaders are less able to gain the respect and love of the team members. The team members also begin to have the feeling of us versus them with management.

Successful Teams

The other important factor to having a successful team that I want to highlight is that team members must be allowed to make decisions over their responsibilities. In a system where team members always have to request permission to make a decision, the team members don’t feel as much confidence in themselves or their work. They also are not as diligent in coming to the best conclusion they can because they feel their leader will either override their decision or take the decision and modify it. Either approach is detrimental to the overall production of the company.

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Sins of Commission

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From the case study Sins of Commission, it is very evident that the correct compensation system is extremely important to the success of an organization. The case reviewed several instances where the compensation packages in use were set up to put a quick fix in place for a failed system.

Sins of Commission

Sins of Commission

The compensation system is extremely important because it is one of the main drivers for obtaining and keeping qualified employees. It cannot be the sole source of satisfaction for the employees, but it must function properly to serve the benefit of the system as a whole.

The compensation system will train the employees what is valued by the company. When a company drives for customer satisfaction, but compensates based on the number of sales of the individual employee, the employee will do whatever he or she can to obtain the sale.

He or she will not be encouraged to spend time with the customers that are just browsing. On the other hand, in order for the company to obtain customer satisfaction, they must create a system that values customer satisfaction. The system must reward the employees based on the customer satisfaction ratings.

Teamwork Systems

The companies must also set up a system that promotes teamwork within the organization. In the systems where the employees are rewarded based on their individual efforts and not as a team, the group loses unity and becomes several individuals with their own interests at stake.

In order for a company to reach its maximum level of success, all the individuals must work as a team. This must be promoted by team awards rather than individual awards.

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Compensation and Performance Review at Arrow Electronics

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In the case study, “Compensation and Performance Review at Arrow Electronics,” the performance review and compensation systems at Arrow Electronics were broken. There are two specific aspects of the system that are broken: the employees are rated on a bell curve type system for their evaluations and the compensation system for the sales force isn’t competitive for the market.

Compensation and Performance Review at Arrow Electronics

Performance Review System

First, the CEO, Steve Kaufman, has required that the employees are rated on a bell curve type system for their evaluations. Since the evaluation system is set up as a bell curve, the supervisors and managers must always be comparing their employees against each other. Once the employees realize that they are being compared against each other, they will stop working as a team and begin competing against each other rather than viewing the group as a team that works together. [Read more…] about Compensation and Performance Review at Arrow Electronics

Get Rid of the Performance Review

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The main point in the article was that performance reviews are a waste of time and don’t promote progress within an organization. I agree with some of his points but disagree with others.

Get Rid of the Performance Review

Downfalls of the Performance Review

It is true that a performance review is completely ineffective when the boss doesn’t give the employee any specific targets/goals for performance. When the boss just does a performance review on abstract principles and not on concrete metrics, it is an ineffective performance review.

On the other hand, when an employee has a very specific job description with very specific tasks, such as a factory worker, a performance review can be very effective. When the employee has a set of responsibilities that are clearly outlined, it is very easy to do a performance evaluation. Either the employee completed their work or they didn’t and there isn’t much room for interpretation. For an evaluation system to be very effective, the metrics need to be very specific for both the evaluator and the person being evaluated.

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