Big company/small company- Leadership is the key

Mike InnesProfit Champion

The Manufacturing Institute

So what have I learnt about leadership?My first engineering role

Great training and mentoringIn at the deep end

SME with global reach

Profit Champion for SME’s

Operational excellence first

Leadership is quite broad• Providing direction with a clear and compelling way forward with coordinated

plans and actions organised to achieve agreed goals • Adapting positively to change, taking the initiative, clarifying issues and

ensuring decisions are logical• Communicating persuasively to engage people while presenting a confident,

assertive personal image• Enabling others to take the right action, delegating effectively to the right

people as well as listening, supporting and giving constructive feedback • Learning personally from all situations, accepting responsibility for mistakes and

persevering with determination to succeed

Andrew DuBrin estimates there are 35,000 definitions of leadership in academic literature.

Principle centred leadership

• The Mars Five Principles are the foundation of their culture and approach to business.

• They unite employees (associates) across geographies, languages, cultures and generations.

• Mars’ commitment to providing safe, healthy and positive workplaces so that all Associates feel engaged and motivated.

• Providing a unique learning and development program through Mars University, with more than 40 percent of Associates participating in learning programs worldwide.

• A commitment to making a difference to people and planet through performance by putting Mars Five Principles into action through their work or community engagement.

Great Place to Work® recently noted other key areas for its unique working environment and Associate culture:

Surrounded by great people• When you have 20 great ideas, someone needs to

decide where to focus• Energy everywhere, but watch out for arrogance• Every ex-Mars person I’ve come across says it was a

great place to work

The Mars Five Principles guide everything

Small company leadership – it’s just the same

• Define your values• Communicate widely• Build a great management team• Get out of the office and the building• The world’s a small place when you have

a compelling value proposition

Culture and Values• Commitment to developing and maintaining long term

Customer and partner relationships, through building trust and exceeding expectations.

• People make the business – listen, communicate and involve• Obsess with Quality• Drive continuous improvement and Change relentlessly

Ensure your values are shared with all your stakeholders, communicate relentlessly

Values in action, linked to the Crane Business System

• Strength through integrity• Performance culture based on trust and respect• Make it ugly• Good people make good things happen• Continuous improvement• Passion for learning• Crane helping Crane• Focus on the customer• Faster, better, easier

Crane hold 500 Kaizen events each year as the basis for continuous improvement

Operational excellence rules

• Continuous improvement as standard work• Investment in training gives great payback• Process needs balancing with creativity and

freedom

Characteristics Industrial Age Knowledge AgeAsset Base Tangible assets Intangible assets

Capital & Labour Skills & KnowledgeResources Innovation

Leadership Practices PrinciplesFocus on efficiency Focus on effectivenessFormal Authority Moral AuthorityLeaders as a boss Leader as a servantBoss is responsible Culture is responsible

LeadershipChallenges

LEADERSHIP

Globalisation

TechnologyHorizontalisation

Ageing

Society

Quality of Life

More Educated

Balance

Retrenchment

Technology

Diversity

More than a third of employees would take a pay cut for less stress

More than a third of 24 year olds are graduates

Putting together programs that help employees find the right balance between home and work

Baby boomer retirement ‘wave’ will wash many skills from industry

Effective handling of company downsizing and retrenched workers

Technology will give employees more autonomy over when and where they work.

Dealing with a diverse workforce and finding a way to direct these workers toward a common purpose.

The structure and type of work will change

Equal access to information and knowledge

“The rate of change is not going to slow down anytime soon. If anything, competition in most industries will speed up even more.“

John P. KotterLeadershipChallenges

(Highly educated)

(Capable of independent thought and willing to challenge)

(Evolution of consciousness seeing desire to own one’s own destiny –

even with older workforce)

(Priorities of current workforces very different to

predecessors)

Leadership Challenges - new paradigms

The Triple Bottom Line

“If you focus on principles, you empower

everyone who understands those

principles to act without constant monitoring,

evaluating, correcting or controlling”

Stephen R Covey

Principle –centered Leadership

Some things I learned along the way• Visit customers all the time and encourage everyone else to• Build trust by listening, and then following through on promises• Customers don’t always know what they want until you show them it• Vision – people like to know where they’re going• Build a great team around shared values• Create product champions – things need to be loved• Training, training, training• Go ugly early– expose problems and fix them fast• People expect quality• Bend like a bamboo – pick your battles