The Mark of a Leader – Part II

Keep in mind that the conversation described in Part I of this blog occurred on the first day the CPO was on board as a new employee. He listened, asked relevant questions of his boss, and then went about the normal process any executive would do in a new job: he gathered data and observations.

He spoke with internal clients throughout the organization, at all levels. He interviewed, in depth, more than one third of his own employees within the first 60 days. In effect, he conducted an assessment of the organization he inherited – and he did that assessment across a number of dimensions. This was very much like the assessment process described in the book Next Level Supply Management Excellence.

The conclusion he reached: the “disappointing results” were NOT caused by “poor employees.” On the contrary, the employees were solid. What was missing was good leadership, clear roles and responsibilities, explicit objectives, upgraded training, good business processes, and a few of the other transformation fundamentals described in this column.

The CPO designed a transformation roadmap, and implemented it. A year later, the organization was performing at a high level, results were pouring in, and less than 5 employees needed to be “changed out.”

The lesson here: anybody can fire and hire employees. Any knucklehead can do that: it takes no particular leadership talent. The effective leader makes the effort to understand root cause issues, designs a transformation plan to address gaps, and takes action to implement that plan no matter what the politics may be.

And, speaking now from personal experience in the corporate world, it is much more gratifying doing the right thing, versus taking the easy way out and doing the politically expedient.

SC
MR