When Is It Time To Take The Lead?

When to step up or step in is not as obvious as I hoped for in continuous improvement consulting. Executives, management, and team members frequently ask me to fix issues they’re not ready to fix. After a decade of studying change management and conflict resolution, there is far more to the story then what books describe.

I don’t see bad employees anymore. I don’t see bad companies or projects either. I only see input variables, probability, and a progressing timeline. A kid surrounded by other kids smoking is more likely to smoke cigarettes, CEO going through a divorce is more likely to make poor decisions, and a real estate company in 2008 was more likely to fail. Give a negative environmental variable enough time and it’s probably of impact increases. Personality and skill only mitigate outcomes.

Michael J Fox (Marty Mcfly) and the “Back to the Future” movies teach a relatable lesson on optimism in a pessimistic work environment. In the movie, Marty goes back into time to prevent a future state from happening. Change one variable in the past (sneeze, step on a bug, fight the school bully...ext.) and your future changes.

What if that oppositional coworker wasn’t hired? What if we never took on that high risk project? Maybe I should have asked for the raise last year? Assuming an outcome feels right. It’s fun to follow root cause down the rabbit hole but value in the conclusions diminishes as we go. Change anything from yesterday and a near infinite amount of variables change in our today. When developing measurement systems and establishing KPI’s, everyone on the team must truly understand that good or bad, every previous moment served a purpose.

Team members blaming team members seems to be a universal truth in process improvement. It’s not their fault. Separating process defects from personality conflicts is not a hard line. Do we need an SOP on tightening that all-important bolt or just a new staff member with the “common sense to do it right?” This arbitrary decision is the biggest roadblock I’ve seen in process improvements. The reality: there is no separation. Every problem is fixable and every team member is responsible to fix it. Continuous process improvement needs to be a team sport.

Process Improvement and Project Management courses emphasize the importance of obtaining leadership buy in. There is more to it than that. The emotional element and office politics surpass logic and reason. Sometimes, just taking the lead and owning the risk is the most probable path to success. Understanding all the possible variables takes time. Assuming the CEO and management are able to see how this input today will lead to this output tomorrow is a big assumption. Earning the leadership's trust is far more important than a verbalized buy in.

At some point in process improvement, consultants just need to take the lead and solve the issue. No questions asked. No pat on the back. Maybe someone will notice, maybe they won’t. Staying mission focused has taken me down the most unpredictable and worthwhile paths of my career.

1.      Show up

2.      Fix problem

3.      Sleep well