Still on unlocking your organization’s potential through people…

Visionary companies compensate people well without discrimination. There’s no need in having a budget on team building events and motivation when you don’t compensate them well in the first place. The package should be attractive for all levels both junior and senior. There are industry averages for benchmarking; you can choose to be upper quartile. Visionary companies would rather pay everyone well and peg it to a high pressure team bonus system than underpay. When the junior staff feel well taken care of they won’t have a problem if the bosses are well taken care of too.

Some of the conflicts and industrial strikes witnessed around us are based on this one fact; the lower levels perceive that the senior ones are well compensated and better taken care of than they are. This creates the “WE” vs “THEY” mentality. With this you can’t build a lasting visionary organization. You will even have serious challenges achieving your short term objectives.

The right leaders will also help create an environment of empowerment and teamwork. Level 5 leaders allow their people to brainstorm and to problem-solve for decision making. They allow everyone in the organization to make a contribution and give an improvement idea regarding their work and business at large. They encourage original ideas from everyone in the organization. Some have stumbled on new products as a result of this. They foster team spirit and encourage cooperation between departments and teams, thus eliminating conflict and fostering growth.

Great leaders in visionary companies understand that the people dimension goes beyond their employees and extends to customer and suppliers as well. Toyota for example, a great visionary lean enterprise, has made Respect for People and Continuous Improvement its pillars. These visionary companies cooperate with their Key Accounts, Dealers, Agents, Distributors, Partners’ and Suppliers. They consider their partners’ incentives as equally important as employee pay packages. They will train and develop them in-order to build a lean, visionary enterprise. In most cases they have agreed to grow together. Toyota will go into a joint venture with a supplier it considers key, if it has to in order to meet its objectives, rather than list a new supplier. They want to retain their best partners as much as they want to retain their best employees!

Once you have set the people dimension well in place, be sure to anchor it to a culture of Continuous Improvement which should (if possible) be embedded in the company’s core values to ensure continuity & cushion the business against laxity which will very easily lead to complacency.

A great leader, also known as a Level 5 Leader, is one who possesses Extreme Personal Humility and Intense Professional will.

SOURCE:

Built to Last, Good to Great, The Toyota Way