About Continuous Leadership
There are lots of books and articles on continuous improvement, and there are a lot of books on leadership. But there are few who talk about what makes continuous improvement really work, which is leadership. Not just any kind of leadership, but a very specific approach to how you lead your people to make a continuous improvement effort successful. Without proper leadership, continuous improvement efforts will die a slow, painful death. People need to know their leaders don’t just want them to apply the tools of continuous improvement, they need to see their leaders actually being a part of it. Continuous Leadership is about consistent engagement of your people, leading them in the pursuit of operational excellence. Everyone, from top to bottom, needs to buy into a culture of continuous improvement, and change how they engage one another and run their business.
“Without proper leadership, continuous improvement efforts will die a slow, painful death.”Jeff Adams
Are you in an organization that has embraced continuous improvement/operational excellence? While educating your people and implementing a chosen methodology to make improvements to your processes (Lean, Six Sigma, Theory of Constraints, Quick Response Manufacturing, etc.) are there problems with making those improvements stick? Wondering what could be preventing your changes from taking permanent hold? Want to see improvement in your processes and your employee engagement? There is an answer.
The answer is in how you lead your people. Most managers are taught how to be a manager, but leadership, especially in a continuous improvement environment, requires a different approach. The reason most continuous improvement efforts don’t achieve their full potential is because those in leadership roles haven’t had the opportunity to fully explore what are some of the best ways to actually lead in a continuous improvement environment. After years of implementing change management and continuous improvement efforts, I have developed a straight forward approach to help managers be more effective leaders in a continuous improvement environment. I call it “The 7 Essential Skills of Leadership.” With these seven skills, you can become a true continuous improvement leader and drive improvements in your organization that become permanent and change your organization’s culture for the better. Your employees will be more engage, performance will improve and be more consistent, and a true team environment will be fostered with these 7 Essential Skills.