I must confess that it is difficult to blog about the events surrounding Trump's incoming administration, primarily because everything is happening so danged quickly.
I want to jump out and say that I have been very impressed by Kristi Noem's leadership style.
She is a "Go and See" leader.
It is too easy for managers to start believing that the little squiggles swimming across the "dash-board" on your lap-top are reality. It is very seductive, actually. Precise. Unambiguous. No effort required.
If you ever raised animals on pasture, you know "numbers" have limitations. Your neighbor a half-mile to the south may have had 2" of rain and you might have only gotten 1/4". His cattle may be fat-and-sassy and your lambs might have barber-pole worms.
Go-and-See gives you a chance to hear "the rest of the story". Broken equipment issues? Maybe your guy "Bob" has anger management issues. It is not an equipment or maintenance issue. It is a "Bob" issue. You can't fix it unless you really know what is broken.
And the return-on-investment is beyond calculating in the human dimension. Why should anybody care more about something than the boss cares about it?
I was working third-shift at "the factory" and was rolling out an unpopular policy change from management. After reading the policy to three of my "guys" in one of the far-flung corners of my kingdom, I slipped into the "Metrology" center to tread-water for fifteen minutes.
One of the minions in the Metrology center, a guy named Tony, snidely (I thought) suggested that I was "hiding".
I said "Nope. I am sitting here because there comes a point where any more 'attention' from management is like picking at a zit. Sometimes the best thing a boss can do is to become invisible for a while and let people 'process' the changes."
18 months later that "snide minion" was the Chairman of the Union Local and I found myself in an excruciatingly painful situation with my chain-of-command. I have no hard evidence, but I think Tony told the Plant Manager (two or three links up the chain-of-command) that he (Tony) would be unhappy if I was treated harshly.
Like I said, the return-on-investment of Go-and-See management is beyond calculating in the human dimension. I didn't reel my "guys" in from their jobs and roll-out the changes in my office. I went to their domain (next to the Metrology center) and unrolled it.
If any of my readers work for Kristi, and if you are comfortable with the task, please let her know that I think she is doing a GREAT job.
Lifting notes: 136 x 6. 185 x 6. 205 x 6. 225 x 4 (felt weak, dropped back). 205 x 6 x 4 more sets. Total of 8970 pounds
My management training in college was from guys who had done it. Old timers from the old school. The most common statements were:
ReplyDelete- MBWA is the way. Management By Walking Around.
- If you spend more than 10% of your day at your desk, you are generating unnecessary paperwork.
Amen. If you aren't in the field interacting with line employees all you have is information being fluffed and polished by every management tier. The old "This idea is crap" at the line morphing to "This Idea has powerful growth opportunities for the company" in the boardroom.
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