Excerpt...

Chapter 1 changes IN THE WORKPLACES

from The Participative Leader

This chapter will help you to:

	Understand typical changes in today's workplace.
	Identify how your workplace has changed.
	Recognize how workplace changes have influenced the role of leaders.
	Define what is meant by a "participative" leader.

Joe Simpson had been looking forward to his promotion for a long time. He'd been a solid performer for five years now and was even taking classes at night to enhance his skills. He felt good about becoming the new supervisor for B Group. He knew most of the workers in the unit and thought he could really make a difference.

Joe started planning for his new role by reviewing productivity numbers, checking attendance records, and asking about employee skills. All was going well until--the day before he was to begin his new assignment--he came across a small book that his manager had given him. It was entitled “We're Not in Kansas Anymore: The Changing Role of Leaders.” As he thumbed through the book, he noticed words like ‘empowerment, high involvement, participative, facilitative, collaborative, vision, commitment, consensus.’ He didn't see the word ‘boss’ used anywhere. He read further. As he continued reading, he realized that the territory he was entering and the role he was assuming were not familiar at all. In fact, he felt a bit like Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz”. He muttered to himself, "You're right. We're not in Kansas anymore."

How Are You Like Joe?

Perhaps you have felt like Joe at some time in your career. In fact, you may be feeling very much like Joe right now. Check off those statements that apply to you.

	I am a new leader.
	Many of the leadership terms mentioned are new to me.
	I am quite comfortable with the term "boss".
	I have no idea what makes a leader participative.

BEHIND THE SHIFT TO PARTICIPATION

Like many new leaders, you may be wondering why so many companies are shifting to a more participative leadership style. Unlike the days when a good supervisor was expected to rule with an iron fist, today's leaders are asked to be visionaries, coaches, and facilitators. But what do those words mean in terms of on-the-job behaviors? Faced with new expectations, it is not surprising that so many supervisors feel as though they are in alien territory. Understanding the changes that have made participative leadership necessary will make the territory more familiar. Changes in competition have necessitated changes in business goals which have created a need for new business rules and roles. Let's look at each of these changes.

The Playing Field Has Changed

Most companies today have to compete in an environment that is vastly different from the business environment of ten years ago. While companies once had to outperform only two or three regional competitors to retain customers, they now have to be better than dozens of competitors. The playing field is slick, and it is filled with more obstacles. At every turn a competitor is waiting to pick up the ball. Advances in technology allow customers to do business halfway around the world. Competition is global and fierce. Surviving companies must deliver world-class quality to stay ahead. In addition, they must deliver their products or services faster than the competition. Because companies now compete globally, customers have more vendor choices. And can demand better quality, better service, better value, and faster delivery. Perhaps your company has competitors today that you had never even heard of three years ago. Consider your own work situation.

Is Your Company Competing Differently Today?

Answer the following questions to determine how your organization's competition has changed for your company.

1. What companies are considered strong competitors of your company?

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2. Which of those companies were real threats to your business three years ago?

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3. What is your company's market share compared with its share three years ago?

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4. What would be the likely reason(s) if you were to lose a major customer?

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As you answered those questions, you may have broadened your understanding of how global competition has put customers in the driver's seat. To adapt, corporations are focusing on new priorities.

The Goals Have Changed

Business goals have taken on a new look. Companies that once focused exclusively on profit goals now set quality goals with equal enthusiasm. The axiom now is "Worry about quality; the profits will follow." Businesses that once set new sales goals have learned how fickle customers can be and how much it costs to attract a new customer. They now set customer satisfaction and customer retention goals. Organizations that once aspired to be better than their two or three competitors now focus on being the best in the world. Continuous improvement is not a fad; it is a way of doing business that is necessary for survival.

What Are the New Goals in Your Company?

If you have been with your organization for more than a year, there is a good chance that you have witnessed a shift in company priorities. Describe how your company's goals have changed recently.

1. What new quality goals have been established?

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2. What customer service priorities have been established?

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3. Describe any new emphasis on teamwork

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As you described recent priorities for your company, you may have noticed that the goals are ambitious and would be difficult to accomplish under the old workplace rules. In many organizations, new goals have prompted new rules.

The Rules Have Changed

Quality and service goals cannot be achieved by a select group of executives. Such success requires the involvement of everyone to determine what customers want and how processes can be improved. Since employee involvement is so critical to success, companies have had to change some of their rules. Decisions and problem solving are no longer considered to be the exclusive territory of executives.

Management is no longer expected to have all the answers. Instead, it is widely assumed that frontline employees are able to solve many operational problems more effectively than management. Problem solving is pushed down to the level where there is the most expertise related to the problem. Decision making now involves the people most affected by the decision. For example, few managers today would purchase new equipment without extensive input from the equipment operators or start a training program without assessing employee interest. Employees are asked for input on topics that would have been considered out of their realm only a few years ago. They are asked what customers value, how production can be streamlined, why a process isn't working, and how safety can be improved. Top-down decision making in which management tells workers what to do is rapidly being replaced by push-down decision making in which people closest to the problem decide what to do.

The rules of business today are quite different because they support an organizational structure that is quite different. The traditional organizational chart looked like a pyramid with management at the top, employees in the middle, and customers at the bottom. The old rules required managers to make decisions, employees to do what they were told, and customers to take whatever was offered.

Today, excellent companies have turned the organizational structure upside down. Customers are now at the top, driving the business. Employees are in the middle, listening to customers and becoming increasingly empowered to deliver what customers want. Management is at the bottom supporting the workers who are delivering the quality.

Traditional Hierarchy

New Organizational Structure

Which Rules Are Changing in Your Company?

Fierce competition forces companies to establish new goals and develop new corporate rules to increase the probability of achieving those goals. Identify any rules that have changed within your company.

1. In what way is your company listening to customers more?

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2. What work issues are employees involved in today that only management would have discussed three years ago?

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The Roles Have Changed

For the upside-down organizational structure to work, traditional roles must change. To ensure that customers are actually driving the business, companies make them informal partners in developing new products, enhancing quality and improving service. Focus groups, surveys, and advisory boards now involve customers. To increase employee commitment, leaders now tap all the talent available, asking employees for input on nearly everything. Frontline workers are involved in process improvement, cost containment, and innovation. The roles of leaders have changed also. They are now expected to be coaches who communicate company priorities, facilitate teamwork, and support employees. Roles and responsibilities look quite different today. Answer the following questions to identify any such changes in your company.

How Have Roles in Your Company Changed?

1. How have the responsibilities of frontline employees changed recently?

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2. Whose opinions are sought regarding most workplace changes?

_____________________________________________________________________

3. What are supervisors expected to do today that is different from what was expected a few years ago?

_____________________________________________________________________

As you described the role changes in your workplace, you may have noticed a shift toward more employee involvement and less authoritarian supervision. If so, your organization has begun to shift to a more participative leadership style.

THE MEANING OF PARTICIPATIVE LEADERSHIP

By now you have some understanding of how a participative leader is different from a more traditional, authoritarian leader. The chart below will help you understand on-the-job behavior of participative leaders.

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Do's and Don'ts of Participative Leaders

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Participative Leaders Do . . .

1. Communicate the big picture . . . company priorities, performance results, work unit's connection to the large organization.

2. Involve employees in developing realistic goals, sensible performance measures, and appropriate rewards.

3. Delegate appropriately and develop employee talent.

4. Support employees with clear direction and necessary resources.

5. Facilitate teamwork by focusing on process as well as task.

Participative Leaders Don't . . .

1. Withhold information and act as if the group is an isolated unit.

2. Tell employees what to do and hope for good performance.

3. Manage in a detailed, hands-on fashion.

4. Set people up for failure by not providing support.

5. Create competition and focus only on task.

Participative leaders are described as such because their job is to see that employees participate in decisions that affect their work. In short, they tap the full potential of their work force. Participative leaders orchestrate high performance by providing direction, information, resources and group facilitation. In Chapter 2, we will discuss why this style of leadership works, and we will look at companies that attribute their success to increased employee involvement. In Chapter 3, we will examine why the shift to participative leadership can be uncomfortable for supervisors but also personally beneficial. Chapters 4 through 7 will describe success strategies for becoming a more participative leader.

Chapter Checkpoints

	Today's competitive environment has brought about many changes in how companies conduct business.
	To compete, companies must be responsive to customers, innovative in product development, and fast in their delivery.
	To be responsive, innovative, and fast, companies need to tap the expertise of every employee, not just managers.
	To increase employee involvement, leaders must shift to a more participative style of leadership.
	Participative leaders provide information, direction and resources. They also involve employees, empower employees and facilitate teamwork.

from The Participative Leader

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