If the UK is short of engineers, my question is how do Engineering Executives lead their teams to compete globally?\u00a0 Put it another way, have you ever thought what the characteristics of your boss are when you perform at your best?\u00a0 There is a common answer.<\/p>\n
The world too has got much smaller too… the vibrant, aggressive Chinese market is likely to continue to be the seedbed of several iterations of disruptive technology and business models for years… Many don\u2019t realise for hundreds of years up to the 1820s China, like the US today, controlled 29% of global GDP and China were the only economic superpower.<\/p>\n
Furthermore our experience shows typically 20% of employees are actively trying to disrupt your business, 20% are actively engaged and the most difficult to identify category are in between. \u00a0These employees in between are just going through the motions, and are not even awkward. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0These categories include employees at all levels including executives!<\/p>\n
I have made some observations through my work at three separate complex engineering businesses; Safran Group SA, Trend Controls and Huntleigh Healthcare. Their business challenges had become overwhelming. Yet the approach I introduced for them created in 3-6 months, 30-42% capacity increases, 35% improvement in customer service, pulled forward a program by 9months, achieved a 10% profit improvement and increased OTIF from 30-95%. Alongside these improvements, the techniques I deployed created a culture of high performance; better motivation, customer focus and on average at least 35% extra capacity.<\/p>\n
The supporting questions are~: What is needed to create a motivating Engineering workplace?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How do you re-energise a team, so that they are fully able to make sound decisions? What is an engineer\u2019s expertise right now and what are their aspirations?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What additional knowledge and capabilities will YOU need to ensure they gain to support them?<\/p>\n
How do you start?\u00a0 Realise the challenge to change starts with YOU and ME the boss! Clearly identify the challenge and align the organisation, the strategic decisions, and the scope of each individual, their boundaries and which supporting decisions are their responsibilities. Then counter intuitively let them figure out their approach and how to implement these decisions. By establishing a robust review process and engagement right one can decentralise risk and transforms team motivation.\u00a0 Yet often when the challenge gets tough the response is almost exactly the opposite?\u00a0 You need to be good at evaluating \u201clatent capability\u201d and how to engage to get this right, which is difficult if you have created it!<\/p>\n
By getting implementation and engagement right you can transform capability by developing a thinking culture:<\/p>\n
The results coming from this process are simply astounding. This is counterintuitive to what engineers and a leader is taught and requires real courage. Your team are likely to be unfamiliar with taking this degree of ownership, figuring out the how and or making decisions, and most leaders I find don\u2019t know how to engage.<\/p>\n
Decentralising ownership ensures the informal influencers in organisations are identified, become thinking partners, engaged and central to communication and execution too.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Informal influence never follows an organisation chart.\u00a0\u00a0 Leader\u2019s attempts to identify informal influencers are normally wrong and depending on the scenario they change.\u00a0\u00a0 Servant leadership traits get these key people engaged. Marginalise these people at your peril.<\/p>\n
This approach builds the 3 cornerstones of motivation delivers better results and is far less stressful, but initially requires real courage and an expert catalyst to get to the truth.<\/p>\n
Relying on force of personality, expertise or authority is less effective. \u00a0\u00a0Engineers tend to be heavily dependent on expertise and authority?<\/p>\n
By changing individual behaviour in this way, attitudes and actions change as well.\u00a0\u00a0 People have a fundamental need to preserve consistency between their actions and beliefs.<\/p>\n
Early wins will excite and energise a team. What has worked well in the past is important to acknowledge building links with the future.<\/p>\n
Lead metrics help prevent backsliding and create a virtuous circle of employee led data gathering, analysing, and continuous testing. Metrics develop the team\u2019s awareness of the new opportunities, the value and impact of their actions and decisions.<\/p>\n
As per China the toughest markets is where the most resilient businesses will continue to emerge.\u00a0\u00a0 Recent McKinsey research showed that training realises little value, it\u2019s critical to change the business as usual to transform a culture.<\/p>\n
UK Aerospace and Automotive Engineering and others have created some fantastic globally competitive businesses.\u00a0 What I have found is that the developing these ways of working is a major competitive weapon. \u00a0\u00a0These ways take decades to replicate and I guess will provide the means to stay ahead, by create a high degree of customer engagement.\u00a0 The good news the opportunity is untapped and the results will completely transform your business.<\/p>\n
The flipside is what are your employees doing if they are not thinking?<\/p>\n
Tom Pickering has led 25 performance turnarounds over the last few years, and is an elected Fellow IET www.leadesrshipof.technology<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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