Romanian Leadership Barometer – Key Finding #2

Going forward in the series of post I initiated (here) on the survey which was carried out in the Romanian leadership environment, we will look at the second key finding.

Key Finding 2 states that successful business leaders, and thus their organizations, will focus on the fundamental factors so as to adapt to the extremely requiring business environment in Romania. They focus on the operational agility of  the company through improving their internal processes so as to answer in a timely manner to the changes and complexity appearing in the marketplace.

At a practical level, it translates into pursuing several specific initiatives like actively involving employees at all levels for developing innovative solutions which are meant to enhance organizational creativity, the flexibility of internal processes to achieve agility in the marketplace that is only possible through unhindered decision making, and getting customers involved within the organization’s processes so as to better understand their potential needs through means such as the internet, telecommunications, the mass-media which sums up in one word: information.

As we now look back to at least the past 12 months, we can see this self-adaptation of organizations we were part of.

Employees involved in the operations processes facing the customers, may it be through e-mail, phone or face to face, are empowered to actively take initiatives and develop creative solutions to the trivial or major  barriers they face day by day. Thanks to their in-depth involvement in the processes that will deliver products or services to the customers, they will spot differences of perception between what providers will often think that customers want and what customers really want. Surely this is possible through an extensive and constant communication to all employees (including direct supervisors which must support these efforts) on the importance of their innovative initiatives, which can down the line have impact over their own evaluations, benefits and recognition.

A different facet of this empowerment is engagement of employees which not only will begin to understand the contribution they have but also will drive their perception over two aspects: what their place is within the organization and their level of self-esteem. Moreover, a sound communication campaign that sustains innovation and creativity amongst employees, backed up by a transparent recognition program, will increase quality and performance of employees, which creates a pool of diverse talents to pick from when projects, new roles or difficult tasks arise.

Involvement of customers in the delivery process of their own products or goods is something that has been possible at the current detail level only through information. For tangible products customers will want to know exactly what ingredients or materials were used, the provenience of color constituents and even the impact of the production process over the environment. When it comes to services, customers will want to know every step of the process of delivering the services, who was involved, how much it takes, why it takes so much, at what costs, and so on. But this is clearly achievable through real-time and systematic information gathering. This will allow for customers to get a detailed perspective, ask for a periodic evaluation of certain metrics and even require efficiency/quality improvements if they feel these would bring them added benefit.

One might ask whether this is not actually increasing the bargaining power of customers in the business environment. It is. And while we might think this risk is creating  a significant disadvantage for providers, it is mainly helping to create a stronger relationship with the customer based on loyalty and trust. Obviously, this would be true with all providers and customers in an utopia world. However, with the proper legal and security diligence to prevent unwanted scenarios, this applies to all marketplaces.

Thus, a lot of the leaders’ focus is directed to internal matters due to their impact over the external business environment. An inside-out approach to organizational improvement.

Romanian Leadership Barometer – Key Finding #1

Recently my friends at Advanced Solutions together with Griffiths School of Management at Emanuel University have completed and published a very compelling survey which was carried out in the Romanian leadership environment.

Meant to “take the pulse” of the Romanian leaders, it uncovered some interesting trends which I would like to look at in a series of posts, consequent comments and discussions.

The study is currently available only in Romanian on Advanced Solution’s website here.

The first Key Finding is related to the fact that leaders in Romania are facing today unprecedented challenges due to the increasing complexity within the business world, determined at its turn by the extent of the inter-connectedness and the extreme pace of phenomenons. All of which affect our “business as usual” conventional approach, and push us to not only to accept these new realities but also to prepare in a pro-active manner so as to create them.

Most of the successful leaders I know have had success because they had an excellent acumen for adaptation to the business environment changes, but the study finding conveys that this is no longer enough. On the contrary, now comes the time when one needs to focus on preparing strategically for change and develop a visionary sense. Both of these require in the end a change of our thought process and attitude.

My recent experience has shown that some of the well-meaning leaders are not yet ready to start behaving pro-actively towards their customers (i.e. service providers). They’re ready to give you best in class services but only if you ask for it and explain how to deliver it!  Thus, while we enter this relationship as clients with expectations for pro-activeness, we are in a position in which we must fight to explain what we mean by great services. Again, these are leaders that built their background on sound technical knowledge, quality and even good performance in delivering services.

Now my first 2 questions to you are: 1. How do we go about changing this? 2. What does one leader need to do to be able to make the switch?

And then:

What has your experience been?

Have you seen or experienced this kind of shift?

Was it obvious or did it “bump you in the head”?

tell me what I need to know … and more

As people in leading position we are called to communicate, and often this provides us with opportunities or with lost occasions to reinstate transparency towards the people we ought to lead.

Back in the days 🙂 I do remember having had a lot to lose due to the fact that I wasn’t sharing anything on what I, the team or our company were doing! I kept it all to myself by inertia believing that my team shouldn’t be “briefed” and all things, except for very carefully chosen subjects such as salary increase, bonuses and maybe a team building event.

In the corner of everyone’s mind there was this question that kept coming back again and again, and again!

“What is he actually doing as a team leader?! (if anything…)”

Inertia of doing things like a professional (nothing wrong though) instead of a leader (assuming the leading part), is ruling out any responsibility to make people aware of the realities that impact them directly or indirectly. Professionals are responsible to for the work; leaders are responsible for professionals and their work. The later requires a communication bridge to transmit and receive information on performance, personal development paths, integration within the team or group of co-workers, pressure around the workplace and one could only continue the list.

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We’re called to help people get rid of some of the uncertainties they have to face day by day! Yes, transparency has this unique effect of reducing ambiguity at the workplace and not only. All of the sudden, when things are cleared up by short meetings or informal gatherings around the office space, everyone feels “He finally made it clear for us!” Of course, the purpose is not to communicate something that feels like a headache pill which is supposed to just take pain away. May it be of a positive or constructive nature, information has the purpose to remove doubts and leave space for openness and collaboration.

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Collaboration is the one other product of transparency. While everyone admits that no leader is perfect, keeping information away undermines the potential of you team’s ability to brainstorm along with you for solution to common challenges and to bring about synergy. It is the one great opportunity for the leader and the team to learn from each other and use their individual unique blend of talents as a whole “mother-ship” of  unplugged solutions!

Communicate on great or trivial, formal or informal, confidential or public as required to stir a workplace of creativity and innovation, free of doubts, intrigues and others alike!