Check your ego at the door. That's easier said than done. You have to accept that you, as a leader, do not have all the answers. You can't.
The speed of business, and the volume and complexity of information we receive every day guarantee that we can't, by ourselves, ever grasp the full scope of a problem. Our key leadership challenge is to develop an organization that can help us to identify and solve those problems – one with critical-thinking skills, that collaborates in nonjudgmental, fact-based ways, and that has good problem-solving structures in place.
At VIBCO Vibrators, I answered that key leadership challenge when I made a strategic and heartfelt decision to embrace the principles of lean manufacturing. One lean tool we use every single day is to ask, "Why?" That gives you a starting point for real discovery and digging into a problem.
Remember that "check your ego" thing? This is where it matters most.
Listening to others, recognizing that they have true value and likely have a deeper understanding of all the issues than you do, and then going to the place where the work is actually done to see for yourself – those are pathways to getting sustainable, impactful improvements.
Can you imagine if Rhode Island started behaving this way? We could make profound change happen so rapidly if all of our leaders would simply check their egos and commit to fostering a true spirit of collaboration. And in the process, create a higher standard of living, working and quality of life for all. •
