Leadership Begins with Humility: Lessons from Promoting New Team Leaders

I had the pleasure of promoting a few people at work today, three to be exact. Being able to promote deserving people to new positions is one of the high points of my job.

That and giving raises and bonuses. These promotions were into positions that were first-level leadership positions where the new leader would be leading a team of 4-6 members.

Normally we like to promote an individual into an area that they know so they can concentrate on learning the leadership role and not so much on the technical skills.

Occasionally though we'll have to promote into an area where the person will need to learn both roles simultaneously.

As part of the promotion offer process, we speak about the expectations and what they can expect from me and the company.

My main points of discussion with the new team leaders centered around humbleness and a Japanese concept called Genchi Genbutsu.

Since the team leaders were going to a new area I wanted them to go to the team members in their areas with a humble heart and open mind and let the team member know that they (the new leader) are here to learn and support the team, not tell them what to do.

In our business model, the team member is positioned at the top of the model, symbolizing their crucial role. Each subsequent layer supports the layer above, highlighting the mutual support and respect that underpins our operations.

The team member knows the job they are to do either by a procedure or some type of work instruction. Each layer supports the one above by watching and seeing what types of problems they are having.

This problem may be that the person doesn’t have the proper training, doesn’t have enough time, the correct tool or equipment, the work isn’t balanced between employees, etc.

Many years ago when I was a young Team Leader and the company was first starting manufacturing in the United States, I worked in the Petro/Chemical Stores where we stored paint and chemical supplies for the plant. One day my Japanese Coordinator asked me to get a rolling ladder and roll it to the middle of the warehouse, climb to the top, and watch my team members work. I disagreed and said that by doing so I thought it would make my team members angry. He asked why would it make them angry if you are try to help them.

I thought helping them would be by physically helping them put away parts on the shelves, dispose of packaging and unload trucks.

However, I relented and climbed the ladder. By climbing the ladder, I was able to see over the shelving units and clearly see my team members pushing carts and how they moved around the warehouse. I saw that some of them had their carts overflowing, while some had very few parts. Some were concentrated in one corner of the warehouse and other parts of the warehouse were vacant. Some parts were too wide and wouldn't fit down the aisles and the team members struggled to move parts down these aisles.

I had mistakenly thought helping my team members meant helping them to unload trucks or to help them stock parts on the shelf. However, by doing this I was placing myself too close to the problem. By placing myself too close to the problem I couldn’t see the problems from a higher level and see the problems of the entire team.

I often think back to that lesson and think how easy it easy to manage down a level. To default down to what we already know because that’s where we are comfortable operating. If I needed another team member I could just hire another team member. Also, if I was doing the team member's job and my supervisor was doing their job then no one was doing my job and there would be a gap in the middle. Maybe they didn’t need me?

The uncomfortable spot is what we don’t know. So we need to be humble and accept that we don’t know but be willing to learn. That’s where the concept of Genchi Genbutsu comes in. We have a preconceived notion of what should be happening. Our job is to go and see and confirm what we think is happening is what is actually happening. To do that we must visit the actual job site or office or place where the work is occurring.

I would caution in this age of technology that even a video or picture is not as good as actually going and seeing the real jobsite. You'd be surprised what you learn by hearing, smelling, seeing, and using all your senses to gather information about the job site. Be a detective. This can apply to offices as well as manufacturing.

In manufacturing, we tried to make a quiet workplace so the employee wouldn't have to wear ear protection which was more comfortable for the employee, saving us the cost of the ear protection but also letting the employee hear if they dropped a fastener into the door. A dropped fastener into a door panel would lead to a very unhappy customer who would return their vehicle to the dealership for a rattle in the door, costing us, even more money and potentially a future customer.

In an office, unnecessary noise leads to productivity loss and loss of concentration leads to distraction. As employees constantly jump from one thought to another it creates undue switching costs leading to loss of productivity.

Even after all these years in the leadership game, I learn something new almost every day. When I can, I try to talk to people at every level of the organization. Please don't rule anyone out. From the janitor to the president, we can all learn something from one another if we will only open our minds. This promotes a culture of continuous learning and respect for all members of our organization.

Remember, the goal is to just get 1% better than you were yesterday. This mindset of continuous improvement not only reinforces the learning culture but also encourages personal growth and development.

Thanks for reading.

Will