Bottom Up Leadership

Working Flexibly

July 18, 2008 – 9:00 am

Benefits from flexible working

 

Like many observers and commentators I have every confidence that the flexible working regulations that are coming into force in many countries can be of significant benefit to all involved in organisations. Giving team members the opportunity to work from home or agree other different working arrangement such as a four day week can pay real dividends for organisations. However, it requires a mindset shift from the ineffective command/control mode of needing to see that everyone is working to one of trust based on agreeing the outputs required from each arrangement. A second benefit is in gaining the wholehearted commitment of those who gain more flexible arrangement that enable them to be more family oriented as well as achieving a healthier work/life balance. It also creates the opportunity to be closer the these team member when they are together as this opens the door to some real personal learning that benefits both the organisation and team members.

 

Learning from those who know

 

The bottom-up leader recognises that the knowledge of what is the most effective way of doing the work usually resides with the people who do the work. This is why they are always willing to be involved with members of their own and other teams as this is their way of learning about how things are done and could be improved. By working with the teams they gain explicit insights into the how things are done as well as seeing how the processes could be improved.

 

Other benefit of working with teams is in the first-hand feedback on:

• how clearly the goals/targets have been communicated
• how achievable the goals/targets are in relation to the team capability
• does the team have the necessary materials and equipment
• do they obtain regular constructive feedback on performance
• how effective the training and development is for each team member
• the effectiveness of management and supervision
• when work practices should be changed as they are no longer effective

 

It is interesting to note that the leaders who work closely with their team often do so without broadcasting the successes they achieve as well as the difficulties they overcome. The media tends to be full of comments on how disengaged a significant number of managers and team member are and that this is the main reason for poor productivity. Therefore is was very encouraging to read of some organisations who are implementing some bottom-up leadership practices.

 

 

Leading the way

 

From the early 90’s a number of New Zealand companies have experimented with ways to engage and inspire their employees in ways that encourage them to be committed to providing quality service and products. The following are only a few of the organisations that invested significantly in shaping cultures designed to engage the best of efforts from their leaders and team member:

• Woolworths NZ
• Comworth Systems
• Telecom NZ
• BCL
• Christchurch City Council
• NZI Insurance
• The Warehouse Limited
• Environment Canterbury Regional Council

 

The results were mixed as the general business environment was still mainly driven by a top-down command/control philosophy. Even allowing for this each of the organisations listed achieve significant and measurable improvements in engagement and productivity.

 

Current examples

 

Getting close to those who do the job and know the ins and outs of what is going on has become a new focus for top management as the following two examples from New Zealand illustrate.

 

The first example comes from a major airline where top management regularly spend time working in different parts of the business. Some very valuable feedback and insights are gleaned when working in customer facing roles alongside the professionals. One valuable insight was the simple recognition that an issues discussed with middle managers appeared to be at odds with the information coming from those actively involved in the situation. This is not really surprising as we all tend develop different perspectives on an issue and the closer you are to it the reality is more first hand rather than second or third hand. Therefore by being closer to the issue and receiving input from others a much better understanding can be gained from which to generate a number of option on how to deal with the issue.

 

The second example concerns a major Bank where the executive team all regularly work in another area of the Bank for a day. The executive invest their day working with their team members in the branches. The first hand experience in the branches has enabled the executives to implement changes that were suggested by the team with resulting improved performance. It gives the teams in the branches the opportunity to relate to the executives in a non-hieratical way that openly encourage the sharing of views and opinions. The goal is to create a culture of collaboration and sharing.

 

The UK experience

 

A series called “back to the floor” programmes were launched in which a number of top executive spend a week on the shop floor in their organisations. In most instances the learning was perceived to be powerful in illustrating just how little the executives really know of what was going on in their organisations. Some faced a degree of hostility about the way a downsizing had been done as well as others being told how inept some other changes had been handled. One of the clear messages communicated to the executives was that they needed to spend more time with their employees in the different parts of the organisation to obtain a real grasp on what is needed to improve morale and performance.

 

This is only one of what I perceive to be many initiatives that are going on all the time to find a formula that enables executives to be better informed and equipped to provide effective leadership. There are many examples reported of poor decision making based on vested interest that resulted in employee alienation and reduced performance. In such a competitive global environment this approach to leadership is just committing a commercial folly. It is now being generally recognised that no one person has all the answers irrespective if they are at the top or somewhere else in the organisation. The need is to connect with others who have the expertise to add value to the process of accomplishing successful outputs.

 

Recognising and valuing others

 

My next post will explore the critical importance of recognising the contribution made by all team members and thus valuing the effort they are making to produce the best outcomes for their organisation.

 

Tom