Leading Quality

Leading quality
Leadership in a quality-focussed organization
Practices of quality leadership
 Building sustainable performance excellence

• Successful performance strategy requires

– a process focus
– a customer focus
– performance measurement and use of knowledge
– appropriate technology utilization (data and automation)
– a fit with existing organization culture and capabilities,

• #1 - The approach must make sense to the organization and

most importantly it must work!
 Leadership is

“the ability to positively influence people

and systems to have a meaningful impact
and achieve results”
The Baldrige “Leadership Triad”

Strategic
Planning

Operations
Leadership (processes)

Customer and
Market Focus
 Leading Quality - Best Practices
• Create a customer-focused strategic vision and clear quality values
• Create and sustain leadership system and environment for
empowerment, innovation, and organizational learning
• Set high expectations and demonstrate personal commitment and
involvement in quality
• Integrate quality values into daily leadership and management and
communicate extensively
• Integrate public responsibilities and community support into business
practices
 Leading Quality - Best Practices

 All employees play a role in performance excellence

implementation.
 Senior managers must lead the effort and provide resources for
change;
 Middle managers must act as change agents to ensure that
strategic goals are met; and
 The workforce must take personal responsibility for making it
happen.
Leadership in a quality-focussed organization

Supervisory - Team leaders

implementing action plans to
deliver customer’s needs

Mid-level leaders involved with

developing operation plans
and providing resources

Senior leaders are involved

with strategy and vision
 Team leaders
The Toyota Team Leader
At Toyota a worker who leads a team of five to eight other workers are called
“hancho” in Japanese.
• These team leaders are the first line of support for workers;
Role Support Activities
Responsible for problem solving Knows all team member’s jobs
Quality assurance and control Relieves workers or provide assistance
Basic preventive maintenance Responds to problems such as line stops or andon calls
Lead role in kaizen activities Conducts work audits and daily checks

• Toyota team leaders report to front-line supervisors who lead a group of four
teams or 20 workers, who oversee team leaders, production planning and
performance and weekly 5-S audit of their teams’ work areas.
 Executive Leaders
Role Support Activities
Strategy Defines and communicates business directions
Performance Ensures goals are met
Reviews business plans and takes action
Receives and provides honest feedback
Seeks feedback from customers
Workplace Creates enjoyable work environment
Provides a system of motivation, empowerment and engagement
Recognizes employee contribution
Ensures employees are effective contributors
Providing Resources Ensures middle management are able
Seeks feedback from suppliers
 Leadership System
• The leadership system refers to how leadership is exercised throughout a company,
including how key decisions are made, communicated, and carried out at all levels. It
has mechanisms for leadership development and provides guidance regarding behaviors
and practices.
• An effective leadership system creates
• clear values
• sets high expectations for performance and performance improvements,
• builds loyalties and teamwork,
• encourages initiative and risk taking, and
• subordinates organization to purpose and function.
• The leadership system supports the vision, mission and values of the business, and
provides the basis for a focus on both:
• customer-driven quality, and
• operational performance excellence
SHORT CASE: THE POWER OF LEADERSHIP TEAMS
 Feedback
Change Actions or effects Team Actions
New structure Management leadership team Common Structure,
purpose Internal customer focus
Internal customer focus One day sessions
New functional management system Performance New criteria and assessment
Open performance data
New processes Expanded decision criteria Development and training plans with goals
Team roles and responsibilities developed Mutually Team roles and responsibilities developed
accountable Common work plans
One day sessions – strategy and operations Managers also champions for improvement
Common work plans Delegation of plant’s operations
Goal clarity Roles and responsibilities developed
Delegation of plant’s operations Problem solving focus
New culture Managers also champions for improvement Work plan goals
Beneficial Balanced participation
New performance criteria and assessment team Clear communication
Open performance data behavior Established ground rules
Established Use of scientific approach (data driven)
Development and training plans with goals rules Well defined decision procedures
Outside consultants to provide objectivity
 Quality Leadership system

• A effective leadership system respects the capabilities and requirements

of employees and other stakeholders, and sets high expectations for
performance and performance improvements.
• Steering teams are used in many organizational leadership systems to
ensure the incorporation of quality principles into strategic plans across
all functions.
• Leadership systems contain responsibility, planning, implementation and
review functions

WATCH: Leading a Quality Culture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKBTpofwyU0

 Leadership Perspectives
Competencies Characteristics
Navigator Creates shared meanings Accountable
Effective listening and
Communicator message articulation Courageous
Mentor Guides others Humble
Learner Develops themselves Creative
Shapes processes and
Builder structures Perseveres

Influences others to take

Motivator action Healthy (Well-being)
 Explaining Leadership
• Leadership theories explain the differences in leadership styles and
contexts.
• The trait approach involves discovering how to be a leader by examining
the characteristics and methods of recognized leaders – the Great man.
Traits or characteristics Weaknesses
Intelligence Not useful for training and leadership development
Self-confidence No agreed list of common traits
Determination Highly subjective
Integrity Lack of study of outcomes
Sociability Does not take situations or contexts into account

WATCH: Trait approach to Leadership https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu1WGr7wYak

 Explaining Leadership
• The behavioral approach attempts to determine the types of leadership behaviors that
lead to successful task performance and employee satisfaction. These are sometime
called leadership competencies.
• The role approach suggests that leaders perform certain roles in order to be effective.
The role approach is similar to the trait and behavioral approaches, but also takes into
account situational factors – dependant on role and level in organization.
• Leaders in organizations with high-quality leadership teams typically displayed 4 types of
behaviour:
1. Being supportive
2. Solving problems effectively,
3. Strong results orientation ,
4. Seeking different perspectives.
These behaviors explain 89 % of the variance between strong and weak organizations in
terms of leadership effectiveness.
McKinsey (2015)
 Situational Leadership
• Different styles may relate to the readiness of the subordinate, the situation at the
time and the introduction of new skills, such as when implementing a Six Sigma
program.

Leadership style Actions / Behavior Worker Behavior

Directing Closely supervise Unable and unwilling
Coaching Direct and monitor self management Unable but willing
Supporting Set tasks with limited worker autonomy Able but unwilling
Delegating Worker autonomy, requests of assistance Able and willing

• This approach holds that there is no universal approach to leadership; rather,

effective leadership behavior depends on situational factors and the acceptance or
behaviour’s of workers that may change over time.
 Leadership Characteristics
• Transactional
• Inspire subordinates
• Rewards provided through criteria and direction (bonuses and targets)
• Passive management through punishment and sanction when failing to
meet performance objectives
• Transformational
• Influence and provide individualised consideration
• Long term perspective with focus on customers
• Promote shared vision and values
• Invest in training and employee development

WATCH: Lean Leadership http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmk3aCF50qw

 Quality Leadership in 21st century
Position Present Future
Authority Positional Þ Process-based
Structure Functional Þ Boundary-less (cross functional)
Decisions Independent Þ Interdependent
Competency Individual Þ Networked
Power from Prestige Þ Knowledge
Relationships Competitive Þ Collaborative
Strategy Rigid Þ Flexible
Influence Selling Þ Convincing

SHORT CASE: DAVID KEARNS AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF XEROX


Leadership style or position
Transformational
Transactional
Structure and Authority
Decisions
Competency and Power
Relationships and Strategy
Feedback
Example
Shift focus on to customer
Invest in training and development
Promoted shared values
Inspired subordinates
Shifted focus to cross-functional and processes
Shifted focus to inter-dependencies
Shifted focus to networked and knowledge based
Shifted focus to collaborative and flexible

Kearn’s approach can be applied to other settings, but would need modifications;
• Behaviors and their alignment with leadership styles important.
• Beginning with directing and coaching and as successful - delegate
• Requires elements of transactional and transformational leadership styles.
 Summary
• Culture reflects the leadership of the organization therefore leadership is
important for initiating the change to quality and to sustaining it.
• Leadership theories provide an understanding of leader behaviours and
what works in the circumstances.
• More traditional leadership focuses on a person’s traits or competencies.
• More recent leadership theory relies on leaders understanding situations
and their workers and acting accordingly, using a mix of transactional and
transformational approaches.
• Ultimately managers have the power to decide how they act and which
leadership behaviours to adopt that facilitate quality process and
practices within their organization.