Why is it that catastrophes always wait to happen until you are out of the building?

Max was GM of a local Manufacturing Plant for an international company. 

Two years ago, he took control of the Georgia plant and rapidly turned it from bleeding red to solid black profitability.

With the plant on the road in a positive direction, he expected his management team to handle daily operations. His plan was to stay focused on growth. 

It didn’t happen.

Max is an able leader. He had surrounded himself with a team he was sure would succeed. But every time he left a subordinate in charge, something unexpected – and expensive – happened: increased scrap, late shipments, reduced production. In a 6-month period, he was away three times, and three times there were costly problems.

Max wanted the progress they had made to be sustainable without his constant attention. He began to think that his hand-picked leadership team just didn’t have what it takes.

Does this sound all too familiar?

Your vision of success includes taking the occasional long weekend, a Thursday morning tee time or – at the very least – a long lunch with your college roommate.

Yet for many of today’s executives the stakes seem too high to rely on anyone else’s judgment.

How can we develop leaders on the job when the stakes are high and there is little tolerance for error?

Many leaders want to create a on-the-job development culture that produces leaders who can sustain results but without the risk of expensive failures.

Max’s solution was a 3 month leadership development process for all 12 members of his leadership team- including him.  Each week, the team reviewed a leadership principle and then applied it over the next weeks in small on-the-job initiatives. The process created a culture with 4 major differences:
 
Limited Risk.
Max gave team members new responsibilities but set guidelines that minimized bottom line risk. They were allowed to try- and sometimes fail- without fear of negative consequences, as long as they stayed within guidelines.

Shared Vision.
Max provided weekly updates on “big picture” information from corporate to provided a context for decision-making.

Autonomy.
Max’s part of the practice was to back off and let team members lead.  If they asked for help, they got it. Otherwise, they were encouraged to lead the team their way. 

Constructive Consequences.
Participants were held accountable but not threatened. They provided self-critiques on their results received constructive group feedback on the processes they followed.

Key Results:
For Max: time to work on growth strategies, reduced stress level and freedom to take time off. 
 
For the Other Participants: 9 of them experienced the positive impact from their new leadership style. 2 requested and received transfers out of management. 

For the Plant: 4% increase in gross profit margin by during the 3 month process, in spite of several short-term losses.

For all leaders, the day comes when they must stand on their own.  A developer of leaders, just like a loving parent, learns to let go while limiting the consequences.  And like a parent, the developer of leaders enjoys the freedom and the fruits of this growth.