This blog post is the ninth in a series that is a deep dive into
what I call The Principles of Truly Human Leadership, from the revised
and expanded 10th anniversary edition of my book, Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family, available now.
Jim Collins’ Good to Great has become a seminal book on business leadership.
This is not an indictment of the ideas Jim wrote about that so many people have learned from, but there’s something he says in it that I’ve always disagreed with:
The executives who ignited the transformations from good to great did not first figure out where to drive the bus and then get people to take it there. No, they first got the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus) and then figured out where to drive it. They said, in essence, “Look, I don’t really know where we should take this bus. But I know this much: If we get the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats, and the wrong people off the bus, then we’ll figure out how to take it someplace great.”
Here's my experience – it’s much more than getting the right people on the bus and the wrong people off and then figuring out where you’re going.
It takes more than “getting the right people on the bus.” It is about building a safe bus—which is the business model— and having drivers— your organization’s leaders— who know where they are going and how to drive the bus safely.
And then anybody who joins you on the bus is going to be fine.
A Safe Bus With a Good Driver
As I recently wrote in two separate posts, an essential role of leaders is to provide those in their span of care with a grounded sense of hope. We do that through having a sound business model. It is the foundation of caring for your people. It gives them a chance to raise kids, buy a home, live life in some sense of safety and comfort.
At Barry-Wehmiller, we’re in business so that all our team members can be part of a business that creates economic and human value that serves all stakeholders.
We do everything we can to create an environment in which our people can discover, develop and share their gifts and know that who they are and what they do matters.
But we also have to be creating economic value in line with our investors’ expectations to make all of that possible. We do that through the various services our companies perform, such as the building of capital equipment and offering engineering consulting. Our businesses provide the vehicle, the economic engine, through which we can enrich the lives of our team members.
And without a successful business model that allows our business to grow, we wouldn’t be able to provide opportunities for our people to grow.
Leaders should also know where they are going, why they want to go there and when they get there, how they will have taken their stakeholders to a better place. We refer to this as People, Purpose and Performance.
The first word is captured in our vision statement, “we measure success by the way we touch the lives of people” Then having a Purpose that inspires our team members to come together and chart a path to capture that vision. And then, as I detailed above, you have to Perform.
To do that, your leaders have to know where they are going. And if your leaders do not know where they are going, how can the people on the bus feel safe or even feel like they have a shared purpose?
When we began this transformation from management to leadership with a focus on those in our span of care, we became aware that 75% of people are disengaged in what they are doing. They basically do just what it takes to do the job.
We have learned that when people feel they have a future and are valued for their role in the organization they will share their gifts fully to realize the vision for the team.
A safe bus with a good driver can make that happen for the people on board.
The Right People?
When it comes to the “right people,” we have a saying here at BW, ordinary people can do extraordinary things.
Much of our business culture has fallen prey to the myth that the main driver of progress and profits is finding the right handful of geniuses. Maybe they’re MBAs from top business schools or high-profile executives from a competitor, or maybe they’re the last people standing from a training gauntlet meant more to weed out employees than develop them.
Our experience is completely different.
We’ve found that a handful of passionate, experienced people can easily outperform any group of so-called stars. All you have to do to unlock their potential is to share a vision of a better future while letting them know they matter, that you value them as full human beings.
As an example, at our BW Papersystems location in Baltimore, there was a machinist named Jimmy Hughes.
For the longest time, Jimmy’s workday was determined by his leaders telling him: “Do what I tell you today.”
Often, this meant Jimmy would spend the day leaning lazily against the machine simply watching it run. He had long ago given up offering suggestions as to how he could better use his time. Instead, Jimmy did as instructed by a supervisor years ago, standing within ten feet of his machine while it turned out parts all day long. Boring work, never ending days.
Then, things changed when Jimmy’s leaders began asking him questions, not telling him what to do.
Once we engaged Jimmy in continuous improvement events in his area, the entire project team realized that the system had been the problem. It wasn’t Jimmy. All of his materials, finished inventory, and related machines were located on the other side of the factory. Jimmy wanted to do more but we weren’t letting him.
At Jimmy’s request, the materials, inventory storage, and related machines were all moved into his workspace. Jimmy was asked simply to make it work.
Eventually, he became the leader of the entire shafts and cylinder area, and would pride himself on making things better every day.
So you see, Jimmy was just fine; it was our “management” of Jimmy that was the problem. He had gifts and talents, thoughts and ideas just waiting to be shared.
You see, it’s not always about the “right” people, because sometimes the people aren’t given the opportunity to fully share their gifts. True leaders create space for individuals to be passionate about their work and feel a sense of ownership.
That’s another important outcome of having a good bus driver.
It’s Not Them, It’s You
Deconstructing Jim Collins’ bus analogy goes to the heart of what leadership is. Leadership is the stewardship of the lives entrusted to you with the vision of sending people home each night, knowing that who they are and what they do matters.
Does this quote sound like the stewardship of the lives entrusted to you? “Look, I don’t really know where we should take this bus. But I know this much: If we get the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats, and the wrong people off the bus, then we’ll figure out how to take it someplace great.”
Of course, there are situations where people are simply not right for the job, but I have found that to be the rare exception. In 1990, Terry Pendleton, the third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals, did not play well, hitting just .230. At the end of the year, he got traded to Atlanta. We were happy to see him go. The next year, he became the league’s Most Valuable Player! Did Terry change, or was his success the impact of different leadership and a different culture?
It’s not about the right people or the wrong people, it’s about people. When you’re a good and safe driver, your people are always in your sights.
In our stewardship of those within our span of care, we have to continually ensure that we have a robust business model that gives our team members a sense of employment safety so they can have a grounded sense of hope for the future and plan their lives with this sense of financial security.
But as you care for their employment safety, you also have to care for the safety of their soul by helping them know that who they are and what they do matters.
It takes more than “getting the right people on the bus.” It is about building a safe bus—which is the business model— and having drivers— your organization’s leaders— who know where they are going and how to drive the bus safely.