Chapter 2: Accelerate Your Learning

Overview

Chris Bagley headed the quality function at Sigma Corporation, a medium- sized durable goods company. When Chris s boss left to become-vice president of manufacturing at White Goods, a struggling manufacturer of appliances, he offered Chris a job as general-manager of its largest plant. Chris jumped at the opportunity. Sigma had built a strong manufacturing organization. Chris had joined the company right out of engineering school and rotated through most of the major manufacturing functions. He was highly skilled; however, he had grown accustomed to dealing with state-of-the-art technology and a motivated workforce. He had toured the White Goods plant before taking the job and knew that it did not come close to measuring up. He was determined to change that ”and quickly.

Soon after arriving at the plant, Chris declared it outdated and went on record as saying that it needed to be rebuilt from the ground up the Sigma way. He immediately brought in high- powered operations consultants. The consultants delivered a scathing report, characterizing the plant s technology and systems as antiquated and the workforce s skills as marginal. They recommended a thorough team-based reorganization of the plant, as well as substantial investments in technology and worker training. Chris shared this report with his direct reports , saying that he planned to act quickly on the recommendations. He interpreted their silence as agreement.

Soon after the new team structure was put in place in one of the plant s four production lines, productivity plummeted and quality suffered. Chris convened his team and urged them to get the problems fixed, and fast. But the problems remained and worker morale throughout the plant slumped.

After three months, Chris s boss told him, You ve alienated just about everyone. I brought you here to improve the plant, not tear it down. His boss then peppered him with questions: How much time did you spend learning about this plant? Did you know they had already experimented unsuccessfully with team production? Have you seen what they were able to accomplish before you arrived with the resources they were given? You ve got to stop doing and start listening.

Shaken, Chris held sobering discussions with his managers, supervisors, and groups of workers. He learned a lot about the creativity they had displayed in dealing with lack of investment in the plant. He then called a plantwide meeting and praised the workforce for doing so much before he took charge. He announced the reorganization was on hold and that they would focus on upgrading the plant s technology before making any other changes.

What did Chris do wrong? Like too many new leaders , he failed to learn enough about his new organization and so made some costly assumptions. It is essential to figure out what you need to know about your new organization and then to learn it as rapidly as you can. Why? Because efficient and effective learning reduces your window of vulnerability: You can identify potential problems that might erupt and take you off track. It also equips you to begin to make good business decisions earlier. Remember, your internal and external customers won t wait for you to take a leisurely stroll up the learning curve.