Jan Schmidlkofer
Management Services Committee Chair
K&N Electric Motors, Inc.
Last year, the Management Services Committee provided content regarding lean service throughout 2019, as that was of the utmost importance in many members’ minds. Hopefully, you were able to take some of our ideas and experiences and implement lean service in your service center!
Moving forward for 2020, vision and culture in leadership were specifically mentioned as topics of interest in a recent survey. Over the next several months, Management Services Committee members will share their lessons and expertise in a focused article series on this robust topic.
Perspective on Vision
Merrian-Webster defines vision as “the act or power of seeing.” Culture reads as "the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group." Sometimes, just reading a definition can help identify a starting point for moving a strategy forward.
Leaders are responsible for developing a vision. Without vision, our companies are blind to the future, and the future is not always kind.
Imagine planning a party but you have no purpose. Without a purpose, you’re not sure who to invite, therefore you really can’t plan on food, location, or even the date. At this point, if there is a party, you might spend a considerable amount of money on it, and it will probably fail.
Our companies and their futures are no different. Their success is incumbent on strategy and planning, all mitigated by strong leadership.
What critical elements should a vision include? Our vision must look into the future and have relevance for the rest of the company. It must be positive (because who gets excited about a black hole of negativity?). When constructing your vision, you should include everyone because everyone wants to know the impact their role has on the company.
Finally, your vision must be active. A vision is not just a "thing of beauty" to be placed on the shelf and reviewed each year. Our companies' successes must be measured by their impact on the vision and communicated to everyone, all the time.
Thoughts on Culture
Many companies lack vision, but they never lack culture. When a group of people comes together, over time culture will naturally develop. Strong leadership is critical to driving the desired company culture. As leaders, we must convey our values to our internal teams and our customers.
Quality, safety, employee engagement and innovation are all just buzzwords if we do not actively demonstrate who we are.
Now having caught your attention, look for future Currents articles from members of your EASA Management Services Committee as they share their experience regarding effective leadership, vision and culture
Related Reference and Training Materials
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