KISS: Keep It Simple and Sustainable

“Lowell, when you get done with this job, you’re going to have that big journeyman’s tool box!” Jon, the chief operating officer, was referring to the skills I’d develop throughout the assignment. Something told me he wasn’t exaggerating. This job was a true test for anyone at any level of experience. He was handing me the keys to a troubled $300M business, besieged with both customer and labor challenges, and losing business quickly due to poor customer management. At some point, the associates had lost their connection to the business mission of delivering high quality products to customer expectations. Both its processes and people needed some serious “Lean Thinking” to get things moving forward again and a reminder to see their business mission as an extension of satisfying customer needs. Currently, they were turned inward, tracking metrics that were better at rationalizing their poor performance rather than guiding them to the performance levels demanded by their customers. Even their strategies regarding production and sales seemed disconnected from the market itself. The next Monday, I found myself alone in the division headquarters’ waiting room with the management team being briefed on the change in an adjacent conference room. As the door opened, Jon waved to me: “Welcome to the team,” he said, as I walked in. After a short round of introductions, he continued. “These folks understand the challenges and are prepared to do whatever it takes to make this business a top performer.” After some brief small talk he exited the room and left me to address the staff. Already armed with Jon’s opinions on the business, the issues, and the caliber of the team members, it was time to form my own opinions. “My challenge for the coming weeks is to have an immediate impact on customer service levels, while at the same time circling us back to budget. I’d like to get to know all of you, and plan to meet privately with each of you within the next few days to get your views on the causes of these severe performance problems. From there, I’ll summarize what I hear, rephrase the details to preserve confidentiality, and feed a summary back to you as a team. We’ll then try to determine our best course of corrective action. It’s critically important that you are open and honest about the problems, else we’ll waste time pursuing the wrong solutions. Until then, are there any questions?” “Do you anticipate making any immediate changes?” asked Mary, the Human Resources Director. “Not at this time,” I responded. “It’s essential for the entire organization to develop confidence in this team, because we’ll need their trust going forward. That means we can’t afford to flail around or make mistakes. Once the interview process is complete, we’ll align on a plan and execute it with appropriate urgency. That said, however, some changes are inevitable. Are there other questions?” There were no takers for the second offer, so we scheduled the individual interviews and adjourned. I knew the private interviews would spur anxiety and suspicion. Ronald Reagan once said the most feared words any organization could hear were, “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help you.” Well, announcing, “I’m an outsider, and I’m here to fix your problems” must run a close second. Nevertheless, during the interviews I listened carefully, took notes, asked a script of questions, and let each individual have some time to express themselves. As might be expected, some were cautious and tight-lipped while others were bitter or quick to lash out over grievances real or imagined. Still others were transparent, genuine, insightful, and honest. A week later we met for our first staff meeting to review the interview results. The team seemed a bit nervous, not knowing how their input would be used or how candid I might with it. They would be surprised!