This change was very painful as it needed a overall change on a global level at both sites. The culture of organization at two different sites was very different; one was young with experience range of 0- 14 years and other side had senior as experienced as 35 years in the organization.
The job of process improvement champions was to bring the change across the board. As a leader of the team, each member was provided listening ear to every idea and proposal. This was validated by executives and helped to implement phase wise. The whole onus was on team to deliver with goals understood and driven by them. Every stage communication at all levels was very important aspect to get feedback and improve. Team would validate at every stage and took corrective action on their actions and improvement areas. Team was able to bring revolutionary changes in the system across the sites, which was acknowledged by top executives staff at global level. This brought lot of reinforcement to the team. I would say this whole engagement was a responsibility each member felt and it was not a push mechanism and never felt to apply manage and control.
Reflections
Leaders bring some of the following reinforcements:
Coaching Leaders to develop and sharpen full potential is a key aspect. Through this leaders can learn and impact how to optimize the value of human capital. Leaders who take the journey of personal understanding and development can transform not only their own capabilities but also others in their organization.
The success of leadership development lies in:
Leadership development can build on the development of individuals (including followers) to become leaders. In addition, it also needs to focus on the interpersonal linkages between the individuals in the team.
It’s amazing how much can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit!
References
Book: “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There” by Marshall Goldsmith
HBR article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadership_development