The World Needs A Few Less Supervisors

Yup, that one got your attention. Now don't get me wrong, I believe that the body should be there, just not that particular title. I spend an inordinate amount of time sitting across from clients explaining the subtle differences between 'Supervisor' and 'Team Leader'.

I guess the reason I am off on this jag is the fact that I'm sitting in a lobby in a hotel in the southern part of The Netherlands, having just met a consultant from Portland Oregon, who went on and on about how much he didn't want to be here too long. He was here because his client just couldn't get anything done. Now I'm no Geography major.. but I'm pretty sure that Portland is halfway around the world. Does you company need to hire consultants from around the world to do the work for your company? Sure, sure, WE travel. The difference is.. we light fires. When we leave, the client is EXCITED to do the work. We make them passionate about what they do.. we don't do the work for them.

I guess that it doesn't help the situation that I also happen to be halfway through 'A Bias for Action' (couldn't sleep on the plane).

So back to my point... companies that institute control measures for their employees kill their organizational 'bias for action'. If you call someone a supervisor, they tend to supervise. If you call them 'Team Leader' there is a whole new expectation. Sure, call it semantics. If you don't believe me, try it for a month. Heck, give each Supervisor the option of either title. If nothing else, you'll quickly learn who your key Supervisors are.

The bottom line, is that your employees CHOSE to work for you. Lead them. Grow them. Give them challenges. You'll be surprised how much you get accomplished.

I know, it's radical. Call me a Trailblazer.

Huh... I thought they were...

Guess what Sparky, you're not the only one trying to come up with a revolutionary new business strategy. As we like to say "Somewhere out there, there is a bullet with your organization's name on it." Far more eloquantly Gary Hamel says:

Amen.

I have often been told that back in the day..(my parents' day) the title "Made in Japan" denoted trinkets and 'poor quality' products. Today, after decades of relentless continuous improvement..er.. Kaizen.. Made in Japan is a benchmark to strive towards.

On a more 'local' level (my apologies to our global clients) I remember as a child going to my local Kmart, or Canadian Tire to shop for sporting equipment. Of all the brands that stick out in my mind, there was NORCO bikes. For my whole life, NORCO bikes were garbage, bottom of the line bikes, and biking accessories. All of a sudden, switch to a couple of years ago, NORCO brass has decided that enough is enough. Decades of experience has allowed NORCO to become master bike builders, and has developed rock solid vendor agreements. Literally overnight, they went from the laughing stock of the industry to THE bike to ride.

Imagine if one of your competitors had a change of heart like NORCO. Some low-level, generic manufacturer decided to say 'to heck with it we're darn good at what we do, and we're going to be the best!'

Whoops.. probably not on your radar. I'm willing to bet that Amazon, Starbucks, Samsung, and Nissan were on nobody's radar...

Hint of the day: GET BETTER RADAR!

Are you ready for the boom?

I like FAST..

Yes, for those of you who know me, I am constantly moving from one thing to another...well, at least in my mind..

So the other day I came across something that has catapulted intellectual knowledge transfer to a whole new level... this one is going to explode...



Now, I am not hawking a new product. This is a free service that is going to make you FASTER.

All you do is load your list of favourite websites, and everyday, you login, click EXPLODE, and they all, yes ALL, in my case 20+ sites EXPLODE on my monitor, which a) ensures I don't EVER miss anything b) that I get through my research as FAST as possible.

Check it out...it's a blast.