I am a huge fan of Allan Mulally leadership style. What his team accomplished at Ford is nothing short of legendary. There is something about a corporate turnaround I like, the transformational Journey of these companies close to bankruptcy and back to profitability is very, very fascinating.
Two cases immediately come to mind, Steve Jobs returning to Apple and Carlo Goshen turnaround of Nissan. But Ford turnaround and the leadership prowess of Allan Mulally really took home the first prize in my opinion. It was captured well in Bryce G. Hoffman book American Icon: Allan Mulally And The Fight To Save Ford Motor Company. If you want a blueprint, behind the scenes road map on how to save a company, you must read this book.
After analyzing
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Mulally stood in the line at the cafeteria like everybody else waiting for his lunch and soliciting feedback from his staff in the corridor. If you are familiar with the culture in Dearborn, it was unheard of that the CEO of any of the big 3 will have that type of interaction with junior staff in the company.
Mulally, however, understood that the company needed to work together as a team if the company had any chance of survival. Mulally also understood that the CEO must walk the talk and lead by example and it must start with him and the executive team at the company.
Mulally’s own leadership style reflected this. Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great, classified this type of leadership as level 5 Executive. Someone who builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will. Mulally was a coach, not a king and while he relished the spotlight that came from Ford’s amazing resurgence, he was constantly pulling other executives into with him.
Communication is Absolutely
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The team developed their One Ford Plan which became the reference point for the transformation.
The picture of the plan
Mulally had this plan printed on wallet cards and distributed to every Ford employee. He opened every weekly meeting by reviewing them. He recited them in every speech, in every town hall meeting, in every press conference. One of the most critical variable use to achieve the transformation was a compelling vision, clarity of strategy, open and honest communication and a change of values. Mulally ensure that his communication was constant and consistent to point where people got fed up of hearing the four-point plan.
Mulally went at lengths to communicate and make people feel comfortable about the change and to explain their role in the process. His positive influence over the company eventually caught on and even his doubters begin to believe in his ability to pull this thing off.
When you have open and honest communication in your company, it will remove any ambiguity and allow your employees to trust the plan, trust the process and most importantly trust the
Evaluating his approach to bringing about change in his organization. Comparing his approach with that of Jack Welch.
beliefs and values of the people in the organization.. The best way to do that is to start with
A consultative style encourages discussion with the team; the leader presents the situation or problem and may possibly suggest a provisional decision. They then invite discussion about it and get suggestions and ideas, the leader then decides. Positives of this style include group synergy ‘none of use is as clever as all of us’, and acknowledgment that the team has something to contribute to the decision-making process. Disadvantages of this style could include slower decision making due to consultation, and the expectation of the team or individuals that they will always be consulted.
Great leaders have shaped the World we live in today and they are remembered for what they were able to accomplish during their lifetime. The history books are filled with leaders that changed the very nature of something by taking a different road or challenging the way everyone perceived things. Leaders would not be able to accomplish these daring feats without the help of their followers, the individuals in the background giving them their support (Schermerhorn & Uhl-Bien, 2014). Colleen Barrett was able to break through the glass ceiling and led Southwest Airlines (SWA) to become one of the most successful airlines in the industries (Dierendonck & Patterson, 2010). In the following pages will explore Colleen Barrett’s leadership
I think that prior to Simonic, it might have been difficult for other organizations to duplicate his Transformational Leadership style. My reason is that at the time, organizational and corporate cultures might have been completely different and there may have been a universal way of doing things throughout manufacturing companies as well as with Addy where profitability is the number one priority. . However, I do think that it takes just one person or company to be a game changer and only after their success, companies will realize the benefit of using this form of a certain form of leadership or organizational culture. In this case, after the successful transition Simonic brought to Alcoa and making safety its number one priority, more and more companies may have followed with his leadership style and with
I would be very wary of a business professional that presented so many problems in such a short time predominantly in the fundamental area of communication. McRae’s team members tried to overrule Ludmilla’s efforts to bring back culturist aspects and were very insensitive in
An additional factor is positively selling the change and setting the direction the company is heading in. Within this you need to research and investigate potential threats or obstacles
Planning the change – Ensure that all research has been completed; examine the organisational structure, job descriptions, and performance and compensation systems to ensure they are in line with the vision.
Ogilvy 's insiders quickly perceived a "presence" and "ability to inspire" in Beers that they had not found in the firm 's four previous CEOs. Despite the company 's typical "rejection of outsiders," Beers ' "known passionate interest in the philosophy of marketing," and her "pride in the Ogilvy brand" made many executives receptive to her leadership. Since "no one makes change happen alone," the charisma she inspired was crucial for Beers to initiate the process of change. It was the magic leadership that O&M had not seen since David Ogilvy left.
Jim Collins and his research team have done a wonderful job identifying what it takes for a company to go from good to great. I found this book extremely interesting and would like to share several of my thoughts. The study looks at companies that appeared on the Fortune 500 from the years of 1965 to 1995, looking for those that, for 15 years, either tracked or underperformed the stock market, followed by a transition, and subsequently returning at least 3 times the stock market for at least 15 years. The eleven companies included in the
By closing the gaps in the global operations, putting accountability in place and delivering on what customers wanted, One Ford and Mulally have been a success. Mulally had the vision, understanding of the contextual variables, and the ability to compile it into an organizational design. This was the backbone of his success. Mulally is aware that succession planning is the key to Ford’s overall strategy and tactics and has announced his successor COO Mark Fields (Taylor). One really needs to understand what Mulally really accomplished with One Ford fourpoint business plan. He was able to keep Ford out of the bailout and focused on growth and opportunity. He brought a company that looked doomed for Government ownership into profitability and success, and is still one of the leaders in the industry. Mulally might have said it best when he said, “But we stuck with the plan, we stayed on the plan, and we’re very pleased that today we have a foundation now.” “Not only have we fixed the fundamentals of the business, but we kept investing in the product.” This type of leadership and message can only encourage everyone around him. Mulally’s business cards read, “One Team ∙ One Plan ∙ One Goal” and that sums up a power strategy and something from which all leaders should learn.
The next concept that Collins recognizes as part of the Good to Great course of action is the leadership team in its entirety. Specifically, Collins pushes the concept that the process of getting quality, talented people with Level 5 leadership skills must be embarked on before the strategy can be cultivated. With the right people in the right place, all the other management problems will automatically go way. Let’s not forget that Jim Collins also emphasize the importance of maintaining rigorousness in all organizational decisions. Collins thinks that if an organization follows those guidelines, they will more than likely save time, effort, and resources in the long-term.
There are different leadership styles; a particular leader that will be discussed is Alan Mulally a CEO of Ford Motor. Alan faced many challenges and he impacted
The style of leadership varies with every individual. It has been stated that today’s successful leaders have created in their organizations an atmosphere where every employee believes in management, their strategy and the importance of their individual contributions in achieving the organizations goal. Blake Mouton’s Managerial Grid is a model using in identifying leadership style that is based on the concept that there are two behavioural dimensions: concern for people which can be defined as the degree to which leaders are aware of and consider the needs of their staff, their skill sets and development potential when making decisions about specific tasks to be completed. The
The story is told from the point of view of a bright young man in search of a manager who could successfully lead and manage change. He wanted to work for and eventually become one, and so he spent many years traveling all over the world. He spoke with a wide variety of managers, but was rarely pleased with what he heard or saw. The “tough” managers ran profitable organizations at the expense of its workforce, and the opposite for those who he thought were “nice”. Just as he began to lose hope, the young man heard a story of a local manager whose employees enjoyed working with him and produced great results. To his surprise, the young man was able to schedule an immediate appointment.