(From Forbes) -- Sometimes great innovations happen because they’re driven by exceptional leaders. Other times innovations happen because great leaders knew when to step aside and let them happen organically. This latter type of change only happens when true leadership exists – the type that recognizes initiative, fuels it, and gives it boundaries without killing the enthusiasm behind it.
One of our clients was at a brick wall. They wanted to create a space where they could test some lean strategies. The idea was to create a “laboratory” where we could modify the current processes and make incremental improvements, and then transfer those improvements, integrating them into the larger production line. Space was constricted; we kept running into barriers. There was literally no more room on the campus to create this space.
Meanwhile, in another area of the organization, several employees with children (or children on the way) had formed a group to open an on-site daycare. Now, childcare facilities are notoriously complicated with approvals, restrictions and regulations – but this group of parents was persistent. The parents – reaching deep and taking a big chance – wrote an application for a grant for their childcare facility. They succeeded: they received $6 million to build a facility on their campus appropriate for hosting their on-site daycare.
The true cost was only going to be $2 million for the daycare, so, being responsible citizens, they had planned to return the remaining $4 million. Unfortunately, the team working on the daycare was not the same team working on the laboratory. But luckily, these two groups happened to be tied together by a team called a Guiding Coalition – a group that voluntarily took on work initiatives about which they were passionate and helped to find additional volunteers to drive the projects. Someone on the Guiding Coalition saw the connection between the new funding for space for the daycare and the needed funding for the laboratory.
Please look past the idea of misappropriation of funds to see the real lesson here. This story is a beautiful one that highlights some simple leadership tips. How can leaders create this type of well-oiled, voluntary, passionate machine to drive change in your organization?
