Nobody believes in communication more than Darryl Keeler. As President of Tech Systems Inc., communication is possibly the single biggest part of his job. After all, Tech Systems Inc. (www.techsystemsinc.com/) is security systems integrator with employees in over 32 states, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Being a medium-sized company with business across such a wide geographic has its challenges. Darryl Keeler long ago decided that robust and continuous communication needed to be a guiding principle. “Communication is the key factor in maintaining a high level of employee satisfaction,” Darryl assured me. “And satisfied well-informed employees ensure that we have highly satisfied clients.” Darryl personally writes the Friday Finale, a company newsletter summary that ends each week and which goes out to every employee. It maintains a warm touch, covering birthdays, work anniversaries, and anything personal of importance that is happening with teammates. It also addresses business updates from the previous week. TSI Family Emails (TSI stands for Tech Systems Inc) is their way of communicating items that are of high importance to the entire company, sort of “red alert” emails. These include process changes, policy changes, and major customer developments. The TSI Family Emails are one step beyond the Friday Finale’s in terms of business importance. The Tour De Focus is one of the company’s most impressive communication processes. This is where Darryl Keeler travels around the country and meets with every company employee. He simply sits down and asks for comments or opportunities for the company to improve based on individual opinions.  These are all captured and recorded, and the leadership team works through all of them and gets back with the folks who suggested the improvements.  This entire list is posted on SharePoint for everyone to review, and the ideas always number in the hundreds. The employee portal is the live repository of information that team members use for their jobs. Only the most current versions of documents are available, and it also includes phone lists, updates, tutorials, and training materials. Finally, the leadership team of Tech Systems meets every Monday to go over financials, hot company topics, and opportunities for improvement. The Monday meeting also serves as the primary feeder of information into their monthly management review. Communication is clearly the oil that flows through the engine of Tech Systems Inc. And the president of the company, Darryl Keeler, is head mechanic and communicator. 

New book: Problem Solving in Plain English

Buy it HERE

New Book Explores Best Ways for Organizations to Solve Problems

Effective problem solving is the most neglected organizational competency, often perpetuated by complacence about the status quo, a culture of blame, reluctance or inability to pursue true causes and lack of time. To address these issues, Craig Cochran, the north Atlanta region manager for Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, has written a new book, Problem Solving in Plain English (Paton Press, 2010).

“Managers need to re-examine their processes and problem-solving and think beyond the surface. If they understand their current process, then they can consider causes and potential causes of problems,” Cochran said. “Rarely is there a single root cause to be acted upon; most problems have a web of interrelated causes and potential causes.”

According to Cochran, effective problem solving is equal parts art and science, and he explains why problem-solving efforts that start out strong with motivated team members and supportive managers often fizzle out before they produce any benefits. Cochran suggests using a structured problem-solving method that focuses on processes rather than people.

“There are two major problem-solving myths: the perfection myth and the punishment myth. The perfection myth is the belief that if everyone tries hard enough, no mistakes will be made. The punishment myth says that if we punish wrong-doers, fewer mistakes will be made,” he explained. “Using a structured problem-solving method ensures a degree of consistency and provides the framework for the successful application of analytical tools.”

This book is ideally for managers with long-standing business problems, as well as front-line employees who are often intimately familiar with dealing with them. Cochran covers a variety of topics, including selecting the right problem; forming effective problem-solving teams; planning and implementing corrective actions; verifying effectiveness; writing a problem statement; identifying root causes; and defining the current process.

Cochran has an M.B.A. from the University of Tennessee and a bachelor’s degree in industrial management from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is a Certified Quality Manager, Certified Quality Engineer, Certified Quality Auditor, and Certified HACCP Auditor through the American Society for Quality. He is also certified as a Quality Management Systems Lead Auditor through the Registrar Accreditation Board of the Quality Society of Australasia (RABQSA).

Cochran is also the author of The Continual Improvement Process: from Strategy to the Bottom Line; Customer Satisfaction: Tools, Techniques, and Formulas for Success; Becoming a Customer Focused Organization; and ISO 9001: In Plain English, all available from Paton Press (www.patonpress.com). He has written numerous articles in national and international publications and is frequently featured as a speaker at conferences on quality, performance improvement and management.

For additional information, please contact Craig Cochran (678-699-1690); E-mail: craig.cochran@innovate.gatech.edu).

Writer: Nancy Fullbright
Media Relations Contact: Nancy Fullbright (912-963-2509); E-mail: (nancy.fullbright@innovate.gatech.edu)

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Improving the Quality of Leadership

Leadership is the genesis of everything that takes place within an organization. From idea to launch, growth to maturity, decline to demise, leadership affects everything that takes place within an organization. Nothing is more important to success, and yet many organizations suffer from poor leadership because nobody understands what it is and how to practice it.

How do we define leadership? It’s the process of influencing personnel, strategy, decisions and activities to fulfill an organization’s mission. To some, this definition implies that people in most organizations won’t have the opportunity to lead, but that’s a narrow interpretation. Everybody has an opportunity to influence business excellence at some level. The more people who practice leadership, the stronger an organization will become.

Leadership is composed of four basic elements:
* Clarity--possessing a clear vision for the future
* Communication--passing along that vision in an understandable way
* Credibility--being worthy of trust
* Character--demonstrating the inner qualities that facilitate true leadership

Let’s examine each of these components, see what they really mean on a practical level and figure out how to put them into practice.

Clarity

The world offers countless variables and uncertainties. A leader can sort through these complications and point out a clear path to a company’s goals. As a result, people become less anxious about the future and more confident about where the organization is heading. Leaders can’t necessarily reduce uncertainty, but they can help others understand its aspects, which in turn will strengthen the organization to meet future challenges.

A leader’s clarity can reveal the following to an organization:
* Unique ways of securing resources
* Opportunities for success
* Threats and associated risks
* Insight into competitors’ actions
* Internal strengths and the best ways to leverage them
* Constructive evaluation of internal weaknesses
* Helpful alliances
* How events affect employees
* Objective analysis of internal performance

Clarity is an analytical process. Leaders who possess clarity can see relationships and solutions where others see only confusion. Granted, leaders often receive expert advice on various topics, but ultimately they’re the people who draw diverse information into a coherent whole. A leader’s clarity successfully drives the organization’s strategy.

The analytical strength required for clarity can be developed in much the same way that athletes perfect a skill. The requirements are the same for both: practice, hard work and discipline. Like athletes, leaders’ training programs never end. As long as they’re focused on providing clarity to their organizations, leaders must continually sharpen their analytical skills.

As a leader, how can you do this? Here are some practical steps:
* Avoid passive activities such as sitting in front of the television. Passive activities slow down brain activity and encourage analytical laziness.
* Read a wide range of material and avoid falling into ideological ruts. Leaders seek out books that don’t necessarily mirror their own thinking.
* Question pronouncements of fact, especially when they’re asserted by authority figures. Leaders verify facts for themselves and draw their own conclusions. Skepticism and curiosity are useful tools.
* Strive for a constant state of learning. This doesn’t necessarily mean taking formal classes, but make a point of cultivating new ideas and deepening your knowledge of old ones. This keeps your mind limber and strong.
* Stay physically fit. Fitness reduces stress and improves clarity. Mental fitness and physical fitness are closely related for most living creatures.
* Become an active listener. Simply listening to what people say can provide a great deal of clarity in itself. People who want to impress others talk often; leaders talk less and listen more.
* Pursue creative outlets of expression. Whether you enjoy oil painting or hedge trimming, be creative in your recreational activities. Such creativity will enhance your clarity during normal working hours.
* Embrace unfamiliar or uncomfortable situations. Learn to conquer your fear of the unknown. Leaders are masters of dissecting the unknown and making sense of it--and they don’t scare easily.

Get into the habit of analyzing facts from a unique perspective, drawing conclusions and making decisions. Don’t allow fear about the risks and challenges facing your organization to paralyze you. If a decision you make leads the company in the wrong direction, reverse course. “It’s common sense to take a method and try it,” observed President Franklin Roosevelt. “If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.” These are wise words for all prospective leaders. As long as you can learn from your mistakes, they have value.

Communication

The best leaders are often known as great communicators. Communication is the vehicle by which a leader’s clarity is shared with the rest of the organization.
A leader communicates most effectively in person. Others are less likely to doubt their leader’s beliefs and commitments when he or she has the courage to voice them. Written policies, declarations, memos and e-mails can be effective but are best used as backups to a leader’s spoken words.

As with other aspects of leadership, communication skills can be learned. A number of distinct attributes characterize effective communication:
* It’s smooth, but spontaneous. A rehearsed speech often comes across as stiff and bureaucratic. Does this mean public addresses shouldn’t be rehearsed? No. In fact, leaders should continually practice and sharpen their communication skills, emphasizing a natural, free-flowing style.
* It’s appealing to each person. Leaders recognize that an organization consists of individuals. Everyone hearing the communication will inevitably analyze it in terms of how it relates to him or her personally. Thus, a leader helps each person understand why a course of action or decision is important.
* It’s convincing. Leaders must really believe in what they say and provide specific examples. The message then becomes personal, delivered directly from the heart. Everyone listening to the leader will understand why the message is relevant.
* It’s free of errors. Nobody’s perfect, but leaders in particular must get their facts straight before they speak. The communication should be grammatically correct, coherent and factual. A wise leader enlists the help of competent proofreaders and fact-checkers before communicating.
* It’s concise. A smart leader keeps his message streamlined. It’s worth noting that Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, considered one of the most significant speeches in U.S. history, is fewer than 300 words long. Now that’s concise.

Some people never develop clarity, but communication skills can be mastered with practice. Study communicators whom you particularly admire. Note the attributes that make them great speakers. Which of their traits can you cultivate in your own communications? Overcome your resistance and take every opportunity to practice in front of groups.

Credibility

Like beauty, credibility is in the eye of the beholder. One person might find a leader credible, while a different person won’t. Although neither determination is necessarily correct, both are legitimate because they’re perceived as such. Perceptions are facts--at least to the perceiver.

Leaders must acknowledge credibility’s capricious nature. Because no one is capable of universal approval, wise leaders will aim for a credible middle ground by appealing to a wide audience. Results and behavior both influence credibility.
Nothing builds credibility like positive results. Leaders who can demonstrate success inspire confidence and trust in others. Positive results particularly impress when they relate to an endeavor the organization is currently pursuing, but a leader can garner credibility from an almost limitless list: new products, gained market share, games won, goals scored, donations received, legislation passed, etc. In fact, successful leaders often move from one field to another--for example, a trusted business leader who wins an elected office. Even without political experience, business success lends credibility to the new endeavor.

Past results might get a leader in the door, but the ability to consistently achieve results sustains credibility. Leaders must take actions that produce positive results, and they must let everyone know about them. These announcements should be low-key, factual and generous in acknowledging others’ roles. The point is not to brag about achievements but to maintain credibility and prepare for continual positive results.

Leaders’ behavior is constantly scrutinized. Every action is analyzed for flaws and errors that cast doubt on their credibility. Although this isn’t particularly fair, it’s a fact leaders must understand and manage. They’re held to a higher standard than everybody else.

People have vastly different standards for what constitutes appropriate and inappropriate behavior. Behavior that can damage credibility includes the following:
* Illegal activity. Sometimes even an unsubstantiated charge is enough to damage credibility.
* Sexual indiscretion. This includes extramarital sex, aggressive flirting, suggestive remarks and blatant interest in pornography.
* Recreational drug use
* Excessive alcohol consumption. Depending on the environment, even moderate consumption can harm credibility.
* Offensive or insensitive language. This includes dirty jokes, profanity, derogatory statements, insults and racist remarks.
* Self-serving decisions and actions
* Lying and spreading misinformation
* Inconsistent or unfair treatment of subordinates
* Indecisiveness
* Irreverent or sacrilegious actions
* Tattoos, body piercing or unusual hairstyles
* Frequent emotional outbursts
* Unorthodox hobbies
* Unusual viewpoints
* Flamboyant dress

Obviously, not all of these are equal in import. Some are legal issues, others moral or ethical, and some simply matters of personal choice in a free society. However, they can compromise credibility, depending upon the observer. Leaders must decide whether their behavior will harm their credibility. Some of the items listed are private issues, but keep in mind that they, too, can affect credibility. And credibility affects that most elusive of leadership qualities: character.

Character

Character consists of those inner qualities that guide and motivate us. Strong character enables leaders to choose the right fights, make the right decisions and reach their goals. While credibility focuses outward on other people’s perceptions, character concerns internal qualities that only the leader and his or her closest confidants can really perceive.

Like other elements of leadership, character can be studied and improved. It’s the most difficult element to change, though, because much of it is hardwired into a person’s psyche. Many leaders act upon character qualities without realizing it. Character resides in the mind and heart, operating on both conscious and subconscious levels.

Character revolves around three basic components: leading for the right reasons, acceptance of responsibility and humility. Let’s look at each of these and explore how someone might use them to develop their own leadership abilities.
People have a wide range of reasons for wanting to lead, and not all them are good. The best leaders want to lead because they believe they can raise their companies to new levels of success and in doing so, benefit everyone in the organization.

Exceptional leadership focuses outward and concerns what the leader can do for the organization. Of course, leaders are often well-compensated for their efforts, but the compensation isn’t why they wish to lead. They’re dedicated to excellence and improving the lives of those around them. Does this sound contrary to the way many leaders behave? Unfortunately, it is.

Consider some of the right reasons for leading. These include:
* Carrying out a positive vision for the organization
* Reducing organizational risk
* Ensuring long-term survival
* Making improvements
* Outperforming competitors
* Removing obstacles
* Enhancing clarity and creativity
* Helping the organization’s mission evolve as the company grows
* Holding oneself to unimpeachable standards
* Challenging oneself to be the best
* Providing a positive future for one’s family
* Being a role model

Some of the wrong reasons to lead include:
* Stroking one’s ego
* Impressing people
* Getting rich
* Settling scores and acting on grudges
* Fulfilling a sense of entitlement
* Elevating one’s social status
* Enjoying special perks and privileges
* Benefiting a subset within the organization
* Helping friends at the organization’s expense
* Imposing extreme ideologies contrary to the organization’s mission
* Attracting members of the opposite sex

Only the leader truly knows the reasons for his or her desire to lead. Others can speculate, but all leaders must look within and honestly appraise their motivations. If they fall into the “wrong reasons” column, leaders must seriously evaluate their fitness to lead. When these negative motivations manifest themselves in a leader’s behavior, credibility is damaged.

Responsibility

No greater responsibility exists than leading others. Many people rely on leaders and their ability to assess situations fairly and accurately. Successful leaders understand and accept this responsibility. It might sometimes require them to make decisions that don’t necessarily benefit themselves but that will benefit the organization. True leaders are no strangers to self-sacrifice.

An eye-opening exercise for leaders is to list all the people who depend on them: employees and their families, suppliers, customers, stakeholders and others. Any leader who isn’t humbled by this exercise hasn’t fully grasped the depth of the responsibility involved.

Leaders are responsible not only for the people they lead but also for their own actions. Many leaders ignore this responsibility, however, and become detached from the ethics of their own actions. In their minds, they’re bigger than life. Their actions become less important than pursuing their objectives. Failing to act ethically eventually derails them. For this reason, humility is another attribute that leaders must cultivate.

Humility

Leaders are not perfect. Even the best have flaws like everybody else. This is a fact, though you wouldn’t know it from the way many leaders act. They’re showered with money, perks, privileges and praise, and they begin to think they must indeed be perfect to merit all those rewards. This means trouble.

All leaders must have a healthy confidence in their abilities, balanced by a sober understanding of their own failings. A leader’s strengths won’t shine every day of the week. Leaders are only humans, not deities; they’re stuck down here with the rest of us.

Leaders who lack humility will exhibit a number of dangerous traits, such as:
* Denying facts that run counter to their policies
* Reluctance to take advice
* Selective data interpretation
* Exhibiting anger toward views that challenge their own
* Unwillingness to change course, even when evidence suggests the need to do so
* Cultivating sycophants
* Discouraging risk-taking and the entrepreneurial spirit
* Willingness to lie and deceive in order to bolster their positions
* Inability to laugh at themselves
* Lack of accountability for their own behavior

Leaders who lack humility will eventually destroy their organizations. In the short term, they might propel their companies to outrageous heights, but inevitably hubris will plunge them, and those counting on them, into chaos. Mark Mendenhall of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga refers to this phenomenon as the “Icarus paradox,” after the figure in Greek mythology whose wax wings melted when he flew too close to the sun. All leaders must fear the sun’s effects on their own wax wings.

Hubris is a poison that spreads from the leader and infects the entire organization. Smart, independent-thinking people defect, leaving only “true believers” or those too tired to fight. The healthy dynamic of dialogue and debate disappears, and the organization becomes stilted and inflexible.

Every leader must guard against this. How? Luckily, the same activities that breed clarity also tend to generate humility. True wisdom, which is the pinnacle of clarity, recognizes how little one really knows. When a leader begins to perceive this, humility follows naturally.

The leader’s journey

Leadership represents a lifelong journey. It must be pursued with discipline, persistence and great personal strength. Mastering clarity, communication, credibility and character are the necessary first steps. Integrate these qualities into the activities you face daily. If you consistently practice them, you’ll grow into a true leader, and your organization will achieve many of its goals as a result.

Dear Boss

Dear CEO:

I'd like to thank you for the nice pizza party you threw at our ISO 9001 kickoff event. Everybody enjoyed it and appreciated your inspiring words. The joke you told about the elephant, the preacher and the procedure notebook was very amusing. Your sense of humor is exceptional, especially for a member of top management.

The purpose of my letter is to prepare you for the work we have ahead of us. I know how busy you are, and it's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day issues of running our organization. However our new quality management system (QMS) is the way we're going to run our organization, and you'll be a key to its success. Your engagement in this effort will determine whether we use our QMS to become more competitive and customer-focused, or if it will be only a piece of paper on the wall.

Chief, we need a little strategic planning

As you know, identifying processes is a key step in implementing our management system. Let's make sure we identify at least one customer for every process. Whether it's an internal customer or an external customer doesn't matter. What matters is that the people working within every process understand that they serve someone outside of their own little kingdom. Right now, some of our processes operate as if they serve only themselves. We need to drive a customer focus from one end of this organization to the other, and our QMS will help us do it.

One of the key processes is strategic planning. ISO 9001 doesn't require strategic planning, but it's the logical starting point for a lot of things that the standard does require. Everything we do demands the high-level guidance that strategic planning delivers. At least once a year you should assemble your best and most diverse advisors and scan our competitive environment. What do our customers require and desire? How are these requirements and desires changing? As an organization, how well are we positioned to address the changing market and our ever-evolving customers? We need to match ourselves against the realities of our environment, identify actions that will drive us forward and implement these actions with a clear plan. This is the essence of strategic planning. If our ISO 9001 system is disconnected from strategy, then we have a serious problem.

Ditto for objectives

Objectives flow directly from our strategic plan. They tell everyone what specific initiatives are important to our success. Please help us choose strategic, hard-hitting objectives. They should tie directly to our strategic plan, translating that document into simple metrics that everyone can understand. Because our strategic plan will be focused on better serving our customers, our objectives will also be tied to customers. Each process will have objectives that directly relate to the customers it serves.

Resist the temptation to have two sets of objectives, one for the sake of ISO 9001 and the other for "really" running the business. We only need one set of objectives that everyone understands. Don't bother to call them "quality objectives" because that will only cloud the issue. Somebody might hear the term "quality" and try to narrowly define what the objectives may address. Our objectives should address how we drive success, period.

As chief executive, you are uniquely qualified to communicate our objectives and their significance. This message could come from somebody else in the organization, but it's much more effective coming from you. Explain to everyone how each of our objectives affects our long-term success, and ensure that all employees know exactly how they contribute to achieving objectives. Above all, make sure that we all know how we affect our customers in our everyday actions.

Which brings me to management review

You should strive to make management review your forum for reviewing data and making decisions. We're not doing it for the sake of ISO 9001; we're doing it to ensure our success. Management review should occur regularly and rely on timely information. If we already have top-level meetings for reviewing our organization's progress, then let's just turn these into our management review. It doesn't matter how we do it; the only requirements are that the review is your event, and we must cover the specified inputs and outputs. We can get as creative as we want. Management review should never be done just to satisfy an ISO 9001 requirement. The point is to review data, make decisions and become a more successful organization over the long term.

Communicate broadly about all aspects of our QMS. We have a wide range of communication media; it's just a matter of using them. Take every opportunity to talk honestly to our organization about what we're doing and where we're going. Try to connect your message to the things we're doing in the QMS and how they affect our customers. Don't assume that we'll immediately understand. Be very explicit in your communication, and don't forget to allow room for us to respond.

You rule customer feedback

Customer feedback is another key aspect of our QMS, possibly the most important. It's certainly the most critical data we receive. It communicates even more than our financials, which tell us only what has already happened and are poor predictors of the future. Not only can customer feedback predict our future, it's our gateway to long-term success.

As our chief executive, you need to obsess about customer feedback. You should thirst for every bit of feedback we collect--positive or negative. Collect it we must because we can't sit around and wait for customers to call us. We need simple, concise tools for capturing feedback proactively. To collect feedback, let's use existing customer interactions instead of inventing new ones. Our organization already has multiple contacts with customers day in and day out, and these interactions can easily be leveraged to gather feedback.

When customers complain, you should take it personally, mobilizing all of our resources to take corrective action. Not everyone realizes how critical customer complaints are, so you must remind them. Make it easy for customers to complain, and make it easy for us to fix their complaints. When customer feedback indicates something positive, find out what's causing the satisfaction. Share what you learn with everyone, and make it our new standard. If you're constantly asking about customer feedback, everyone will understand how important it is.

Can you fix this?

Another thing to keep on your radar is our corrective and preventive action system. I suspect we're going to have difficulty motivating people to use these processes. Nobody likes extra work, and very often that's what these appear to be. Investigating and solving problems aren't extracurricular activities--they're a key job function for everyone. When problems come up or customers complain, you should say, "Let's open a corrective action." When a potential problem is revealed, you need to say, "Let's initiate a preventive action." In both cases, make sure that adequate resources are applied and that we follow through to completion.

Very few of us have had training on problem-solving techniques. Can you fix that? Getting everyone up to speed on problem solving will be a huge step in our development as an organization. It will prepare us to take part in the corrective and preventive action process. You should participate in the training, too. You're busy, but you're not too busy to become a better problem solver. Your presence would also underline the significance of this training. If you're agreeable, I'll have a purchase order on your desk tomorrow for problem-solving training. Becoming better problem solvers is one of the best investments we can make. The better we are at problem solving, the better we will be at addressing the changing needs of customers.

One word: training

That brings me to training in general. Training is one of our key processes for preventing problems in the first place. It's not optional. We don't have to spend piles of money and weeks of time, but we do have to train our people. I've worked for too many organizations where training was considered good to do if time and circumstances allowed. Once we got busy, training was abandoned. "Hey, we've got work to do!" everyone shouted. "Who's got time for training?" Then they wondered why customer complaints skyrocketed. It's simple cause and effect: Neglect training, and people will make mistakes.

Here's a deal for you: We'll strive to keep the training lean, concise and relevant. In return, you'll frequently ask managers and supervisors how their training programs are going. Maybe you could periodically drop in on training to remind trainers and trainees alike of how important this process is to our success. You should keep yourself in a constant state of learning, too. Nobody needs training more than you, given the huge responsibilities that you face.

Let's work smart on internal auditing

Internal auditing is a process you'll be involved with in the near future. You may never actually perform an audit (although it would be great if you did), but you'll certainly be an essential part of the process. A key role you'll play is making sure that audits are properly resourced. Insist that smart, insightful personnel are selected as auditors. Don't let auditor selection become an exercise in "who can we spare?" Invest the process with smart people, and the results will drive improvements. When audits reveal opportunities, ensure that we take corrective and preventive action. Our audits should focus on important, strategic issues. Ask how the audits are helping us become a better organization. Ask why our customers should care that we're doing audits. Help us keep our eyes on the things that matter, and audits will produce strong results.

Boss, are you listening?

One of the final topics I'd like to talk about is trust. Please trust me when I recommend that we do something to improve our organization. It's your prerogative to disagree with me, of course, but at least trust that I have our organization's best interests in mind. Just because I'm an employee doesn't mean I can't have good ideas. Too many business leaders fall into the trap of thinking that great ideas have to come from outside the company, especially from someone with a briefcase and a business card with the word "consultant" printed on it. The answers to most problems lie right here within our organization; we just have to listen to them. The title CEO should be changed to CLO, for Chief Listening Officer. You'll listen to data, listen to customers, listen to competitors, listen to suppliers and, of course, listen to us, the employees. All this listening, combined with wise action, will ensure that we do the right things.

You hold the key

Finally, be aware that our QMS is a bellwether of our success. A failing management system is a predictor of much larger failure. If we let our QMS decay, become bureaucratic or too inwardly focused, we'll seal our doom. We must use our system to look outward and see where the market and our customers are moving. Your interest, involvement and leadership are the only ways that our QMS will remain viable and improve. If a piece of our system serves no purpose, have it removed. If we're not following our procedures, find out why. If something we do doesn't make sense, investigate further. The words "why" and "I'm listening" are your best friends. You have the power, through these words and your own innate wisdom, to keep us customer-focused and always improving. You hold the key.

Shakespeare and Leadership

Based on a cursory inspection, Hamlet would seem to hold great promise as a model of leadership. After all, the guy was Prince of Denmark, a job ripe with leadership potential. When you hold a title like king, queen or prince, it's usually a sign that leadership is in the cards for you.

Shakespeare gives us a flawed hero in Prince Hamlet, though. He's a fellow who can barely lead himself, let alone anybody else. Can we still derive leadership principles from him? Of course. His flaws and virtues alike provide valuable discussion points. But before we delve into them, let's review the storyline.

The play begins with some of Hamlet's friends spotting a ghost while guarding the king's castle one night. The ghost has the appearance of Hamlet's father, the recently dead king. The guards discuss what they've witnessed and decide that they should ask Hamlet to come see the apparition. Hamlet is mystified by the story and agrees to stand watch with the guards the following night. The ghost makes an appearance, and Hamlet learns that the apparition is truly that of his father. The ghost reveals that he was murdered by none other than Hamlet's uncle, Claudius, who subsequently married Hamlet's mother and became the new king. The ghost charges his son with a heavy but unambiguous task: avenge his death by killing Claudius. Despite this clear objective, Hamlet spends his time doing everything but carrying out his
mission.

What can Hamlet teach us about leadership? Following are the principles illustrated by the prince's behavior.

A leader must take action based on credible information

Hamlet learns what he must do, but he then spends the remainder of the play avoiding the inevitable. He doesn't seem to know how to go about carrying out his responsibility, and he doesn't even try to develop a plan. He just frets and does nothing. Hamlet is paralyzed, which is something a leader should avoid at all costs. In a crisis situation, a leader must always choose one of two options: take action or seek more and better information. Hamlet does neither.

Some readers might say that Hamlet's information wasn't credible. After all, it came from a ghost. However, the ghost was seen and described by multiple people, so it wasn't a hallucination. The ghost's statements have credibility because they reflect an intimate knowledge of the events surrounding the murder of Hamlet's father. The ghost provides details that would only be known by the murderer and the victim. It's insider information from the afterlife, so to speak. Hamlet has no doubt about the ghost's truthfulness. He believes the information implicitly, but he can't translate the information into action.

A leader must mobilize people

The action leaders take is typically the work of multiple people. In other words, leaders can't do it all alone. They provide the overall objectives and motivation, enabling others to rally around their cause. But Hamlet refuses to assemble a team to assist in carrying out his objectives. The castle guards, each of whom saw the ghost, would be well-prepared to assist in the effort. Each of them also holds Hamlet in high esteem. Hamlet could easily have recruited his guard friends to assist him in getting the job done. Given the fact that his cause involved killing a sitting monarch, he needed all the help he could get.

Without mobilizing people in support of his cause, a person can be a crusader, a visionary or even a genius, but he or she will never be a leader. The single most important element of leadership is motivating people to follow. Followers understand and believe in the cause and are put into action by the leader. Hamlet's cause is a deeply personal one, and it would be temp-ting to say the job is his responsibility alone. All leaders have a deep personal connection to their causes, though. Hamlet fails the test of leadership because he refuses to rally people around his cause.

A leader must stay focused

Great leaders are almost maniacal in their focus. They seize upon their causes and refuse to let go, closing out all other distractions. Hamlet is likable because he doesn't stay focused. He's just like us. We relate to his inability to overcome his many distractions and carry out the important task before him. Think of the big project you've been putting off for longer than you'd like to admit--and it doesn't even involve killing somebody! Given that perspective, who can't empathize with Hamlet? His many distractions make for fascinating reading. Here are just a few of the digressions that keep Hamlet from approaching his task as a leader should.

He flirts with insanity. Insanity generally isn't a positive attribute for a leader. Followers want to believe they're headed in the right direction, and insanity rarely leads there. Hamlet takes this course from the start. It's apparently a diversionary tactic so his true aim of avenging his father's murder won't be suspected.

The first evidence of Hamlet's supposed madness is found in his scene with his girlfriend, Ophelia. Hamlet appears in her room with disheveled clothes and bizarre behavior, expressing his love for her in a dramatic manner. Shortly thereafter, he completely reverses course and tells her, "Get thee to a nunnery." Hamlet's attitude toward Ophelia swings like a pendulum. This is consistent with his strategy of depicting himself as unstable, but it absorbs time and energy that could be better spent.

He passes up an opportunity to kill Claudius. Hamlet encounters Claudius praying in the castle. Hamlet is armed, and they're alone. This would seem a perfect opportunity to avenge his father. Hamlet rejects the opportunity, though, because Claudius is praying. He believes Claudius' soul will be purged clean if he dies praying, and he'll have a clear path to heaven.

He hides a corpse. Another interesting diversion is the hiding of Polonius' corpse. Hamlet makes a game of this, making puns and refusing to disclose the hiding place. Although this presents many opportunities for displaying his wit, it doesn't forward his cause.

He arranges the deaths of two meddlers. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern accompany Hamlet on his trip to England. They carry a note demanding Hamlet's immediate execution. Hamlet discovers the note and rewrites it with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as the objects of the death sentence. This reveals Hamlet's resourcefulness and cunning, but it also shows that he's prone to inaction unless faced with an immediate threat. Nearly anyone can rise to action when faced with imminent destruction. Leaders strive for great acts before their enemies rally against them.

He passes time in a graveyard. Hamlet and his friend Horatio stroll in a graveyard and muse about the ultimate end of all humankind. Hamlet reveals a profound understanding of the nature of life and death. Ultimately, it's just one more in a long line of distractions.

He participates in a fatal fencing match. Claudius arranges a sword match between Hamlet and Polonius' son. The match is supposed to be good clean fun, but as with all situations organized by Claudius, the true intent is much darker. Why does Hamlet even agree to participate? He's confident about the outcome and reveals that he's the more skilled swordsman. So why does he bother? His objective is to avenge his father's death, not entertain the king's court with a show of strength.

It's worth noting that Hamlet is directly responsible for the deaths of three people other than Claudius. Yes, he finally does get around to killing Claudius during the play's final act, but his triumph comes only minutes before he himself is killed. In fact, Hamlet's tardiness in carrying out his objective results in the deaths of seven people besides the one who clearly deserves to die. The play ends with a stage littered with corpses. Hamlet's procrastination literally proves deadly.

All people who aspire to leadership must practice their powers of focus. This is easier for some than for others. For those who are easily distracted, organizational skills go hand-in-hand with focusing skills. Being organized often helps to remove distractions by dividing the day into smaller, more manageable intervals. Plan and carry out each piece of the day, and politely shun the diversions that prevent you from carrying out your objectives. Don't become a robot, but avoid Hamlet's tendency to let every event become an excuse for not doing what you set out to do.

A leader must be wary of competitors

Hamlet has every reason to suspect the worst from Claudius. Before the ghost ever speaks to him, the prince develops a deep disdain for the upstart king because of his hasty marriage to Hamlet's mother. Hamlet considers Claudius a despicable character very early in the play. Once Hamlet learns that Claudius actually murdered his father, he should have been prepared to expect anything from the man. Despite clear evidence of Claudius' treachery, Hamlet allows the king to manipulate him in two significant ways.

First, he allows Claudius to send him on a sea voyage to England. Any reasonable person would suspect this to be a one-way trip leading to a grave in a foreign country. Hamlet takes the trip anyway and only barely escapes death. He should have known that his adversary would do anything at this point to rid himself of the threat that Hamlet posed. Some readers might say that Hamlet is truly insane at this point and in no condition to judge Claudius' motivations. But Hamlet's biting wit makes it clear he has a grip on reality, even if he's ignorant of Claudius' rather obvious intent.

Next, Hamlet agrees to participate in a fencing match with the son of someone he accidentally killed. Guess who arranged the fencing match? Claudius, of course. Again, Hamlet should have been suspicious of this event, given the treachery of its organizer. He has already learned of Claudius's involvement in his near-death experience on the way to England. The message is clear: Claudius wants Hamlet killed as soon as possible. Nonetheless, Hamlet agrees to participate in the fencing match, which features poison-tipped foils and poisoned wine goblets. Claudius, revealing his awareness of how unassuming Hamlet is, says, "He, being remiss, most generous, and free from all contriving, will not peruse the foils..." [Act IV: Scene 7, line 134]. Hamlet is too trusting to check the swords for signs of foul play. It's admirable to be trusting, but leaders can't afford to trust their adversaries when all evidence points to treachery. The poisoned sword results in Hamlet's death.

Alas! Poor Hamlet. Poor leader. Shakespeare may not have had leadership in mind when he wrote the play, but we can mine it for lessons nonetheless and prevent our own leadership efforts from turning into a tragedy.