Every successful implementation of Lean or Agile I have seen has an ingredient that is almost a contradiction.
A leader who
- has low ego (not interested in putting himself first)
- is present (he/she has active conversations with teams and other leaders such, as change never comes as a complete surprise)
- is active (he takes part in building up teams, do not defer hard decisions, he notifies and challenges, using questions, when people behave differently from the values agreed)
- curious (what is the next step, what should we try, let’s do it)
This is a contradiction in terms. But every great leader I have observed have had as their final goal to eventually remove themselves. A scary thought? In fact not so. All these leaders had plenitude of options to choose from for their next position. And improvement is never done. There is always a next step.
/mts
Could not agree with this statement more:
“But every great leader I have observed have had as their final goal to eventually remove themselves”
I have a policy that it is the duty of all employees to render themselves obsolete. As I am fond of saying “The person who makes themselves obsolete will never want for a job”