Transforming Leader Paradigms

The book provides guidance to leaders on how to accomplish a paradigm shift away from blanket solutions toward deliberate problem solving. The authors demonstrate how the practice of deliberate problem solving helps build the culture of trust and respect, boost employee engagement and achieve operational excellence in serving the customer.

"This book is a delightful embodiment of the work Jim Luckman and Olga Flory have done over the years. It addresses so many key ideas around the role of the leader and lean thinking for research and development, including what it means to ask questions about the work with respect. An easy read with clear examples and engaging stories, this book is a treat for leaders who are interested in totally transforming the way they work. Luckman and Flory help leaders and organizations shift from a solutions mindset to a problem-solving culture that results in flow and growth where everyone in the organization can become a winner."ãAnand V. Tanikella, Vice President R&D, Abrasives Worldwide,Saint-Gobainã"As a leader, if you truly want to experience what showing respect for your team members does for performance improvement in the short-term and over time, this book should absolutely be on your reading list. Luckman and Flory explain how to create a platform for change and a culture of meaningful continuous improvement through what they call âProblem Solving for Complexity.â™ This approach is about engaging everybody in the organization to improve every aspect of how work gets done. Read this book if you want to be a real change leader, not just the person who goes around talking about the need for change."Robert Kessiakoff, Coach/Consultant, Partner LTGe, Swedenã"Jim Luckman and Olga Flory provide a thoughtful and well-documented guide for leaders in a world where imposing blanket solutions from the top down just doesnâ™t work anymore.ãThey propose an alternative approach to leadership that systematically empowers all team members and levels to explore the root causes of problems so that they can solve them.ãTransforming Leader Paradigms describes how the leader, through changing his or her own behaviors and practices, can transform an organization that is slow to adapt into one that solves problems organically. The book is an important read for leaders and managers at all levels."ãPeter Ward,Senior Associate Dean for Academics, Richard M. Ross Chair in Management, Professor of Management Sciences, Director, Center for Operational Excellence, Ohio State University"Participating in one of Luckman and Floryâ™s âTransformational Leadershipâ™ workshops in 2011 was an important milestone in my professional career as a manager. Trained and educated as an industrial engineer, I became very good at solving problems. But a notable A-Ha moment for me in their workshop was when I realized that I had become a âSolutions Addictâ™. This had a negative impact on my team. Since taking the workshop Iâ™ve changed my own expectations of myself as a manager as well as many of my leadership behaviors. Reading âTransforming Leader Paradigmsâ™ was like reliving their workshop experience again. I recommend it to anyone who is in a leadership position."Itai Englander, General Manager, Confectionery division, Strauss Israelã"The lessons in this book are powerful!ãLuckman and Flory explain why our traditional notions of leadership must evolve as the pace of change increases in our workplaces and our world.ãFocusing on key leadership principles and methods to engage people and tap into the power of teamsârather than issuing edicts and directives, which only require organizational âobedienceâ™âLuckman and Flory teach us how to create problem solving cultures that are adaptive, innovative, and passionate!"Steven Hall, Vice President, Process Excellence Leader, Liberty Mutual Insuranceã"Organizations struggle to build problem solving teams.ãIndividuals, especially leaders, typically lack the skills (and structure!) needed to solve problems effectively. This eventually becomes an organizational deficiency. With this book, Luckman and Flory have captured how to do this well through direct experience and well-researched, well-practiced methods.ãRead, learn, practice, repeat, and you will learn how to bu...

Autorentext

Jim Luckman is quick to tell you that he absolutely loves solving big problems, in fact he finds them fascinating. "The tougher the problem, the better I like it," he says. "In almost every organization where I have worked, my associates have told me that when they have had a big problem, they brought it to me."

And, because he was willing to take on these difficult tasks, he has been blessed to be a part of solving some of the bigger technological and management puzzles of our time. For example, Jim was the lead product engineer responsible for developing the first digital computer on a car, a 1977 Oldsmobile Toronado. He would later be a vital member of a General Motors team that designed the first computers installed on all cars to meet 1981 emission standards.

He began his management education by being thrown into the deep end of the pool. He had grown up in the traditional management structure at GM, but then was asked to take on the role of Plant Manager in a troubled facility with deep schisms between management and the unions. He was wholly unprepared for what he found there. "I had to learn as I was going along," he says, "And, that experience led to my interest in transforming organizations, a subject that still fascinates me today."

Olga Flory was the Director, Lean Academy, Global Leadership, Learning and Talent at Liberty Mutual Insurance. She lLed a team to develop and deliver best-in-class learning experiences for continuous improvement and business leaders globally. In addition, she consulted with the business to align learning solutions with strategic priorities and focused on helping leaders develop a growth mindset to enable the business deliver maximum value to the customer.

Previously, she was the Director of Education at the Lean Enterprise Institute where she helped companies and organizations around the globe to develop leaders and improve business practices in support of their lean transformations. She collaborated with the Lean Global Network, LEI faculty and business leaders on the development of new lines of products and services and was owner of the Education value stream: strategy, execution, P&L, team management.

Inhalt

Preface. About the Authors. Introduction. Part 1: Awakening. Chapter 1: The New Role of the Leader. Chapter 2: From a Caterpillar to a Butterfly. Part 2: Awareness. Chapter 3: Complex Adaptive Systems. Chapter 4: Two Paradigms. Chapter 5: Unquestioned Assumptions. Part 3: Action. Chapter 6: Create a Framework for Deliberate Problem Solving. Chapter 7: Grow Respectful Social Connections. Chapter 8: Accelerate Organizational Learning. Part 4: Actualization. Chapter 9: Start with Yourself. Chapter 10: Personal Leadership Transformations that have Inspired Us. Conclusion. Deep Dive. Bibliography.