Some of you guys have read my posts before, bragging on my crew. Nothing I’ll say this evening takes anything away from that — I’ve got a good crew. No doubt about that.

My challenge tonight (and first thing tomorrow morning!) is how to deal with conflict between our “crew chief” and one of the crew. I don’t know yet what happened this afternoon (I left early to go pick up some materials), but one of my crew (“T”) texted me after the shift to say that he and our crew chief (“B”) had “had words” today. I told him I’d meet him first thing tomorrow morning to discuss it, and that was okay with him.

B is young — she’s just 26 — and this is her first shot at leadership. All in all, she’s doing well, in terms of keeping product flowing. She likes to be organized, and she learns quickly. My thought is that her only leadership experience so far is being a parent. And good for her for doing that! T is roughly twice her age. He’s about the happiest fella you’ll meet, all the time, just a joy to be around. For him to have been so upset this afternoon, something fairly big must have gone down.

I tried to reassure T a little, telling him 1) don’t stress about it, we’ll get it fixed, and 2) it’s part of our job as “older fellas” to mold her into the leader we need for her to be.

I’ve talked with B a number of times over the past two years, describing my own experiences early in life and the ones that led me to realize there’s a difference between a leader and a boss. We even wrote it on the whiteboard when we started this production line: “Be a leader, not a boss.”

T is not the only one to have told me recently that B is getting a little “bossy.” So I have to get some quality time with B and see how to mitigate that. Orders for this product are very suddenly up about 5x — we have to expand our crew and really get down to brass tacks.

Back to the title question: how do you help a young leader become a good leader?


- - - - -
Edited to add emphasis in thread title

This message has been edited. Last edited by: vthoky,

So, short easy answer, is tell her not to be a twenty something woman.

Not saying good female leaders in their mid 20s don’t exist but it’s a challenge.

There’s very, very few reasons to ever personally chastise a decent employee.

(Honestly, if my impulse is that way, I decided the correct process is termination.).

Early on, I decided that individuals do not fail, systems fail. Sometimes, the system failed by hiring that person.

Assuming that’s not the case, then it’s probably a matter of inadequate preparation/her reading idiotic stuff on IG/FB/he is dismissive of her due to age/sex. (Age can be more of an issue)

Also, don’t overlook that the “old hand” may genuinely have issues which everyone else has overlooked.

If there’s time, and you genuinely know both people to be good producers, then the Socratic method can be useful. Walk them through the scenario and get them to start from the point of “We don’t hire aholes, so X isn’t an ahole. So what is wrong with our perceptions?”

I love the “be a leader not a boss” mantra. I take that to mean the team comes first, assert authority only when necessary, you exist to get the job done and credit/champion your team, and you take the blame for failure. If she is not doing that, some coaching would appear to be in order. That said, you seem to have drawn some pretty firm conclusions about the situation without having actually talked to either of the people involved. Things may be exactly as you believe. But keep an open mind. I work in an environment where the young(er) often leapfrog the old(er) in terms of responsibility and pay. Some folks have a difficult time with that and don’t even realize they are having a difficult time. And from what my 30-something daughter tells me, being female in a place of authority can be incredibly challenging. You wouldn’t believe some of the shit she has had to deal with.

You can lead them toward all the books and videos out there, but I think mentorship is the best way. Someone demonstrating and then guiding them through things. Also keep in mind that some people are just not leaders and prefer to follow. You have to know those people so you are not investing time in someone who is not leader material.

quote:

I told him I’d meet him first thing tomorrow morning to discuss it, and that was okay with him.

Your first meeting might instead be with B, T reports to B, not you. There is a chain of responsibility to respect.
Let B know it's come to your attention that a problem arose yesterday, and ask her to outline what happened and how she dealt with it. From that point, the discussion should generate some resolution and ownership on her part.

It can be a difficult issue for one to report to someone half their age. Years ago a supervisor of mine told me that pen and paper is a wiser choice than conflict. There should be clear written policies regarding workplace conduct and when those policies are violated, the appropriate action implemented. Without such policies, the workplace becomes the wild-wild west.

Thanks, all, for the input so far.

My "leader, not a boss" line comes from working at the grocery store, right after high school. Short version: the manager was an older fellow (60s). He'd give us a bunch of stuff to do, let us go do it, and come bitch at us when we hadn't gotten it done. The assistant manager was younger guy, probably late 30s. He'd assign us a bunch of stuff to do, let us go do it, and come help when we hadn't gotten it done. Bringing in carts from the snow, mopping the floors, stocking the shelves at midnight... the assistant manager was there with us. --> Leader, not boss.

- - - -

B came to me first this morning, before I could get time with T. I understand more about what went down yesterday, at least from her side. It's a communication problem, compounded by a bit of stubbornness. Crew was putting together a couple of pieces incorrectly, and she told them so. Then she got uptight with their response to being corrected. At this point, the message isn't so much "you did it wrong" as it is, "this is why it has to be done this way." B got frustrated when "the why" of it wasn't sinking in.

So. I see now what wasn't understood well (though it was documented well). I'm improving the build instructions this morning. I'll gather the crew, walk through the new instruction, and explain in more detail why the pieces have to go together in that specific manner. And then we'll talk about communicating better with one another. B wasn't getting any acknowledgment after explaining things -- a couple of the crew just turned and went back to working after B explained things, without letting her know they'd "picked up what B was laying down."

quote:

individuals do not fail, systems fail

It's true, and that's one of the teachings encountered when going through a company's ISO-9000 certification a number of years ago. So that's what I tried to relay to B this morning -- T wasn't intentionally doing things wrong. In fact, he's done it right for years. It's that he didn't fully understand the reason for the order of operations. "Part A sticks to part B, so part B must stick to part A, right?" Well, not exactly. When assembled in the wrong order, the performance of the final assembly will be hampered.

We've got some work to do.

It happens by proper example and providing proper resources.
I have to admit, you "triggered" me a bit with the question. My last big boss (bosses boss) loved to beat on the management team with "you're just being managers, not leaders". Very frustrating coming from a psycho who did absolutely everything in his power to sabotage any true leadership.
Several of us had our teams functioning very well despite him.

What you described is textbook “young/especially young women” leadership issue.

Any older female leadership to help her?

Blue collar does not respond well to “bossy” women - truthfully it doesn’t work from men, either.

I can start yelling, if it’s an acute crisis, because A) It’s an acute crisis and the men involved understand I don’t yell. B) I know my company and facility very well and if I am yelling, it’s because something is either dangerous, expensive, or both.

Sounds like it goes back to your thread from a while ago. There are work instructions... Will they read it? Will they follow it?

https://sigforum.com/eve/forum...0601935/m/1090041084

It's difficult to convey the WHY in work instructions, but the fact that they exist should be reason enough. It isn't 'because I said so', it is because 'This is the documented procedure that was built to maintain the quality of the device/service'. Let alone that you're ISO certified

A good bit of our discussion yesterday was about improving the work instructions to add “the why.” It’s not something we’ve typically done in the past, but perhaps it’s time to start.

The existing instructions detailed exactly what to do, echoing the drawing’s notes on the assembly. What do do and how to do it were well documented. The why of it wasn’t. The why of it is something that doesn’t inherently make sense, unless one knows in detail how the parts affect one another.

So we had a short show-and-tell yesterday, with some discussion on The Why. I’ll do it again on Monday when the whole crew is back (some on vacation yesterday), and I’ll keep on improving documents.

Meanwhile, we have the weekend to clear heads and get ready to start again.

In the airline world there is a lot of discussion and training around leadership and followership. Both are critical to success.

A central pillar of becoming a good leader is to actively think about the good aspects and bad aspects of other leaders one has observed. A young person relatively inexperienced in the environment is at a disadvantage.

quote:

Originally posted by Fly-Sig:
A young person relatively inexperienced in the environment is at a disadvantage.

I agree, she’s at a disadvantage. But she’s a good kid and works hard, and I want her to succeed.

There is A book.

Leaders eat last, I do not recall the author.
Every good/ great leader I have known, was selfless. Every POS leader I have known always looked out for themselves.

Manager/Boss shouldn't be confused with leadership, they are not the same.

Any videos showing assembly? They can be invaluable for training

This may be tangential but wanted to get some terminology out of the way.

In the course of my employment, we had supervisors, managers, executives. Each had different roles and capabilities and competencies. Each were positions of authority and they could tell their subordinates what to do. This was not leadership.

Leadership was the compelling of others to a common vision. It had nothing to do authority. It was more about influencing others to pursue or follow a particular vision, objective, goal. To get others to follow that direction of their own volition - not through the use of positional authority or rank.

The lowest level employee could be a great leader but have no authority. A CEO could have all the authority but be a terrible leader. Or a CEO could have both authority and be a good leader (ie - have a vision that employees believed in). Leadership is not about assigning tasks. That’s for others to figure out - execution plans. Leadership is about setting a direction that others believe in; the others usually figure out the strategy / tactics.

So when the boss works overtime or on weekends to help out employees, that’s being a great boss but not really about being a leader. It sets a good example of how to be a good boss. But it’s not really about leading people in a particular direction.

Anyway, just how I was “raised” by my mgmt (at least the ones who were good leaders ).

With this terminology, I think “B” should strive to be both a good leader and a good boss - they are not one and the same to me.

quote:

Originally posted by Aglifter:
Any videos showing assembly? They can be invaluable for training

I'm working on a plan to include videos in the build instructions... having a tough time pulling it together, for several reasons.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
With this terminology, I think “B” should strive to be both a good leader and a good boss - they are not one and the same to me.

Konata, I read your post about two hours ago and it has really gotten stuck in my head. For about 40 years now, I've considered them to be almost mutually exclusive.

[vthoky scratches head and keeps on thinking....]

Back to the title question: how do you help a young leader become a good leader?



- - - - -
Edited to add emphasis in thread title[/QUOTE]


Part of this person's development could be a 360 review. How does she take feedback? If the team is committed to her getting better, this can be a great tool.

--K

Good point, Kranky. Haven't done a 360 in a while.

Like most of us, B can be a little defensive at times. That's manageable, though...

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
Konata, I read your post about two hours ago and it has really gotten stuck in my head. For about 40 years now, I've considered them to be almost mutually exclusive.

[vthoky scratches head and keeps on thinking....]

Sorry . No need to debate this; we don't need to agree. Everyone has their own perspectives; just sharing what was instilled in me.

To me: a leader is someone who influences other to share a common belief / vision / objective. This person does not need to be in higher "rank" - could be someone at the bottom of the totem pole. But others share the vision and are willing to act on it.

A boss is someone who has a position of authority. He can compel others to act using that authority, whether they agree or not. But a boss can also be a leader who gets his team, other teams, higher mgmt, whatever, to believe in a common vision (not necessarily strategy or tactics; just a vision).

So:
1) Good boss, good leader - great!
2) Good boss, not good leader (not necessarily a bad thing, unless upper mgmt levels like CEO who should have a good corporate vision that everyone believes in and can march to).
3) Bad boss, good leader - ugh.
4) Bad boss, not good leader - find another job

Again, just what was instilled in me; leadership and mgmt definitely not mutex.