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Building leaders

By Luc Maes, Senior Management Consultant
Region: Belgium

Sector focus: Petrochemical manufacturing

WORKING IN AN INDUSTRIAL FACILITY CAN SOMETIMES POSE A LOT OF RISKS TO EVERYONE INVOLVED. DUE TO SOME EXTREME CONDITIONS, IT’S ESSENTIAL TO DEVELOP THE RIGHT LEADERS THAT WILL GUIDE THEIR TEAM EACH STEP OF THE WAY. THIS IS MY STORY ABOUT BUILDING LEADERS WITHIN A CLIENT WORKING IN AN INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENT WITH VERY STRICT AND SEVERE SAFETY CONDITIONS AND ENVIRONMENT GUIDELINES.
FIRSTLY, WE CONDUCTED AN AUDIT WHICH SHOWED THE PROBLEM BEING LACK OF LEADERSHIP IN A PART OF THEIR MANAGEMENT TEAM. BECAUSE OF THIS, WE EXECUTED LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT ASSESSMENTS WITH ALL TEAM MEMBERS.
DURING THE INITIAL AUDIT, WE OBSERVED HOW SOME OF THE PROFILES WERE TOO OPERATIONAL. THERE WERE SPECIALISTS WHO HAD BEEN WORKING WITHIN THE COMPANY FOR A VERY LONG TIME; HOWEVER, THEY HAD NOT DEVELOPED THEIR SKILLS OUTSIDE THE COMPANY AND ONLY HAD THEIR OWN CLIENTS AND CURRENT WORKING ENVIRONMENT AS THEIR REFERENCE FRAME. THERE WAS ALSO THE PLANT DIRECTOR, WHO WAS PROMISING BECAUSE HE WAS VERY COMMITTED AND HARDWORKING BUT LACKED THE ESSENTIAL MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP CAPABILITIES OF SOME PEOPLE IN HIS TEAM. BASED ON THE DEVELOPMENT ASSESSMENTS, WE SAW THAT SOME MANAGEMENT TEAM MEMBERS HAD A LACK OF REAL MANAGEMENT CAPABILITY TO LEAD THE COMPANY IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION FOR FUTURE SUCCESS WITHIN THEIR ROLES.
OVERALL, THE MANAGEMENT TEAM HAD INSUFFICIENT KNOWLEDGE IN TERMS OF WHAT HE OR SHE HAD TO DO AS A LEADER OR MANAGER. BY CONDUCTING THE ASSESSMENTS, WE FOUND OUT THAT THE WORKING COMPETENCE MODEL THEY WERE USING WAS TOO TECHNICAL SPECIALIST INSPIRED IN TERMS OF LEADING A COMPANY FOR FIT FOR FUTURE.
AFTER COMBINING THE RESULTS OF THE AUDIT WITH SURVEY DATA, WE SAW SEVERAL THINGS: THEY WERE TOO MUCH “AN ISLAND” WORKING, AND MORE OPERATIONAL THAN INNOVATIVE. THERE WAS ALSO NO FEEDBACK CULTURE WITHIN THE MANAGEMENT TEAM OR TO DIRECT REPORTS, AND THERE WAS NO LEADING CULTURE TO MAKE EACH OF THEM STRONGER. AND AS THEY WERE STRONGLY GROWING UP AS A COMPANY, SOME MANAGEMENT TEAM MEMBERS DID NOT FULLY UNDERSTAND HOW THE ROLE OF BEING A LEADER INVOLVES THREE DIFFERENT ROLES AT ONCE–LEADERSHIP ROLE, MANAGEMENT TEAM ROLE AND SPECIALIST ROLE.

The plant director communicated his expectations, and he agreed with our general conclusions. Using the MU Leadership Assessment, we analysed the real knowledge, experience, and potential to succeed in a development role for future fit. One of our advice was also to look for extra management capability through an external executive search which we executed too. Every company must rethink and redefine their own strategy and business model within certain periods. Within MU, we always aim to incorporate “connecting people with future strategy,” especially in an environment where there is a lot of change involved. By continuing to do the things you’ve always done in the past, you will never achieve the changes you’re aiming for in future.

Luc Maes, Senior Consultant
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