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John Casey

FOR ANY ORGANISATION that has achieved sustained success in its core market, one of the toughest challenges is moving up to the next level.

Because the competitive world of business does not give companies the option of resting on their laurels, it is essential to have strategies and skills in place to keep expanding in the way that stakeholders demand.

According to Dave Anderson, good leadership is the key to taking  great leaps forward. He believes that an organisation can grow exponentially rather than  in incremental steps by developing leaders at all levels.

What is required is that those in positions of real influence are capable of thinking big, moving fast and learning continuously about the changing business environment.

Anderson has written a number of well-received books on this theme. The best known is probably Up Your Business and the most recent, published last month, is If You Don't Make Waves You'll Drown.

After a productive period in automotive retail sales, he embarked on a second successful career as a management consultancy guru, and he now delivers motivational talks for managers.

He will be one of the speakers at the 25th Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management annual conference, at which he will discuss how companies can develop and maximise their potential.

One of the most important strategies highlighted in Anderson's new book is: 'Don't be a wimp'. It holds that a leader's style will dictate the pace of change and help create the culture for the entire organisation.

He explains that, in business, the big no longer eat the small; instead the swift eat the slow, so the crucial thing is to execute a plan quickly.

'You can become immobilised by procrastination. In fact, most change efforts fail because the leaders don't move far enough fast enough,' he said.

It is also vital to realise that change can cause pain and discomfort.

'If you quit the moment things get uncomfortable or painful, you will not grow,' Anderson added, using the analogy of a bodybuilder training by lifting weights.

'If a leader is reluctant to offer honest feedback; to give people exactly what they earn and deserve; to hold others accountable; to impose consequences for non-performers, then he or she will not have what it takes to grow their organisation to its potential,' he said.

In Up Your Business, Anderson was critical of business leadership in general, stating that senior management often failed to face up to issues which external observers could easily identify. A drastic example of this type of denial was United Airlines, with the company blaming September 11 for its woes.

'However, on September 10, 2001, United Airlines had a cost structure so far out of line with its revenues that it would have needed to sell 107 per cent of seat capacity just to break even,' he said.

'The 9/11 tragedy didn't ruin [the company]; it just exposed it.'

In the same book, he named six faults that undermined successful organisations, and all stemmed from a failure of leadership. In essence, these were things that leaders stopped doing: working on themselves; thinking big; leading from the front line; developing others; holding others accountable, and remembering the basics.

'Too many leaders work hard on their jobs but no longer work hard on themselves. They don't attend the courses or read the books that could energise their minds and enhance their skills. Because of this, they grow stale and plateau, and thus become a lid on their people as well,' he said.

If leaders are to accomplish important 'daily disciplines', they must get out of the office and motivate, communicate with and listen to their people.

Anderson emphasised that no great team was built using memos and e-mail. Leaders must also structure their calendars and routines to spend maximum time on areas where they could make most impact.

The major obstacle to many organisations reaching their potential is complacency.

'Once companies get 'good', they let up and stop doing many of the things that would make them great. Success can be an intoxicant: it can make you complacent, arrogant, and closed-minded,' Anderson said.

One symptom of this is people no longer being held accountable or judged on their performance. Rather than confronting underachievers and developing other members of staff, leaders avoid the issue or fail to tackle it early enough.

'Too many leaders run their operations without consequences - the 'or else'. They tolerate underachievers too long and diminish the morale of the entire team. Droves of employees today have become entitled because supervisors are reluctant to hold them accountable,'  he said.

Once the organisation has a team of motivated employees and managers in place, it is time to 'think big and set unreasonable goals'.

Anderson believes that only by developing and striving to achieve a bold vision can a company test its true potential. He said leaders must understand there was a danger of running their business down if they set low or uninspiring expectations.

'The art of leadership is finding that just-right place - the sweet spot - where their people can hit the goals. They won't be able to reach them by doing the same old things. Effective goals force change, big decisions, risk and innovation,' he said.

Six faults... that undermine successful organisations happen when leaders stop:

Working on themselves

Thinking big

Leading from the front

Developing others

Holding others accountable

Remembering the basics



Survival of the quickest