4 leadership tips from operational excellence leaders

Experts from PEX Network’s top 50 thought leaders in operational excellence share their business tips and the best professional advice they have ever received.

1. Be open to change

As strategic business transformation manager at Genuine Parts Company in Atlanta, Alexis Nichole White knows a thing or two about change. Her advice to someone embarking on a change management project is to be flexible and keep an open mind. “In today's ever-changing business landscape, personal agility is a crucial skill to possess,” White says. “No matter how well-planned a project may be, unexpected challenges and roadblocks can arise at any time. That's why it's essential to remain open and adaptable to new developments and be able to effectively manage risks.

“As a leader, you can set an example by practicing transparent and effective communication with your stakeholders,” she adds. “Keep them informed, aware, and allow opportunities for feedback. By doing so, you increase your chances of success. Remember, personal agility and effective communication are the keys to achieving your goals in any project.”

2. Continuous learning is essential

Damon Baker is the creator of the Lean Focus Business System, a problem-solving framework that has been implemented by leading manufacturers around the world. He says, “The best professional advice I've received myself is to never stop learning and seeking improvement. Continuous learning and growth are essential for personal and professional development.

“Embracing a growth mindset and being open to new ideas, feedback, and experiences allows us to continually improve our skills and capabilities,” he adds. “It also helps us adapt to the evolving needs and challenges of the business world.”

“Everyone has something to offer that you can learn from.” Eric Lussier

An engineer by trade, Eric Lussier has been applying Lean and continuous improvement practices to almost all the company departments he has worked in for the last 25 years, including quality, human resources, sales, leadership and product development. He is currently a principal at business transformation consulting firm Next Level Partners. “Continue to pursue lifelong learning – engaging with people in their environment,” he tells us. “Everyone has something to offer and that you can learn from.”

“As a Theory Y leader, I get to choose how I view people and their contributions, and part of demonstrating the respect for the people principle of Lean and continuous improvement is being willing to listen and learn. That is why we as leaders must go see for ourselves first-hand the challenges and opportunities to make improvements. Furthermore, we need to participate and model the behaviors desired, including kaizen participation on our own.”

3. Learn from mistakes

Didier Rabino is a seasoned expert in Lean management systems and continuous improvement. After spending more than two decades in manufacturing he moved into the healthcare sector, implementing Lean systems for a number of health providers in the US. “My coach told me, ‘If you are not making mistakes, it might be because you are not trying hard enough,’” he says. “I realized that making mistakes can be a sign that you're pushing yourself and trying new things. I should not be afraid to step out of my comfort zone and embrace the occasional misstep as a valuable learning opportunity. I should keep striving for growth and improvement.”

It is just as important to learn from quality defects or failures. Dave Crysler has managed and grown a number of companies throughout his career, which helped him to develop the framework he uses to advise businesses in his current role as the principal consultant of The Crysler Club. “The best advice I have ever received was a simple question asked by my boss at the time: How do you know?” he tells us.

“I should not be afraid to step out of my comfort zone and embrace the occasional misstep as a valuable learning opportunity.” Didier Rabino

“The question was asked after a significant quality defect had been identified and addressed internally. The question ultimately helped me to learn the importance of intentionally introducing failures into a process to ensure the preventative measures that had been adopted, would actually prevent a defect from occurring.”

Pavel Azaletskiy, founder and CEO of software company VSOptima, is also motivated by continuous learning. “One piece of advice that resonated with me is the importance of continuous improvement and learning from successes and failures,” he tells us.

4. Be a conscious leader

Veronica Marquez, the founder of Lean management consultants Aristeio, says the best tip she’s received is to listen. “This is going to sound so cliché, but it’s so true. The best advice I received was, ‘You have one mouth, two ears and two eyes. So, listen and look twice as much as you talk!’

“I’ve found that I often learn more about an organization when I apply that advice. I listen to and watch the interactions, see how the work is done, and observe the general space in which people work. When I do finally talk, it’s not about coaching, training or providing solutions. Instead, it’s about delving deeper into their challenges so that, together, we can better understand the issues and then plan the next steps to reach the desired objectives.”

Suzanne Rabicoff, the head of new verticals at Invisible Technologies, a B2B outsourcing and automation firm, is a fan of conscious leadership. This is an approach focuses on responsibility and team-centricity, with a great awareness of the various people they lead and the impact they have as leaders. “The best career advice I've received is from Jim Dethmer's conscious leadership movement. It is very humane and more useful than most of the MBA stuff I acquired. Asking myself constantly if I'm above or below the line and being conscious of my company's location should be foundational behavior.”