‘Quality’ Leadership 25
Tanmay Vora
You don’t need to be a Manager/VP/Director of Quality to be a quality leader, because quality leadership is not about title/experience, but more about mindset/attitude.
Irrespective of your title, seniority or position in the hierarchy, you are a quality leader when you:
1) Are passionate about your work…
2) …And know how to balance creativity with process.
3) Are on a constant quest to improve things around you…
4) …Big things that have huge impact…
5) …Or a number of small things that are important.
6) Become an agent of change.
7) Help someone do a better job via training/coaching/one to one counseling.
8 ) Help yourself do a better job via self-initiated learning (personal mastery)
9) Actively listen to what people say (and what they mean)…
10) … And learn from it.
11) Don’t give up on problems, but stay persistent.
12) Create an environment of trust and openness.
13) Neither deliver mediocre results…
14) …Nor tolerate mediocrity in your team.
15) Reduce waste and rework to focus on “value”…
16) … And ensure that your metrics focus on real business objectives
17) Respect process (and think/plan quality upfront).
18) … And then focus on execution, to avoid thinking/planning trap.
19) Think about possibilities (and abundance), not constraints.
20) Constantly seek new ideas and then do something about it.
21) Seek to understand what customers (internal and external) expect in a service
22) … And then find the optimal way to deliver quality (and delight).
23) Care about people and their problems.
24) Know that quality (and hence excellence) is a personal obligation ….
25) … Quality is Happiness
Good checklist to find quality points in ourselves to become good leader in any position we occupies
Thanks Shailesh – glad you liked it!
Loved the thought behind the post! Title really shouldn’t make a difference if you have the will to lead.
On a relevant note, I read this I also read a post by Art Petty about ‘informal leaders’ and how they need to be nurtured. You can have a look at the post at http://artpetty.com/2011/03/28/leadership-caffeine-supporting-the-rise-of-the-informal-leader/
– Sindoora (http://www.beyondhorizons.in)
I thinks just following a few tips above would make huge difference to the amount of quality within an organisation.
Great article!