Building Leadership Excellence: Michelle’s Journey with COE

Michelle was a disciplined, data-driven leader, even before engaging with COE. However, she faced a challenge: her team of leaders didn’t share the same depth of analytical thinking. Gut feelings often dominated their decision-making processes. Michelle aimed to instil a common approach within her team, encompassing shared frameworks, language, and tools. Her leaders needed to adopt this mindset not just from her but from an external source. Simultaneously, she sought to enhance her own skills.

While Michelle had been inadvertently modelling Operational Excellence (OE) principles, it was an entirely different challenge to teach her leaders. Merely instructing them didn’t seem to drive the learnings into their hearts and minds. 

A Team Unified

The COE program through QBS, provided Michelle and her team with a unified language and refined, accurate tools. The trainers facilitated alignment among her leaders and equipped them with resources to analyse their business comprehensively and the benefits included:

• A common language and tools fostered daily use for managing the business.
• Identification of issues and opportunities within the business.
• Transformation of business operations through collaboration and breaking down silos.
• Introduction of other leaders to the Introductory Operational Excellence (IOE) program, further advancing progress and common language use.

“Every leader should do COE – I don’t know how a leader can do their job without it” Michelle.

Inclusion. Alignment. Common Ground

Michelle’s journey through COE highlighted several key insights:

• The importance of recognising diverse learning styles among team members.
• Identifying leaders who may resist change and assessing their alignment with the desired leadership model.
• The value of a common language, alongside standardised frameworks and tools.

Of course, like anything it wasn’t all smooth sailing. As a senior leader, Michelle faced questions about why she took on the program.  However, she was determined to lead from the front, knowing that previous methods had not yielded the results.

Is your organisation calling out for an aligned approach to leadership? Start here with our Leadership Skills Audit and unearth the hard skills gaps in your operational leaders, and where to next. Get it here.