DC Velocity - October 2013

SMART LEADERS IN THE LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN business are not hard to find. We report almost daily on cut-ting-edge operational advances that are led by very smart professionals.

Yet being smart, in and of itself, does not guarantee success. According to author Patrick Lencioni, companies must go beyond “smart” to truly reach their full market potential.

Speaking at Dematic’s annual Material Handling and Logistics
Conference, held last month in Park City, Utah, Lencioni identi-
fied two characteristics that he considers hallmarks of a success-
ful business. “There are two requirements for
success today,” he said. “Companies must be
smart, but they must also be healthy.” In fact,
in his new book, The Advantage, Lencioni
writes that organizational health “will surpass
all other disciplines in business as the greatest
opportunity for improvement and competi-
tive advantage.”
Some definitions are in order here. As for
what characterizes a “smart” company, an
organization obviously needs a good strate-
gy, sound marketing that links to its strategy,
a solid understanding of enabling technolo-
gies and how to put them to the best use,
and, of course, a solid financial plan and
management.

Really nothing new here, but what of the
issue of an organization’s health? “Healthy companies have
some common attributes,” Lencioni said. “They have minimal
politics, minimal confusion, high morals, high productivity,
and low turnover.”
To get (and stay) healthy, companies must do four things, he
said. First, they must build and maintain a cohesive manage-
ment team. “The leaders must work together well,” he said.

Second, those leaders must create clarity. “The goals must be
clear and properly aligned,” he noted. “There can be no ambi-
guity in the answers they give their employees.”
The third requirement on Lencioni’s list is communica-
tion—or what he likes to call “over-communication.”
“Research tells us that people need to hear things a minimum
of seven times in order to believe it,” Lencioni said. “[So you]
need to say it again and again. The best CEO also needs to be
the CRO, the Chief Reminding Officer. Employees want and
need to know you are sticking to the company’s
message.”
The fourth thing is essentially an extension of the
third. “You need to not only over-communicate, but
also reinforce it in all things you do. There can be no
ambiguity at all, at any time,” he said.

Making all this happen requires leaders to master
several important behaviors and then see that they’re
engrained in the corporate culture, Lencioni main-
tains. First, there must be an extremely high level of
trust among the management
team members. “To get there, you
must all be willing to be wrong
and to be vulnerable,” he
explained. “If you are not humble
enough to accept you will be
wrong and to accept that other
members of your team can be
smarter on particular topics, then
you are an insecure leader and
you must change that behavior.”
Second, you need to embrace
conflict. “Conflict can be great,”
And if employees and managers don’t buy in?
Then implementing the tactics that support your
company’s strategy will be like pushing a string up a
flagpole.