A511.1.3.RB_Vore_Dan
Leadership Is a Two Way Street That Can Be Life Changing
When I was a young
Captain in the Air Force, I was assigned as the Team Lead for the Low Altitude
Navigation and Infrared Targeting for Night (LANTIRN) Targeting Pod production
program. When I stepped into this role,
the program was in terrible trouble. The
Company producing the Targeting Pods had only delivered 17 of them and they
were in 15 different configurations.
Video issues plagued the performance of the pod, as did several
mechanical and electrical problems. The
technical data was inaccurate and incomplete, the support equipment generally
did not work, and the using command, while they loved the capability of the
targeting pod, was complaining bitterly about their maintainability,
reliability and performance in the field.
In short, things were a mess. We
had over 450 total pods to produce and with each new pod there seemed to come
yet more new problems to add to the existing ones.
I began a series of
reviews, including an extended trip to one operating location where the pods
were being used on the F-15E aircraft. I
visited the intermediate-level maintenance shop where they had five pods in-house
that were not working and which they could not fix with the existing technical
data and support equipment. I had them
show me some of the examples and late that same evening, I called the Company
VP and his Director of Maintenance and Logistics and told them to get on an
airplane in the morning and that I would pick them up at the airport. When they arrived, I took them straight to
the “back shop”, had them take off their ties, roll up their sleeves, and try
to diagnose and repair one of the pods using their tech data and support
equipment. Within about ten minutes,
they threw up their hands. I had their
attention.
The Colonel for whom
I worked at the time told me to pick someone within the Company to be my
industry counterpart as their lead Program Director for the Targeting Pod
Program. I made my selection, that
gentleman was promoted and handed the reins.
From the start, he was one of the best leaders with whom I have ever
worked. In a very real sense, we worked
for each other. Together, we had the
responsibility to right the ship, and we had our work cut out for us. We quickly agreed at the outset that together
we would work on a handshake and that when we said we were going to do
something, we could trust each other’s word that it would be done. So how were we going to take this broken
program, with a whole workforce that was demoralized (on the Company side), and
several military organizations and offices (on my side) that were completely
disillusioned and make it into a successful program?
This gentleman and I
did a lot of talking, strategizing, and interviewing of several people on both
sides of the table (USAF and Corporate).
Up to the point of my selecting this man to become the new Company
Program Manager, the Company had gone through several of its top executives,
engineers, logisticians, and production managers to no avail. But we began to sift through all of the
problems and issues and gradually some patterns began to emerge. We also formed a lifelong friendship and
healthy mutual respect for one another, the likes of which I have never since
experienced. A real, solid partnership
emerged fairly quickly.
We hired two process
control experts and paired them up with design engineers, manufacturing
engineers, and logisticians. We sat down
with the folks on the manufacturing floor who actually built the targeting
pods. Likewise, we sat down with the
folks who produced the support equipment and the technical data. Following the guiding principles of Dr. W.
Edwards Deming, we began to identify key processes and key variables where
measurements were needed. To make a long
story short, we implemented a system-wide statistical process control system
wherein the critical design variables that were identified by the design
engineers were evaluated on the production line. A whole new picture emerged, data was
analyzed, processes were adjusted, tolerances were re-evaluated and adjusted as
required, and the measurement criteria used for acceptance testing of the pods
was aligned with the test variables and measurement techniques of the support
equipment. The technical data was overhauled
and corrected. In the end, we went from
15 configurations of pods to two, and we went from more than 18 months behind
schedule to finish all 450-plus pods one year ahead of schedule, and the
mission capable rate in the field, as well as overall performance was
exceptional.
That’s a long story
and a lot of technical detail to make the point that leadership is indeed a
process. It is a process of establishing
mutual trust, mutual goals, of keeping those goals and indicators on how well
you are doing visible to all people involved; to show everyone that necessary
changes are being made and that they are achieving favorable results – that we
are “winning”. Winning is
motivation. Being on a winning team,
solving difficult problems working shoulder-to-shoulder is motivation. Morale skyrocketed as followers became
justifiably proud of their efforts, their work, and their products. And for the two of us as the leaders (myself
and my Company counterpart), we learned more from the followers about the
product, the manufacturing processes, and how to “fix” problems like this than
we could have ever imagined. On top of
that, we got the privilege of directly implementing and experiencing the
teachings of Dr. Deming and seeing the results.
As I worked with my Company counterpart, I get to learn how leadership
works inside and industrial organization.
I learned more about leadership from that man than I have ever learned
from anyone before or since.
As I said, my Company
counterpart and I became lifelong friends.
In recognition of his efforts and successes, the Company promoted him to
Vice President. I saw him a couple of
times when he came to The Pentagon to discuss what eventually became a Navy
program to put targeting pods on F-14s.
Everyone won. It was the most
rewarding experience in my professional life.
Unfortunately, a few days before I was to travel to Orlando, where he
and his wife and young daughter lived, to visit him, he died in a diving
accident at the age of 54 (the same age that I am now). So instead of going to his house for dinner,
I went to his house for his wake and to express to his wife how terribly sorry
I was about his very untimely death.
Leadership experiences, if you are very lucky, can come along that will
change your life for the better and forever.
I was one of the lucky ones.
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