By Paul Tate
As the father of evolution, Charles Darwin, once put it: “It’s not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.”
There have been few periods in the history of manufacturing when that concept has been as relevant as it is today. Change is happening everywhere in modern manufacturing – across markets, competition, products, technologies, cultures, and the workforce. Sometimes it’s gradual, sometimes sudden, often disruptive, and always a potential threat to the status quo and business survival.
So, how do you lead your organization through times of intense change?
That’s the focus of our special seven-month leadership development program, Leading Adaptive Change in Manufacturing. It is designed to help Manufacturing Leadership Council Members break down internal barriers to change and help their organizations successfully embrace new opportunities.
“Manufacturing companies often don’t get the results they expect from key projects – not because they didn’t try, or they didn’t have the right people, but because something shifted in the environment and the competitive landscape changed,” explains Jeff Lawrence, principal at Manufacturing Executive partner Cambridge Leadership Associates (CLA), which is delivering the new Adaptive Leadership course.
“So, we are going take the problems companies face and analyze them from a very different point of view,” Lawrence adds. “We are going to help manufacturing leaders understand why some projects didn’t work, how to try some things they’ve never tried before, to take some smart risks to make things work better, and to help them move their people to a place where they’re more productive.”
This is the basis of Adaptive Leadership, a high-level, professional development concept that grew out of the work of leadership experts Ron Heifetz and Marty Linsky at Harvard University. Adaptive Leadership will help today’s manufacturing leaders drive innovation, create more flexible organizations, improve responsiveness, make their people more effective, and deliver more sustainable results.
“The world is getting more complicated, and we all need the ability to deal with change at a faster rate than ever before,” Lawrence says. “We’ll show you how to become more competitive, more agile, and always ready for the next challenge.”
Find out more about our Leading Adaptive Change in Manufacturing program by listening to our special introductory Webinar with Cambridge Leadership Associates at http://www.manufacturing-executive.com/community/webinar_adaptive_leadership.
To book your place in the 2012 Leading Adaptive Change in Manufacturing program, call us at 888-280-6794 or send e-mail to executiveteam@manufacturingleadershipcouncil.com.
We look forward to seeing you there.
