Have you seen the movie Jiro Dreams of Sushi? It’s fantastic. It’s a documentary about Jiro Ono, an 87 year-old sushi chef, reputed to be the best in the world. Jiro owns a Michelin three-star restaurant in the basement of an office building in Tokyo—and he really does dream of sushi.

Every leader should see this movie. It will inspire you to become a master of your craft. Jiro has devoted his life to his, and yet still feels driven to improve.  As he puts it, “Even at my age in my work I haven’t achieved perfection. I’ll continue to climb trying to reach the top, but no one knows where the top is.”  While most people his age are working on their golf game, Jiro continues to pursue perfection.

The movie inspired me to think about my leadership and how I could get better. Regardless of what your company does, if you’re a manager, you’re in the people-moving business, and what a thrilling adventure that can be. Leading others is one of the hardest, yet most rewarding jobs a person can have. It requires passion and continual improvement, the kind Jiro exemplifies with sushi making. One of the biggest mistakes a manager can make, is to believe he has arrived. The best leaders are the ones still trying to grow and master the art.

This week, embrace your role leading others, and commit yourself to continuous improvement. What area of your leadership can you improve? What small thing could you do this week to lead at a higher level? If you are feeling tired, reinvest yourself, and commit to mastery. Finally, love what you do. It will make everything seem a lot easier. As Jiro says, “You have to love your job, you must fall in love with your work.”

Love to lead.

To watch a trailer of Jiro Dreams of Sushi click below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-aGPniFvS0

Whenever I see great leadership in action I try and make a note of it, dissect it, and glean what lessons I can. Here is the latest leadership sighting.

Are you easy to follow?

Recently I had the privilege of spending the day with the managers of Discount Car and Truck Rental teaching them the principles behind Nine Minutes on Monday. Discount is a family owned car rental company, with over 300 locations in Canada and Australia. A couple of years ago they were recognized as having one of Canada’s top 10 corporate cultures. Discount was founded by Herb and Rhoda Singer but just recently their son Jay, has taken over as President after working his way up through the company.

Before I launched into my session I had a chance to hear Jay address his managers who had gathered from all over Canada for a three-day leadership intensive.  My brief time with him confirmed that he is truly a leader who “gets it.” What do I mean by “leader who gets it?” Here are three telling signs:

1. Jay gets it that he’s not the most important person in the company.

Multiple times during his speech he reminded his managers that he has very little power within the company. He reinforced to them that they are the ones who carry the most influence. Jay said this with deep convictions, probably gained by working his way up through the ranks himself.

Why it works

Great leaders know that their people are the most important asset in the company. Without them, you have nothing. Seeing your people in this light will guard you from getting lost in the details and forgetting to spend the appropriate time supporting, and equipping them. Remember it’s your people who produce the results. Your job is to help them be as successful as you need them to be.

2. Jay gets it that a leader has to have a compelling vision.

Jay made it clear that Discount was expanding into some new markets that were going to help their company continue to grow.

Why it works

Great leaders get the importance of compelling visions. People want to be part of something larger than a job. Remember, everyday your staff get on your bus and expect you to let them know where it’s going. And while its always good to pull them into the conversation, they ultimately look to you to set the course and keep that vision in front of them.

3. Jay gets it that you have to set an example of hard work and humility.

Jay communicated both a deep gratitude for his staff and humility about his new position. Humility can sometimes be hard to find in the C-Suite. His example as a hard working employee before he ever tool over has earned him the respect of his senior staff. I had a chance to speak with Susan Ball the HR manager who has been with the company for 16 years. Some time ago she was informed that Jay would be coming to work for her. Her thought was, “Oh, you mean he’s ‘working’ for me but really he’s going to tell me what he wants to do.” Her initial perception, as she explained to me, was completely wrong. She said Jay was a hard worker and stellar employee. Now, years later, Jay is her boss and Susan has no problems following a person like him.

Why it works

In Jim Collins’ book Good to Great, he highlights that the best leaders possess the qualities of personal humility and professional will. There is something powerful about the mix of determined vision and personal humility. It endears you to your staff and inspires them to want your company or department to succeed. When you set an example for your staff it makes it easier for them to do what you’ve asked them to do.

After meeting Jay and listening to his speech I remember thinking to myself, “He’d be easy to follow.” I have no doubt that Discount Car and Truck Rentals are in for some great years ahead with the great leadership team they have assembled.  See your people as your best asset, keep the vision before them, and set an example in work ethic and humility, and you’ll be a leader who is easy to follow.

Its been a tough month for Carnival Cruise lines after their ship Triumph lost power stranding over 4,000 vacationers at sea. Guests had to endure food rationing, overflowing sewage, and fears of looting while they waited for the ship to be towed back to land.  While all of this has created a PR nightmare for Carnival, there was one bright light among the countless tales of anger and frustration; that bright spot was the professionalism of the crew.

The staff of the Carnival Triumph worked around the clock to keep passengers calm and the situation somewhat bearable. They constantly checked in on guests, had to take on the dirtiest of jobs like collecting people’s waste, and often did it all with smiles on their faces.  Report after report from guests have lauded the crew for doing an amazing job given their challenging circumstances.

While Carnival will be spending a lot of their time cleaning up the public relations disaster, it would be a mistake if they lost sight of their most important asset, which is their crew. It would be easy to send them all back to work as if nothing had happened, especially since head office will have their hands full over the next couple of months. But, there is an opportunity here to strengthen their business in the long run and it involves the staff of the Triumph.

So, If I were CEO of Carnival…

1. I would bring in the managers from each department of the ship for a debrief. My goal here is to gather the lessons learned in handling both guests, and staff during the crisis. These lessons would then be passed on to every manager in the company. I may even try to have a couple of training days where some of the crew from the Triumph were present to share their stories and pass on what was learned.
2. The managers or staff who performed especially well, I would send them to other cruise ships to share their stories of what happened, what they learned, and what they would do differently. I would make sure everyone in Carnival had a chance to hear these manager’s stories.
3. I would make sure the crew of the Triumph got some type of bonus for their hard work whether it was money or paid days off.
4. I would make sure the crew heard from me directly about how much their efforts have been a bright spot for Carnival and how their efforts made the best of a bad situation for guests.
5. Finally, I would want to know which staff was the best of the best during the crisis and then I would create a new award, kind of like a medal of honor, to be given to them for acts of extreme heroics. I would have a nice ceremony at a nice hotel and invite the recipients. I would then make sure that all of the Carnival staff had access to their stories as a source of inspiration.

You don’t have to be facing a monumental customer service nightmare to implement these same lessons in your workplace. The idea here is that your employees are one of your greatest sources of training. When something goes wrong it’s an opportunity to learn and grow. The key is to not get so busy that you fail to recognize and capture the lessons learned and pass them on. Doing so also motivates your employees as they get a chance to contribute to the organization with their story. When was the last time one of your employees handled a tough situation, or a nasty customer? Have you had them share their story? If not, find a way to make that happen this week.

So if I were CEO of Carnival, I would make sure someone was making these things happen. If I were CEO of any other cruise ship right now? I would be trying hard to steal some of Triumph’s employees because I want their knowledge, and experience for my own company.

10 Tips to Boost Productivity at Work.
How did one manufacturing plant raise its productivity by 20% in two months? They let their employees design their own uniforms. Well, that’s half of it. We all know that autonomy is a huge motivator. People desire to have control over their job’s and lives. What we sometimes don’t realize is that helping an employee enjoy a greater sense of autonomy doesn’t require a massive initiative. In Charles Duhigg’s book The Power of Habit he cites a 2010 study at a manufacturing plant where employees were allowed to have authority over the scheduling of their shifts and were allowed to design their own uniforms. Everything else remained the same. After two months workers were taking shorter breaks, making fewer mistakes, and the productivity in this plant rose by 20%.

When people are allowed to exercise their autonomy it can have immediate positive benefits. As seen in the manufacturing plant, even little opportunities to exercise control can lead to staggering benefits.

Here are some quick ideas on how to help your employees enjoy more autonomy at work:

1. When you give a task to be completed let your employees come up with how to do it.
2. Seek their input on a pressing problem.
3. Let employees design their work environment (layout or uniforms etc)
4. Instead of purchasing equipment for them, give them a budget and let them research and choose themselves.
5. When possible, give them the authority to hire and fire.
6. Ask them to research and find a charity your company can partner with.
7. Ask them to design their own rewards system for exceptional performance.
8. Give them their own training budget and then let them decide how to spend it.
9. Challenge your employees to find three ways they can bring some of their natural strengths to work which they currently don’t use.
10. Give each employee the challenge of becoming a “go-to expert” in a specific area.

One last thing. Giving employees more autonomy sometimes means more mistakes. As employees try new things and new approaches they are bound to experience some failures. Be careful not to punish failure. Instead, reward the effort, the initiative, and the lessons learned from it.

Nine Minutes on Monday Book from jamesrobbins on Vimeo.

Recently I was on a Delta Airlines flight from Toronto to Atlanta when I witnessed a great display of leadership which caused a plane full of angry people to chill out, feel taken care of, and even have a couple of good laughs.  Here’s what happened, here’s why it worked, and what you can imitate from it.

The Scenario:
We were waiting to push back from the gate when we were alerted of a problem; something was wrong with the airplane door and it wouldn’t close. Apparently an open door on a jet plane is enough to keep you from taking off. Go figure. When the initial announcement was made that we needed to wait for a mechanic to come and assess the situation it set off a chain of predictable reactions; groans, complaints, and mutters among the passengers who were trying to get home or make tight connections.

A couple of minutes later the Captain emerges from the cockpit and while standing in the isle makes this announcement:
“Folks, we are just waiting for the mechanic to arrive and I want to keep you informed as to what’s happening. I know there’s nothing worse than sitting on an airplane without any information so I want to make sure you know what’s going on.”

Analysis:
There were five things the pilot did here which helped the situation.
1. Face time – The Pilot came out of the cockpit and gave us a face to the voice over the intercom. Its easy to be angry at a voice or an email but it’s harder to be angry at someone when we can see their face. Whenever your organization is facing a tough time or going through a period of change remember this lesson. It’s important that leaders get regular face to face time with their people.

2. Empathy – The pilot recognized that waiting on an airplane is not a fun thing. This mere acknowledgment communicates empathy. It helps passengers feel understood and helps calm agitated feelings. It also makes it easier to trust because when we feel someone can relate to us, we are more apt to trust them. Be sure to express empathy with your employees when they are facing difficult situations or having to grind through unpleasant tasks.

3. Communication – We crave information because it helps us process and regulate what we should do next. A lot of leaders (and airline pilots) make this mistake and underestimate the need for continual information especially during times of change or crisis. If you are not communicating constantly with your team, they will fill in the gap with their own thoughts and perceptions, some of which will be completely false.

The next announcement the pilot made was a couple of minutes later and it went like this:
“I just want all of you to know that if we can’t get this problem fixed we have another flight out of here in a couple of hours and we almost have all of you re-booked on that flight. It looks like the majority of you are still going to be able to make your connections.”

Analysis:
4. Anticipate Stressors – This announcement was huge because it answered the questions everyone was asking inside their heads such as, “How am I going to get to Atlanta?” and “What about my connecting flight?” The ability to answer people’s questions before they ask them is an important leadership skill. This helped dissipate some stress and gave you the feeling that Delta was really working hard at taking care of their customers. As a leader you have to anticipate which questions and issues your staff or customers are worried about and find ways to speak to those concerns.

The Pilot came on again with another update:
“I just wanted to let you know that the mechanic is working on the problem and hopefully he will be able to get this fixed so we can depart, but in the meantime sit back, relax, enjoy the incredible service from our wonderful flight attendants. You’re warm, you have the best seat in the house, and … you’re lucky!”

At this the entire plane erupted in laughter and then he added:

“I probably went too far on the lucky comment didn’t I?”

Again more laughter.

Analysis:
5. Use of Humor – Any lingering anger was evaporated by the pilot’s use of humor. Because he had already established a great rapport with the passengers by constantly coming out of the cockpit and appearing before us, he was able to help us find humor in the situation. Humor is an effective way to dissolve stress and should be a part of every manager’s toolkit.

This story ends with the mechanic fixing the door and us taking off about an hour behind schedule. I have to say it was the best mechanical delay I have ever had to sit through. Great job Delta, and great demonstration of leadership Captain whoever you are.

Many years ago I was just about to leave work for some much needed holidays when my boss called me and said he wanted to see me. In the words of Homer Simpson, “Doh!” I felt like a bank robber who had almost made his escape when the town Sheriff suddenly appears behind him and says, “Not so fast there.”

After finishing up everything I had to do, I made my way to see him. What ended up happening surprised me. My boss didn’t have any criticism for me or even a “good-point, bad-point” performance review, he simply wanted to meet with me before I went out of town to tell me I was doing a good job. He mentioned a few specific things he was pleased about and encouraged me to have a great vacation.

While the talk was very short it had a big impact on me. It changed the way I felt about leaving. Don’t get me wrong, I still looked forward to the holiday, but now it was less about escaping from work. It also made me feel good as I left because I was reminded that my efforts were making a difference.

Leadership Challenge
Take a minute with each one of your direct reports before they leave for holidays and do what my boss did for me; instead of giving them the generic “have a great holiday,” tell them something they’re doing well and what kind of difference their work is making. It will send them away on a high note.

Most of us have at spent time in the doghouse. Its usually after we’ve blown it or underperformed in someway. While the analogy is often applied to marriage, doghouses are just as common in workplaces around the globe. This is a problem because nothing good comes from keeping a doghouse at your workplace; it’s a place of punishment and isolation. However, ask managers if they keep a doghouse and most, if not all, will tell you they don’t.  But if nobody does, then why can most employees recount at least one story of feeling like they have been spent some time there.

Doghouses are tricky things because sometimes they are the result of a manager who is punishing an employee, while at other times they are figments of the employee’s imagination. Even if they are the later, there is a lot you can do as a manager to make your workplace doghouse free. When it comes to eliminating doghouses, clarity and closure are the keys.

Here are six steps to eliminating doghouses at your workplace.

When an employee has made a mistake or underperformed:
1. Manage your emotions.
Even if you are extremely angry with your employee, there still needs to be control. Anger clouds our judgement and weakens our self control, leaving us open to saying something, which may be extremely damaging. In the end your goal is to promote effective behavior in the workplace. Walking around angry will not help you do this. If you are really angry about the mistake an employee has made, avoid giving feedback until you have cooled off.

2. Address them quickly.
Remember as a kid when you did something wrong and your mom threatened you with, “Wait until your father gets home.” Waiting to get in trouble is agonizing. When an employee makes a mistake or underperforms, it’s important that you as a manager deal with it quickly.

3. Always be specific.
Outline exactly what they did (behavior or action) and stay away from character judgements.  For example, if Mary messed up the order with a big client, then outline exactly what she did wrong. If Bill told a joke at the team meeting that was insensitive then outline the specific problem behavior, (telling an insensitive joke) instead of making a judgement about his personal character (you’re insensitive).

4. Link their behavior or action to a larger consequence.
Sometimes managers think they need to be angry with an employee for a period of time to help them ‘get it.’ But most employees will ‘get it’ if you connect it to a bigger ‘why.’ Instead of being angry at Mary all week, help her see the consequences, or potential consequences of her mistake. “Mary, the customer said they had considered going to our competition because of your mistake. We cannot afford to lose a client this large. If we did we would not have enough revenue to continue without severe cutbacks.” Unless Mary is  an uncaring and unengaged employee (in which case she should not be dealing with your largest customer) she is going to ‘get it.’ Her manager will not need to go around the rest of the week still angry at her. Help your employees connect real-world consequences to their actions.

5. Be specific about what you want them to do next.
This is an important step because people naturally want to do something to right their wrong. “Mary, I want you to make a checklist of everything you need to do before you ship an order to a client. I want you to finish that by the end of the day and give it to me.” This gives Mary something to do which will not only help her, but will also protect her and the company from making the same mistake again. It actually helps improve your organization.

6. Close the loop.
The final step may be the most important. When an employee makes a mistake they can feel a great deal of insecurity. Insecurity will not help your employees work at their highest level. Since most of their insecurity will relate to their perceptions of how you feel about them, you want to find ways to communicate your belief. There are many ways to do this but the most obvious is to treat them like you would on any other day. Be friendly, respectful and professional. Another great way to close the loop is to give them positive feedback on something they have done well. Whatever you asked them to do in step five should provide a great opportunity to communicate belief. “Mary, you have done a great job with this checklist. I can’t think of anything to add. If you use this with every customer order, you will be delivering world class service. In fact, I think we should make copies and give one of these to everyone on the team. This will be a great resource to make our team better.”

The hardest part of keeping your workplace doghouse free is managing your own emotions. You may have followed the six steps above but still feel angry with Mary because of her mistake. This is part of the challenge of leadership and why you need to have other outlets in your life to deal with stress and anger. In the end, you are paid to produce results and the bulk of those results are produced by your people. Therefore you want to do everything in your power to help them be as successful as you need them to be. When employees feel like they are in the doghouse, they will never perform optimally.