A great client asked me about performance expectations for production Leads, particularly new ones. They’d struggled with this issue, but events had resulted in new Leads in multiple areas and it was time to revisit the question.
In their environment Leads are highly skilled and promoted on merit to a process area leadership role, but still spend a large chunk of their time in hands-on activities.
My response was that a Lead has three primary priorities:
1. Meet the schedule
Ensure resources are available and on task to meet internal due dates. Anticipate, identify, and manage issues or constraints that would put the schedule at risk.
2. Set the standard
This includes quality, pace, and work habits. While some might be better or more skilled in some area, the Lead is the “bar” and works with their people to achieve, maintain, or exceed the same levels.
3. Improve order flow
The Lead looks at the up and downstream tasks, from release to shipping, and works with other Leads and management to speed that process, improve efficiencies, and reduce rework.
If these three priorities are attended to, then a Lead’s area will be stable, predictable, and continuously improving. But that’s not so easy to do. I’ll make some suggestions on how to help Leads succeed in my next post.