by Douglas Dawson, Leg Up Solutions, Shingo Licensed Affiliate
About 18 months ago, I was part of a team that worked with an Australian business for a specific engagement. During our meetings, I became fascinated with this business and their substantial commitment to training new people as part of the onboarding process, or new employee orientation (NEO). The training was specific as to culture, systems, tools, continuous improvement, and how sustainable results were to be achieved.
A member of my team asked the site leader of the Australian business, “With such a heavy investment in training new employees, are you not concerned that an employee might jump to a different business unit, or worse, leave the company, before training ROI is realized?”
I will never forget the response from the site leader, who displayed exceptional calm and confidence, even comfort, with his response. “We plant trees, the shade for which we know we will never sit under.” I was floored by his response. This P&L owner was exhibiting the ideal behaviors from the Shingo Guiding Principles of Respect Every Individual and Lead with Humility.
For some time, I pondered his response. I am a leadership professional focused on helping organizations on their journey toward organizational excellence. In the quest to help these organizations realize sustainable results, I knew that I was obligated to do something with this information.
After some additional research I learned that the site leader’s response is a proverb, the origins of which are attributed to several nationalities and quoted by numerous thought leaders. It is not specific to any one individual. No matter. Its import is clear.
In our business practice, my team and I concluded that this idea is aligned somewhat with the concept that is attuned to those familiar with and close to nature. That is, the concept of Leave No Trace. The idea is that when you are in the wilderness or out in nature in general, even the park in your neighborhood, you should leave no trace of your presence. You “carry out what you pack in” and you “leave things better than you found them.”
We have all heard the expression, and perhaps experienced the awful reality, of executives, managers, or team members who “leave dead bodies in their wake.” From an organizational excellence perspective, this is clearly leaving a trace of your presence—a negative trace. In addition, some organizations experience executives, managers, or team members who leave a trace when there have been great results, but after receiving a promotion or leaving the organization, those results falter—sometimes considerably—because they were muscled and contrived, rather than organic (meaning the organization’s culture and not the individual are driving the results) and sustainable.
There are seven principles of Leave No Trace. In the course of our thinking, we wondered if there was a way these seven principles could somehow be applied to leadership. We explored this idea and came up with the concept of Leave No Trace Leadership, establishing seven principles focused on leadership that leaves no trace of the executive, manager, or team member, other than, perhaps, fond memories and sustainable results. This requires the modeling of the two Shingo Guiding Principles mentioned earlier: Respect Every Individual and Lead with Humility.
Over several months, we fleshed out and explored the concept of Leave No Trace Leadership (LNTL) and came up with a simple and succinct report that outlines what it means in actionable and measurable ways: the 2021 Leave No Trace Leadership Report.
We realized the need to collect data that would enable further insights as to what people struggle with when it comes to leaders. This led to the creation of the 2021 Leave No Trace Leadership Survey, a simple five-minute exercise in which respondents reflect on leadership as he or she perceives it. The data from the survey will be reviewed by thought leaders who focus on the area of leadership. They will have the opportunity to provide insights regarding the data collected from the survey, which will be published in our 2022 Leave No Trace Leadership Report, in late Q2 or early Q3 of this year.
We believe that Leave No Trace Leadership is an important concept critical to organizations delivering sustainable results. It is more relevant and needed today than ever before. You can see the need as you look around the world. Whether you are an executive, manager, or team member, think about your leadership style. Are you planting trees the shade for which you know you will never sit under? Or are you chopping them down as you go?
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