Owners and executives in smaller foundries need to create a sense of urgency in their companies to survive in today’s economy – urgency to meet goals, to satisfy customers, and to improve productivity. The inertia of business-as-usual is no longer an option as a tsunami of bad economic news washes over the casting industry… and maybe your foundry, too.

Very often, creating a sense of urgency means an owner/executive of a foundry needs to develop a stronger leadership system so he can focus on key company goals, instill in his managers a desire to do their utmost to reach those goals, and to overcome organizational inertia before the status quo turns into status woe.

A performance coach can help executives of smaller foundries institute these changes quickly.

What is a performance coach?
A performance coach is a seasoned executive who understands foundries; the organizational dynamics of smaller companies where single managers juggle multiple tasks; who knows the difficulties a foundry executive has in focusing on his company’s key goals while delegating less important matters; and who can advise him on ways to re-energize his workforce – from direct reports on down to the newest man in shakeout. In short, he can help rid a company of inertia.

What is inertia?
Inertia is “business as usual” — an acceptance of the status quo that tolerates mid-management excuses rather than reasons for not achieving goals. Inertia can be overcome with a formal compensation system that rewards managers based on their results and with an informal communications effort that motivates them to work together to achieve overall company goals. Most importantly, inertia can be overcome when an executive/owner is taught to focus on the “big picture” – the goals his foundry must meet if it is to be successful – and help his subordinates to achieve their parts in making those goals a reality rather than a dream. According to management guru Peter Drucker, “Inertia in management is responsible for more loss of marketshare, more loss of competitive position, and more loss of business growth than any other factor. (Drucker, Peter, Managing for the Future: the 1990’s)

What is leadership?
If that is inertia, what is leadership? Leadership is the ability to discern what needs to be done, what goals must be met, and how to motivate associates and subordinates to make those needs and goals their own priorities. Leadership is not Business-as-Usual is No Longer an Option How foundries fight inertia to boost profits, achieve the big picture to be confused with affability, nor, perhaps, with setting goals through consensus. While the need for mutual support and teamwork is clear, so are ambitious goals. Every foundry needs a leader to set the goals and priorities for his company. Although every company is a team, every team needs a leader, and everybody on a team must cooperate to reach the ambitious goals he sets.

A leader has a strong internal drive to improve both personally and organizationally, and a dissatisfaction with any performance short of that. His leadership inspires subordinates to do the same. Leadership is not the result of consensus, does not necessarily produce popularity, but does generate a sense of achievement. My experience suggests exerting such leadership is not as simple as it sounds.

What really happens?
Despite their honest belief that they strive to improve results, many executives accept substandard results because they are reluctant to upset anybody by insisting on better performance – in molding, on the pouring deck, or in finishing. In today’s economy, many executives ask how they can do a better job of managing their organization to create the urgency they want. They ask how they can motivate subordinates to exert the extra effort needed to fulfill their individual objectives, so they themselves can focus on the “big picture” — the overall goals their foundry needs to reach to survive, and perhaps even to prosper, in the current recession.

There are several reasons why executives find a performance coach helpful in answering these questions. First, most executives and managers in smaller casters wear many hats, and are busy doing a multitude of tasks. It takes a management system to back away from details and prevent subordinate managers from “delegating upwards” responsibilities they are reluctant to undertake. Second, many owner/executives have grown their foundries because they have excelled in a particular activity (e.g., marketing, sales, finance, or operations.) They cling to the matters with which they are most familiar.

In a growing company, an entrepreneur is responsible for everything. Even with the many hats he wears, the long hours he works, he may be reluctant to let go of the details of the activities with which he is comfortable and familiar. Just where to best spend an advertising budget, or just how to schedule the plant for speedier deliveries of past-due castings are no longer his jobs. Those are for subordinates. Many entrepreneurs are uncomfortable shifting from handling familiar details to the unfamiliar role of dealing with the “big picture.” They are unfamiliar with asking: “Does doing X help us meet our key goals?” And, they are uncomfortable with asking, “How are my subordinate managers helping us reach our key goals?”

Creating a sense of urgency about meeting company goals is often accomplished both formally and informally.

Formally, it first requires a system to ensure managers understand what their goals are, and confirms managers understand what is expected of them. Second, it requires a system of aligning individual rewards to individual results. This means gathering and reviewing operating statistics, i.e., just how managers are doing with regard to their goals. And finally, it requires a feedback mechanism so that managers are constantly aware of the progress they are making towards their goals.

Informally, creating a sense of urgency requires constant discussion with and listening to subordinates on both an individual and group basis. This interplay puts everybody on the same page and aware of any problems from coremaking to shipping. It involves give-and-take discussions and sending informal signals to subordinates in order to create an environment that makes managers want to work together to achieve overall company goals.

How can a performance coach help a busy executive?
Most foundries today face purchasing agents shopping the world for cheaper castings. Executives of the most successful foundries use performance coaches to take the following steps:

• To help them focus their own individual efforts on defining their company’s key objectives, and to develop a system that monitors how well subordinate managers perform their roles in of those objectives;
• To show their managers and supervisors how to improve their own effectiveness by teaching them how to focus their time on those activities that contribute the most in reaching their individual goals;
• To develop feedback mechanisms to inform managers about the company’s progress toward overall objectives, and the managers’ own progress toward their part of those goals;
• To tie managerial and supervisory compensation to their progress toward their individual goals, which further the company’s key objectives;
• To train supervisors to organize and manage their departments’ work, not just their employees’ behavior;
• And, to improve worker productivity through motivational tools including innovative pay-for-performance compensation programs.

In today’s down markets, most customers are winnowing the number of their casting suppliers, looking for the few, the most efficient, the ones with the lowest prices. Only those will survive. Perhaps a Performance Coach can help your foundry be one of them.