Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1372612
20 PCB007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2021 standing what the company is capable of ac- complishing, and just processing everything, connecting dots, and drawing conclusions. A more intuitive mind may comment, "Here's a clear problem our customers or the industry is facing. Without too large of a commitment, we could build this product solving a problem and generate healthy revenue and margin from the endeavor. Let's do it!" e methodical thinkers would respond, "So you think we should get into this product type, eh? Well, let's start with a market analysis. Where's the data to support the idea? What's the ROI and is this a new revenue swim lane or something close to what we are already do- ing?" Methodical thinkers can be sold on and even enhance intuitive reasoning, but they want a little more data and analysis to be com- fortable before adding additional burden or distractions to the company. e different thinking styles can easily be in conflict. Intui- tive leaders want to push for- ward, knowing they are right, and needing little objective evi- dence, at least in the short term. And a good intuitive leader is of- ten right. Nevertheless, to be a successful organization one must be able to more objectively mea- sure progress since everything eventually impacts the bottom line. Over the timeframe of months and years a balance of intuitive and methodical leadership natu- rally forms. Aer all, our strate- gic plan calls for significant con- tinual improvement in on-going operations while simultaneous- ly asking the company to make leaps forward into new relation- ships and product types. We find ourselves on this teeter totter, slowly oscillating where we deep- dive operations issues for a time then we focus on capturing future opportuni- ties for a time. I think this is natural for a busi- ness, responding to problems and opportuni- ties as they arise. We continue to make mea- surable progress because everyone is working from the same strategic playbook. Johnson: You were implying that you've got some projects where you tracked the met- rics very closely and you were successful. But you also have some projects where you didn't track the data for three months or so and then as you came back, you got to see the progress over a period of time, and it was successful. My guess is a lot of organizations are going to lean strongly one way or the other and tend to be much more of an intuitive development team or a metrics driven development team, de- pending upon company culture. It's interesting to find you've got both. Improving operational excellence at Calumet Electronics meant defining "What's Important and Desired Outcomes," and then communicating that to the entire workforce.