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76 SMT Magazine • November 2016 management tasks will be highly automated so the leadership group can focus on leadership. An important role the leadership group will play is to effectively work for the product team. Again, this makes sense when you consider the leadership group is an indirect cost that must be absorbed in the direct labor sell rate. Besides being an important source of company leader- ship, their role includes acting as an enabling function. They are responsible for providing the product team with the tools and resources they need to be successful. This is in addition to their roles as a check and balance, resolving conflicts that the product team cannot solve themselves, setting a good example by always acting in accordance with company values and being responsible for looking beyond the ho - rizon to ensure the job security of the product team members. A Candid Assessment of Your Company's Leadership And, that brings up an important point: Look at the managers in your organization. Are they preoccupied with managing adminis- tration functions? If so, this distracts from their ability to be leaders. What are the primary roles that the leaders in your organization should be playing? I would suggest that beyond persuading all employees to act in accordance with the best interest of the organization and promoting your compa- ny values through their example, it is provid- ing for your job security and expanding oppor- tunity for the advancement of the individuals in the workforce. If some of those indirect personnel are not looking out over the horizon, challenging the company to minimize costs and ensuring that a reasonable order backlog is maintained. This results in your security and future are not being looked after. It is sad when over the years I have encoun- tered companies that have a downturn in busi- ness and conduct a layoff. This is a failure in leadership if it is backlog-related, and failure in management if it is cost-related. And, what nor- mally happens is the direct labor force gets cut back—who, as I have said before, effectively, pays the salaries of indirect managers and lead- ers. Now, that is an injustice! It is company lead- ership and/or management that have failed— not the direct labor personnel who do their jobs day in and day out. It is members in the orga- nization responsible for leadership and/or man- agement who should be marched out the door, unless, of course, the manager and/or leader is a significant equity holder. If so, the board of di- rectors needs to address the issue and remove the manager/leader part of this manager/own- er's job description. Remember, "The fish stinks from the head." Do you get the opportunity to review the performance of your managers and directors? If so, is the review anonymous? Does your compa- ny encourage constructive criticism? Do you get a chance to comment on the company's fideli- ty to the company mission statement and set of values (sometimes called a creed or "credo")? Does your company have a mission statement and credo? Does your manager assign respon- sibility without also providing the appropriate authority? Does your manager micro-manage— not properly delegating and not performing up to his job description? I have found many, if not most managers work down at least one job category. Directors do managers jobs, managers do group leader jobs, group leaders micromanage and do the work the engineers in their group should be do- ing. This propensity for micromanagement is one that is common in engineering. Since no " I have found many, if not most managers work down at least one job category. Directors do managers jobs, managers do group leader jobs, group leaders micromanage and do the work the engineers in their group should be doing. " LEADERSHIP IN YOUR COMPANY: SOMETHING TO WORRY ABOUT?