Good Leadership Can Be Measured in Dollars and Cents

© 2011 Camille Hess The Results Group International

Overall, any improvement in leadership can be measured in dollars and cents.  Increased productivity, increased profitability; these are the measurable results of more effective leadership.  And I don’t just mean leadership at the very top.

A client of mine in Upstate New York is a good example.  They are the second largest food service company in the country and they were challenged by several changes in leadership a few years ago.  As a result of these changes, two districts in the northeast were combined into one district covering four states.   The district leadership, recognizing the challenge of combining these territories and wanting to do so without sacrificing the service level to their customers, identified the need to invest training dollars in the Operations leadership.  The goal of this training was to help the Operations Leadership Team increase their effectiveness as leaders.

At the beginning of this training, productivity through the transition was at 67%.  Over the next 12 months, I worked with each individual leader in the Operations area; from the VP of Operations to the day and night Warehouse Supervisors.  By the end of the year, productivity had risen to 93%.  Why?  What had changed?  I surely had no magic wand!

The leaders had changed.  They weren’t different people, but they were people who had identified the skills they needed to improve in order to do their jobs more effectively.  If the leaders are better leaders, the people are better producers.

Why?  Because the leadership team had fine-tuned their ability to identify and clearly communicate the goals, to stay focused on those goals and to coach and develop their people.  Everyone on the team had focus.  Everyone was headed in the same direction.  Everyone cared about being successful, reaching their goals.  This is the kind of effect strong leadership can have in just one organization.  The results of that improvement were measurable results.  The value in dollars and cents?  The value of a 26% increase in productivity.   Some results, wouldn’t you say? 

© 2011 Camille Hess The Results Group International