Empowering leadership...
08 December 2008
Don't think the credit crunch is that bad? Well spare a thought for car manufacturer General Motors (who own Australia's own Holden). Time Magazine reports they are loosing money at the rate of $2 billion a month. Think that's bad? The company lost a total of $38 billion in 2007. Toyota on the other hand has weathered the storm relatively well. What's made them succeed you ask?
"They made the workforce integral to improving the system. Workers were not mere labor inputs... it required a buy in from the shop floor so that everyone was dedicated to improvement... [Toyota] relies on contributions from employees . It feels vulnerable but your willingness to be open to vulnerability is what helps you make it work."Pastors/General Motors take note. An ability to empower people on the production line is part of the reason for automotive/ministry success. You can read more about empowering leadership here*.
*Cheers Mikey for link
tags cars, christian, ministry tips, thinking
2 comments:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
The whole Detriot vs Japan thing in the car industry has a very long and complicated history. It can be viewed and understood on many different levels, and you need to have at least two angles to understand any of it. Indeed, it partly comes down to differences in national culture, and workplace culture.
People wrote books about this, even in the 70's, when Toyota was emerging as a leader in quality control and cost control.
There is a fictional american movie addressing only the surface of these differences, called Gung Ho. From way back in 1986, staring Michael Keaton. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091159/
In about 1980, Chysler almost went under. In a similar way, I doubt GM will dissapear. But they may have to change.
If ministry isn't empowering leadership, what is it? As ministers, our goal is that people would be fully actualized in the will of God. We spend our lives so that others may find Christ and experience His empowering love. Unfortunately, when ministers stray from this they become mere executive managers. This is not just a weakness, it is a fatal flaw for it is not at all the true nature of ministry. I really like the thoughts you bring up!