Ken Blanchard is one of the living legends of the business world. His book “The One-Minute Manager” has sold more than 13 million copies — and that’s just one of the more than 60 books written or co-written by him. In 1979 he founded The Ken Blanchard Companies, which today offers management consulting and leadership training to companies around the world.
Among many other things, he is the co-creator of the Hersey-Blanchard situational theory, often referred to as the situational leadership theory, which holds that leadership is never a one-size-fits-all discipline and that there is no one “right” way to lead. That idea is one of the underpinnings of his new book, “Legendary Service: The Key is to Care.” He’s a busy fellow, but he was kind enough to chat with me via email about the book, and about how he’s seen retail change over the course of his career.
JB: You’ve written more than 60 books, and have been researching the topics of customer service and organizational excellence for many years. What would you say is the biggest change that you’ve seen take place over that period?
KB: To me, the biggest change is that we’ve moved away from a command and control leadership model where all the brains were considered to be at the top of the organization and all the energy flowed up that hierarchy. As a result, customers very often were dealing with ducks who would say “Quack quack, it’s our policy,” “Quack quack, I just work here,” “Quack quack, do you want to talk to my supervisor?” “Quack quack, I didn’t make the rules,” “Quaaaaack quack quack quack.” Frontline people weren’t empowered to make decisions.
Today, there’s much more of a situational leadership mindset, where people at every level within the organization are encouraged to use their best judgment when serving customers. The result is a higher probability that you’ll get eagles who will soar above the crowd and solve problems. That doesn’t mean this approach is universal. There are still a lot of self-serving leaders out there who think leadership is all about them and who want everybody to continue sucking up the hierarchy.
Read it here.
If you’d like to work with Barbara, schedule a FREE consultation today to discuss your needs!