What is TPL?
Introduction
- TPL is all about leadership, and leadership is the one core differentiator that exists in every human endeavor.
- You cannot achieve excellence without good leadership.
- In the end, leadership is everything.
- The study and practice of leadership is the key to success for all organizations.
- There are two authority streams, leadership, and management.
- Management is the administrative side of authority, and leadership is the visionary and inspirational side.
- In today’s world, those who have authority over others need to lead more. Since time is finite, they can only do that, if they manage less.
- Middle and frontline leaders do most of the deciding and inspiring. That is just a simple math equation. They are closer to the people and the processes where deciding and inspiring take place.
- The most effective and most affordable way to achieve excellence in any organization is to enable middle and frontline leaders to Think, Plan, and Lead more.
- Some leaders are born, and others are made, but all leaders can become much more effective if they study and practice the art and science of leadership.
So, what is TPL?
- TPL is a dynamic concept that challenges everyone to find ways for middle and frontline leaders to spend more time Thinking, Planning, and Leading – finding more time to TPL.
- TPL reminds us that leadership is thoughtful, it follows a methodology that we can all learn and use, and it requires effective execution.
Why is TPL important?
- When leaders have time to think about the impact they want to have, use a sound method or tool to plan out that impact, and then execute well, the organization gets good leadership, and good leadership leads to excellence.
How do you apply TPL?
- Executives need to start by clarifying the purpose, vision, and values of the organization, which we at Avanulo call the PVV. They need to make sure the PVV is clear, and well-animated.
- Executives then need to develop thoughtful leadership principles that support the PVV of the organization.
- Executives need to develop continuous leadership education that supports the PVV, teaches the organization’s leadership principles, and orients everyone to the concepts of TPL.
- Executives need to challenge everyone in the organization to reduce the time spent on management duties and use the time saved to TPL.
- Middle Managers and Frontline leaders need to seek ways to reduce the time they spend on management duties and use the time saved to TPL.
- Those who find ways to increase their TPL should share those best practices with others, and executives should encourage the sharing of these best practices.
Key Tools
- Write us at info@tplshow.org for a free guide and tool set to help you establish TPL on you team and in your organization. Ask for the What-Why-How on TPL.
Thanks for listening.
The TPL Show is a subsidiary of Avanulo, a global consulting firm that helps its clients overcome challenges and achieve excellence with intentional culture.
Transcript
Welcome to the TPL Show, a podcast dedicated to the study and discussion of leadership. Join us as we share relevant, simple, and lasting methods for improvement that can be used to lead from any E level in any organization.
[:Hey, guys. Welcome to the TPL show. So, we're excited to get this kicked off, so let's jump right in.
[:Right
[:So, I think with this being one of our first shows, we got some really good topics to discuss. Obviously, we're going to get into what TPO actually is, but I think we've got a couple of other topics we should hit first.
[:Dave, how important is leadership in general?
[:Yeah, I think that's a great place to start because TPL is all about leadership. So, let's talk about how important it is. And there's an obvious answer. It's everything. So, you've all seen this. If you just sit back and think about it for a moment, you've seen a beautiful business that's brand new, it's shining, brilliant lights inside, everyone's dressed in crisp, clean uniforms, and nothing much is coming out the back. And you've seen a kind of a dingy place, rusty dark, people are in old jeans. But everything is humming and everything's moving along. It's the Bad News Bears effect, so to speak.
[:Right.
[:So, when there's good leadership, great things happen, even if you're resource constrained, even if you're fighting an uphill battle. When there's mediocre or poor leadership, great things don't happen. It's just that simple. So, in the end, leadership is everything. And that's why we've built this whole show around that concept that to get a great impact, you've got to have great leaders.
[:Because things can be pretty on the surface, but if you're not producing anything, then what's the point, right?
[:Yeah. And so, this idea then takes you into the need to study leadership, to understand leadership, to practice leadership, to work at it, to continuously improve just like you would anything else that is critically important to your success. In that regard. One of the things that we've noticed is there are really two authority streams. There are two ways that people exert authority over others in work or in any type of organization. And these two authority streams are very important to keep in mind, and to understand. But they're often mixed, one neglected for the other. So, these two authority streams are management and leadership. And they're two different things. We mix these words, don't we Luke
[:Yeah, absolutely.
[:I mean, we see in college courses you're going to take a course in business management, right? And the notions of management leadership are mixed together all the time. So, to look at this more closely, at least the way that we look at it in our organization, is that management is about making the invisible visible. It's about making the complex simple. It's about making the immeasurable measurable for the people that you're caring for. So that's management. Management is administrative in its nature. And then there's leadership. Leadership is about creating a compelling vision that inspires people. It's about putting the right people in the right place at the right time. It's about ensuring that the environment is healthy, that you have proper fiduciary and proper culture. And it's about being present during times of crisis and high opportunity. So that's leadership. And the first thing we talked about was management. And the problem is management tasks keep building up. They keep growing. More time on the computer, more reports to fill out, more administrative duties, to do.
[:Busy work.
[:Yeah, busy work.
[:And since time is finite, what happens is those management tasks crowd out the leadership tasks until people in authority are leading less and less and less.
[:Right.
[:And so, this very idea is of TPL is to recognize these two different authority streams, seek ways to streamline or minimize the management stuff so that you can optimize the leadership stuff.
[:[05:18] Dave:
Right
[:That's not an intentional thing. We don't want to do that. But I think by nature it's just kind of something that happens.
[:Sure.
[:You want to be there for your people. You want to lead by example - show that you're a good leader, you're doing those things. And I know, speaking from experience with me, like when I have been on the floor in a supervisory role before I tried to lead by experience, I want to go out and do the exact same things that they are doing to show them that even I'm capable of doing that.
[:Right.
[:But by doing that, I feel like I get caught up in doing that on a routine basis, and then I have less time to actually be a very good leader to everybody else.
[:Yeah, sure. Being very thoughtful about how you're spending your time, of course, is essential in this. But some of these things are not from you. They're imposed by the organization upon you.
[:Right.
[:And you can't easily shirk them as a leader. And this happens at every level. This happens for the CEO, and this happens for the front-line supervisor. These management tasks, some must be performed, some build up over time, and some are nonsensical, but they all subtract or detract from your ability to lead. So, what we've talked about is this idea that leadership is very important and that there are these two authority streams, management, and leadership, and that what you want to do is seek ways to maximize your ability to work the leadership authority stream.
[:Right. And that comes to this question, are leaders born or made?
[:That's a great question.
[:Yeah. What's the answer?
[:In my opinion, I think it's both.
[:Yeah, I agree with you. It's both. So, a lot of people say one or the other. I hear a lot of people say that leaders are born, and then a lot of people say, oh, leaders are made.
[:Right.
[:So, anybody can become a leader, because if you just learn what to do, then you're a good leader. I disagree. It's a little bit of both.
[:Yes, I think that people are born with talent.
[:Sure. Yeah. You can be naturally gifted at something, but it doesn't mean you're the best.
[:Yeah. But the important thing from our experience is whether you're a great leader, a good leader, a poor leader. If you practice, if you study and practice the art of leadership, you can become a much better leader than you are today. That's the kind of the big takeaway. It’s just like if you were a mechanic, you would study mechanical stuff, and if you were an artist, you would study art stuff, and if you were a race car driver.
[:Yeah, whatever it is.
[:Right. You would study that field and that art, and you would learn from other people. You would read. You would practice. You would apply, and you'd hone your skills. Same thing with leadership. But there's some kind of barrier to that in our culture. It's that you should just be talented, or there's not enough time, or it's corny, or something. But breaking through that and studying and practicing leadership will make you a way better leader than you are today. That's just an undeniable truth.
[:So, what are, some say, one or two ways you can easily practice leadership?
[:Soooo I don't want to do that yet. I want to talk TPL.
[:Let's go there then. Let's talk about TPL.
[:Man, yeah.
[:I think that transitions us so we can discuss what is TPL? That's the name of our show.
[:Right.
[:So, it's obviously a big thing for us, so let's dive into it.
[:Sure.
[:So TPL, what does it stand for again?
[:Think, Plan, and Lead.
[:Think, Plan, and Lead.
[:Right. And so, you'll hear our clients kind of cruising through the hallways chanting this mantra, we got a TPL - we got a TPL - we need time to TPL, and so forth. So this concept, then, based on what we've already said, is the organization as a whole, everybody, not just that one leader, but everybody is seeking ways to streamline management tasks, to free up leaders at every level, to think, plan, and lead, but especially at the front line and in middle management, because what's going on there, that's where most of the interaction is happening. That's where most of the decisions are made. That's where most of the inspiration comes from. I mean, let's face it. The average CEO today is not inspiring anyone. They're disconnected and removed because these organizations are so large and so remote. So, this very human inspiration is happening with these frontline and mid-level leaders. They're inspiring their people to work through the challenges of the day for the customer. They're making the decisions. They're making the tough calls that all add up. Hundreds, and maybe even thousands, of these individual interactions and decisions add up to a successful business that's fulfilling its purpose. The idea then is to shrink management duties, streamline them, delegate them, eliminate them as often as possible, and provide people that are leading the time to think about what impact they want to have through leadership, to plan what method or approach they're going to use to make that impact, and then to go out there and lead rather than the most common thing today, where we just jump right in and begin leading. So, this idea of TPL reminds us that leading is a process that's thoughtful and that engages methodology. And then we execute - think, plan and lead. So that's what TPL is. And what we strive to do as senior leaders is find ways to get more time in the day, so to speak, for middle managers and front leaders to lead, and to give them the tools they need, some of which are skills and some of which are more traditional tools.
[:Well, I think that's a challenge for a lot of people.
[:Right.
[:So even we can give them ways to figure out how to free up their time. I think mentally, I think it is still challenging for people to do that.
[:Right.
[:So, I think that comes back to the practice.
[:Yeah, it does. Which is where you wanted to go?
[:Which is where I want to go before, but I'm back to that. It's like a circle.
[:It is like a circle. So how do you increase TPL? So how do you increase it as an executive? You start by really clarifying the purpose of your organization. Why does this organization exist? And express that in very clear and simple language and then chart out a vision, a big hairy goal. Where are you going to go? What's it going to look like when you get there? And then values, what are the values that you have - the do's and don'ts in your organization? The purpose is so unique to every organization. The vision is so unique, and the values are so unique, if they are real and if they're alive, which of course they should be.
[:Right.
[:So, we have to build our leadership framework around those as opposed to some one-size-fits-all leadership framework.
[:So, I would say a lot of organizations have purpose, vision, and values. I don't think that they live it.
[:Sure. Yeah. They are posters on the wall that you put a coat rack in front of.
[:Sure. Right.
[:So, we need to reanimate those, get those simplified, clarified, and alive - off the wall and into the point of decision so that people are thinking, when I make this decision, does it support our purpose? If I were to take this action? Would it promote our vision? Is it within the context of our values? So once that's in order, then the next thing executives can do is develop some leadership principles. What are the leadership principles here in this organization? Keeping our purpose, vision, and values in mind? Or as we say in our organization, Avanulo, “the PVV” - keeping the PVV in mind. Then what are the leadership principles here? And they should be thoughtful, they shouldn't just be ripped out of a book and developed in an hour or two. So, what are these leadership principles? And once we've got those, then executives should have courses designed around those. So that they're taught, they're reinforced, they're worked into the system, they're evaluated in performance reviews, and so forth. So now you've got this leadership education going on. That's the first thing executives do. The second thing they do is challenge everyone to streamline management tasks to get those optimized, and when possible, eliminated. So now people with increased leadership skills have the increased time to practice. So that's what executives should do. So that being the case, what should frontline and middle managers do?
[:I think this is the most challenging part because this comes back to these are those leaders that want to, or at least good ones, they want to show where they usually lead by example, right? So, they're on the floor, they're doing those tasks. They are not just sitting in an office while their crew is out on the floor making the product or running the lines.
[:Right.
[:So, I think this becomes difficult for them mentally because it's like, how do I do that?
[:Right.
[:This is the challenge that presents itself Are there tools out there that they can use? Is it something that they can practice on their own? Or is it just a mentality thing for them where they have to streamline their daily checkpoints or their tasks so they can have extra time?
[:For most managers, and most leaders at the front line, it's not something you can just do with a single action.
[:Right.
[:So, to me, you pick one thing, you pick one thing, and you ask, can I streamline this? Can I eliminate it? And really, it's this way. Can I eliminate this? Can I just stop this practice? Right, so I've done this a number of times in my professional life. I had reports I had to send off. Like in the old days of faxing, I'm a boomer.
[:There might be some people listening to this podcast that have no idea what a fax is.
[:Yeah, you're probably right. So, I used to have to fax off this lengthy report to the sales guys every week. Over 100 pages, right? So, one week I just prepared it and faxed it upside down and no one ever said anything.
[:You just wanted to see if they were paying attention.
[:Yeah.
[:Who's looking at this, I'm going to find out right now.
[:No one ever said anything. So, I faxed it upside down the next week.
[:Nobody say anything again?
[:Yeah. So, after the third week, I figured I could stop sending it. Right. The first question is, can I just stop doing this? The second is, if I can't stop doing it, can I just streamline it somehow? Can I make it simpler? Can I do it faster? Can I set up the data collection for it, or can I create an auto command or whatever it might be? Right. But can I do it faster? And then the third thing is, can I just give it to somebody else? Can I give it to somebody that works for me to do, and I'll just check on it for a while until I'm sure it's right?
[:Sure.
[:So just pick one thing, one thing and offload it. And then when you did that, pick one more thing and streamline it or offload it.
[:Right.
[:And then over the course of 45 to 60 days, you'll have dug out an hour, an hour, 90 minutes maybe, a day that you can now use to think, plan, and lead.
[:But the key is that they actually have to do that, right? They actually have to think about what they're going to do.
[:Yeah. So, while the executives are providing a framework for leadership and they're trying to inspire people to streamline things, the individual leader has to do the same. And of course, when they do, if they come upon something that's quite effective in terms of streamlining managerial tasks, they can share it. They can share that benchmark. So that's a wonderful thing that executives can do also, is in this kind of commissioning of people to streamline, they can encourage people to share where they've saved, where they've streamlined, eliminated, or offloaded work. So those are practical things you can do. And also, there's some other tools that you can refer to. These tools are in the show notes. So, what we have is kind of step-by-step guides. We call them “What-Why-Hows.” What is this thing? Why is it important? And then, how do you do it?
[:Yeah, those are great.
[:For these things we've talked about today, you'll see those in the show notes with a link to Dropbox or whatever. You can just download them and take them and use them. They're very useful, very practical, and can help you, too.
[:They're pretty universal, too. It's not like they can use them anywhere.
[:Yeah, they're applicable anywhere. And they'll help you to increase your TPL.
[:There you go. All right, guys, thanks for joining us today. We'll catch you on the next episode. Thanks.
[:Bye.
[:Thank you for listening to the TPL show. We hope you'll apply what you learned today and tell us how it went. If you want to share, want more information, or have questions, please contact us at info at TPL show.org. Have a great day.
