by Peter A. Arthur-Smith, Leadership Solutions, Inc.®

 “Involvement and inclusion brings commitment; Hierarchy and directives dampen the human spirit”  

SuperGuard’s real Green Light Day finally arrived. Harry, the company’s Visionist, Christine as company advisor, its Strategist team, its Vanguard trial teams, and a sizeable group of the firm’s team leaders and frontline-staff all turned up. Briefing bulletins had been circulating throughout the company over the prior two weeks. These primed everyone ready to give this expansion-project a positive Green Light.

Harry, Christine and the Strategist team sat in a semi-circle facing the clusters of chairs and tables where everyone else sat waiting for the session to kick-off. Right on the bell, Harry gave a short overview of the Vanguard project to reaffirm everything his audience was aware of so far. Dan, SuperGuard’s Operationist, stepped forward to introduce his three Vanguard trial operating teams, along with their back-ups.

Melissa, the firm’s Promotionist, announced that their first client customer had just signed-up to move ahead. She also projected that others were likely to follow suit within the fairly near future. Maureen, the company’s Provisionist, affirmed that the required equipment and uniforms had arrived. (NOTE: All of these activities occurred while SuperGuard continued with its traditional, day-to-day guard services.)

Following Harry’s helpful overview the floor was opened for questions and any suggestions. It was all part of the company’s important full-buy-in approach. Rachel, the firm’s Humanist, took bullet-point notes for future reference; especially informative questions and answers. It was all part of “positive-listening;” a vital part of company communication. With this two-way dialog, audience members bought further into the whole project and understood its expansionary nature. At that point, Roger the company’s Expansionist, went on to share how this was the opening phase of a multi-pronged strategy to facilitate onward company growth.

Fred, the company’s Innovationist, then stepped forward to share how he had been shadowing the three “Pros” and “Cons” pairings to assist with their idea generation. These discussions had also included the three Vanguard trial teams; two covering client on-site activities and other as its Operation’s Center monitoring team. “Pro” ideas reinforced the value of SuperGuard’s client focused attention, the hi-tech equipment about to be used, and the sheer professionalism that would always be on display.

When it came to turning the “Cons” into opportunities: The pairs shared how glitches would inevitably surface, although client attentiveness would win the day. Also, that Vanguard team members would not be as sufficiently prepared as any client would expect; yet their positive, constructive approach would win client representatives over. Additionally, the Operation’s Center pair would very occasionally miss key monitoring moments; albeit that by being prompt and honest about them, it would likely save their reputation.

Once these additional revelations were made, everyone agreed it was time for a ten minute coffee break. This gave attendees an extra opportunity to discuss progress among themselves. Harry then pulled everyone together once more for final thoughts and questions. These were few because participants were poised to move right along. Do you think you would have felt the same way?

Harry then proceeded to explain how he and their Strategist team would utilize the company’s Operational Streaming (OS) technique to monitor progress. It covered “Thinking About” three months ahead on the assumption of Vanguard’s success. That would trigger additional clients already being signed-up and further Vanguard teams – and backups – trained through In-Team Discovery. Exact team members would be known nearer the time. There was a fair amount of back-and-forth discussion about this until people fully understood.

OS also included to “Position and Prepare” in about a month’s time the recruitment of new Vanguard security team members; OR draw from current company security guards or operation’s center staff and backfill their positions. Also, fresh equipment and uniforms would have to be put on order. While briefing his audience on these OS moves, Dan took the opportunity to ask guard audience members for their likely interest. A good show of hands affirmed ongoing elite guard possibilities.

Finally, OS included monitoring immediate Vanguard “Execution” on a daily-weekly basis to assure quality client service. Initially there would be alternate day Strategist team briefings – to become weekly and then monthly briefings. These would be led by Dan and Melissa and team discussion would bring issue resolution.

Beaming faces all-around showed that everyone was ready to give the Green Light to SuperGuard’s Vanguard service. Harry gave the nod, followed by applause and everyone shaking hands with their nearest colleague. They celebrated with a light, buffet-style lunch and then moved off to their usual roles. Vanguard would kick-off the following week with everyone glued for positive news. That ended Green Light Day!

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Author, Peter A. Arthur-Smith, Founding Principal with Leadership Solutions, Inc., is based in New York, and author of Smart Decisions: Goodbye Problems, Hello Options. He has drafted a potential new publication, Enlightened Leadership Rediscovered: People Count more than Numbers that offers a slew of fresh leadership concepts and practical models. Feel free to follow author at: Linkedin.com/in/peter-arthur-smith-2115722/

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