Where Leaders Go Wrong: Don Kieffer on Finding Better Ways to Work

Overview

This episode features Don Kieffer, senior lecturer at MIT Sloan and former Harley-Davidson executive, discussing his book There’s Got to Be a Better Way. Kieffer introduces the concept of Dynamic Work Design, a framework built on five principles to improve organizational efficiency and innovation. He critiques the culture of firefighting in management and emphasizes the importance of solving the right problems, connecting people, and fostering discovery through small, incremental changes.

Notable Quotes

- Build another lane on the highway while you're rerouting traffic. – Don Kieffer, on solving underlying problems while addressing immediate crises.

- If you're not embarrassed by what you find, you're not looking deep enough. – Don Kieffer, on uncovering inefficiencies in organizations.

- Make everything a test, everything an experiment. Always question your assumptions. – Don Kieffer, on fostering a discovery mindset.

🔥 The Firefighting Trap

- Kieffer explains how organizations fall into a firefighting culture, where managers focus on solving immediate crises rather than addressing systemic issues.

- This approach rewards short-term heroics but creates long-term inefficiencies, as underlying problems remain unresolved.

- He advocates for simultaneously addressing urgent issues while strengthening the system to prevent future crises.

🧩 The Five Principles of Dynamic Work Design

1. Solve the Right Problem the Right Way: Use the scientific method to identify and address the root cause of issues, rather than jumping to solutions.

2. Structure for Discovery: Treat plans as experiments, testing assumptions at every step to uncover new insights.

3. Connect the Human Chain: Focus on the people doing the work, not just systems or departments. Map workflows and fix broken connections to improve efficiency.

4. Regulate for Flow: Avoid overloading systems with too much work, which leads to bottlenecks and inefficiencies.

5. Visualize the Work: Make invisible work visible through tools like visual management boards, enabling teams to collaborate and solve problems more effectively.

🔍 Start Small, Think Big

- Kieffer emphasizes the importance of starting with small, manageable projects to test ideas and learn from the process.

- Examples include improving a single sales office or fixing a specific bottleneck in drug development.

- He critiques the tendency of managers to focus on large-scale programs without first understanding the details of how work gets done.

👥 Barbecue the Boss: Encouraging Honest Feedback

- Kieffer shares a technique called Barbecue the Boss, where employees anonymously submit questions to leadership. This fosters transparency and surfaces hidden concerns.

- In one example, a project team aligned their goals after realizing their leaders had conflicting priorities. The result was a project completed ahead of schedule.

🏗️ Rethinking MBA Programs

- Kieffer advocates for MBA programs to focus less on theoretical frameworks and more on teaching leaders how to understand and design work.

- At MIT Sloan, students are required to complete hands-on projects within their organizations, applying the principles of Dynamic Work Design to achieve measurable improvements.

- Success stories include reducing drug development timelines, improving sales processes, and cutting costs in manufacturing.