Provide Leadership Focus

Although all four pillars are important to gain organizational mobilization, the pillar of leadership focus is needed before others. Many people are usually apprehensive about a new commitment or a change, whether it involves changing an existing process to incorporate RFID technology or creating a new one from scratch centered around RFID. In such situations, a leader can provide the right vision, passion, drive, and resources. For example, a leader can help the team overcome its hesitation by taking on the responsibility for the outcome and assigning accountability to various stakeholders. He can also "evangelize" the cause of the team throughout the organization or to the broader customer and supplier community to get their acceptance for the RFID deployment when it does occur. He can also reinforce these points by modeling his own actions around the goals.

Typically, a leader has the authority to make decisions, allocate resources, and hold people accountable for their actions. Usually, the executive team or senior management gives him such authority. Although this is critical, it is not sufficient. A leader should also be a motivator, a change agent, and a role model by behavior. Many leaders posses all these qualities, but it is not a requirement. Many times, teams have a formal leader with the right authority and one or more informal leaders. The informal leaders influence the rest of the team to accept the change. In many cases, these leaders are also thought leaders, finding creative ways to solve problems and cutting through the dissent to find common grounds for progress. It is critical for the formal leader to recognize and nurture such informal leaders.

Whether formal or informal leadership, the leader must avoid certain common pitfalls. For example, the leader should show visible support for the team at the right time. Lack of such active leadership can prompt external stakeholders to not take the team seriously. This, in turn, can prompt the team to stay on the sidelines and not take initiative or risks. Another common pitfall is a lengthy and confusing decision-making process. With the RFID standards still evolving and companies worried about investment protection, the decision to select a vendor or a technology should be clearly communicated to the team. Lacking this, the team may question the leader's commitment to the end goal, hurting creativity and follow-through.

In addition to providing focus for the team, the leader must communicate effectively and set the right expectations with his superiors and other sponsors of the RFID project. The definition of mutual deliverables should be a part of this communication. For example, the executive sponsor can keep the rest of the executive team apprised of the status of the project and get team support for cross-organizational resource commitment to the project, whereas the leader keeps the project on track.

Typical questions to address to construct this pillar include the following:

• How will team members, superiors, and other internal and external stakeholders know that the leadership focus is appropriate?

• What individual actions are needed to carry out the vision?

• Are the right stakeholders committing to the goals through actions and resources?

• How can it be determined if individuals in the team are acting as informal leaders and taking initiative to make the project a success?

• What other leaders need to get involved in support of the project?

• Do team members understand the benefits and opportunities of deploying an RFID solution?