LEAD Alumni Profile

Mark McIntyre
Vice President of Operations
Belletech Corp
LEAD - July, 2000

Mark McIntyre is a native Ohioan with plenty of pride in his work and community. A chemist who started out his career with a liquid fertilizer company, he completed an MBA from Ashland University. His career began to take an upward curve, as he began advancing through the ranks of manufacturing operations. Today he is in his 16th year at Belletech.

Mark was already an effective leader when he first discovered The LEAD Institute. He found that continuous improvement could apply to people as well as to processes. He became a true practitioner of culture change and leadership effectiveness. More success followed, but this time his team rode the wave with him. Here's the Belletech story . . .

Belletech Corporation is a supplier to a major automotive manufacturer representing 90% of its business and tier II to a component supplier. While the relationship Belletech enjoys with the automotive manufacturer is very strong, having a quality level of less than 100 ppm and zero mis-shipments for the last fiscal year, its relationship as a tier II supplier was less than satisfactory. They had been in a constant battle with this customer. The reject rate per million parts was, in Mark's words, "horrible, not acceptable."

To get a handle on this - Mark realized that the LEAD concept of culture change was going to be integral to their success. Mark and his team decided that they needed to go beyond traditional process improvement methods. They were well-versed in Lean and Six Sigma. They needed to create a culture that was passionate about exceeding customer expectations. This process ultimately brought Mark to The LEAD Institute.

If nothing else, according to Mark, he improved his own personal effectiveness through LEAD. He began to understand individual needs, and how they may differ from organizational needs. He gained an understanding of his organization's cultural strengths and weaknesses as they were at the present time. He was able to look at his organization from a distance, and gain the perspective of an outsider. He learned to view his peers and subordinates from a neutral stance.

Soon Mark and the Belletech team devised a business strategy based on what the culture must become, and what leadership and teamwork skills were essential to continued success. He and his team had heard about corporate culture in the past - but LEAD helped him understand it concretely, that your culture can drive predictable behaviors. As Mark puts it, "Culture change - the type of organization that we must become to exceed customer expectations - is now part of our day-to-day operation".

Mark has gained the critical skill of all effective leaders: to know why people behave as they do in different situations. He understands that people are motivated by different things, and that behavior is more predictable than most leaders realize.

"We took LEAD one step further", says Mark. After completing his LEAD experience, Mark wanted to roll out the concepts to his entire organization, changing their bureaucratic culture into more of an "adhoc-ratic" one. LEAD faculty members Jim Davisson and Kelly Petrock were dispatched to the Belletech plant to conduct further analyses of the corporate culture. They taught the concepts of assessment and culture change implementation to Mark and his leadership team. The team gained a clear direction of where they were then, and where they needed to be in the future. Each team member became an active participant in the culture change process, each a key contributor to the success of the entire organization. According to Mark, "the little things" made a big difference to the entire plant.

What do other employees notice about the LEAD experience? They all have a better perspective on themselves. One leader, in particular, made "huge" changes, from an autocratic, directive style of leadership, to more of a coaching, encouraging approach - where creativity is more highly valued and appreciated. He now listens more and seeks to understand, and is one of the key leaders of the new Belletech. Employees now have more regard for this manager's insights and wisdom - he is a more effective leader! But Mark notes that the change was not necessarily easy for this person. The process of personal change is often painful. The learning must be expertly facilitated in order to be effective - a person must discover it for him/herself. Like most who go through LEAD, this manager came to say: "I didn't know I was doing that!"

Today - Belletech's tier II customer is pleased with the results. The reject rate per million, prior to LEAD, was 700. In under 6 months, this metric dropped to 100 ppm. Mark attributes most of this success to “our people, and the processes adopted through the LEAD experience.” Mark adds, “not only did we see positive results with our tier II customer, but we were able to utilize many of the concepts in solidifying our existing positive relationship with the key customer. Our focus has changed to better develop the systems that allow our associates to be more successful.”

Mark is a leader outside the plant too. He loves golf, racquetball, and tending his lawn and garden. He is also an active supporter of local high school sports, where his children are participants. His community involvements include Chairman of a Health Association, and he serves on the boards of the local hospital and the Red Cross. Mark serves on the board of the International Friendship Center, which helps people who have transferred to the US from other countries, get acclimated and integrated into their communities. Mark and his family reside in Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio.

For more information on The Belletech Story and other LEAD alumni successes, please contact Kelly Petrock at 800-556-5222.