25. Leadership Characteristics for a Sustainable OPEX-Implementation

Through long-term collaboration with leaders of OPEX initiatives, and by monitoring their initiatives’ development over the years, characteristics of successful leaders – of leaders who have implemented OPEX initiatives themselves, and of those who took them over at some point – have been determined. Some leaders successfully lead an OPEX initiative right from the start for many years, and maintain a positive OPEX culture that outlives the initial verve. Others have to put a lot of energy and effort into both execution as well as further development of their OPEX programmes. This raises the question of how, under comparable conditions, leaders differ from each other. Why does leading OPEX initiatives come naturally to some, whereas others have to work hard for it? The answer to this lies in the leaders themselves. It is not the concepts and methods, not the lack of resources or the pressure from everyday business. It is the personality of leaders that has a fundamental impact on the success of an OPEX initiative, affecting quality, speed, and outcomes of OPEX programmes.