– Closing the Gap –
In all my years of manufacturing, I’ve spent the last decade in particular trying to close the gap between white and blue collar, and bring together everyone to make the business better. And I lost count of the number of times I heard some version of this change management story:
Corporate “experts” drove around the country in a van, going plant to plant, tearing down people’s tier boards and bringing in an entourage to rework everything.
Frontline workers don’t want leaders like that in their plant. Because the strategy isn’t leading with psychological safety. Operators fear speaking up, challenging the status quo and even making suggestions to processes and work instructions, since they might be punished or humiliated.
A more approachable change environment would look like this:
- Invite operators to tell stories
- Ask them how they run projects
- Request that they share results
- Engage others in a way that suits their communication style
- Listen for insights, wisdom and innovation solutions
Not only does this create an environment in which change is embraced, but retention can’t help but follow suit.