Respect for People

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The Ugly Side of Change: Office Politics, Negative PR, and (GASP!) Smear Campaigns

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The Ugly Side of Change: Office Politics, Negative PR, and (GASP!) Smear Campaigns

Let’s talk for a few minutes about the ugly side of change: Office Politics, Negative PR, and in extreme cases, even Smear Campaigns. If you are a #changeagent, in all likelihood you have either been tangled up in some of the aforementioned, or at some point in your career, you will be entangled. It’s the unfortunate reality that if you set about making improvements and doing things differently, at some point you will rock the wrong boat.

If you are like most, you are likely wondering, “What am I doing wrong?!?”

The New Normal

The New Normal

Leadership During the Unknown

It's been roughly 2.5 months since my last "original" blog post on February 28th. It was one of the few I made since the world was turned upside down.

As we start to emerge from our protective, “Shelter In Place” lives, I have been reflecting on how each of us has reacted in our own way to the changes brought on by Covid-19.

In the early days, my inbox was flooded with, “Our Covid-19 Response,” emails. I opened the first two or three, read them in their entirety, before realizing that everyone was initially responding much the same way - lots of platitudes, little real action, no strong leadership. It seemed that many thought “we” would be different, that this crisis would pass “us” by quickly. Many talked about reopening in “two weeks” (this seemed naive, given that Wuhan had already been locked down for several weeks, but I was hopeful that maybe someone knew more than I did…).

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Tales from the Trenches: Respect for People

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Tales from the Trenches: Respect for People

Changing the direction of a company and guiding it through a Lean Transformation process is always contingent upon gaining the support of the people that work there. Telling them the truth, giving them the tools they need to succeed, treating them with respect as adults and holding them accountable are core leadership responsibilities to achieve this.

I was once hired to be the President/COO of a Major U.S. Automotive Class A Metal Stamping Die Manufacturing Company. The company had not been making money for several years and its parent company (and their new owners) wanted it fixed or closed.

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Tales from the Trenches: Making the Case for Change

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Getting Started

During my 30-plus years in Managing Plants and Business Units, I have been confronted with the challenge of using Toyota Production System (TPS) Concepts to make radical change in the trajectory of many organizations. I learned early on that getting acceptance for the need for change by the most important constituency… the people on the floor that were actually making the company’s products and/ or delivering its services, is the most critical first step in getting started.

Putting leaders with colorful slide decks and compelling speeches in front of workers at your next ‘Town Hall Meeting’ doesn’t work: simply telling folks from the floor that the company wants the operation to embrace the ‘new manufacturing paradigm’ as a way of becoming more competitive and improving profitability is a DOA approach.

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Go and See

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Go and See

“Go and See” and talk with the people on the frontline to understand the non-conforming issues that they are dealing with. We believe that treating people with respect means telling them the truth, helping them where they need help and holding them accountable, and expecting them to do the same of you.

As the saying goes, “The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable” is fundamental to my leadership approach. Running a manufacturing facility using only computer data, prepared reports and posted metrics is naïve at best, self-serving at worst. After all, as a manufacturing executive, I know that money is not made/lost in manufacturing on a daily, monthly, yearly basis, but hour by hour.

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Why I care about Culture...

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Why I care about Culture...

As a Manufacturing Engineering and Lean Transformation professional, I divide my time almost equally about technical and cultural topics. To me, it is not at all surprising, but I wonder if it is to others...