The daily grind of a manufacturing supervisor can often feel overwhelming, leading to stress, burnout, and a persistent feeling of being in “constant reaction mode”. However, the goal of every leader is to be less stressed and help their team improve performance.
The key to achieving this lies in becoming more efficient, getting the work done in a way that reduces waste—wasted time, raw materials, communication, and even decision-making waste—all while maintaining safety and quality control.
Becoming a truly efficient manufacturing supervisor isn’t about working harder; it’s about working smarter and strategically. It requires a proactive approach that transforms your leadership style and empowers your team. Here are five powerful ways to enhance your efficiency and cultivate a more productive and less stressful work environment.
1. Conduct a Thorough Time Audit to Become More Efficient
You cannot improve what you don’t understand. The foundational step to becoming a more efficient leader is to know precisely how you currently spend your time at work. This involves performing a time audit, where you track your activities as closely as possible, even minute by minute if feasible.
A time audit means consciously paying attention to what you’re doing and for how long. If you have a meeting, track its duration. If you’re on the shop floor, note the time spent there. The goal is to identify what consumes the most of your workday. While doing this for a week or two might feel intense, it provides invaluable data.
Once you have this data, ask yourself critical questions:
- Should these tasks really take as much time as they do?
- Is this time high-quality or high-value time?
Often, you’ll find areas where you’re less efficient than you could be. This self-awareness allows you to pinpoint where to start making significant gains in efficiency. For example, after data analysis, if you’re spending a lot of time on the floor, evaluate if that time is yielding high value. If not, how can you optimize it to ensure your objectives are met as efficiently as possible? This initial data-gathering step is crucial for any leader aspiring to greater efficiency.
2. Proactively Ask for Feedback
Once you’ve identified how you spend your time, the next step towards greater efficiency is to actively seek feedback from those around you. This means reaching out to your direct reports (your team members), your managers, and your peers, and asking them for their insights on what you could do better or more efficiently.
It’s easy to assume you’re already doing a particular task as efficiently as possible, but others might have alternative methods or perspectives you haven’t considered. For instance, if you’re unsure about the efficiency of a specific task, you might approach a supervisor on another shift and ask, “How long does this take you?” or, more importantly, “How do you do it?”.
When asking for feedback, be clear about your intentions—”Hey, I’m trying to be a bit more efficient. I’m trying to be more aware of whether I’m spending my time on the highest value items that I can. What feedback do you have for me in that regard?”. By explaining the “why” behind your request for feedback, such as your desire to ensure you’re focusing on high-value tasks and getting all your work done, you invite more thoughtful and constructive responses.
3. Shore Up Your Communication As A Manufacturing Supervisor
Effective communication is not about saying less; it’s about being clearer and more comprehensive in your messaging. Many manufacturing leaders assume that people are constantly overwhelmed with information, and therefore, less communication is better. However, this is often not the case. Greg Schickel, the owner of Unique Training and Development, highlights this in his book “Employees Not Doing What You Expect,” where the very first reason an employee might not do what you expect is “because they don’t know what you expect, because you haven’t yet clarified for them”.
Clear communication that clarifies expectations and desired results is almost certain to increase your efficiency and that of your team. Sometimes, this means providing a bit more detail, whether in a longer email, a longer text, or a more extended verbal explanation. The goal is to ensure you communicate everything necessary for the person to complete the task as desired.
Explaining the Why
One of the most powerful communication tools, as we’ve discussed, is explaining why. People have a fundamental desire to know “why” they should do what is asked of them. When you connect a request to a reason, especially one that ties into the team’s desired future, you significantly increase compliance and buy-in. Harvard researcher Dr. Ellen Langer’s work demonstrated that simply using the word “because” when giving a reason dramatically increases compliance. For instance, if you need a team member to be cross-trained, you might say, “I need you to be cross-trained on different jobs because it will give us more flexibility when we are shorthanded or when we fall behind in the production flow”. This approach fosters understanding, reduces resistance, and boosts compliance.
Delivering Your Message
Effective communication involves more than just words; it encompasses your tone and body language. Your team members will be looking for consistency between what you say, how you say it, and how you look when you say it. Inconsistencies will often lead people to focus more on your tone and body language, causing confusion or misunderstanding. For example, sarcasm, where words and tone don’t match, can be easily misinterpreted and should be avoided when discussing performance or important information. It can also create an “us versus them” culture if used about other departments.
Using Specific Language
Another tip for better communication is to avoid vague words like “always,” “often,” or “rarely,” as well as phrases like “as soon as possible.” Imprecise language leads to assumptions and delays, negatively impacting team member satisfaction and efficiency. Be specific about what you want and when you want it, and ask for clarification when receiving requests from others.
By shoring up your communication in these ways, you’ll find that issues are addressed promptly, expectations are clear, and your team operates with greater understanding and less friction, ultimately making everyone more efficient.
4. Find Ways to Empower Your Team
A significant drain on a supervisor’s efficiency comes from trying to do everything themselves. We want to stress that you cannot do it all, and attempting to do so is highly inefficient and can lead to burnout. The objective of an efficient leader extends beyond their personal output; it includes fostering an efficient team. This means empowering your team members to help get the work done.
Empowerment involves providing team members with the opportunity and authority to make decisions and solve problems on their own. A key component of this is cross-training. Effective supervisors assess their team’s “bench strength”—who can perform various tasks needed to get a job done. If only one person can perform each task, that’s a vulnerability. While some specialized tasks might limit this, wherever possible, cross-train multiple people to handle multiple responsibilities. This creates a more resilient and efficient team, as production won’t fall behind if one person is absent due to vacation or sickness. To facilitate this, create a matrix of tasks and identify who can currently do them, then proactively plan who you want to train for each task.
Leaders often resist empowerment due to two primary reasons:
- Perfectionism
A desire for things to be done in a very specific way, with the feeling that the team won’t meet that standard. Leaders need to question whether every task truly needs to be done exactly their way or at 100% perfection. Often, achieving 80% or 90% of the desired quality, or simply a different but effective approach, is sufficient. If a task must be done perfectly, then the focus shifts to how to train someone to achieve that specific standard. - Threat to Authority
A concern is that giving up control over tasks diminishes their role or authority. However, leaders must remember that their role is to achieve results through their team. Empowering your team and developing other leaders is highly valued by management and can position you for further advancement, rather than making you redundant. The mindset should shift from feeling threatened to asking, “How can I make sure that the team feels almost like they could run without me?”.
Empowerment frees up your time for higher-value activities, leadership development, and continuous improvement initiatives. It builds the team’s capabilities and confidence, making them more self-reliant and increasing their engagement. This fosters a positive work culture, boosts team morale, and promotes a greater sense of achievement for both you and your team.
5. Adopt Proactive Approaches to Make You More Efficient
Many frontline leaders fall into what is called “The Leadership Trap,” viewing their role as the chief problem solver and question-answerer for their department. This reactive approach leads to constant interruptions, where team members set the leader’s agenda, and the leader feels little control or accomplishment. They struggle to make progress on less urgent but important initiatives like training or continuous improvement.
To escape this trap, here are some of our best practices for proactive approaches:
- Proactive Touch-Bases: Instead of waiting for problems to come to you via an “open-door policy,” proactively go and connect with your team members regularly throughout the day. This means touching base for a few minutes near the beginning of the shift, and then again every two to four hours. During these touch-bases, ask team members how they are, if they foresee any problems, or if they have everything they need to accomplish their work tasks. You can also let them know what to expect during the shift.
- Write Things Down: When team members raise questions or issues during these proactive check-ins, it’s crucial to write them down. This shows the team member that you care about their concerns and are committed to following up on them. It helps you remember and ensures that issues are addressed and resolved, building confidence in your follow-through.
- Efficient Team Meetings: Another key proactive strategy is to run efficient team meetings. Avoid the common pitfall of gathering everyone without a clear plan, asking, “So, what have we got today, guys?”.
- Prepped Agenda: Instead, take the time to prepare an agenda in advance. This doesn’t mean you can’t add to it during the meeting, but it demonstrates a proactive approach.
- Effective Shift-Start Meetings: A short, five-minute shift-start meeting can be highly effective in setting expectations and creating positive momentum for the day. Key elements include: starting on time, keeping it brief, following a simple agenda, being loud enough to be heard, opening and closing with a positive, and staying on track. Agenda items can include highlights from the previous shift, expectations for the current shift, job assignments, safety tips, or company announcements.
By embracing these proactive strategies, you regain control over your time, address potential issues before they escalate into major problems, and transform meetings into productive sessions rather than time sinks. This shift allows you to move beyond constant reaction and focus on higher-value activities that drive long-term improvements and team efficiency.
Elevate Your Leadership, Empower Your Team, and Drive Results
Becoming a more efficient manufacturing supervisor is a continuous journey that can yield significant rewards: less stress for you and improved performance for your team. By diligently conducting time audits, actively seeking and utilizing feedback, shoring up your communication to be consistently clear and explanatory, empowering your team to take greater ownership, and adopting proactive approaches to daily interactions and meetings, you will transform your leadership, elevate your team’s capabilities, and drive remarkable results in your manufacturing environment.
Here at Unique Training & Development, we are ready to help you with your training needs by equipping your frontline leaders with the skills and tools necessary to engage their teams and deliver consistent results. Our dedication lies in helping your leaders effectively oversee the shop floor and take steps toward driving positive change.
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