Smart Manufacturing – Smart Supervisors
As technology accelerates, many producers are embracing smart manufacturing. As enthusiastic as you might be about implementing the new technology, not everyone will feel the same way. Involved in the process will be people such as continuous improvement coordinators, engineering staff, or IT people to accelerate the supply chain and reduce cost. Your front line […]
Read More
Confronting Body Odor Issues
Today we’re going to talk about a sensitive topic. It’s personal hygiene and body odor. Most leaders tend to feel anxious when they have to confront an employee about this. How to confidently address hygiene in the workplace. First of all, let’s agree that body odor and personal hygiene can be embarrassing to talk about. However, most people with personal hygiene issues are unaware of it. They get so used to their own body odor that they […]
Read More
Leading With Uncertainty
People are more likely to follow a leader who is truthful about their uncertainty than one who makes unrealistic promises. Many leaders think it’s their job to be certain when in reality things are very uncertain. How many changes have you implemented that went according to the original plan? Likely none. The chief information officer […]
Read More
Personalities & Change Resistance
Many leaders wonder why change initiatives take twice as long as they should. The answer might be simpler than you think. A large part depends on personality styles. Many managers and some supervisors are “drivers” — they have a dominant personality type. There are pros and cons to this personality type. They tend to be […]
Read More
Empower Employee Decision-Making
Why is it that employees are so good at delegating up to their boss when really the manager or supervisor should be pushing those decisions down to the front line? Think about the kinds of decisions and problems that you’ve been addressing recently. How many of them should have been addressed by the person who […]
Read More
Accountability: Pitfalls at the Front Line
Accountability means receiving consequences for one’s actions, behaviors, or results. If a team member demonstrates good behaviors and results, front line leaders should offer praise and positive reinforcement. If the results aren’t what they should be, or the pace of work isn’t where it needs to be, or the behaviors are unacceptable, the leader is […]
Read More
To Promote From Within, or Not: That is the Question
Promoting from within is still a good idea, despite many of the pitfalls involved. Most of the people in our training classes report being promoted from within. There are several advantages that come along with it. For instance, they know the work; they have a better understanding of how the company operates, and they already […]
Read More
Dealing With Accusations
If you’re a front line supervisor or manager, occasionally someone’s going to make some allegations that might turn out to be totally false and inaccurate. How should you, as a leader, respond when somebody levels an accusation about you? First, let’s understand that the reason why somebody would fabricate something to harm your reputation as […]
Read More
Managing Insubordination
Dealing with insubordination is something that you might run into as a front line supervisor, manager, or even as an executive. We’re going to look at what insubordination is, and what you should do about it when you encounter it. Insubordination can be defined in two different ways: one is a work refusal. You ask […]
Read More
Aligning Your Team To Reach Your Goals
How can you get your team aligned to hit their goals? As a leader, you have a few different tools at your disposal. First, realize that if you want your team to achieve different results than before, you’re going to need to take those goals and translate them into behaviors that need to change. You’ve […]
Read More