Your frontline team can only perform as well as the processes they’re handed.
So why are so many leaders still blaming the wrong people instead of listening to the ones closest to the problem?
In this weeks’ episode Chris sits down with Jason Woodard, a 35-year manufacturing veteran, CEO of Geislinger Corporation, and author of Manufacturing Leadership That Works.
Jason gets pretty candid about what he’s seen over the course of his career. We’re talking a plant manager leaving nasty notes on dry-erase boards for exhausted frontline workers, and Jason himself rolling up his sleeves and coming in on a holiday weekend when the rest of the leadership team had plans.
Getting into the valuable stuff, Jason talks about what it takes to build trust with your team, holding the right people accountable, and why leading yourself should come before leading anyone else.
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3 Quick Things from this Episode
- Leaders who think they have a full picture of what’s happening in their operation almost never do. The gap between what gets reported up the chain and what’s actually happening on the floor is bigger than most in senior roles realise, and the cost of ignoring that gap is significant.
- The way a leader behaves when things are going wrong reveals everything about their character. Jason has seen both extremes over a 35 year career, and the difference in what those approaches do to a team’s motivation and output is night and day.
- Building trust with a frontline team isn’t a programme or an initiative, it’s a daily practice. It’s about showing up consistently, being approachable and making people feel like their voice actually carries some weight in the operation.
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Tweetable Quotes
- “The higher I grow in my career, the more I realize that what I’m hearing as a leader is a little bit of the truth. And it’s not because you’re being lied to, it’s just that it’s being filtered up to you.” – Jason Woodard, Author and Geislinger CEO
- I think most people understand that every single thing they want to be changed or fixed isn’t going to be. But if they feel like they were at least heard and listened to, I think that’s the most important part.” – Jason Woodard, Author and Geislinger CEO
- ”Rarely does politics come up, rarely does any of the divisive stuff come up. We’re just showing up every day to solve problems together. In a good culture, the collaboration, no matter the background of the people, is there. – Jason Woodard, Author and Geislinger CEO
Please Scroll Down for Recommended Resources from this Episode
Do you want to connect with other leaders that are moving the needle in manufacturing everyday? Then make sure to join us in the Manufacturing Happy Hour Industry Community on LinkedIn.
MRPEasy is the AI-powered MRP software for small manufacturers, ideal for companies with 10 to 200 employees. It’s a seriously powerful yet easy-to-use manufacturing software that gives you everything you need to manage your manufacturing and distribution.
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What We Discuss with Jason
- Why blame culture in manufacturing is almost always directed at the wrong people
- What Jason witnessed early in his career that shaped everything about how he leads today
- What Jason’s time as a journeyman maintenance mechanic on the night shift taught him about leadership that no management role ever could
- What Geislinger Corporation actually makes and why it matters to critical infrastructure in the US
- Why the higher you climb, the less you actually know about what’s happening on your floor
- How to build genuine trust with frontline workers without it feeling forced
- What to do when an employee raises a problem you can’t immediately fix
- Why being great at the job you have today is the only path to the job you want tomorrow
Recommended Resources
- Geislinger Corporation develops and produces torsional vibration dampers, torsional elastic high damping couplings, composite couplings, composite shaftlines, and torsional vibration monitoring systems for engines and wind turbines
- Manufacturing Leadership That Works: Proven Principles for Building Engaged Teams, Improving Performance, and Driving Results by Jason Woodard
- Handmap Brewing, Battle Creek-based brewery, perfectly named for the state of Michigan
Connect with Jason Woodard and Geislinger
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