FLOOR MANAGEMENT | LBCC 3.04

I believe that all who are interested in leading teams should start out on the shop floor or the front lines of leadership. There you will learn the most valuable lessons about life, how the Industry works, and make some life changing discoveries. What’s your experience? Is our personal life much different?

The WHY: At some point during our existence we will all be called upon to lead…in our workplaces, our families, and other personal relationships/Circumstances. Regardless of Whether or not the position is formal (title or managing people) or informal (influence), how will we lead?  

The WIIFM: How we lead determines the culture or environment we want to build in an organization or in our family/Friend relationships. What do you want your leadership legacy to be? How do you want to be remembered?

my Advice: As a Leader, I recommend you always: “seek first to understand”, if you do, your ability to identify opportunities to learn/Coach/Mentor will increase. Take advantage of any opportunity to Learn better leadership skills (shop floor, Senior leadership, or in personal circumstances). be willing to accept and take responsibility for making any mistakes and Put Pride Aside.

LEAN LEADERS: It doesn’t matter if you are a formal or informal leader, I guarantee You will Learn the most from your experiences on the shop floor or the Front Lines. Just as with Problem Solving, What you see actually happening on the shop floor will influence your own behavior, the Solutions selected to improve processes and behavior & how to best lead others. We often call this “going to Gemba” or “walking the shop”.  The more you do it, the more you learn/grow personally as well as find opportunities to practice what you have learned. Through this, You’ll be able to make mistakes and learn from them, experience the culture of the organization first hand, and become a better/stronger influence on the Organization…try it!

• PERSONALLY: a great Leadership Legacy requires a lot of self-awareness and understanding. There is no better place to learn this, than to be “thrown into the Deep End” on the front lines…I’m sure all of us can relate to this when trying to influence family/friends. Being teachable and “seeking first to understand” are often requirements for successful leaders. This is not something that we do naturally. It requires a lot of practice and Self-Care. How are you emulating these qualities in your personal lives? Do you give the Other people in your life the space to learn/grow? Do we allow others to try things out and only intervene when necessary? I think these qualities are vital in today’s world. we need more patience and understanding, we need more learning from mistakes. Do you think so too?
• PROFESSIONALLY: Great Floor Management is more about leadership and team behavior than it is about achievement of Key Performance Indicators (safety, quality, delivery, inventory, pace, etc.). On the shop floor, you can learn how to encourage/influence team members to be honest and open. Does the team, or you, “seek blame first”? Are there differences in style between different supervisors? What do you want your leadership legacy to be? The leaders who struggle most often are seeking power or are influenced by pride. they do not want to admit fault or failure. What have you seen? What worked well? What worked not so well? What would you want your team to do? How would you lead them?

Leading Culture change is never easy. Our experiences in Floor Management, or from the front lines, can teach us valuable lessons. It takes self awareness and a lot of patience for people (Including yourself). if there is no understanding that acceptance and accountability brings growth, then Learning won’t happen. if my desire is to try, try, try and coach others to do the same; I’m headed in the right direction! That’s the Lean mindset needed for culture change to flourish. A Lean Leader coaches a mindset that failure is just an opportunity to learn and try again. The mindset earned through continuous process improvement and culture change really does change the individual and how they lead/Coach others. But first, pride MUST be set aside.

If you or your organization are wanting to know how to support growth through Floor Management Best Practices, Leanbrella can help! Starting with our Culture Climate (RealColors.org) first, the process will help your teams understand themselves and those they interact with better. We cannot Learn from our experiences on the Floor if we do not know ourselves or our teams…Contact us today to find out more!