As a manufacturing leader, you’re likely used to dealing with constraints like labor shortages, rising cost, and equipment uptime. But there’s one constraint you might be overlooking: your time. When you’re juggling a packed schedule or stuck in constant firefighter mode, you lose out on valuable opportunities to improve performance and connect with your teams — and your entire organization can suffer because of it.

If you want to show up as a better leader and find new ways to engage with your team, you need to reframe the way you think about time and scheduling. You can find out more about designing your time and finding your time freedom from Brian Herriot, an author and speaker who draws on his own successful business experiences to help others design clear, actionable small business and money management strategies and build their path toward sustainable freedom. He’s also the author of the upcoming book Time Freedom: Rethink Your Work and Money to Create a Life You Love Now.

Brian stopped by the Manufacturing Greatness to share more about Time Freedom and shared some practical, actionable ways to shift your mindset and design your time to find more engagement and better results.

Three Ways to Design Your Time and Improve Engagement

#1. Stay Flexible to Match Your Team’s Real Life Needs

While traditional shift structure and rigid schedules might have once been the norm, they aren’t always the best fit for the modern era. As new generations come into the workforce, you might find yourself faced with team members who need more flexibility or new process that allow them more freedom to deal with non-work responsibilities. If you don’t shift your mindset and processes to meet these new workforce realities, it can lead to issues like poor engagement and high turnover.

To bring more flexibility and time freedom into your organization, consider approaches like flexible scheduling, job sharing, project-based roles, or roles that focus on outcomes instead of hours on the clock. Through creative solutions like these, you’ll find way to meet your team member’s unique needs without worrying about slowed productivity or lowered standards.

#2. Find Time for Curious Conversations

Each day on the manufacturing floor can be filled with pressure and challenges. But while you’re dealing with everyday constraints, don’t forget to carve out time to connect with your teams. Give yourself the time to talk to your team members. Have curious, open-ended conversations and learn more about each team member’s goals, challenges, and life outside of work.

When you find your own time freedom and give yourself time for curious conversations, you’ll find valuable opportunities to build trust within your team. Your team members will also feel valued and supported, which will make them more likely to take accountability and show up as their best selves at work.

#3. Use Transparency and Clarity to Reduce the Mental Load

There can be a lot going on in a busy manufacturing plant—and if you’re not clear and transparent with your team, it can lead to disengagement and anxiety. When your teams are unclear about goals or processes, they spend more time worrying and less time on driving results.

To address this and free up extra time for your teams, reframe your own schedule to find time to reduce the mental load. Have honest, open conversations with your team about their role and ask what they need to reduce stress and increase accountability. When you do this, you’ll ensure your team members feel secured, valued, and informed. In turn, they’ll show up with better ideas, stronger engagement, and a renewed commitment to their role and work.

Learn More on Manufacturing Greatness

To hear more great insights and lessons from Brian Herriot, listen to his episode of Mindfulness Manufacturing here.

You can also pre-order time Time Freedom: Rethink Your Work and Money to Create a Life You Love Now on Brian’s website here and use the code Trevor to get free access to the audiobook.