Ignite Fires, Don’t Put Them Out: Four Ways Leaders Can Free Up Their Time and Energy

On the manufacturing floor, leaders do a ton of work! They solve problems, put out small “fires,” and constantly work to manage and motivate their teams. Emotionally intelligent leaders may also spend much of their time thinking about the best ways to communicate, navigate conflict, and advocate for the needs of their team. While these are all vital parts of a leader’s role, constantly acting as “firefighter” can take a heavy toll, leading to burn-out and stress from the heavy demands on their time and energy.

To find out more about how organizations can better support their leaders, I recently spoke with Sara Canaday on my Mindfulness Manufacturing podcast. Sara is an author and leadership development coach, who draws on her years of corporate experience to advocate for leaders and help them grow the skills they need to thrive in today’s complex, competitive workplace climate. In the podcast, she shared some of her favorite tips to help leaders find healthy and productive ways to free up their time and energy.

Leader Advocate Tip #1: You Don’t Always Have to Be Productive

From a young age, we’re taught to be productive and that being busy means we’re adding value. This deeply-rooted mindset can hugely impact how you show up as a leader. If you find yourself with a constant need to be “busy,” embrace the power of taking a mindful, strategic pause. Deep discovery and creative problem-solving can’t happen when you’re constantly running around or putting out fires on the floor. This is why it’s important to take a pause to declutter your mind, search for clarity, and think about productive solutions for your team, rather than just solving surface-level problems.

Leader Advocate Tip #2: You Have the Control

It might not always feel like it, but as a leader, you have control over your time. You might just not be scheduling yourself or delegating tasks in a way that frees up time. To find more time, take a look at your schedule. Is there a meeting that you could skip, or could you send someone else to take notes for you? By thinking about your top priorities and being willing to delegate, you can free up your time.

Leader Advocate Tip #3: Think About What Your Team Really Wants

Along with freeing up your time and energy, being more intentional makes you a stronger leader for your team. By focusing on the most important tasks, you’ll also find more time to focus on what your team really needs to feel supported and motivated. While you might feel more productive when you’re acting as “firefighter” and putting our fires on the floor, you can become a better advocate for your team by prioritizing your time and focusing on what you need to really “ignite” them and call them up to greatness.

Leader Advocate Tip #4: You’re Still Human

At the end of the day, you’re still a human! If you don’t prioritize yourself and your health, you won’t be able to show up for your team. Don’t be afraid to take time to think about what is best for your time, energy, and schedule, and reach out to others if you need help or support. By setting yourself up for a positive experience as a leader, you’ll create a trickle-down effect that will improve your team and entire organization.

Learn More on the Podcast

To hear more leadership advocate tips from Sara Canaday, check out her Mindfulness Manufacturing podcast episode here.

At Manufacturing Greatness, Trevor Blondeel works with manufacturers to connect the top to the shop floor. If you’re ready to improve your own organization, contact Trevor to learn how Manufacturing Greatness can help you build stronger leaders and develop a dynamic, high-performing workplace.

Mindfulness Manufacturing

Our show is about providing listeners with real stories that come from a place of experience, transparency, and authenticity. Most importantly it’s about what we learn from these stories and applying Mindfulness in our everyday work and personal lives.
Our intention is to create an environment where people can learn through open honest discussions on how we apply Mindfulness. Although our experiences and stories come from time in a manufacturing environment hence the title “Mindfulness Manufacturing”, we still see our discussions and topics relatable to any organization or profession.

When a mistake occurs on the plant floor, your mind might jump to one question: who caused this issue, and should I write them up for their mistake? But there’s a more productive approach you could be taking—and in this episode of Mindfulness Manufacturing, guest Dr. Jake Mazulewicz breaks it all down!

With a background as a firefighter, EMT, and military paratrooper, Jake knows the challenges of high-hazard industries, and works with organizations to reduce errors and create safer, more reliable workplace environments. In this episode, Jake shares why you can’t procedularize everything, including the way you handle errors and accidents, and offers great insights and stories about how to use connection and curiosity to improve safety, address errors, and strengthen your organization.

3:35 – Procedures and policies are the work that is imagined, and on the floor is how the work actually gets done

4:19 – The work as-done is almost always radically different than the work as-imagined

5:20 – Even when you have standards and people show up wanting to do a good job, you can still see issues that need to be addressed

6:44 – There will always be areas that absolutely need to have procedures in place

8:02 – There are also adaptive jobs, which leans less into procedures and more intro troubleshooting and tacit human knowledge

10:56 – In an ideal environment, both mechanistic and adaptive models are used and respected and needed

12:11 – There are four levels, ranging from strict procedurals to looser guidelines that show what to do, but not how to do it

15:36 – Tacit knowledge gets shared through conversations

16:22 – A way to share important information is to have frontline experts record videos sharing their insights to problems, especially those that are not covered in procedures

19:44 – Through conversation and connection, more knowledge is shared

21:58 – Debriefing also plays a central role

23:45 – If you have strong discipline, you’ll find more freedom

25:31 – In most situations, errors are signals, not defects

27:07 – When an error occurs, be curious and find the deeper cause of the problem

Connect with Jake Mazulewicz

Find him on Linkedin

Visit his website