Using Connection to Improve Communications

Think about a train traveling down the tracks. If the locomotive train engine isn’t connected to the other cars, what will happen? The train will detach, causing massive delays! This also applies to manufacturing: if top-level leadership isn’t connected to the shop floor, there’s bound to be miscommunications, productivity breakdowns, and more.

This was just one of the great lessons shared by recent Mindfulness Manufacturing podcast guest Jason Hunt, who came onto the podcast to talk about how leaders can use connection to improve communications and solve common problems in their organizations.

Connection Tip #1: Don’t be Afraid to Delegate

As a leader, you might feel like you need to handle every problem, no matter how small. However, this can lead to slowdowns in your organization, as your busy schedule prevents you from properly attending to every problem. When you try to take on everything yourself, you also deprive your team of a valuable chance to learn, grow, and develop their own problem-solving skills. The next time you encounter a problem, give someone else a chance to solve it. You might all learn something about time management and problem solving!

Connection Tip #2: Be Ready for Pushback

When you delegate tasks to others or ask them to solve their own problems, you might be met with some pushback. If someone is not used to solving their own issues, they may feel uncomfortable or overwhelmed at first, and might not like the idea of fixing it by themselves. If this happens, give them the space and time they need to process. Oftentimes, they’ll realize the importance of handing it on their own and will eventually be thankful for the opportunity to grow their problem-solving skills.

Connection Tip #3: Focus on Connection

In a busy industry like manufacturing, it’s easy to get caught up in focusing only on tasks and results. Don’t lose track of the connections left behind it all! Devote time to getting to know your team and really building your personal connections. This will give you the chance to learn more about each team member’s needs and mindset, which will help you communicate with them.

Learn More on the Podcast

To hear more of Jason Hunt’s tips for building connection in your own organizations, listen to his episode of the Mindfulness Manufacturing podcast 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