Tag Archives: training

The Number Twelve Motivator – “In the last year I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow”

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Continuous Improvement applies as much to people as it does to organisations. Yet many organisations fail to understand this and to act on it. As a result, people tend to under-perform and hence the organisations they work for also tend to under-perform.

Effective Leaders understand how to get more from their people. Almost always, they challenge people to do better. And critically, they provide people with the right training, coaching, and support to achive those challenges.

Here are just a few of the many, many ways to help people to learn and grow:

Best Practice: providing opportunities to see what good looks like – perhaps in a completely different industry, sector or environment.

Peer learning: providing opportunities to work alongside colleagues from other departments or organisations

Secondment: typically a short-term transfer to another department or organisation. Maybe a one-year sabbatical?

Delegation: often a simple but very effective way to develop employees. Just make sure that you pass on some of the good stuff, not just the drudge work!

Training and Coaching: often, one of the best wayw to really understand something is to teach it to others.

Projects: typically, important long-term activities, often “above and beyond” the day job. Great for team-building too!

Just a few examples but not only do these approaches help to motivate the individual concerned, they can also provide huge benefits for the employee’s colleagues, for their boss and for their organisation. Try it!

… and if you’d like some help in developing your employees – and perhaps to create yuor own learning organisation – please contact Andrew.Nicholson@ImproveMyFactory.com.

New Team Leader? Want to be liked? Get yourself a dog!

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One of the hardest career steps that many of us take is the very first – becoming a Team Leader or First Line Manager. One day we’re happily part of the team, next day we’re leading it.

Without the right training and support it can be a tough place to be. Because we lack knowledge, skills and direction we often veer off into one of two directions – “Nasty” or “Nice”:

NICE: Some of us are keen to remain friends with the team members so we try a little too hard, maybe not put too much pressure on getting things done, maybe turn a blind eye to some of those things that we were doing yesterday.

Result: team members may like us but we’re seen as an easy touch, maybe a “pushover”. Some folk take advantage of us so we lose respect and it becomes harder to get the job done.

NASTY: Some of us go the other way – “I’m the boss now – no more mister / ms nice guy!” We stamp out all of those little perks, cheats and short-cuts that we were doing yesterday.

Result: team members see us as unreasonable, a “dictator”. Some folk actively work against us so we lose respect and it becomes harder to get the job done.

For me, one of the hardest lessons to learn – and one that I tell every new Team Leader or Manager – is this: “Don’t expect to be liked!”. Hence my second piece of advice – “If you want to be liked, get yourself a dog!”

What you can – and should – expect is to earn the respect of those that you work with. To become a good Team Leader you need to understand what’s going on here, and what to do about it.

Let’s look at two aspects of how we manage the team –

  1. Challenge – how much do we expect from team members?
  2. Support – how much help do we give them?

In the first example. we’re all support and no challenge so we’re an easy touch.

In the second example we’re all challenge and no support so we’re a dictator.

But we don’t have to choose between the two – it’s not an “either / or” choice.

What we need to do is both – always challenge people to be the best that they can be, and at the same time help them achieve their goals.

Result: better outcomes, happy team and well-respected, effective Team Leader! … and your dog will still love you just the same 🙂

Andrew Nicholson is Managing Director of ImproveMyFactory.com, and regularly coaches Team Leaders and Lean Leaders to achieve more than they thought possible.

New Team Leader? Get yourself a dog!

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One of the hardest career steps that many of us take is the very first – becoming a Team Leader. One day we’re happily part of the team, next day we’re leading it.

Without the right training and support it can be a tough place to be. Because we lack knowledge, skills and direction we often veer off into one of two directions:

Some of us are keen to remain friends with the team members so we try a little too hard, maybe not put too much pressure on getting things done, maybe turn a blind eye to some of those things that we were doing yesterday.

Result: team members may like us but we’re seen as an easy touch, maybe a “pushover”. Some folk take advantage of us so we lose respect and it becomes harder to get the job done.

Some of us go the other way – “I’m the boss now – no more mister / ms nice guy!” We stamp out all of those little perks, cheats and short-cuts that we were doing yesterday.

Result: team members see us as unreasonable, a “dictator”. Some folk actively work against us so we lose respect and it becomes harder to get the job done.

For me, one of the hardest lessons to learn – and one that I tell every new Team Leader or Manager – is this: “Don’t expect to be liked!”. Hence my second piece of advice – “If you want to be liked, get yourself a dog!”

What you can – and should – expect is to earn the respect of those that you work with. To become a good Team Leader you need to understand what’s going on here, and what to do about it.

Let’s look at two aspects of how we manage the team –

Challenge – how much do we expect from team members?
Support – how much help do we give them?
In the first example. we’re all support and no challenge so we’re an easy touch.

In the second example we’re all challenge and no support so we’re a dictator.

But we don’t have to choose between the two – it’s not an “either / or” choice.

What we need to do is both – always challenge people to be the best that they can be, and at the same time help them achieve their goals.

Result: better outcomes, happy team and well-respected, effective Team Leader! … and your dog will still love you just the same 🙂

Jack Russell Terrier (10 months old)

The Future of Manufacturing – Sheffield Forgemasters’ Apprentices

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Despite tough economic conditions our client Sheffield Forgemasters continues to invest in developing young talent for the future, with a strong Apprenticeship programme. I’ve had the pleasure of training and working with some of these young people and their colleagues across the business over the last few years and it’s great to see them making a difference – and having some fun along the way! Well done folks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDpmH9fif38#!

Recruiting for the Future of Manufacturing

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The UK’s manufacturing sector has had cause for celebration recently after the revelation that UK MANUFACTURING output has increased at the fastest pace in almost two decades.[1]  While the country still has a way to go to reach pre-recession levels, the surge in output is a welcome surprise that shows the sector is finally heading in the right direction.

Continued growth is closely tied with the success of the rest of the UK’s economy, and the current boom comes at the same time as the fastest growth in retail sales for several years, as well as an encouraging lift in car sales.

That said, there is much manufacturers can be doing to make sure they are able to sustain this growth over the next few years. Among the most important factors is ensuring a steady stream of fresh talent, especially as the sector itself continues to evolve and demand a more diverse range of skills and talents.

There is much talk of a skills gap hitting the UK’s manufacturing sector in the next few years, but in fact it seems we may already be there. According to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), more than a quarter of engineering and technology graduates are not currently employed in the sector. With around 50,000 higher education qualifications awarded in the sector per year, this represents a startlingly large amount of potential new manufacturing recruits that either can’t find work in the sector, or have decided to take their qualifications elsewhere. Eight per cent are unemployed.

At the same time, a report by the Social Market Foundation found that due to the UK’s aging workforce, around 100,000 jobs will arise every year that require degrees in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). If this remains unchanged, the think-tank believes the UK will require 40,000 more graduates every year until the year 2020 – almost half as much again of the amount the country is currently producing.

This lack of STEM graduates is set to have an impact on a wide variety of sectors, but the manufacturing industry will be especially hard hit as it continues to evolve and technology plays an ever greater role. Within the factory a growing focus on automation presents a clear need for more skilled IT workers, and globalisation is also bringing greater demands as technology plays a vital role in keeping everything connected.

While STEM graduates are clearly fundamental for the future of manufacturing, the industry must not overlook the need for entry level workers. One of the sector’s greatest strengths is that it has always been possible for an entry level employee to gain new skills and work their way up the chain to an experienced, senior position. Likewise, with non-traditional skills like communication becoming more important, there are even more opportunities for people outside of traditional engineering and technology backgrounds. Around a million young people in the UK are still classified as NEET (not in education, employment or training). The manufacturing industry should be doing everything possible to engage this major potential workforce, particularly at such a crucial time of economic instability and severe domestic unemployment.

With so many engineering and technology graduates not finding work in their field, more needs to be done to promote just what an exciting and fast-paced opportunity a career in manufacturing represents. By making it clear that the industry fosters innovation and offers a great deal of opportunity for advancement, manufacturers can not only attract newly qualified graduates, but inspire a whole new generation of young people to study STEM topics, provide the workforce boost that the UK will so desperately needs, and secure the next generation of UK manufacturing’s future leaders.

Stephen Winder
RVP Manufacturing UK