Leadership
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The Importance of Being a Mentor
- December 20, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Measurement
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Recently, I talked about the importance of coaching employees to help them become better. The other side of that same coin is the idea of mentoring. Mentoring is when you influence and guide someone who is less experienced and often younger than you are. In a professional setting, a mentor is someone who influences the
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How Do You Coach a Reluctant Employee?
- December 13, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Leadership, Management
The problem with nearly every leadership and management book and philosophy is that they make one dangerous assumption: that your employees are willing and eager to be a part of your vision. They teach you how to communicate, how to lead, how to describe your vision, and how to get people to follow you in
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Truth is a Down Payment on Loyalty
- December 6, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Leadership
Scott Monty, a noted speaker and writer on leadership, recently wrote about loyalty in a blog post, “Why Does Truth Matter, Anyway?” Truth begets loyalty from your customers, from your employees, from your investors—from anyone you build a relationship with. It’s a long game, though. Relationships always are. But loyalty doesn’t come from transactions; loyalty
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Sustainability’s Vital Role in Modern Manufacturing
- September 30, 2023
- Posted by: Nanette Gregory
- Category: Business, Leadership, Manufacturing
Sustainability has become more than just a buzzword in manufacturing circles: it’s a fundamental consideration and often the cost of doing business. The government lodges heavy fines, people protest and boycott the companies, and there are costly lawsuits against companies and prison sentences for executives. So how can your manufacturing operation embrace sustainability and still
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How to Handle Firing Someone: A Practical Approach
- September 20, 2023
- Posted by: Nanette Gregory
- Category: Business, Leadership, Management, Manufacturing
Firing someone can be a challenging and emotional task for any employer or manager. You often have empathy for the other person, you're worried about their future and their family, and some small part of you (hopefully) is concerned about their well-being. But as the leader, it's your job to protect the company. You have -
Use Inside and Outside Experts for a Major Undertaking
- September 13, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Innovation, Leadership
Manufacturing CEOs and COOs often deal with company-wide changes and projects that can affect how the entire business operates. One question we often dealt with at Robroy was whether to enlist the services of external experts during these challenges. The decision to bring in outside expertise can be a game-changer. There were times, like when
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Adopt a change management strategy when going through a major undertaking
- September 6, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Digital Transformation, Innovation, Leadership
Years ago, when I worked at Robroy, our company never had a proper warehouse management system — software that tracked our inventory and helped us know what we needed to order and what we had too much of. Our raw materials and our products would just sit on the floor and oftentimes got damaged. Not
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How Has Manufacturing Leadership Changed In the Last 40 Years
- July 5, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Manufacturing
The more leadership changes, the more it stays the same. This is true for manufacturing leadership, if not leadership in general. In a lot of ways, the things it takes to be a leader now are not the same things it took back in the 70s, but in some ways, they’re exactly the same. Back
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You’re Not Always Right: Why Leaders Should Not Be the Smartest People in the Room
- June 7, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Leadership
Being the smartest person in the room is not all it’s cracked up to be. And if you’re the leader of an organization or department, you absolutely should not be the smartest person in the room. You would think that was self-evident, but oftentimes it’s not. It’s a function of ego, although it’s understandable. We
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Remote Work is Hurting Professional Growth
- August 10, 2022
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Management, Productivity
Last week, I wrote about how remote work is ruining water cooler conversations and making it harder for people to have those simple conversations that lead to great innovations. I said: Or they have a company culture where it’s acceptable to pop in on a colleague at their cubicle or desk. In open-concept offices, people