Build and Support Agile On-Site Teams:

• Release the power of leadership potential in the hearts of motivated people who take pride in their work who can teach and develop the same performance in other employees.
  
• Don’t settle for less than the desired impact. 
  
• ​Consider the positive and Negative impacts of "NOT HAVING" this resource or ability...when you need it most.

The list of negative possibilities is endless...cite your own, and get the help you need.  Fight for your company to win, and win again...by being prepared with the flexibility to always provide sufficient resources for your current production needs and
staff, and for the employees who deserve to be well trained...for the benefit of all.
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The "Best of Both worlds" when trying to develop a great crew throughout the entire plant: 
Put “Train Trainer Policies and Procedures” in place, and keep them there!

​Demonstrated instructional ability to trDemonstrated instructional ability to train, develop and engage employees merely requires capturing the steps, detailed criteria and blending it by intentional design to fit the application.
  
It’s not “Rocket Science” nor is it “automatic,” and it’s certainly not perfected by accident. However it can be developed to levels close to perfection with a little planning and effort, coupled with people who collaborate well to help achieve it.
 
For new employees, to move them to high levels of competencies starts from the point of orientation and basic machine skills, covering the scope of work, multi-tasking, standardized techniques and methodologies, priority management, observation and listening skills.
 
It’s important to control training as it is tempered and tailored to rates of employee competency and proficiency, which instills the value and critical importance of retaining instructional material.
 
A great definition of “Wisdom” is “Knowledge Applied.” It’s best to use an experienced and seasoned trainer who is proficient on the equipment or process. A top performer can make a great trainer most of time. They are key assets to a company that keep saving the company money over many job and many years. 
 
If you “Top Performer” willing to train, who has trained, they should be committed to the same goals, expectations and methods on which employees need to be trained.  A half hour or so of reviewing the order of training, key areas confirming the agreeable order and course of training, ensures uniform consistency of operations and production processes. 
ain, develop and engaging employees to high levels of competencies from orientation, basic machine skills  problem solving, multi-tasking, improved medologies, management observation and listening skills aid in assessments and troubleshooting to help people,  processes and equipment achieve "Just in Time" and Statistical Process Control standards at any phase.

The value of a problem: Perpetually Costly at whatever rate of cumulative rate of attrition is allowed to survive, mutate, grow and compound.

When allowed freedom, it transforms and morphs into a controlling factor, in all areas left open for prey. 

It breeds and mulitplies like a monster taking endless forms and shapes to eat at and holds down forard progress at will.

It moves in all directions dispersing unknown levels of negative energy when it hides, is undescovered, left unchecked or given a free pass to continue along any path. 

There is no value in a problem, other than those experienced after it is properly and permermantly delt with, once and for all.  The value throughout each cleared path, can then be measured, by what ever value is gained on whatever you can move through those same, previously damaged or blocked paths, which are finally free and clear for safe travel.  

No wonder people initially try to ignore them, hope they go away, pray they'll be delivered from, and then, when people finally realize that it's time to "take the gloves off" and do some serious battle. That's the moment any value can be seen in the light of exposing the problem, so it can be clearly seen an dealt with. 
Within each contolled work environment, the knowledge and the will to use the power need to be fully equipped and fully stoked and urged into action.  Their is only one mind and one's own will contolled by a single decision which is in on the challenge at first.  Not until it is known to others, will anyone have a choice, option or ability to do anything more, than assume that it doesn't exist. 

Everyone else is out of the loop is clueless with good reason, but supervisors are absolutely wrong to assume that there is not a problem if they don't hear about one if they don't make sure everything is running well, frequently, using all data, feedback streams and methods available to them. Interaction a few moments with each employee, checking counts, watching the scope and span of progress, looking closely at any equipment and suspect areas for the more common problems, checking the material before it's processed, checking the current quality, and checking the recent production, are all clues and touch stones which hold the most direct and highest yield of information to check for signs of trouble. 

Unleash at least enough and be ready to release a little more reserve power previously kept in reserve which was "waiting in the wings." Employees should be comfortable knowing that their supervisor actually invites and welcome a heads up about any problem. To the degree this is true with all employees, will directly correspond an enhanced capability to discover and deal with problems sooner, sufferning less loss, damage, spoilage, rework or lost production.   You might say that being advised of one early enough, holds that greatest value for everyone on the receiving end of the problem. Supervisors keeping cool head, even if the employee screwed up, goes a long way in being a telling sign for the future, as to whether or not that same supervisor will be informed early with the next problem, or much too late.  

The way problems are reported, when they are dealt with, when the alerts go out to whoever can help, this all works together and needs to handled and managed well.  The outcome is always tainted with the manner, tone and conduct with which it was handled.  Mutual success should be shared doled out when winning over problem that you, and they tackled together.  When this news hits the floor, it travels fast, whether it was handled well or poorly, that too will hold clues to how others will, may or could handle the discovery, delay and decision as to when to inform people about a problem.  Solve them early at the source and core, completely and permenantly, by having people know...that your company, and every manager and supervisor is there willing to solve the problem, and prove to them consistantly,.,exactly how well you manage each of them.

Troubleshooting is more like a team sport than an individual one.  Why would any supervisor want to tackle a single unknown problem on a machine that's running when someone else is running it 90% of the time at least. Their eyes, ears, hands, knowledge, skill, habits, training, thoughts, concerns, challenges are all on it, and working in concert with that machine, not the supervisor.  Feedback is priceless, and advance detection and early warnings from an ambitious, attentive and competent employee who you happen to work great with, a key to successful trouble shooting which should not be nudged aside as a supervisor brazingly takes over and tells the employee, just step back and let me handle it.  Operators should be involved in trouble-shooting.  They'll learn from the whole process, and help, and will handle the same ones or alert you sooner for help with the fix, she knows experientially, what needs to be done.  

​If a supervisor handles problems as well as the trouble shooting process like the way it should be encouraged and followed as a standard, how many more problems would be solved sooner and better and how effective would that working relationship be for the company and each of them? 

How many more problems may be exaserbated, overlooked, delayed in reporting, not to mention costs or the other probable gamut of ill effects...if poor soft skills are used instead of good ones...on say 10 or 20 machines or 10 or 20 problems....per week or per day?

It happens, and it is costly.  Imagine having the 40 hands , the 20 pairs of eyes, ears and feet, and especially the extra 20 brains strategically placed to compute and process each owns knowledge base and skill to trouble shoot. 

I've met some great trouble shooters and good superisors, and if they rely on them and their ego alone...they are wrong, less effective and probably causing other problems when choosing  rely soley on  their pair of hands, eyes, ears and feet as well as that single brain shared between the two of them...they just can't compare to the oversight of the collective others.

The operators and their scope, plan and execution of operational procedures, the status and state of problems which have to be dealt with 90% of the time...there are too many assets underutilized, too many ignored, and too many new problems created unnessesarily.

With this kind of available resources already there...who would ignore an opportunity to utilize their skill, talent and attentiveness during the problem assessment and solution process? 

Why would any supervisor rely only on "their self, and their huge ego," and shut everyone else out of the operational and trouble-shooting process or corrective measures, so they can fix it and high tail it out of their as soon as they can?

Why would they do this, instead of tapping into the company resources of using the empowered employee and coworkers to help champion and fight the good fight together right by your side as a supervisor?  

Check your staff on this.  How do they rate? 

Implement and Establish Uniformity and Sustainable Success

Engaging employees with interactive training support while encouraging the pursuit of excellence, completes the cycle of success throughout the company.
 
Develop skills and ability within each person to properly solve problems faster promotes an increase and an acute awareness to strive for perfection at the same time. 
 
By doing this each person helps their self and everyone else, move a little closer to that mark. This is not new, and yet some people always react as if they’ve just been offended, or belittled with a reminder…when they already “know how” to do their job.  The point is yes they do, but no they apparently weren’t. What in the world other reason could there be, for reminding people to do…what they already knew how to do…IF THEY WERE ALREADY DOING IT?  Ahh…Unless of course it’s, only a reminder or a precaution?
 
Careless employees or those demonstrating a lack of effort are HYPER-Sensitive to instruction and direction, and the are always On-Guard.
If a supervisor has any question about how his corrective action or reminders are going to be recieved...take an associate supervisor there. This is a well known and frequently utilized method,  but sometimes in some ways, this too can be intimidating for that employee, but it's never reason enough for a supervisor to avoid taking a necessary step to get the work rate back up to an acceptable standard.

Develop thicker skin if you want to use poor methods, drag your feet, or fail to pay attention…you’re going to need it.  Why?
 
Supervisors make sure to address anyone who is not pulling their fair share or equal weight of work, especially right before their eyes.
 
If a supervisor winks at mistakes or a lack of effort, which is noticeably being ignored, and literally forgiving it, it’s like they’d be encouraging it to happen, giving a license to it, and it’s also called a free ride. 
 
Supervisors are the eyes and ears as well as the direction and redirection required by their vary role, to make this company machine run. Nowhere in a supervisor’s job description does it allow them the right to ignore their own job, and poor production of any kind, in order to allow a person to put out shoddy work or forgive a slower pace.
 
Poor workers with bad habits are more aware of the problem than we give them credit for.  Check out the machine and the process, and when they try to shift the blame on something else, you’ll be ready for it.  Denials don’t win a free pass either, and nor does a shocked or offended reaction to a simple reminder they already knew was “on-the-way.”
 
Hold the line on this regardless of relatives, girlfriends, golf buddies, and even the bosses kid for that matter…if they are there to work, get the work you need to have done, done, and in so doing, you’ll gain the respect and appreciation of those who probably knew about the problem well before you determined the best way to handle it.  Plus, that same respect will return from the vary person you’ve assisted by guiding them to a more worthy endeavor…of just doing a good job.  This was the rule from their first day, and nobody has rewritten it since. 
 
Production will rise, the team is back together…and life is good again. Ignore it, and the chronic problem…and I guarantee it will be there later. It will sit and fester till something or someone has got to be removed.
It wouldn’t make sense and yet, there’s always someone trying to push back on simple directives.
 
All employees I’ve met know when they’re missing their mark, or cutting corners, and they expect to be caught and yes they are waiting to hear about it too. If this doesn’t happen, bad news travels fast, among those toting their share of the load. They’re also the ones who’ll probably end up having to pick up the slack on what the poor producer could not or would not do. The loss of respect from the rest of the productive employees could be clocked with that egg timer. When this happens, the quality of work and production output rates can fall just as fast.
 
Respect and support the workers doing a good and they’ll thank you for it, if not directly to you, it will show in their work, day in and day out. You’ve done before, and it worked for a while right?  Well dust this off daily and make it policy throughout the plant…and make it stick this time! If all management holds this standard, it’s easier to correct every isolated incident before it grows into a chronic problem, creating habits that not be easy to brake.  
 
If it’s not emphasized to a point of being “a daily minimum requirement” then the door is left wide open for many things less, Any less= less profit. This is a no-brainer point really, and shouldn’t have to be discussed, but it can be a slicker service in large plants than people realize, especially if a supervisor does not check their employee’s work performance consistently. 
 
The only time they are not required to follow this policy…is when they clock out, or are working for someone else. This is hallmark of stewardship which propels  companies more than any other to amazing heights of achievement inspires management to higher regard and sincere appreciation that they’d be feel foolish to ignore.  

Company leaders are marked for their ethics, morals, principles and practices. Their actions and integrity hang in the balances, and if everyone is looking to the top for their own lead, anything less to the contrary is transparent, and hard to miss.  And yes…they are aware of it.  Just focus on getting the details, steps and costs under control, adapt and adjust to the mode of awareness to any continuous improvement principle and put them into practice daily. Make this commitment for “The Good” of the company as well as yourself, and “The Bad” and the “Ugly” go away.

Every company has different needs, only similar in main objectives within their niche industry and potential emerging or growth markets.  Custom culture shifts and environmental changes happen as a result of each program in their manufacturing plant with each team. Results occur from deliberate decisions and choices, or the lack thereof.  It's more practical,, easier and more effective whenever it's done from the inside with the people who care for it, support it, allowing the potential for growth who can infuse change practices with the power to do be fully engaged.

Here's a much earlier example of training, I developed that made helped the entire plant achieve the highest average per hour, for the most work, for the longest period of time in its industry.  One employee and One Team at a time.  It's seemingly simple an archaic compared to today's latest Quality Programs represented by infinite resources to support them. 

Consult and pick your latest Training Acronyms and Programs, but to make them work continually, they must be fed and allowed to grow and evolve, being allowed to move with an agility free from any obstruction.  Then they will grow and produce your intended results.  This will be something more, for everyone to be proud of.  Good Luck seems to come sooner with wiser choices and decisions from those who have the authority and responsibility, who can make the greatest impact. 

When your trainers are not busy training, they are normally still the busiest and most productive people in the plant. Not every trainer, all the time, but for the most part, if this is a job they chose...then they are keenly aware of production, constantly watching out for a training need, or something which isn't, like a lack of effort to do what someone is already trained  and qualified to do.

Having an on-site, well supportive training program in place, adapting and adjusting to change, with the flexibility and empowered workers who made thousands of decisions a day blew standards away in both quality and efficiency daily.  They did it individually and in teams together, whenever and wherever possible. 

They were independent of manager oversight...with results which would have been impossible had it not been for the people who knew the value and benefits of such confidence and trust being placed in them, and given the resources to accomplish it. 

A canned program, lip service, sporadic efforts on whims and ideas once tried, just managed to log reminders of other failed attempts at change.

Making the changes from within, with a TRAINING PROGRAM and Leaders who were always there first, made the difference.

Polk was a great example: Training Structures change, as do Employment Roles and Objectives, putting each to work and testing them, meant they were tried and proven daily or adjusted accordingly.