What do you do if you want to groom future leaders in Manufacturing Operations?

When identifying talent, you first need to take a step back and analyze if you hold any biases. You could be ignoring or overlooking diverse talents, leading to a reduced range of perspectives, ideas, and experiences. Other team members who perceive a bias may feel demotivated, undervalued, or discrimination leading to lower morale. Your reputation could be damaged and there could be accompanying legal risks. Best practice is to provide everyone in your organization with opportunities to become leaders. Rising stars will emerge that want to take on more responsibilities and challenges. Vet your thoughts with others when considering individuals for rewarding opportunities and consider a matrix that informs decision-making.

The simple truth is that I understand my audience in manufacturing environments really well and this helps to build rapport and influence them in the best possible way to become better team members but also better members of society. Remember, information does not necessarily lead to transformation.

Training is important but not everyone can transfer knowledge in a way that truly speaks to the audience. In sports we know that the best players are often terrible coaches and the best coaches understand the strategy of the game and have the ability to influence the players to be at their best - mentally, emotionally and physically. I have been questioned so many times why I keep focusing on the manufacturing industry - even during tough times such as a recession in 2008 and Covid. Continued in the next comment section…

What i have found helpful is to mentor your future leaders everyday at gemba when you attend their daily management... this is on concrete examples you can see how your mentees react and you can fine tune the coaching almost live and finally this is a very simple and sustainable process

Coaching talent to become future leaders is a worthwhile endeavor. Not only is it rewarding to target talent, but also to the leaders that are coaching. To me, there is nothing more rewarding than opening doors for mentees to succeed in their careers. As you develop talent, create opportunities for them to try different roles, expand their responsibilities, and network with others. With a watchful eye, allow them to learn from their mistakes so that they become stronger for it. In doing all of this, recognize that the talent you are coaching may decide to leave the company for other leadership opportunities elsewhere. That's still not failure. Good coaches recognize that players sometimes need to move on to move up.