Managing across facilities and teams

During the March Maintenance and Reliability peer roundtable we had a strong discussion on some keys to managing multiple facilities or teams. As we strive to include people from all parts of the maintenance and reliability sphere, providing tips to help those moving up in their career is one of the great benefits members gain with their participation. Three main themes rose from this conversation: group communication and team building, identifying, understanding, and harmonizing metrics and goals wherever possible, and focusing on differences between facilities, particularly plant culture.

Recognizing that teams are stretched thin and extra meetings are rarely, if ever, met with excitement or applause, when you’re tasked with managing multiple facilities or teams, doing what you can to get the groups and you aligned is critical to success. Early on, facilitating these interactions helps establish leadership, but the goal is to help set up peer groups (something we’re a big fan of!) between sites and disciplines to create a network for collaboration. Make yourself available, but let the teams drive this activity. You are there to help clear roadblocks or help get support from management. If you are too involved it will likely stifle open conversation and idea flow. Also, if feasible, attempt to have these groups get together in person periodically. This does not need to be a multi-day fly-away mission if you have facilities near one another. However, if you’re more geographically dispersed and getting funding to travel is problematic, carve out a virtual session. The interaction will help build a better sense of teamwork and allows you to be a catalyst for change.

Metrics, metrics, everywhere. KPIs, OKRs, MBOs, however your organization talks about them, there’s a pretty small chance you aren’t being measured against a set of metrics. However, those metrics are likely different from plant to plant. Sure, common metrics like OEE may be pervasive, but even that can be subjective with how inputs are calculated. Your job as a leader is to review the metrics assigned to you and your various teams, particularly if you’ve inherited a team and didn’t assign their metrics. Focus on common objectives and how you can use language that resonates between the different facilities. Going back to the peer groups, make sure you bring up the topic of metrics and have them discuss with their colleagues. Don’t let this simply turn into a gripe session but remind everyone that we won’t have much success changing them mid-flight but make suggestions for future reporting periods. The goal is to align with other managers in those facilities to make sure everyone is aiming in the right direction and executing the proper activities to best achieve success.

Our last part of the discussion was a good reminder that just because another facility is just a short drive away does not mean the culture is the same as your facility. Whether it’s a different business unit, a plant that came via acquisition, or just a very different management style, don’t assume just because the logo on the badge is the same that the people are as well. As a leader, working to identify these differences, and more importantly similarities, is delicate. You can’t just simply tell people to change, or if you try, you’re likely to push a rope uphill. Using non-judgmental language like “I recognize we have different processes for this” can highlight you are acknowledging the difference without attempting to mandate one over the other. Whatever you do, resist the urge to cajole or force, hint “that’s the way we’ve always done it” will not win friends and influence people. While this can be a challenge, it’s a great opportunity as an emerging leader to drive alignment and change in a way that people are more comfortable, and therefore, more likely to work with you.

Our next session is April 9th at 2 PM EDT. If you are a maintenance and reliability practitioner and find these posts and content interesting, contact Adam Napolitano Napolitano for more information or an invite to the roundtable.