A slice of bread is so much more than a slice of bread

Today marks my one year working at Tip Top, a division of George Weston Foods Limited (GWF) – one of the largest food manufactures across Australia and New Zealand. When reaching milestones like this, I like to stop, pause, and reflect on the year gone by; specifically, reflecting on my key learnings.

Checking-in with myself allows me to make sure where I am is where I want to be.

Typically, when reflecting on my job, I focus on the key projects, skills and people I’ve encountered. However, when reflecting on the last 12 months at Tip Top, my experience has been so much greater. Three areas come to mind when I think about the last year; the magnitude of cross-functional collaboration, the depths of a safety transformation journey, and the impact of authentic leadership.

The hidden ingredients of your bread

Vegemite toast, honey on crumpets, or a gourmet seeded sandwich – so simple! So simple you don’t even think about how it ended up on your plate. For most of us, it’s as simple as picking up our favourite packaged bread off the shelf from the local grocery store. For me though, it has become so much more than that.

The number of hardworking and committed people working together to get the product on the shelf is quite remarkable; it’s truly a symphony in itself!

Tip Top allowed me to experience the end-to-end product manufacturing lifecycle; seeing how a business comes together to deliver daily – all year round! I learned about the behind the scenes of how raw ingredients are transformed into delicious products and are ready for you at your local grocery store. Learning about the supply chain and life cycle of bread; from raw materials, suppliers, manufacturing, packaging, logistics, distribution, delivery, marketing, and waste management has massively influenced my appreciation for the food manufacturing industry.

I must admit, there have been several instances in my career where I’ve become so focused on a task or caught up in my work; that I forget the very essence of a business – which is a group of people working together towards a common purpose.

Safety is beyond compliance and training

Prior to joining Tip Top, safety from an organisational perspective was merely a tick in a box. The tick in a box was accompanied by a culture of exhausted and disgruntled employees receiving reminders on their outstanding annual compliance and training.

The first thing I noticed when joining Tip Top was their genuine safety mindset; which surprisingly went beyond leadership. My first encounter with ‘a safety mindset’ was at our weekly leadership and business catch-up, whereby we were encouraged to share any safety shares; be it at work or in our personal lives. I still remember the first safety share from that meeting 12 months ago. It was about reminding everyone about mindful driving; specifically, driving next to trucks and ensuring you remain out of their blind spots. It was also a safety share for our operational leaders to share with our truck drivers; to ensure our employees are practising safe behaviour on the roads.

Tip Top have created a culture whereby they encourage you to call out safety behaviour, even if you’re calling out a leader. There have been a few occasions where I’ve seen employees calling out lunch time jaywalkers to ensure they are using pedestrian crossings. What’s even more awesome, they’ve all responded positively and thanked each other for calling it out.

Safety is no longer “lame”!

In addition to the regular safety shares and safety call-outs; the timely action taken during critical incidents has been impressive; and more importantly, clearly mitigated further risk and exposure. I’ve seen innovative and practical safety solutions put in place on numerous occasions; whether it has been related to poor practises, faulty manufacturing equipment, or the unfortunate terrorist attack in New Zealand. What has been consistent within these incidents, has been the transparent and timely sharing of the learnings and corrective actions across the organisation.

Our safety mindset doesn’t stop here, as an organisation we are truly on a safety transformation journey; whereby our safety performance and culture is radically improving.

An organisation led by an authentic leader

I’ve only personally experienced the power of authentic executive-level leadership once I joined Tip Top. Our Managing Director doesn’t shy away from showing us that he’s human – like each and everyone one of us. He has created a culture of driving performance, but more importantly sees his employees as people rather than numbers.

This sounds quite simple and obvious that every leader should have these qualities, however, I urge you to think about the leaders leading your organisations. What was the nature of the last conversation you had with them? How often do they speak directly with the most junior employees of your organisation? How do they speak to them? How much eye contact are they giving them? What culture are they indirectly creating around them? What do they do with their power and influence? Are their actions aligned to their words?

To me, these questions define character. And which one’s worse; working for a leader without character or being led by one?

Over the last 12 months, our Managing Director has demonstrated true character and authentic leadership. A few lessons I’ve learned directly from him:

• We are here to do business, but we aren’t saving lives – this mindset fosters a culture of outcome vs output, sustainable performance, and genuine work/life balance.
• We are striving for greatness, but don’t forget we are doing great – this mindset fosters a culture of appreciation, recognition and sustainable performance.
• We are leaders in action, but we always have time for our people – this mindset fosters a culture of transparency, empowerment, engagement and compassion.
• If you can’t admit your mistakes, don’t expect anyone else to – this mindset fosters a culture of integrity, courage, knowledge-sharing and learning from our “failures”.

As I write this, I feel a sense of accomplishment; I feel as though the last 12 months have been integral to my growth and development. I’ve learned the importance of true authentic leadership, the depths of a safety transformation journey, and the magnitude of cross-functional collaboration.