It’s a common problem. Supervisors think they’ve given clear instructions yet employees deliver very different outcomes.
The result may be defective work, incorrect priorities, wrong projects, on-the-job confusion, or worse. The solution is clarity and an intentional approach.
“As leaders, we need to think about how we are communicating the what, the when, and the process to avoid misunderstandings or misperceptions,” says Michele Neale, a business growth consultant and talent expert for Enterprise Minnesota. Neale explained how to build a culture of engaged problem solvers at the recent Lakes Area Manufacturing Alliance annual meeting in Brainerd.
Developing engagement among employees has real bottom line benefits, she says. Gallup findings indicate that manufacturers that develop a culture of engagement outperform their competitors by 202%, have reduced turnover, and experience fewer safety incidents. But to create and maintain that culture, leaders need to communicate intentionally, daily, and usually in a team setting where ideas and learning can be shared. They also need to master four key competencies that drive engaged behavior, Neale says.
Articulate ‘the why’
The first key competency is being able to articulate “the why” of your organization. Mission, vision, and value statements need to be more than “words on the wall,” Neale says. They need to be explained and modeled by company leaders.
Employees are more effective if they understand how their work fits into the organization. They may be machining a small part or assembling a component, but if they understand where their work fits — who the customer is, why the specifications on the job are important — they’re more likely to see and call out potential problems before they become a crisis.
“The more leaders can articulate the big picture, the more everybody can come in knowing what their role is and why it matters,” Neale says. “Employees want to be tied to a larger mission and be told why their role is important.”
Neale is a big fan of University of Minnesota football coach P.J. Fleck’s concept of “row the boat.” “Everyone has their place, understands their role, and knows when it is time for them to row,” she says. The same idea can be applied to the production area or the organization as a whole.
Set the right measures and expectations
Setting appropriate expectations for employees and meaningful measures of success connects “the why” with daily work, Neale says. Leaders — from the supervisor level upwards — need to make sure they are measuring the right things and explaining measures clearly. Are the measures connected to strategic goals, such as revenue, profits, or growth? Or are they linked to important day-to-day issues relating to safety, quality, on-time delivery, or employee development?
“You need to measure the things tied to value,” Neale says. “We also need to be clear about what the measures are and why they are important. If you are not clear, people make things up.”
While every organization will have its own measures, they generally should be set for areas like on-boarding and training new employees, best practices, and team-based collaboration. Tracking them every day through a daily huddle or team meeting keeps measures top-of-mind for all employees, says Neale, who teaches the Leading Daily for Results program for Enterprise Minnesota with business growth consultants Ally Johnston and Ryan Steinert. “Metrics can be flexible,” she says. “When teams create their own metrics you have buy-in, and that leads to meeting team goals.”
Focus on process
Process is everything in driving effective engagement. Employees should know exactly what their jobs entail and how to do them in the safest and highest quality way. Documenting and teaching processes — and why they are done as they are — is a good first step. Asking “is this important to the customer?” helps refine processes.
Neale tells the story of a company that devoted considerable time to cleaning a product before shipping it out to its customer. But when employees looked at the process more closely, they discovered that shipping and post-shipping handling of the product made the cleaning unnecessary.
“You want to try eliminating siloed approaches and move toward team collaboration,” she says.
Engage and coach daily
Providing employees with the skills and confidence to make improvements in their work is a key part of any leader’s job, Neale says. At a basic level, employees need to understand their roles and have the tools and resources to perform them well.
“The leader’s job is to ask what do you need to do the job right,” Neale says. “It may mean having the right people in the right seats, even the right tools.” At one company Neale worked with, an employee was using an older hand-tool to do his job and it was slowing him down. For a very minimal investment, the employee’s productivity skyrocketed after receiving a new tool.
Regular feedback and opportunities for employees to collaborate with each other and supervisors through daily huddles make coaching a natural part of the workplace rather than an uncomfortable correction. Asking questions, talking about challenges, successes, and upcoming issues encourages accountability and continuous improvement, Neale says.
“The key is doing this daily,” she says. “Employees find they are learning by having other people ask questions and collaborating on problems.”
In the Leading Daily for Results course, Neale, along with her colleagues, explains how to use daily huddles and other techniques to build these four leadership competencies and demonstrate them to employees.
Return to the Spring 2025 issue of Enterprise Minnesota® magazine.
