Libsyn Directory

eadership + Accountability for Operations Managers: Becoming the Ultimate Diffuser of Drama and Restoring Team Focus with Cy Wakeman #84

Release Date: 05/17/2023

Workforce Development and Leadership Development: The Showing Up Gap That Is Undermining Your Manufacturing Productivity #172

Welcome to Manufacturing Greatness with Trevor Blondeel, where we work with organizations to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have to achieve greater retention, productivity, and profits. To learn more, visit and to subscribe to Trevor’s monthly newsletter. Now, let's jump in! Most manufacturing leaders believe that if they were clear, the message landed. But there is a gap that almost no one sees — the distance between how you think you show up and how your team actually experiences you. In this episode of Manufacturing Greatness, Trevor...

Lean Manufacturing Leadership for Plant Managers: Why Kaizen Fails Without Curiosity with Dr. Debra Clary #171

Welcome to Manufacturing Greatness with Trevor Blondeel, where we work with organizations to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have to achieve greater retention, productivity, and profits. To learn more, visit and to subscribe to Trevor’s monthly newsletter. Now, let's jump in! What if the biggest obstacle to your lean manufacturing results isn't the process at all? It might be the person leading it. In this episode of Manufacturing Greatness, learn more with Debra Clary, author of The Curiosity Curve, about one of the most overlooked blind...

Manufacturing Leadership Development: The 3 Conversations That Fix Accountability, Alignment, and Results #170

Welcome to Manufacturing Greatness with Trevor Blondeel, where we work with organizations to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have to achieve greater retention, productivity, and profits. To learn more, visit and to subscribe to Trevor’s monthly newsletter. Now, let's jump in! If you’ve ever thought “I already explained this” but still are not getting the results you expect, the problem may not be effort, it may be alignment. In this episode, Trevor Blondeel explores how gaps in communication skills and unclear expectations impact...

Manufacturing Leadership Development: Why Connection Drives Productivity and Retention with Morag Barrett #169

Welcome to Manufacturing Greatness with Trevor Blondeel, where we work with organizations to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have to achieve greater retention, productivity, and profits. To learn more, visit and to subscribe to Trevor’s monthly newsletter. Now, let's jump in! In today’s manufacturing environment, the biggest barrier to productivity, talent retention, and employee satisfaction isn’t equipment or process, it’s connection. Organizations may invest in lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, and process optimization, yet engagement,...

Why Productivity Problems Start at the Top: Manufacturing Leadership and Employee Retention: #168

Welcome to Manufacturing Greatness with Trevor Blondeel, where we work with organizations to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have to achieve greater retention, productivity, and profits. To learn more, visit and to subscribe to Trevor’s monthly newsletter. In this episode of Manufacturing Greatness, we break down why manufacturing leaders plant owners, operations managers, and production managers continue to struggle with employee retention, manufacturing productivity, workforce engagement, and frontline performance on the shop floor. Even after...

Leadership Resilience in Manufacturing: Leading Under Pressure with Dr. Marie-Helene Pelletier #167

Welcome to Manufacturing Greatness with Trevor Blondeel, where we work with organizations to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have to achieve greater retention, productivity, and profits. To learn more, visit and to subscribe to Trevor’s monthly newsletter. Now, let's jump in! In today’s demanding manufacturing environment, frontline supervisors and plant leaders are expected to deliver higher production efficiency, stronger quality management, and better manufacturing productivity often while navigating workforce pressures and constant operational...

Why People Leave Manufacturing Jobs — A New North American Research Study #166

Welcome to Manufacturing Greatness with Trevor Blondeel, where we work with organizations to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have to achieve greater retention, productivity, and profits. To learn more, visit and to subscribe to Trevor’s monthly newsletter. If you have questions regarding workforce development in manufacturing operations in North America, email me at and we will propose it in the project scope of research. Why are manufacturing organizations struggling to recruit and retain great people? Let’s find out together! Manufacturing...

Resilience for Frontline Supervisors: Building High Agency to Navigate Adversity and Improve Team Performance with Vickie Lanthier #165

Welcome to Manufacturing Greatness with Trevor Blondeel, where we work with organizations to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have to achieve greater retention, productivity, and profits. To learn more, visit and to subscribe to Trevor’s monthly newsletter. Now, let’s jump in! In this episode, Vickie Lanthier author of High Agency Human: Navigate Adversity and Live Big and former military leader with four deployments shares practical strategies for building personal agency in high-pressure environments like manufacturing. Drawing...

Defining Manufacturing Greatness: Help Me Choose the Subtitle #164

Welcome to Manufacturing Greatness with Trevor Blondeel, where we work with organizations to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have to achieve greater retention, productivity, and profits. To learn more, visit and to subscribe to Trevor’s monthly newsletter. Now, let’s jump in! In manufacturing, most leaders don’t struggle because they lack technical knowledge. They struggle because they’re not connecting with their teams. When skill gaps widen, labor shortages grow, and hiring challenges persist, it’s rarely an operations problem. It’s...

Manufacturing Leadership Development for Plant Managers: Driving Continuous Improvement Through Curiosity on the Shop Floor with Bruce Mayhew #163

Welcome to Manufacturing Greatness with Trevor Blondeel, where we work with organizations to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have to achieve greater retention, productivity, and profits. To learn more, visit and to subscribe to Trevor’s monthly newsletter. Now, let’s jump in! In this episode, Bruce Mayhew, corporate trainer, keynote speaker, executive coach, and author, shares insights on manufacturing leadership, communication skills, and trust building for Operations Managers, Production Managers, Manufacturing Managers, and Shift Supervisors. You’ll...

More Episodes

Welcome to Manufacturing Greatness with Trevor Blondeel, where we work with organizations to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have to achieve greater retention, productivity, and profits. To learn more, visit www.manufacturinggreatness.com and click here to subscribe to Trevor’s monthly newsletter.

Now, let’s jump in!

If leadership is not connected to the shop floor, miscommunication, productivity loss, and disengagement follow. Strong manufacturing results start with strong connections from the top to the frontline.

In this episode, Jason A. Hunt, leadership educator and manufacturing problem solving expert, shares insights on manufacturing leadership, communication skills, and employee engagement for Operations Managers, Production Managers, Manufacturing Managers, Team Leaders, and Shift Supervisors.

Jason explains how delegation, strategic thinking, and authentic leadership strengthen trust building and accountability. You will learn practical strategies for root cause analysis, feedback delivery, and growth mindset that improve productivity, support workforce retention, and create manufacturing cultures where teams think critically and stay aligned.

3:17 – When you’re a leader, it’s all too easy to set out to solve one problem, then get distracted by another problem and forget to solve the first issue

4:53 – Many leaders believe they have to have the answer to every problem, and feel like always having the answers is part of their job or what makes them important as a leader

5:58 – By always solving problems, leaders may actually be taking away valuable opportunities for their team members to learn, grow, and develop their own problem-solving skills

7:33 – Delegating can mean the difference between losing three minutes or losing three hours

9:36 – When you ask people to solve their own problems, they may pushback or be upset at first, but it’s a valuable opportunity for them to learn how to think critically and come up with their own solutions

15:12 – Leadership is about far more than your title, your knowledge, and your ability to manage others

16:08 – If the front of a train is moving ahead without connecting with the other boxcars, it’s not going to get to its destination

18:15 – Instead of solely focusing on KPIs or getting your products out the door, think about what you can do to connect with your team and really develop your relationships

21:29 Turn This Ship Around by L. David Marquet is a good resource for leaders

23:23 – To build better connections, shift your mindset and spend more time thinking about how you can build relationships with others

Connect with Jason A. Hunt

Website

Connect with Jason on LinkedIn

My book review of Turn This Ship Around

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