Libsyn Directory

Workplace Recognition in Manufacturing for Plant Directors: Why Being Seen and Seeing Others Builds Stronger Teams with Corban David Jenai #102

Release Date: 10/18/2023

A Reporter Calls Me Every Week Asking Who's Laying Off with Jason Bates │ Manufacturing Community │ Ep. 183

A reporter calls Jason Bates every week looking for the big layoff story. The five-hundred-people-let-go story. Jason keeps telling him the truth: layoffs are happening, in small numbers. So is hiring. But the catastrophe the headlines want isn't what he sees across hundreds of Ontario plants every day. Trevor sits down with Jason, Manufacturing Consortium Manager at EMC, Canada's largest manufacturing consortium, to unpack what's really going on, the plants that are quietly adjusting and diversifying, and the peer community most owners haven't tapped into. Growth doesn't sell papers....

Every Time You Say Yes, You’re Saying No to Something │ Manufacturing Team Leadership │ Ep. 182

When’s the last time you said yes when everything in you wanted to say no? Every yes is a no to something else, usually the work that mattered more, and we end up drowning in our own yeses. Trevor breaks down the hidden math of saying yes, why productive beats busy, and how to say no without burning the relationship, even when it’s your boss asking. You don’t refuse, you reframe: I want to help, here’s what I’d have to move, which option works best. It comes down to capacity and priorities, the heart of manufacturing team leadership. 🎁 Free: 10 great questions to ask your...

The Team Member You've Quietly Given Up On with Nir Eyal │ Talent Development │ Ep. 181

What if the team member you've quietly given up on is the one your plant needs most? Trevor sits down with Nir Eyal, author of the New York Times bestseller Beyond Belief and the global bestsellers Hooked and Indistractable, to apply the three powers of belief (attention, anticipation, agency) to manufacturing talent development. The judgment trap stops development cold. This conversation breaks it open. Manufacturing team leadership starts with the beliefs you carry about the people on your floor. Connect with Nir: Website 👉 nirandfar.com Book 👉 geni.us/beyondbelief Free...

It’s Thursday and the Report Isn’t Done. Where Did It Break? │ Manufacturing Team Leadership │ Ep. 180

It’s Wednesday afternoon and the report due tomorrow isn’t going to be in on time. Do you push harder, or fix what actually broke? Trevor takes a real plant scenario, a report feeding a hiring decision, and walks it back through three gaps: how you showed up, whether “done” was ever clear, and what happens when no one follows up. You’ll hear why chasing harder is manufacturing midness, and the one move that keeps next Thursday from looking like this one: question yourself first. Applies the Manufacturing Greatness model from Episode 170 👉 🎁 Free: 10 great questions to ask your...

The Most Important Leader Has No Title with Jason Hopper │ Manufacturing Team Leadership From the Floor │ Ep. 179

What if the most important leader on your shop floor doesn’t have the title? Trevor sits down with Jason Hopper, a thirty-year manufacturing veteran who rose from the floor into team leadership and then chose to go back to the floor, on what good leadership actually looks like to the people being led. They get into the trap that catches almost every leader, why safety has to mean stopping, and the coaching, trust, and patience that keep good people in the role. 🎧 Mentioned in this episode: Episode 14 with Horst Prelog and Scott Turner, on slowing down to go fast (June 3, 2020). Listen...

Three Questions That Turn "We Told Them" Into "We Got It Done" | Manufacturing Team Leadership | Ep. 178

Have you ever walked past your visual management boards and still not been able to tell if your team is winning? Trevor takes you inside a global food company where executives kept saying "we told them the standards" and supervisors kept saying "we need more clarity." Both were right. Neither was fixing the board. Inspired by Shane Zutz's High Impact Leadership newsletter, Trevor unpacks why accountability is usually a clarity problem in disguise, and walks through the three questions that close the gap between the top and the shop. 🎁 Free: 10 great questions to ask your leadership and...

The Unwritten Rule That Quietly Ran His Whole Plant with Ryan Forte │ Manufacturing Team Leadership │ Ep. 177

What if the hardest person to lead in your plant is you? Trevor sits down with Ryan Forte, Owner of Jefferson Metal Products, whose team had quietly built one unwritten rule: keep the boss happy. Ryan introduces the five-step curiosity model — a new way to think about manufacturing team leadership that starts with getting curious about yourself first. When Ryan made that shift, his culture changed, his people grew, and turnover at the plant dropped by more than half. 🎁 Free: 10 great questions to ask your leadership and drive engagement → and get bonus content in our...

Why Write-Ups Break Trust and What to Do Instead | The Accountability Gap | Ep. 176

Have you ever written up an employee and felt sick the second they walked out of the office? Trevor unpacks the third gap in the Manufacturing Greatness framework: the Accountability Gap. He walks through what happens when leaders skip the conversation and go straight to progressive disclipine, and the three questions that turn pressure into partnership. 🎁 Free: 10 great questions to ask your leadership and drive engagement → and get bonus content in our newsletter! Connect with Trevor: LinkedIn 👉 Website 👉

Culture of Ownership in Manufacturing: How Owners Stop Being the Bottleneck with Josh McKain | Ep. 175

Trevor sits down with Josh McKain, founder of Throughput Mastery, to unpack why manufacturing owners get stuck putting out every fire, and the three-part framework for building a culture of ownership: create the environment, model the standard, install the system. Ownership isn't a personality trait. It's a structural condition you can design for. Connect with Josh: LinkedIn: Website: 🎁 Free: 10 great questions to ask your leadership and drive engagement → and get bonus content in our newsletter! Connect with Trevor: LinkedIn 👉 Website...

When 'You Should Just Know' Stops Working | Communication Skills #174

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. Have you ever assumed your team should just know what you expected, and watched the project go sideways anyway? In manufacturing, the expectation gap between what leaders think is expected and what teams actually understand drives missed deadlines, rework, and six-figure mistakes. Most of...

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!

Strong relationships drive curiosity, connection, and performance on the manufacturing floor.

In this episode, Corban David Jenai, entrepreneur and Chief Hope Officer at HopeGuide, shares insights on manufacturing leadership, trust building, and employee engagement for Operations Managers, Production Managers, Manufacturing Managers, Team Leaders, and Shift Supervisors.

Corban explains how vulnerability, intentionality, and authentic leadership strengthen communication skills and accountability. You will learn practical strategies for difficult conversations, growth mindset, and feedback delivery that support workforce retention and create manufacturing cultures where people feel seen, valued, and motivated to perform.

3:14 – Talking about ourselves and real aspects of our lives is a way to kick off strong connections

4:00 – Vulnerability is a path to connection

4:23 – By listening and getting to know others on your team, you build a sense of trust, which in turn leads to greater results on performance, quality, safety, and more

5:03 – To show others that you care, you have to actually care

6:36 – To build connections, think about what is important to you, and work with the assumption that others might have feelings similar to yours

8:23 – While modern society gives us the chance to connect with many people, we don’t always have the time or capacity to form meaningful connections with every person we encounter

10:15 – By connecting with smaller groups, we have the chance to be a witness to others, and they can be a witness to hear, see, and feel us as we are

11:06 – By investing in others at a deeper level, you can improve productivity and results

12:56 – Being vulnerable and open with your team allows them to see your humanity as a leader

14:38 – By looking at someone and actually seeing them, you can make a major difference, even if you don’t have a solution to their problems

16:51 – When people feel seen and heard, they are more likely to show up for you and your organization

20:06 – Even small moments of connection, like making eye contact, go a long way when forming connections

25:54 – Being a witness can help you show up better in all your relationships

Connect with Corban David Janai

Find Corban online at his website

Learn More About HopeGuide here

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