Libsyn Directory

Leadership Clarity in Manufacturing for Manufacturing Managers: Setting Direction Through Intentional Action with Jon Giganti #103

Release Date: 11/01/2023

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

🎁 Free: 10 great questions to ask your leadership and drive engagement → Connect with Trevor: LinkedIn 👉 Website 👉 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...

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

🎁 Free: 10 great questions to ask your leadership and drive engagement → Connect with Trevor" LinkedIn 👉 Website 👉 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...

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

🎁 Free: 10 great questions to ask your leadership and drive engagement → Connect with Trevor: LinkedIn: Website: 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.

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

🎁 Free: 10 great questions to ask your leadership and drive engagement → When was the last time you went on vacation and didn't check your phone? 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:

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...

Silencing Self-Doubt and Leading with Confidence with Jenn Donahue #173 I Labor Shortage in Manufacturing

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 threat to your production efficiency, workforce development, and manufacturing productivity was not a supply chain disruption or a failed kaizen event — but the voice inside your own head? On this episode of Manufacturing Greatness, learn more with...

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,...

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!

Do your days start with positive intentions but end without meaningful progress? Many manufacturing leaders struggle with intentionality while juggling productivity demands and daily challenges.

In this episode, Jon Giganti, speaker, tech executive, and USA Today bestselling author, shares insights on manufacturing leadership, growth mindset, and employee engagement for Operations Managers, Production Managers, Manufacturing Managers, Team Leaders, and Shift Supervisors.

Jon explains how self awareness, agency, and authentic leadership strengthen communication skills, trust building, and accountability. You will learn practical strategies to improve focus, support workforce retention, and create manufacturing cultures where intentional leadership drives productivity, engagement, and stronger results.

6:33 – To accomplish something, you need to show up, serve, and add value

7:08 – Intention is finding out what your priorities are, then living into it as much as possible

7:58 – Every day is a new day with opportunities to be intentional and make an impact

9:28 – In order to serve others, you have to serve yourself first by establishing a routine and setting yourself up for success

10:48 – To find sustainable results, you need to have self-awareness and self-intention

13:13 – You need to put yourself in the right position for success

14:08 – Your energy levels are not the same throughout the day, so being intentional about your time is important

15:44 – Journaling or writing down affirmations is one way to practice intentionality

16:34 – You should also set a core foundation yourself by working on your own standards and beliefs

18:30 – To accomplish what you want to accomplish, show up, and form habits

21:07 – If you want to be more intentional about how you lead or connect with others, start with curiosity, connection, and bridging disconnects

23:29 – To serve others on your team, act as a safe place to connect

24:00 – To get stronger results or find out what is driving a performance issue, stay curious and find ways to connect with your teams

24:39 – Trust also plays a large role in building connections and finding results

25:23 – Along with self-awareness, you also need agency and the ability to take ownership of your past, present, and future

Tune in next episode to learn more about intentionality with Jon Giganti!

Connect with Jon Giganti

Visit his website, where you can learn about his speaking, podcasts, and With Intention course

Check out my book report of With Intention, then get your own copy

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