117 You Can’t Proceduralize Everything! With Jake Mazulewicz
Release Date: 05/15/2024
162 Designing Time for Engagement in Manufacturing Plants with Brian Herriot
Manufacturing Greatness
In manufacturing, the biggest constraint isn’t labor, equipment, or margins. It’s time! When you’re crunched for time or feel like you’re constantly fighting fires, you lose out on valuable opportunities for curious conversations and stronger connections. Overtime, this can lead to issues like communication breakdowns, slowed productivity, and a culture where people are burnt-out and not showing up as their best selves. In this episode, I’m joined by guest Brian Herriot to take a look into how manufacturing leaders can rethink work, leadership, and scheduling to build stronger...
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161 Frontline Manufacturing Leadership: How Structure, Curiosity and Accountability Drive Retention with Ken Handsaeme
Manufacturing Greatness
How do you turn a one-machine operation into a thriving business? Find out in this episode with Ken Handsaeme, founder of On Time Precision. Ken’s unique journey started as a machinist, but when he decided he wanted a better retirement plan, he started his own business, which he first operated out of a barn with a single machine. It eventually grew into a thriving manufacturing company serving military, aerospace, and medical customers—and helped Ken fulfil his successful retirement dreams. In this episode, Ken shares the lessons he learned throughout his career, ranging from the...
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160 Manufacturing Retention and Team Engagement: Why Leaders Must Reduce Uncertainty with Falisha Karpati
Manufacturing Greatness
In manufacturing plants, the same leadership action can motivate one employee and overwhelm another. Why? It’s all about brain science! In this episode, guest Falisha Karpati discusses how frontline leaders can harness brain science to build more inclusive, human-centered organizations. Falisha is a Brain-Based Inclusion Consultant located in Montreal, Canada. She holds a PhD in neuroscience and a decade of experience studying the brain. Through her signature UNITING BRAINS framework, she guides organizations through the development of inclusion-focused initiatives and provides interactive...
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159 The Showing Up Gap: Why Great Manufacturing Leaders Get Overlooked with Susan M. Barber
Manufacturing Greatness
In manufacturing, it often feels like there’s nothing more importance than performance. If they want to move up in their career, leaders are told to hit their targets, keep the line running, and solve problems as quickly as possible. But in reality, performance alone rarely drives real career growth. If you want to actually grow in your manufacturing career, it’s time to put more emphasis on visibility, curiosity, and building stronger relationships. Learn more in this episode with guest Susan M. Barber, a former Fortune 500 leader with over 25 years of experience at Kraft Heinz. She’s...
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158 Improving Manufacturing Retention Through Purpose, Optimism, and Better Relationships with Kathy Miller
Manufacturing Greatness
Welcome back to previous guest Kathy Miller! Kathy is a member of the Women in Manufacturing Hall of Fame and has held leadership roles at General Motors, Delphi, and Rolls-Royce. She is also the co-author of Steel Toes and Stilettos and the author of a new book, MORE Is Better, which introduces practical frameworks for frontline plant leaders. She’s an expert in blending academic research with real-word stories, and it’s always great to hear her insights! In this episode, Kathy draws on both her manufacturing experience and her master’s degree in applied positive psychology to...
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157 Better Teams, Better Outcomes: Manufacturing Leadership Through Deeper Conversations with Reggie Davis
Manufacturing Greatness
Strong manufacturing leadership isn’t just about process improvement or hitting production targets. It’s about how we show up for people on the shop floor—and if you’re ready to transform your leadership and change how you show up for your team, the first step is leaning into discomfort. Learn more with guest Reggie Davis, the founder of UpLift Coaching and Consulting and the author of Better Together: Embracing the Discomfort of Difference. With over two decades of leadership experience, Reggie helps people navigate the hard-but-necessary conversations they need to forge lasting...
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156 Manufacturing Teamwork and Accountability: Leading with the Thermostat Mindset with Sheri Holt
Manufacturing Greatness
Are you leading like a thermometer or a thermostat? If you find yourself reacting to problems instead of setting the tone for your team, you might be acting like a thermometer. But with practice and the right mindset, you can become a thermostatic leader who sets the climate for your whole team or organization. Learn more in this episode with guest Sheri Miller Holt, the author of Thermostatic Leadership: The Quiet Power of Creating Balance and Influence. Drawing on her years of experience in organizational development and leadership training, Sheri unpacks the true meaning of thermostatic...
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155 Culture Improvement Starts with Self-Awareness in Leadership with Anne Bonney
Manufacturing Greatness
Change can be daunting, but learning how to effectively navigate uncertainty and discomfort is essential for leaders who want to grow their mindset, shift from panic to curiosity, and show up as their best selves for their team. In this episode, take a deep dive into the psychology of change with Anne Bonney, a certified speaking professional, leadership expert, and TEDx speaker who specializes in helping leaders navigate change. She covers topics like how leaders can shift their mindset to thrive in uncertainty, how to manage the fear of the unknown, and why understanding the human brain’s...
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154 Break the Blame Cycle: Approaches to Solving Problems with Maggie Harlow
Manufacturing Greatness
If you want to change your results, you need to change your approach. These words of wisdom come from Maggie Harlow, the co-owner of Signarama Downtown in Louisville, Kentucky. With years of experience in the custom sign manufacturing industry, Maggie doesn’t just talk about leadership—she lives it. She’s also a keynote speaker and speaks on a range of topics, including visionary leadership, gratitude, and finding new approaches to problem-solving. In this episode, Maggie shares more about her background in the sign industry and offers practical, transformative insights on what it...
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153 Closing the Generational Gap: What Manufacturing Leaders Must Get Right Now with Michelle McCullough
Manufacturing Greatness
When your workplace includes baby boomers, Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z employees, it can seem impossible to keep everyone happy and fulfilled. In a multigenerational workplace, can you really create an environment where everyone feels supported, valued, and motivated? It is possible—and in this episode of Mindfulness Manufacturing, guest Michelle McCullough provides the insights and tools you need to drive engagement, trust, and emotional well-being across all generations. Michelle is a nationally recognized speaker, leadership expert, and workplace culture expert and has spent years...
info_outlineWhen a mistake occurs on the plant floor, your mind might jump to one question: who caused this issue, and should I write them up for their mistake? But there’s a more productive approach you could be taking—and in this episode of Mindfulness Manufacturing, guest Dr. Jake Mazulewicz breaks it all down!
With a background as a firefighter, EMT, and military paratrooper, Jake knows the challenges of high-hazard industries, and works with organizations to reduce errors and create safer, more reliable workplace environments. In this episode, Jake shares why you can’t procedularize everything, including the way you handle errors and accidents, and offers great insights and stories about how to use connection and curiosity to improve safety, address errors, and strengthen your organization.
3:35 – Procedures and policies are the work that is imagined, and on the floor is how the work actually gets done
4:19 – The work as-done is almost always radically different than the work as-imagined
5:20 – Even when you have standards and people show up wanting to do a good job, you can still see issues that need to be addressed
6:44 – There will always be areas that absolutely need to have procedures in place
8:02 – There are also adaptive jobs, which leans less into procedures and more intro troubleshooting and tacit human knowledge
10:56 - In an ideal environment, both mechanistic and adaptive models are used and respected and needed
12:11 – There are four levels, ranging from strict procedurals to looser guidelines that show what to do, but not how to do it
15:36 – Tacit knowledge gets shared through conversations
16:22 – A way to share important information is to have frontline experts record videos sharing their insights to problems, especially those that are not covered in procedures
19:44 – Through conversation and connection, more knowledge is shared
21:58 – Debriefing also plays a central role
23:45 – If you have strong discipline, you’ll find more freedom
25:31 – In most situations, errors are signals, not defects
27:07 – When an error occurs, be curious and find the deeper cause of the problem
Connect with Jake Mazulewicz
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