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Employee Retention in Manufacturing for Plant Leaders: Reducing Uncertainty to Build Engaged Teams with Falisha Karpati #160
01/07/2026
Employee Retention in Manufacturing for Plant Leaders: Reducing Uncertainty to Build Engaged Teams with Falisha Karpati #160
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 plants, the same leadership action can motivate one employee and overwhelm another. Why? It comes down to brain science, communication skills, and how leaders show up under pressure. In this episode, guest Falisha Karpati shares insights on manufacturing leadership, employee engagement, and inclusive leadership for Operations Managers, Production Managers, Manufacturing Managers, and Shift Supervisors. Falisha is a Brain-Based Inclusion Consultant based in Montreal, Canada. She holds a PhD in neuroscience and brings more than a decade of experience studying how the brain works. Through her UNITING BRAINS framework, she helps organizations build human-centered cultures using practical, brain-based strategies. In this conversation, Falisha explains how differences in brain wiring directly impact frontline leadership, communication skills, trust building, and team engagement on the shop floor. She breaks down the neuroscience behind introversion and extroversion, why uncertainty increases stress in manufacturing environments, and how leaders can improve manufacturing culture by asking better questions, minimizing ambiguity, and running more inclusive meetings 01:05 –Recognition can backfire when manufacturing communication ignores individual brain differences 02:12 – Neuroscience explains how self-awareness in leadership shapes perception, behavior, and relationships in manufacturing plants 04:54 –Manufacturing teamwork and employee engagement manufacturing improve when leaders understand natural brain diversity 9:53 – Brain science brings data—not opinions—into manufacturing management and leadership in industrial operations 11:20 – A powerful reminder that perceptions matter more than intentions in building trust in leadership and strong manufacturing relationships 13:39 – Curiosity-driven leadership starts by asking instead of assuming to close the showing up gap 15:32 – High-stimulus environments explain why leaders take shortcuts that undermine manufacturing culture and clarity on the shop floor 17:11 – Autonomy looks different for everyone, redefining supervisor development, coaching in manufacturing, and performance conversations. 19:55 – Minimizing uncertainty strengthens manufacturing safety culture, emotional intelligence, and consistent leadership behaviors 20:21 – Transparent expectations help close the expectation gap and improve accountability in manufacturing plants 22:40 – Inclusive meetings unlock manufacturing innovation by improving manufacturing communication and psychological safety 24:30 – Simple meeting practices support continuous improvement culture and better team engagement in manufacturing 28:53 – Inclusive discussions fuel operational excellence and authentic leadership across manufacturing organizations Connect with Falisha Karpati Visit her Connect on and Read her Full Transcript [00:00:00] We have some changes today. We've changed the name of the podcast since 2019. It's been mindfulness manufacturing our company name changed a few years ago to manufacturing greatness. So we're just aligning that 'cause we're gonna be here manufacturing greatness today, and we're gonna be talking about building some bridges and, and you know, how we continue to manufacture and, how we deal with changes people's moods and what's going on. And it remind me of a time when we were, had a great manufacturing line at the kickoff meeting in the morning, we recognized one of the team members showed appreciation, [00:00:30] put this person's name and picture up and gave them a little gift. they were upset with us and we're kind of like, well, hold on a minute. we did all this and this person's not very appreciative and getting to learn them a little bit more is that they didn't. They don't like that type of attention. people's brains are different. And in manufacturing it just complicates it for us 'cause we don't understand it. So fortunately I have a great guest on and friend today, Falisha Caridi. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much. [00:01:00] It's a pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me. you are an inclusive consultant. You harness brain science to build inclusive human-centered workplaces. You create space where all brains thrive. And you studied the neuroscience, having a PhD in neuroscience, which for those who don't know what it takes to get a PhD, it's a mountain. So congratulations on that. Thank you. excited to get your knowledge and expertise to talk about this on the show what did we miss Falisha when we upset that team member? how are [00:01:30] people's brains working here? a key point is that everybody's brain works a little bit differently, Humans in general share a core brain structure. we generally have the same parts that do the same functions, but our brains also have differences. like how big certain parts are, how different parts connect to each other, and when different parts get activated. this connects with differences in behavior. so when we [00:02:00] think, behave, communicate, everything we do. Is filtered and processed through our brain. there's a, well-known quote that I love, that says You don't see the world as it is. You see the world as you are. Mm-hmm. And what that means, it's really rooted in brain science. And it means that everything you perceive, take in, think, and express. Goes through your brain. what happened [00:02:30] that day was there was a disconnect between what some team members who created that recognition process, thought this person would want and what they actually wanted, So if we take that recognition experience, maybe it's, getting an award in front of a group And having your name called out and going on stage. if you put two people in that exact same [00:03:00] situation, their brains might react completely differently. we don't necessarily know how people are going to react, what they like, what they don't like. Unless we have those conversations and ask them. just diving into a bit more about why those differences exist, why can you put two people in the same situation and they can react completely differently? our brains are shaped by two main factors. the first is natural [00:03:30] variation in how we're born. there's a wealth of research that shows genetics are connected with many aspects of how our brain works. natural variation is great. It's what keeps us interested. Yeah. We don't wanna, you know, be communicating with people who are exactly the same as us. the natural variation is there for a reason. It's super productive and positive. the second factor is our environment. each of us is shaped from our observations and experiences over time. this includes a whole range of [00:04:00] experiences like our early childhood, our family and community environments. our experiences at school, at work, even our hobbies and interests can change our brain. there's a huge body of neuroscience research that shows brain differences related to living in different cultures. practicing different skills, traumatic experiences and much more. Basically everything you're exposed to, everything that you experience over time, especially if they're repeated or intense, experiences, can change your [00:04:30] brain. what really resonated with me is that Trevor's way is not always the best way. the way you explain like my biases, right? Like. My bias was show appreciation in front of the team. Right? And, and why would I need to check in with that person? in my early manufacturing leadership days, I missed the mark. Often, I just didn't know better. Right? Like, I just thought, you start to learn that. that's why we're hoping that if you're driving into work today, through my mistakes and Falisha's knowledge, we can save you that pain. we're gonna leave you with [00:05:00] some ideas of, what you can do today, to get in front of that. 'cause it makes sense. What you're saying is that, we just have how we grew up and, and our different, you know, the. I think of Lisa Feelman Barrett and, and the theory of constructed emotions. your personality and emotions are based on your experiences and we have different experiences Right. they're just different. And that's what makes us unique and I like that. I was going through some of your material and I'm trying, 'cause I'm trying to, you know, like our listeners. To understand and better [00:05:30] equip ourselves so that we can, respond differently. But you had some neat research on introverts and extroverts, and I was reviewing it with Ryan, a client today, and he's kinda like, Hey, I think you skimmed over, that whole concept on introverts and extroverts. So can you unpack that for us and help us understand? Definitely. so I also wanna clarify, my background and what I'm doing now compared to what I did before. I have a background in neuroscience research, that was focused on brain plasticity and how our brains, are impacted by training. so what I [00:06:00] do now is, work with the wealth of research that's there. I don't do, neuroimaging research anymore. I used to, so I know exactly how these things work and I bring that experience now into. Applying neuroscience research in organizational context. Mm-hmm. so I summarize research, I communicate it. but the research, for example, an introversion extroversion is not something that I did myself. there's amazing researchers all around the world that have done this, so I'm more of a curator and a communicator Of the [00:06:30] research now. That's why you're on the show, right? Because we need to apply. So you're kind of like the translator for us, right? Because we're not gonna go through all this research, but we need someone like you that can say, Hey, here's the simpler version of it and here's what you can do today. So thank you for doing what you do. Yeah, my pleasure. I love it. so introverts, extroverts is one example of how. Our brain structure and how our brain works is really aligned with the behaviors that we see in the workplace and beyond. there's a spectrum of traits, of [00:07:00] introversion, extroversion. many people will fall somewhere in the middle and people can also express themselves differently. depending on different situations, different contexts might bring out, different types of behavior. so I'm just gonna generalize a little bit here, for time. And so there's research that compares people who tend to, behave more introverted ways and people that tend to be more extroverted. introverted meaning, getting energy by recharging alone, extroverted meaning, getting energy from, spending time with [00:07:30] others. And there's a really cool study that, people were in the brain scanner and while they were in the brain scanner, they were showed a series of pictures. Some of the pictures were flowers and some of the pictures were faces. So flowers is a non-social stimulus. and so, you know, we don't associate that with people, whereas the face is very social. the study found that introverts and extroverts showed different patterns of electrical activity in the brain in response to these images. So [00:08:00] in the introvert, if there was a bunch of flowers shown in a row and then a face, their brain sort of went, eh, well, it didn't really process a difference, but an extroverts, when there was flower, flower, flower face, when the brain saw the face, It got super excited. So the brain really processed a difference between the non-social and the social images. so that just shows that personality [00:08:30] traits and behaviors. And those differences we see in people are actually rooted in how the brain is processing information. we can also see structural differences. in how the brain is built, there's other research that has looked on that. And they found that, introverts tend to have bigger brains in areas responsible for behavior inhibition. Meaning stopping yourself from behaving impulsively. that is a trait commonly associated with introversion is introverts [00:09:00] tend to think before speaking, before acting. and extroverts, brain extrovert brains were bigger in areas responsible for regulating emotions. And smaller in areas related to social information processing. And the way that was interpreted is that extrovert brains can be more efficient at processing social information, maybe selecting what's important and what's not. I could feel that I've had to work on pulling out my introvert. [00:09:30] I think we all have some of both, right. But I've had to practice not everything that I say people want to hear and just that filter and pause. I'm fascinated with the technology. here we are working, manufacturing, all kinds of technology, but when I hear brain scans it's not people's opinions, It's the signals as a neuroscientist, with a PhD you can see that, right? that's just, wow. Like you talk about, one of the sayings we have is that, you bring data. not opinions to a meeting and, well, here you're bringing the data. There are scans that says, Hey, this is what people do. [00:10:00] What I just did was, for that individual, I just had, a reaction which was negative to that person. And if we don't, see that and recognize that, then we may miss that. I wanna bring back the, initial story with the recognition as well. now that we have some foundation about why our brains are different and how, our behaviors actually connected with brain differences, if we reflect back on that person getting recognized when that wasn't what they're inclined for, we can imagine what was happening in their brains. [00:10:30] It wasn't. The reward circuits and the social connection circuits. It was the pressure, stress. Everybody's watching me. So that same circumstance of being recognized in one person can activate reward and in somebody else can activate stress and anxiety. we like to say that. perceptions matter more than good intentions. Yes. Right. And I think that's what we're [00:11:00] focused on learning here. so I've got my manuscript I'm working on this week and I got, I got a hand in at the end of this week for my book, I've written a new chapter on this relationship audit. it's like an internal 360, but instead of. Fixing what's wrong? We're just moving more towards what's right, right? We wanna do more of the behavior. So I've, you know, we've got some questions we ask individuals, direct reports, managers, peers, and we just ask 'em, when do you tune into me? you know, what expectations do we have of each other? Those types of conversations. [00:11:30] And I think that this work that you are doing really helps us with ideas of. How can we be more mindful? Because what we did after that event is that before we ever gave someone an appreciation, we stopped surprising people and we just started asking them, are you okay if we mention you at the meeting this morning? getting their permission seemed to work. and what I liked was when I went over, some of your material, you had three kind of takeaways That you can do now, maybe when you're [00:12:00] having one-on-ones with people or you're just interacting with them. Absolutely. it's great to hear that you took action after, that experience and learned from it Asking people for permission to, to recognize 'em, to ask them something in public is a really great practice and not connect. With the first practice, area that I, like to share, which is asking people what they want, need or prefer. [00:12:30] especially if people are really busy and don't have time and are overwhelmed, it can be really easy to make assumptions our brain naturally does that. there's a known brain bias. called the false consensus effect. Where we tend to think that people agree with us and have the same beliefs, behaviors, knowledge as we do, that's definitely me. Everyone does it. It is a human brain bias. We all share that. especially in times [00:13:00] of busyness and stress, our brains do tend to fall back on those natural shortcuts to save time and energy. but they can end up causing some strains, some conflict, reduced productivity because we're making assumptions instead of asking. So, hold on. You gotta say that again. We're taking shortcuts and what'd you say after that? we're taking shortcuts basically to save [00:13:30] time, to save time and energy. Our brains naturally do that in many different contexts. like there's so much information coming into our brains constantly Choosing what to filter, choosing what's important. That's a natural state. we're in that all the time. Can you imagine if your brain right now was processing. Absolutely every single thing that was present in your environment. It's impossible. We can't do that. Oh no. Hang on a minute. For the listeners. Falisha has not ran manufacturing [00:14:00] plants. I. She hasn't even spent a lot of time with them, but she just described our life that is our life. this is why it's important. This is why we need to listen to you and say, okay, so what can we do? 'cause you just described manufacturing, there's so much stimulus. it's how many parts we make the last hour. Is the machine running right now? is the quality inspection done? and then we take shortcuts. That's what we do. Thank you for describing us. [00:14:30] Brain science applies everywhere. I'm happy to hear that resonates and we can make the connection with the manufacturing processes as well. so what can we do about it? So we know, you know, from the manufacturing experiences, from the brain science that. When we're busy, we take shortcuts and tend to assume instead of asking. making that intentional space to invite sharing is really important, and that can happen in some different formats. It can happen in one-on-ones. It doesn't even [00:15:00] need to be a new one-on-one, just to ask what your work preferences are. if you're already having these kinds of conversations. We can integrate questions into that. So even asking someone a general question of, you know, what can I do? What can we as an organization do to make work more productive, fulfilling, enjoyable, whatever your objective is, to make the workplace better for you? the reason you really got me thinking about [00:15:30] this was in our relationship audit was really looking as when we have a team of say, 10 people, one of the practices to sustain relationships is having regular, one-on-ones or certain touchpoints, certain meetings. but when I hear you say about, you know, ask people what they want. Right. So just because. I say, you know what? We should have a one-on-one every two weeks. I'm the leader, but that may not be the right [00:16:00] approach. that's a great example. when we're asking people what they want, need or prefer, that encompasses so many things. It can be, how they work best, schedules, certain times of day they work best. It can be a physical space, it can be communication preferences, what motivates them. There's so many different aspects here that we can touch on, and that's a great example with, how they would like to have communication with a leader How they would like to have check-ins. some people love space, [00:16:30] love autonomy, and autonomy is great for the brain. in general, autonomy is awesome. some people love to have lots of autonomy and that can look like having a conversation once every two weeks and giving space. We'll have the chat, some general objectives, some goals for the next couple weeks, and then I will go and do my work on my own with my team. I don't need to be checked in on unless I have a question. Okay. There are other people who, that [00:17:00] feels overwhelming and the way...
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