Personal Stories and Strategies for Frontline Leadership

Can frontline management truly transform your business performance? Discover the essential strategies that can lead to improved employee well-being, heightened productivity, and remarkable talent retention. In this episode of Success Secrets and Stories, Greg and I unpack Adeline de Oliveira's insightful article, offering seven best practices that every frontline manager should adopt. From cultivating trust and setting clear objectives to fostering collaboration and developing mentoring relationships, we provide actionable steps to enhance your leadership skills and create a transparent, cooperative work environment.

Leadership is not without its challenges. I share a personal story about the tough decisions I had to make to restructure a team and promote more capable individuals, demonstrating the critical role of executives in fostering a positive work atmosphere. Greg emphasizes the importance of staff development for both team strengthening and personal fulfillment. Tune in to gain practical advice and hear compelling stories that will inspire you to build a stronger, more effective management culture. Plus, don't forget to check out my book "Building your Leadership Toolbox" for even more insights into leadership development.

Transcript

Speaker 2: 0:19

Thank you, welcome to Success Secrets and Stories. I'm your host, john Wonoloski, and I'm here with my co-host and friend, greg Powell, greg.

Speaker 1: 0:28

Hey, everybody yeah.

Speaker 2: 0:41

So in our last podcast we had talked about frontline management concepts and we found this article to be really interesting and I wanted to kind of break it up into two parts, and this one's kind of dedicated to more of the business perspective and to give anybody that is trying to look for a budget to try to do some of these ideas, some of the justification and some of the expectations, in order to try to encourage developing a management culture, a management budget. To be perfectly honest, and again, this is an article from July 11th of 2023. And, greg, could you introduce our author?

Speaker 1: 1:21

Thanks, john, I'd be happy to. The author is Adeline de Oliveira. Adeline is a writer and editorial manager. She's been doing that for about 15 years. She is passionate about human behavior and communication dynamics. At ProAction International, she covers topics ranging from industry 5.0 to operational excellence, with a focus on leadership development. This expertise enables her to offer insights and advice on employee engagement and continuous improvement of managerial skills, and her company, proaction International, services, are related to leadership development, operational excellence and industry 4.0 management digitalization.

Speaker 2: 2:09

So why implement frontline management? And I took the opportunity to think about the occasions where I've had the challenge of implementing frontline management. And for those of you who feel that you've tried, you've asked and it didn't get done, it's your responsibility, if you think it's a requirement, to find a way to make it work. Now you can be as creative as you want. A budget is a budget. You have to demonstrate why you need it, which is what we're going to talk about, and then you need to understand how you can creatively look at a budget to show that you can bring back the benefits of making these management changes. The cut to the chase. Every year they talk about advancement in terms of what do we need to support? The square footage of a particular site and how many people you need per square foot, and it really drives how many people you need per square foot and it really drives how many people should be in a staff and a facilities perspective. To make a very long story very short, I just dealt with less people and found more efficiency by implementing this management approach. So hopefully, at the end of this podcast, this would give you the ammunition to be able to ask management why do you need to add additional people to your team, and and what is it that they're going to give you for those extra dollars? So let's begin from her article.

Speaker 2: 3:40

Frontline managers bring many benefits to the company. First, it significantly improves employee well-being, since they feel valued and listened to, boosting their comments and their job satisfaction, which is really, really critical, if you want the truth. Secondly, it is a very positive impact on productivity. Satisfied employees means productive employees. That bond of trust between manager and their team members facilitates cooperation and boosts motivation, thereby greatly improving the team's overall performance. Last but not least, the bond that we're talking about is the closeness of a positive work environment and also contributes a sharp reduction in staff turnover, offering a much better talent retention. The role of a manager is usually the key component of how to influence a team, greg.

Speaker 1: 4:43

So, john, there are seven best practices for frontline leaders. First one is cultivate trust. We'll talk in depth about these, but at least give you the headline. Second, set clear objectives. Third, encourage personal and professional development, professional development. Fourth, communicate effectively. Fifth, the role of fostering collaboration. Sixth, include employees in decision making. And seventh, develop mentoring relationships. Now, the management body responsibility notes on these are one the investment in frontline management creates leaders for the entire organization. Also, this is also the responsibility of the frontline manager to invest in their own career rather than waiting for the company to do it. So we'll get into some of the detail of these seven best practices.

Speaker 1: 5:39

Cultivate trust. I think of a story back where I worked the last couple of jobs as long as I know my boss has my back, I'll climb up whatever mountain they want me to climb up. That's trust, right? Trust is important. As a frontline manager, you must exhibit transparency, honesty and reliability to your employees in your actions and your words. You've got to create an environment where employees feel comfortable sharing their ideas without any fear of reprisal. Setting clear objectives. Get together with your team members to define clear, measurable and achievable objectives. We've talked about SMART goals in the past. Make sure those objectives are aligned with those of the organization.

Speaker 1: 6:22

Number three encourage personal and professional development. We'll probably talk about that a couple times here, but for right now, identify your employees' professional development needs and they can help with that. They can help you identify those needs and then offer them training opportunities. Generally, a human resources organization offers all kinds of learning and development opportunities pretty much at your disposal, paid for by the company. Also, think about stimulating challenges. It's not always just in the classroom, it's the opportunity to try something different, a little bit of a stretch job or a stretch assignment, interesting projects. This is something that might be fascinating, might test the brain a little bit, but would be very interesting to the employee. And then, of course, give them a little bit more responsibility. So, john, tell us a little bit more responsibility. So, john, tell us a bit about communicating effectively okay.

Speaker 2: 7:10

So communication if you've listened to our other podcast is like that drum I keep on beating is key and in her article she agrees that again, communication is key. Her words be accessible. Listen to your employees, give them regular and constructive feedback and share relevant information. If leaders are doing their job, they're fostering that cooperation, encouraging cooperation between teammates, creating the opportunities for them to work together, to share their knowledge, to cooperate on common projects. Create a work environment where everyone feels valued and their ideas are always welcome. That is the essence of trying to develop a team. Include employees in the decision-making process. Involve your employees in how the decisions are being defined and how they're going to be processed and addressed, so that they have a sense of ownership. Solicit their opinions, help develop the strategies, create the action plans. The more that you can get them engaged, the better you are in terms of seeing that commitment and that ownership. But I think the next part is probably the most important part. Greg, you've dealt with the mentoring concept. Can you expand the mentoring idea that she's discussing?

Speaker 1: 8:34

Sure, john. Thank you. So developing mentoring relationships. So the leader is being looked at to encourage mentoring and coaching within your team members. Encourage senior employees to share their knowledge and guide those that are more junior employees. They have less experience. It's a good way of developing lead skills and passing on the knowledge. The frontline manager can also adopt a coaching posture with their colleagues to support them better and help them to excel.

Speaker 1: 9:02

We've talked a lot about developing employees. We've talked a lot about the importance of things like mentoring and helping folks make it to that next level. That's what their aspirations are Generally. There are tools out there that the leader can help the employee find and surface to close that gap there. So you don't want it to be foolhardy and say, well, we just can't do anything with this person. It's nice, you want to get promoted and I can offer you mentoring, but you're going to keep doing the same thing you are for the next two years.

Speaker 1: 9:28

Think about being a little bit more creative. Think about improvising a little bit. Yes, I've been in situations where we've had budgets and it's like, well, wait a minute, you do that, greg, it's going to be above the budget. Well, sometimes you have to look at the long-term. Developing people better talent, more versatile employees is really, really important. And whether it's looking at something as modest as hey, we had 22 interns last year, let's go for 20 or 21 this year and use some of those extra dollars for such and such, I mean there's ways to think about this. Sometimes other departments will kick in a little bit and say, hey, we think this is that much, we have a little bit of surplus this year. There's nothing wrong with asking it's the same company, these are company assets. These employees are good for the whole organization. So don't be foolhardy and say, well, it's a flat. No, because the boss said the budget is the budget. Think about it, because the development of their talent, the investment back into your people, for your company's talent, is so much work.

Speaker 2: 10:27

John, and just one little piggyback concept of what you're talking about. The people are the investment. The people is the organization. It's not the brick and mortar, it isn't the machinery, it isn't the trucks, it's the people that are the investment, the people who are the organization. So sometimes when people think about, well, we don't have the budget for that, that limited view is really your responsibility to show how there is a value and taking no for an answer. You know, let me be honest, that's where you start to push back and you start to earn your paycheck, because if you can demonstrate the management that you can keep the budget within line and still accomplish the things in terms of building bench strength, helping people advance their careers, keep retention, most organizations would understand the logic and make sure that you deliver on those promises. Now the other part that I wanted to talk about myself is the subject that she brings up about training. Now I wrote a book called building your leadership toolbox and, to be perfectly honest, it's a pretty good book talking about investing in yourself and the things that you should be doing in terms of improving yourself and and challenging yourself and the courses that you might be able to take. So there's different elements or recommendations for books or courses. The other part that I talk about quite a bit is Dr Durst is still active and he has his MBR program on successgrowthacademycom. It is a fantastic piece of training. The line that they talk about is you can be a manager piece of training. You know the. The line that they talk about is you can be a manager in 30 days, so you can complete the program in 30 days or less. I think, greg, you and I did it in less than 15 days or 12 days, but if you can dedicate time to it, you can. You can knock it out pretty fast, but it's a wonderful starting point on what are the expectations for this leadership and it really reinforces what we've been talking about. But, like we do on this podcast is we like to try to put it into reality. We like to put it into the application.

Speaker 2: 12:50

So I have been in the position where I have fought for the budget. I have been in the position where I was told no and I had to convince the organization that there is an opportunity. So I've done a lot in terms of different jobs and at the beginning of one of my other jobs I had to make an assessment of the management style of the person who was in that particular position, and it was a manager, had a team and, to be honest, a very good person, but more of a conformist and if you've been through some of the other training programs it will strike a note Limiting management experience. He was an experienced trades person that was advanced. He had a limited education and no interest in trying to improve on himself. I would give him recommendations for improvement and one of the things that I one of my shortcomings or one of my positives is that I wanted to make sure that this individual, who was the original manager, had every opportunity to advance, every opportunity to basically keep his job. At the end of the day, he just didn't have the mechanics. He wasn't, he wasn't grabbing the concepts and we had to go with someone else. We had to go with someone else and that conformance mentality affected the organization. I had to step over his management approach and do his tasks of advancing his own staff. I advanced someone to handle a lead in the trade side. So there was three different categories of the trades and he had qualified people that were doing the work and advanced two of them into lead positions and, at the same time reduced his overall budget requests, and we reduced it by two headcount and by advancing these two people, he all of a sudden had a management team and we also had a project lead that was able to help for special projects and working with construction, and therefore a better teamwork approach between facilities and construction.

Speaker 2: 15:10

The reason I bring up this example is so it is the executive's responsibility to make sure that you put the tools together and the people together to be successful, you also have to fire someone when they're not really going to be able to do the job, and that's all part of leadership. The replacement manager and how that was a new person into leadership and watched that person grow, helped them in terms of setting up the requirements and improve their communication with the staff. All those things that you read about I was able to apply because the mechanics were there before and this particular team was isolated and it was just bringing them up to speed with the organization. It made it easier for the executive management to understand what we were trying to do and it was something that was easier for them to implement. But the new manager and the old manager got the same speech from me and it was the one that I learned from Johnson and Johnson back in the eighties and I've talked about this before, but it is worth repeating.

Speaker 2: 16:24

My first sit down meeting with the manager, he went over this sheet of paper and he had two sides of the paper and the first side of the paper he read to me, as I was, I had my copy in hand and he said look, the first page is what you do to keep getting a check every week. It's the core competencies. Now these core competencies, by the way, are actually the core competencies by the U S army on their leadership requirements that they consider core competencies. It is to lead others, to influence beyond the chain of command, to lead by example and to communicate. And that one line of influencing beyond the chain of command sounds a little confusing, but it's being able to find the ability to negotiate, the ability to try to champion, the ability to try to engage, all those things to influence people that are working as peers or superiors in order to get the job done. Those are extensions of communication. So I did have that skill set and he felt that I was one of those people that were promotable and therefore this conversation was necessary, because the second page he turned it over and it started out with the same word communicates.

Speaker 2: 17:47

But then the next components were creating a positive work environment. Prepare a self, develops leaders, and that means developing people in your staff that could take their next level or take your job and get results. And one of the interesting things that he said was I can't get promoted unless I can promote you. So I'm motivated to see you be successful. So I'm motivated to see you be successful. It's a very powerful tool and I'm trying to repeat it because I think it has applications for what you're going to be doing in your positions and you want to develop that staff to understand that you're in it together and that that participation is going to drive the opportunities.

Speaker 1: 18:40

Greg do you have anything to add to that idea of leadership? I do, john, and one of the things that I think about for my career is you're a leader and you're supposed to get stuff done, whether it's widgets, and do it in a quality fashion. And it's so easy to forget about these things, about developing your staff, helping them grow, getting your replacement, adding to the asset of your team, team strength, by helping everyone get better and do better and do different things. It's just got to pick your head up, look around and say, ok, what am I doing as far as developing my staff? Because otherwise you get swept up and it becomes an afterthought because otherwise you get swept up and it becomes an afterthought.

Speaker 2: 19:22

Yeah, I mean I found it so rewarding because in a manufacturing environment that Johnson Johnson was about, you can make so many more bandages Wow. But if I can say that I helped somebody that went from a trade position to a middle management position and has the opportunity for advancement beyond, I had far more value of helping that individual than making the extra band-aids. It's just, it's a sense of values and you know profit is profit, volume is volume. I mean I understand its place in time but personal enjoyment, personal satisfaction I got was helping those individuals advance. So, if you like what you've heard, yeah, my book Building your Leadership Toolbox is available at amazoncom and lulucom. My ebook is available on Barnes and Noble dot com and Lulu dot com. My e-book is available on Barnes and Noble. The podcast is what you're listening to and another popular podcast.

Speaker 1: 20:22

Thank you for listening.

Speaker 2: 20:25

Dr Dress's books and his MBR program is available at successgrowthacademycom. If you'd like to get a hold of us, there's a couple ways. We have buy us a cup of coffee and you can send us a note, or my Gmail account is wandos75.jw at gmailcom. And, greg, what's your contact?

Speaker 1: 20:49

I can be reached at gpowell374 at gmailcom.

Speaker 2: 20:54

Yeah, and the music is brought to you by my grandson. So we want to get ahold, we want to hear from you, we'd love to hear what you think, give us your input and it would be something that we we might be able to add into our podcast. So thanks, greg.

Speaker 1: 21:14

Thanks, john, as always Next time.

Speaker 2: 21:18

Yeah.