Step 5: Establish A Vision, Set High Expectations

Not all of you may be aware that I was once a high school teacher. In fact, for seven years I taught welding and fabrication, as well as robotics and electronics, among other topics. I recall the incredible projects carried out by the students at one school in particular.

I’ve observed that if your perspective is limited to the horizon - the mid-point, which is still knowable and within reach - you will probably end up somewhere much lower. So after I set the stage for my students, I coached them to aim really high, with the belief that at the very least they would achieve goals that are above the horizon.

I facilitated a class of special electronics students (actually, they were all pretty special) conducting focused work on opto-electronics projects which complemented their physics class.

One group was working on an infrared modem and data transmission system. They successfully transmitted a few letters from the keyboard of one computer to the screen of a completely separate computer. Another group built a non-contact photo tachometer like the kind typically used in industry. They had a fairly complete circuit that picked up the reflection of an infrared LED from a small piece of foil on a spinning drill chuck. All of these projects were being designed from scratch with raw chips and components - no kits.

I encouraged my students to envision and attempt “the impossible”. They did, and succeeded often.

Visiting school administrators who toured through the facility asked me how they could find someone with my kind of training, or where might they send teachers to get training so that they could teach in the same way. I told them I didn’t know: while I took electronics in college and was a Millwright by trade, these programs  didn’t officially train me to teach robotics and high school engineering classes.

In fact, my personal passion for problem solving with technology was more important than my formal training. Of course I had the requisite teaching degree and lots of official training, but I was teaching robotics simply because I really wanted to. On my own, I made sure that my passion was reflected and deeply imbedded in the subject material.

Where are many of these students now, some 14 years later? They are engineers, technologists, technicians, trades persons, business people and so on. They work for major fluid power shops, oilfield service companies, construction, and electronics firms. Some even work overseas in Japan and Hong Kong as design engineers for big name companies.

These days, I know and work closely with some engineers at our client companies. They are awesome people with great skills. They want to solve big problems carefully, effectively, with precision. Some of them have 1000 hp worth of passion and enthusiasm, yet sadly they are governed down to around 180 hp by the company

The same can be said for some maintenance trades teams. In my travels, I notice that many maintenance departments are still unsung and uncelebrated within their companies. Maintenance almost never gets a mention in the corporate annual report. When I engage a plant or fleet manager directly, they can usually speak to the importance of maintenance. Many, however, cannot speak to the top level initiatives that their department is carrying out. Left unchanged, work performance drops to a mediocre level, and teams get stale and dry.

That’s not good. it means that maintenance doesn’t have any specific initiatives, or that they don’t promote them and communicate them within the company. At some level, we all know that machinery doesn’t run for very long without talented and motivated people maintaining it. Awareness of this fact comes to the forefront when breakdowns have been frequent. When machinery has been running well on a consistent basis, the significant role that maintenance plays can quickly become overlooked.

The job of the leader is to develop the people on the team, and then set resources in place, provide autonomy, and require accountability. Scheduling, reporting, budget allocating, cost controlling, and such are all important tasks. Everyone has some of these tasks and they have to be executed well.

But, leadership also means to have passion and vision, to inspire, help educate, and develop your team. It means sticking to your guns - your long term goals - despite the roadblocks you face. (Oh, and it also means being patient, staying late to help the crew, bringing pizza, scrounging for tools, supplies, and expertise to support the team, listening to fishing stories, and sometimes providing crisis counselling. Wow, what a job!)

Leadership is not a lofty position high up on the organization chart. It’s a personal choice to nurture one’s own potential to lead and it starts on the shop or plant floor. I’ve always referred to this as leading from the back, or leading from the bottom. Yes, it does take a little nerve and personal resolve to lead with enthusiasm. You have to find a way to deal with the fear of being eaten alive in the jungle that crops up when you haven’t stepped up to the plate that much in the past. But if you’re earnest, the rewards will come in time.

At one training seminar I conducted, it was one of the youngest tradespersons in the group who demonstrated leadership and admonished most of his older colleagues to positively focus on the possibilities that accompany a team with a higher level of collaboration, maintenance, and diagnostic skill sets. During economic downturns when profit margins have been trimmed or have gone negative, creative thinking and careful management are not optional. Better to see the company and its systems as a classroom and laboratory.

Should expenditure on training be looked upon as a burdensome cost of production? Is it realistic to treat training and human development budgets in the same way as office supply and freight budgets? In the end a plant or shop full of machinery only runs well if a sharp and skilled crew is looking after it. In fact, if the company cannot hire more help for the maintenance department, and if the market has put pricing pressure on the company’s product, then the machinery has to run better than ever.

Is training and development still at the forefront of your company’s operating philosophy? In the end it’s all about people isn’t it?

Now is the time for bold visionary leadership that encourages those with passion, talent, and initiative to really fly. This is a great time for company managers to hand out autonomy and responsibility, and demand accountability too.

Set the hard working, passionate ones loose, and then showcase those people to the local kids in high school who may end up working for you in a few years time.

Step 6: Encourage Initiative, Collaboration, and True Craftsmanship

The trade designation of machinist, millwright, industrial mechanic, heavy equipment technician, industrial electrician, instrument technician, and so on bring a focus and specialty to those titles. In some industrial environments, though, these designations have lost their luster. Instead, they may refer merely to compartmentalized thinking, where one group is segregated from another.

In some cases, the segregation is so extreme that there are separate lunch rooms for the different trades. A sense of responsibility and ownership is often set adrift among these groups. In fact, blame and disdain for trade groups other than your own is not discouraged in some of these industrial cultures.

Whatever the title, the ideal is for all who work in the field of industrial maintenance to feel and fuel a sense of pride and craftsmanship within themselves. Pride comes from stretching to learn your chosen craft to its very highest level.

The general occupation title “tradesperson”, as applied to those who maintain industrial systems and machines, is a bit weak in its capability to communicate the complexity and importance of the work. Indeed, there is a science involved in industrial maintenance work and so, perhaps the title “para-engineer” or “machine medic” reflects more of the reality of the job today.

There is a science to understanding the sounds that machines make and the noises that indicate that a problem is developing. Vibrations, odours, and heat levels all come into play for an observant machinery doctor. Diagnosis of systems problems involves a sound scientific approach and often utilizes sophisticated tools and data analyzers.

On the other hand, machinery maintenance is also an art. Without question there is art in great installation and parts replacement work, and the use of components, materials, and tools requires this artful approach. Perhaps the title of “artisan” or “craftsperson” captures these finer points.

I have always admired neat wiring and layout work in a cabinet where a contactor or variable frequency drive was just replaced. It means the electrician cared enough to do her best work. When I observe a millwright polish the end of a machine shaft by hand before installing a new bearing, I know that this person wants this service job to last.

Doing the job right, even re-doing it if need be, and accepting responsibility for the learning that was needed between the first and second attempt, is the sign of someone who is soon going to master the trade.

I believe that this level of pride is the right of anyone who accepts that there is more to learn and has some ongoing training plans in place. This person also respects the knowledge and skills acquired not only by others with senior experience in their chosen trade, but also in the other trades within the plant or shops.

I meet many such individuals: tradespersons who have been quietly monitoring some aspect of the machinery they look after. Often they have valid ideas for improvement that no-one else has heard. Initiatives and reporting can and should start at the tradesperson level.

If you are a tradesperson, and you’ve got a sense of initiative and some great ideas and you work hard, then start blowing your own horn. This is your company, with its expensive assets that you are helping to manage. Don’t worry if others in the lunchroom are giving you strange looks as you compile your data and write your reports.

Maybe you are thinking “But what should I report?” Many people involved with maintenance, whether they are a tradesperson on the floor or a shop supervisor, have at least one pet project that they are interested in exploring deeper. Your commitment to report about it monthly or quarterly will help you keep the project on track. If you are convinced that you can coax better overall performance from your machinery and your department by starting with a particular initiative, then go for it!

There isn’t a plant or fleet manager out there that won’t be interested in hearing about what you are doing to be more resourceful, or to work more efficiently and collaboratively as a department. The manager will also welcome your initiatives to extend the life of the machinery, make it more energy efficient, more productive, or more reliable. You will also earn some positive attention for your communication and leadership if you can keep it going.

If you have made some notable progress by the time the corporate annual report is being compiled, then submit your work and ask to be included. Be as assertive on this as you can get away with. If it doesn’t make it into the report this year, ask why and perhaps ask for some guidelines on how to prepare your materials and then try again next year. If you are serious about your work, as most maintenance departments are, you’ll get into that annual report eventually.

Working on a personal project is a great way to learn. Anyone who has ever built a deck or renovated a room in the house knows this well. Your company may not think of itself as being in a “creative” industry. It may not embrace the practice used by some of the best design firms and some web technology firms where employees are encouraged to use some of their work time each week to pursue personal creative interests. Most often in the industrial world is all about keeping your nose to the grindstone.

But without some “play” time at work, industries short change themselves on the development of a critical skill set. A lot of people get pretty good at deck and garage building because of all the time spent on Lego and Lincoln Logs as a child.

The bottom line is the reality that if team players from all levels in a maintenance team don’t find a way to improve their own effectiveness, efficiency, or the quality and quantity of the company’s production, then ultimately how will that company justify and grant the increase in wages that everybody wants?

Sometimes maintenance supervisors and managers feel overworked and discouraged. I’d say look for any spark of passion or initiative within the team you lead, and then fuel it. Offer some autonomy and responsibility, and of course let them know you’re going to hold them to account as well.

The investment will be worth it, if only for the potential to delegate or to expect that the highly trained front line trades and crafts will reduce your burden.

Step 7: Provide Regular Feedback and Assessments

A number of you have asked me to continue on the Ten Step Trades Leadership writing. I've had the busiest two years of my life working with heavy industry. There have been so many opportunities to learn about teams and about company culture, including our own. I intend to pick up where I left off and post a bit more frequently going forward.

Very few employees desire to work in a performance vacuum where feedback is seldom or never given. Feeling neglected is a common complaint from many in the companies where we visit. 

Traditionally most people think of feedback only as something that a leader provides to someone on his or her team. But it is actually best thought of as a two-way street where feedback can flow in either direction and where it can be initiated from either side. As much as leaders may need to be reminded from time to time to provide feedback to their employees, the employee can and should ask for feedback from their leader. The employee can also provide very useful feedback to the leader. Do you see what I mean about the two-way street?

Feedback doesn't have to come only during the once per year, one-on-one performance review. The often dreaded annual review is actually much easier for both parties if feedback is exchanged much more frequently throughout the year. 

Here's a few examples that can work in the service bays and maintenance shops;

If you're the leader, catch your tradespersons and teams doing things right in terms some work process that has been implemented or emphasized of late. And while you're at it, ask them for some feedback on how well that process is working for them at the shop floor level and for any suggestions on how you as a leader can help make the process work better. You might take a moment to review why their correct work makes a difference to the business. If you have to correct a problem with tradesperson performance, try asking a series of questions with genuine concern for the whole person. You may find out some factors at work in his or her life that will make it easier to move to a discussion on the specifics of the problem.   

If you're the tradesperson, you might take a moment when the maintenance leader is nearby to call him or her over and deliberately ask for some clarification on matters of process or quality in the shop and then give some examples of how you believe your work is in line with the current initiatives or policies. I know that some will worry that this seems like a kindergarten student constantly asking the teacher if his picture coloring is good enough. Well it's not like that at all unless you are doing it constantly. It is a great opportunity to show a leader that you're not automatically cynical about management processes and that you are trying to produce the best work you can in areas of your job. If you handle this exchange professionally and respectfully, you should even be able to send some feedback to your leader about his or her performance as well. If you've got some criticisms for your leader, try pointing out some of the good things he's been doing, then ask if he or she is open to a suggestion. This will likely put both of you in the right mindset for a respectful exchange.

Few people enjoy an all out confrontation in the workplace. Giving feedback and conducting assessments should turn out to be a positive experience if there is a culture of regular feedback and communications within the maintenance department. 

Step 8: Encourage Ownership and Team Autonomy

Continuing with the Ten Step Trades Leadership

When I'm out there training a group of maintenance tradesmen in industry I often hear "my supervisor won't let me do what I know needs to be done on that machine. I have to put in a report or work order and then it gets overlooked completely until a failure occurs."

Well there may be a few procedural problems to be dealt with here. But ultimately I haven't found too many maintenance leaders who don't want to let their teams own processes, procedures and even machines. It's just good leadership and delegation to let a team of passionate and reliable tradepersons 'run with the ball'.

I always encourage the tradesperson on the floor to communicate with his maintenance management group to find out more about the prioritizing of general service work vs. immediate/emergency vs. planned maintenance work so that he knows the process in use. The process of planning and scheduling work isn't meant to remove the qualified tradesperson from having a sense of ownership. As a leader, you know that it's about making sure that maintenance work is tracked, parts and materials are ready, that jobs are grouped up if possible to make the most efficient use of downtime.

On the other hand, teams and individual tradespersons on the front line can be developed into potential leaders if they are given as much ownership and autonomy as possible. This is where a lot of job satisfaction comes from.

If you're a tradesperson, ask to be included in the maintenance planning meetings where procedures are ironed out. You may get your chance in this environment to claim some additional ownership if you can make a good business case. Yes try to learn about the business/accounting realities in maintenance management. This will help.

If you're a supervisor, consider giving additional autonomy and ownership to your best team. Let them know what the parameters are and how they'll be held accountable (see Step 9) and then deploy. Done right, this should ease some of the workload for yourself and your planner.

Step 9: Insist on Accountability and Team Learning

If as manager of maintenance you encourage ownership and team autonomy in your plant or shop environment, then this is the next logical step isn't it? It should be a natural fit.

If a team of technicians and their support group have shown that they can look after overall maintenance of a machine or group of machines without a manager breathing down their necks every day, then they are probably ready for a mission. A mission is a challenge. The challenge might be to increase the availability of a piece of mobile equipment, or it might be to beat last year's unplanned downtime by a certain number of hours in a particular corner of the plant. It might be to find an innovative practice that prevents a certain type of wear or a particular breakdown.

Once a reasonable challenge has been given and accepted, the autonomous team can be held to account. They accepted the challenge, therefor the results are theirs to speak to. Chances are great that they will beat the minimum requirement of the challenge. That's the nature of this kind of challenge given to an autonomous team. If they do in fact succeed they will have learned together in a powerful way.

If they don't succeed, then once again there is some team learning that can take place if it hasn't already. The function of accountability in this case is not to reprimand, but rather to help analyze where the efforts or execution of the challenge went off the track. A very open discussion on why the challenge was not met and what mistakes were made may find some tender spots in the egos of some team members. If blaming is avoided and amnesty is given for honest mistakes, the criticisms should allow team members to recommit and to carry what they've learned forward and to restructure the challenge and try again.

Was the manager leading this accountability meeting? Was the manager's presence even required in the discussion? What could or should the manager contribute to the team to coach their team learning? Your thoughts?

Step 10: Maintenance Teams Need to Celebrate

I attended a plant maintenance conference this week. Among the many excellent technical topics on maintenance management came a discussion on company and team culture. This subject is a real passion of mine as it holds so much influence over the long term success and failure of an enterprise. It has enormous bearing on whether people truly want to get up and go to work and contribute. Do you agree?

Purpose and Goals to Motivate

The panelists were discussing a question from the floor on how to keep team members motivated during a major change initiative or a tough maintenance shut down. It was suggested that the leader needs to keep answering the question of why we're doing what we're doing and what the goal or ultimate purpose is. It was also thrown out that there has to be some positive reinforcement. I couldn't agree more. I believe that positive reinforcement should be offered after some of the small accomplishments have been achieved. Waiting until the end (is there an end?) of a major initiative can be problematic.


A Need for Celebration

I have noticed in my seminars that some maintenance managers and supervisors rarely stop to celebrate with the team they lead. Perhaps this is a natural consequence of the 'nose to grindstone' work ethic that is typical among maintenance leaders. Perhaps many feel that the goal is never achieved. A few supervisors might even be thinking that they are the hardest working member on the team and that if no one from upper management is coming by to celebrate what they've done, then why stop to celebrate with the team they are leading?

Mental Health of an Effective Team

If you've got no employment turn-over on your team and everyone is working collaboratively, and at near one hundred percent effectiveness, then you've got some real magic going for you. Chances are much greater that this not your situation. When you solve problems for a living, it just makes good mental health/motivation sense to stop periodically and celebrate what you've accomplished thus far. This is especially true if you are in the middle of a change initiative and are learning well as a team. The celebration event doesn't have to be expensive or complicated, but it should be done with sincerity and convey meaning. Celebration is a form of positive feedback and reinforcement. It is my step ten in a continuous cycle of steps to remember if you're the kind of leader who believes that the tradespersons and craftspersons on your team are all potential leaders in development. Below you will find the ten steps that were fermenting and churning in my thoughts this summer. Feel free to share your thoughts on these steps.

Ten Step Trades Leadership
1. Hire the best tradespersons
2. Develop the team with continuous training and mentorship
3. Provide the best tools and aids
4. Solve the technical documentation crisis
5. Establish a vision and set high expectations
6. Encourage initiative, collaboration, and true craftsmanship
7. Provide regular feedback and assessments
8. Encourage ownership and team autonomy
9. Insist on accountability and team learning
10. Celebrate team successes!

Giving Up On The Trades? Self Leadership is Required.

How many agree with the following statement? Industrial maintenance trades/craftspersons who take advantage of training when it is offered, and who stretch and acquire new skills or improve the quality of their work, are securing their own future and that of the company and the local economy as well.

This is the thought I was pondering recently after listening to a couple of maintenance managers tell me that instead of training their front line maintenance team, they would just continue to manage and get by. One was bold enough to say that he just didn't think that providing training for his team would change anything. He described the fears and apathy in a few of the personal attitudes on the team.

Corporate Culture - Who's Responsible?

My thoughts about the importance of company culture and making sure it gets built right, and that it never slides downhill were forefront in my mind. Is it possible though that a company makes poor choices when hiring maintenance tradespersons? Is it possible that the maintenance manager is under skilled in motivating, leading and developing his team? I think it's possible that the answer to both questions is 'yes' in many a case. Assigning blame will not solve the issue however.

Economic Reality

At the bottom line is a reality that if team players from all levels in a maintenance team don't find a way to improve their own effectiveness, efficiency or the quality and quantity of the company's production, then ultimately how will a company, indeed an entire region's economy, justify and grant the increase in wages that everybody wants?

As a tradesman, this writer encourages all in the industrial maintenance trades and crafts to take every opportunity to continue the quest for new knowledge and improved hard and soft skills. I believe that a chunk of the North American economy depends on it!

Lead if You're Young, or Any Age!

If you're tempted to blame your boss or 'the company' for a less than progressive and dynamic work culture, don't. Just take the initiative on your own to lead and influence those you can. At a recent training seminar I conducted, it was one of the youngest tradesman in the group who demonstrated leadership and admonished most of his older colleagues to positively focus on the possibilities that accompany a team with a higher level collaboration, maintenance and diagnostic skill set.

Leadership is not a lofty position high up on the organization chart. It's a personal choice to nurture one's own potential to lead and it starts on the shop or plant floor. I've always referred to this as leading from the back, or leading from the bottom. Yes it does take a little nerve and personal resolve to lead with enthusiasm when you haven't stepped up much in the past. You have find a way to deal with that fear of being eaten in the jungle (maintenance shop) that may crop up. But if you're earnest, the respect will come in time.

Supervisor Boost

For the overworked and sometimes discouraged maintenance supervisors and maintenance managers, I say look for any spark of passion or initiative within that team you lead, and then fuel it. Offer some autonomy and responsibility, and of course let them know you're going to hold them to account as well. The investment will be worth it if only for the potential to delegate or to expect that the highly trained front line trades and crafts will reduce your burden.

An industrial maintenance tradesperson has an important and valuable contribution to make to the economy, and she can demonstrate this by driving her own continuous training, and by leading the others on her team.