What Successful Manufacturing Leaders Do Daily

Manufacturing covers a wide range of businesses and their fortunes vary widely at the moment as they deal with the marketplace changing as a result of COVID, which is also impacting the supply chain and the workforce that is often now working remotely. At one end of the scale, some manufacturers have too much work while others are struggling with not enough. So what are the successful manufacturing leaders doing?

They take inspiration from great sportspeople and players

No one can predict the future; you can simply make the best guess based on what you know today.  The better informed you are, the more your chances of being right increase, but let’s face it, this is tough enough to do in normal times and virtually impossible with the global impact of COVID-19.

Global supply chains have been disrupted as every country struggles to control the spread of the virus, the UK markets have been distorted with the restrictions on our movements, and everyone’s concerned about their jobs.

So, if you can’t predict what is going to happen next let’s start to think like a sportsman! All sport is about reacting quickly to rapidly changing circumstances.

The coaches work with the players or team before the match, race, or game to define a strategy, a game plan, but once the competition starts that can quickly become irrelevant due to circumstances they cannot control.  So great sportspeople spend a lot of time preparing for how they will deal with the unexpected.

Also think about the managers of top sports teams, whether that be football, rugby, or formula 1. The manager has a team supporting them during the match, analysing what is happening in real-time, and deciding how best to react so they can make informed decisions about what elements need to change.

Business is very similar! In business, the best thing is to position yourself to react quickly when change happens.

They always know where the money is and how they plan to spend it

Focus on your cash flow so you know your financial position and can model possible outcomes to make the best use of your money.

They get their business operating effectively today so it can easily adjust to change tomorrow

If you have systems and processes that work well to ensure your clients get a great experience whenever they engage with your business, and you are operating as efficiently as possible, when a change does happen, it will be easier to adjust an existing process than write one from scratch. Also, you will understand and be able to soften the risks incurred by the change.

They spend time building a great team

I always advise you to spend time investing and in and developing your team. A great team allows you the Business Owner, to focus on running the business and not be consistently buried in delivering the business.

They develop their leadership skills

Leadership has become increasingly more important whilst leading part of your team remotely.  Some of your staff may still have to come to work so there is a challenge around ensuring they are safe and protected. For the rest of your team, how do you know they are actually productively working at home? In the time of change, it is the companies without strong leadership and management that struggle the most.

They adjust rapidly to the new normal, whatever that will be

Most business owners have had to adjust their marketing to be more empathetic during lockdown and sales may have changed substantially, with the traditional face-to-face transaction being replaced with an online experience.  Again, it’s easier to change a system and process that already working rather than start from scratch. For example, those that already had well-maintained computer-based filing systems found it is easier to add software to share documents with their remote teams, compared to those that had paper-based filing and had a huge headache when admin teams had to work from home.

They have a plan A, B, and C

Successful manufacturers tend to have a plan A, B, and C for different scenarios. Having contingency plans and knowing the triggers to implement them will save you valuable time in putting the plans into action, making the transition feel easy and stress-free both for you and your team but also your suppliers and customers.

They prevent their supply chain from being their Achilles heel

In manufacturing, you are dependent on your suppliers to ensure you can operate. Successful manufacturers spend time understanding where their business is exposed and evaluate potential supply chain issues. Doing this regularly allows them to implement plans to reduce the impact.

If you think a supplier may close or have imports disrupted due to COVID or Brexit, look to alternate sources of supply so there are multiple suppliers, try looking for more local suppliers, or increase your stock holding to bridge the gap (which in turn requires you have control of your finances so you can quickly find the cash – see above!)

They know where they are going to focus their attention this month

You can’t predict what is going to happen in the future! Successful leaders make sure that every day they understand their financial position, have a strong delivery capability that is run by a great team, and focus on the results that their sales and marketing are achieving. Think Toto Wolff!

Mark yourself on each area above, be honest and decide where you need to focus your attention this month.

If you would like to discuss any of the above over a virtual coffee, drop me an email with your preferred day/time to: Rupertturton@actioncoach.com