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Source : Die-CuttingWorks / Author : Kevin Carey

One of the most sur­pris­ing and yet con­sis­tent break­downs in Diecut­ting & Diemak­ing oper­a­tions is a fail­ure to com­mu­ni­cate effec­tively at every level. This is par­tic­u­larly notice­able on the shop floor where the con­tin­u­ous gen­er­a­tion of prob­lems, research, learn­ing, inno­va­tion, test­ing, solu­tions and team­work, set against a volatile sched­ule, demand a coop­er­a­tive focus. It may be most man­agers are famil­iar with and accept Zymur­gys First Law of Evolv­ing Sys­tem Dynam­ics: “Once you open a can of worms, the only way to re-can them is to use a larger can.”

Unfor­tu­nately, avoid­ing the poten­tial com­pli­ca­tion of com­mu­ni­cat­ing with work teams and indi­vid­u­als may elim­i­nate a short-term chal­lenge, how­ever, this approach builds resent­ment, frus­tra­tion and scar tis­sue. It is dif­fi­cult to see how per­for­mance, pro­duc­tiv­ity, and process improve­ment goals can be met with­out an ongo­ing ener­getic dia­logue between all of the par­tic­i­pants. Most orga­ni­za­tions seem blithely igno­rant of the prob­lem as George Bernard Shaw noted; “The prob­lem with com­mu­ni­ca­tion … is the illu­sion that it has been accomplished.”

Good com­mu­ni­ca­tion is not just an up-down dis­ci­pline, but is also a lat­eral dis­ci­pline, and the dia­logue between indi­vid­u­als in teams and within depart­ments is equally crit­i­cal. How­ever, if the man­ager or super­vi­sor is not actively and reg­u­larly involved in com­mu­ni­ca­tion with the teams he is respon­si­ble for, how can he or she remove bar­ri­ers, break­down inhi­bi­tions, and pre­vent dis­putes and rela­tion­ship prob­lems? Man­agers and team lead­ers must allo­cate suf­fi­cient time each week to reg­u­larly com­mu­ni­cate with every­one on their team. The reac­tion to this rec­om­men­da­tion is usu­ally “I am too busy and I don’t have the time to do that.” Too busy doing what? As time passes and orga­ni­za­tions atro­phy most man­agers and super­vi­sors lose sight or are deflected from their pri­mary lead­er­ship mis­sion. “Com­mu­ni­ca­tion is the real work of leadership.”

It is strange that one of the most basic and crit­i­cal paths to suc­cess in every human activ­ity is rarely imple­mented with prac­ticed care. The assump­tion that every­one is an effec­tive com­mu­ni­ca­tor and an atten­tive lis­tener, with­out train­ing, prac­tice and feed­back is a strate­gic weak­ness that con­tin­u­ally under­mines pro­duc­tive goals. We for­get that every busi­ness is pri­mar­ily a social orga­ni­za­tion, built around and upon coop­er­a­tive rela­tion­ships. And rela­tion­ships begin with and are nour­ished by open and respect­ful communication.

This is not a dif­fi­cult chal­lenge, how­ever, it may feel uncom­fort­able until you gain expe­ri­ence. The job of a Man­ager or a Super­vi­sor is to stim­u­late pro­duc­tive change by engag­ing in an enthu­si­as­tic dia­logue with all those who work with him or her. Man­agers need to ask sim­ple ques­tions to stim­u­late con­ver­sa­tion, dia­logue and feed­back. “Where are we now? What are the obsta­cles and prob­lems you are fac­ing in accom­plish­ing your work? What changes would you rec­om­mend to improve per­for­mance? What can I do to make you more successful?”

If you are really deter­mined in devel­op­ing a World Class Diecut­ting or Diemak­ing oper­a­tion start each work­day with a short dis­cus­sion about goals and objec­tives and fin­ish with a post­mortem dis­cus­sion about prob­lems and oppor­tu­ni­ties.“Com­mu­ni­ca­tion can’t always fol­low the top-down model. With the flu­id­ity of infor­ma­tion in busi­ness today, lead­ers need to be mas­ter­ful lis­ten­ers; they need to be able to receive as well as send.” Badaracco.