Go to The Operating Floor for The Answer

It’s general knowledge that a diverse organization will outperform a homogeneous one. This includes a diversity of experience; like managers involving the experiences of their non-management team members. Unfortunately, leaders sometimes forget that they should sometimes go to the operating floor for the answer. What do you think happens when you L.E.T. your lower-salaried band workers help solve business challenges? 

Those doing the actual work are the ones on the operating floor. They are experienced and usually have ideas to solve a challenge facing their operation. Yet, too often, managers fail to involve technicians, doctors ignore input from nurses, executives disregard feedback from their non-managers, and principals do not invite input from their teachers. 

A Heavy Lesson

An early experience taught me the value of including my operating floor workers in solving technical problems in their areas. I was leading a project that introduced a bulk powdered chemical that was very abrasive to a manufacturing plant. The powder would quickly rupture the 6-inch diameter rubber hose we used to transport it from a railcar to our storage vessels. I had the bright idea to replace the rubber hoses with a stainless-steel braided hose. That hose should last a lifetime! 

The non-management operators who work in that area of the business told me it would not work but definitely would last a lifetime – in storage! However, I was “The Engineer” and provided my ten-point technical basis for my solution to the problem of ruptured rubber hoses.

The new (very expensive) hose arrived. It was too heavy. It required several of us to attach it to a railcar. That was usually a one-person job. The hose was also inflexible and almost impossible to maneuver where we wanted. Finally, it was a problem to transport the powdered chemical to its storage vessel via the hose. The hardness of the metal pulverized the powder passing through the hose.

My hose was theoretically sound, but theories alone don’t always deliver results; actions do! I did not act as an effective leader. I should have listened to those on the “operating floor” with the experience.

What Happens When You Involve Your “Operating Floor” Employees?

• Your influence grows. You build trust, and people will follow who they trust.

• Your team’s culture improves. You build ownership among your people, and people will be more accountable for what they own.

• Your success rate increases. Your delivery rate and confidence level increase because hidden traps and other issues will be exposed that are most often discovered by experience. 

• Your results improve. You deliver a better product because collaboration increases innovation.

How Do You L.E.T. Your “Operating Floor” Employees Get Involved?

Whether you are a doctor who needs to listen to your nurses, a principal trying to involve your teachers, or a manager inviting engagement from your lower-level managers and technicians, these three simple approaches will help you collaborate better for improved results.

• L – Listen to those on the shop floor. Always ask for their input (even though you think you’re 100% correct) and practice active listening. Not just hear what they have to say but ask questions, engage their experiences, and plow their input into your plans. 

• E – Empower your direct reports to get the job done. Share information, resources, capability, tools, and the right culture for them to get innovative. Then provide the leadership guidance to collaborate on the best path forward. 

• T – Trust those in the trenches. Those on the operating floor are not your competition. Therefore, when they say “caution,” you should pay attention. Trusting their input does not mean you have to execute their recommendation. But it does mean you value it. Add their input to the other information you have and consider it to make the best decision. 

In some organizational cultures, non-managers tend to put their heads down and do what they’re told or paid to do; nothing else. 

Leaders of high-performing organizations know the power of treating their lower-level members like business owners. They will L.E.T. them share their experiences and knowledge to uncover innovative solutions to business challenges.

Empowered Leader Reflection

What has your experience been when you intentionally invite your “operating floor” employees to your project meetings to share their input?

I invite you to help us grow by posting a comment below.