teamwork

The “Empty Chair” Technique: Instantly Shift Your Team’s Focus from ‘What We Do’ to ‘Who We Serve’

Posted on by Adam Payne

Picture your last production meeting. I’m willing to bet the conversation orbited around a familiar constellation of topics: overall equipment effectiveness, yield percentages, downtime reports, maybe the latest snag on the line or a supply chain headache. These are the vital signs of a manufacturing operation, the metrics that keep the lights on and the orders moving. We live and breathe them.

But in that whirlwind of data and process talk, how often did the actual customer come up? Not as a purchase order number or a delivery deadline, but as a real person or a real business with needs, frustrations, and expectations. It’s a common blind spot. We get so wrapped up in the how and the what of our work that we can slowly, almost imperceptibly, lose sight of the who and the why.

I remember sitting in a meeting years ago with a team that made highly specialised industrial components. They were brilliant engineers, absolute masters of their craft. They spent forty-five minutes debating a change to a finishing process that would shave a few pence off each unit. It was a fascinating, deeply technical discussion. Then someone, almost as an afterthought, asked, “Does this change how the client’s team installs it?” The room went quiet. Nobody knew. The customer, the very reason they were all in that room, was a ghost.

This disconnect is more than just a philosophical problem. It has real world consequences. When teams lose touch with the end user, quality can become about meeting a spec sheet, not solving a problem. Innovation stagnates because it’s not fuelled by real world needs. And a competitor who is obsessed with the customer experience can suddenly look very appealing.

What if I told you there’s a way to change this dynamic? Not with an expensive consultant or a complex new software system, but with a simple, powerful technique you can try in your very next meeting. It costs nothing, takes about thirty seconds to set up, and can instantly reframe your team’s entire perspective. It’s called the “Empty Chair” technique, and it might just be the most effective tool you’re not using.

What Is the “Empty Chair” Technique?

At its core, the concept is almost laughably simple. You bring an extra, empty chair into your meeting room and you place it at the table with everyone else. You then announce to the team that this chair is occupied. It’s reserved for your most important stakeholder: the customer.

That’s it. That’s the technique.

I know what you might be thinking. It sounds a bit theatrical, maybe even a little silly. But its power doesn’t come from some mystical property of furniture. Its power lies in its role as a physical, unignorable symbol. It transforms the abstract concept of ‘the customer’ into a tangible presence in the room.

The idea has been floating around for a while, but it was famously championed by Jeff Bezos in the early days of Amazon. He insisted on having an empty chair in key meetings to represent the customer, whom he called “the most important person in the room.” For a company that has built an empire on customer obsession, it’s a telling detail. It wasn’t just a gimmick; it was a foundational piece of their culture.

The purpose is to force a constant, gentle reorientation of the conversation. When you’re discussing a change to a production schedule, you can glance at the chair and ask, “How does this impact our customer’s project timeline?” When a quality issue is being debated, the chair prompts the question, “What would the person sitting here say about this?”

It makes the customer’s perspective an active participant in real time decision making, rather than an afterthought or a data point in a quarterly report. The chair doesn’t speak, of course, but it forces you and your team to speak for it. And in doing so, you start to think differently. You start to see your own processes, products, and problems through their eyes.

How to Implement the Technique

Introducing something new, especially something that feels a bit unconventional, can be tricky. But the beauty of the empty chair is its simplicity. Here’s a straightforward way to roll it out, step by step.

1. Set the Stage (Briefly)

At the beginning of your next team meeting, whether it’s a daily stand up or a weekly project review, bring in the extra chair. Before anyone can ask, just address it calmly. You don’t need a big speech.

You could say something like, “Morning all. You’ll notice the extra chair. Today, we’re going to try something a little different. This seat is for our customer. Let’s imagine Dave from Acme Engineering is sitting with us today. The goal is just to keep Dave’s perspective in mind as we go through our agenda.”

Keep it light and frame it as an experiment. This lowers the pressure and makes people more open to the idea.

2. Use Simple Prompts During the Meeting

Your role as the leader is to activate the chair. It won’t do anything on its own. Throughout the discussion, use it as a conversational tool. When a decision point arises, turn to the chair, metaphorically speaking, and ask questions.

  • “Okay team, we’re thinking of changing the packaging. What would Dave say about that? Would it be easier or harder for his team on the receiving end?”
  • “We’ve hit a delay on this order. If Dave were sitting here right now, what would he need to hear from us? What would be most important to him?”
  • “This new feature is technically impressive, but let’s ask the chair: does it actually solve a problem for Dave, or is it just something we think is cool?”

These questions shift the focus from internal constraints (cost, time, resources) to external value (convenience, reliability, problem solving).

3. Invite Others to Inhabit the Chair

Once the team gets used to the idea, take it a step further. Encourage team members to temporarily role play as the customer. This can be incredibly powerful for generating new perspectives.

You could say, “Sarah, you’ve worked closely with the Acme account. For the next five minutes, I want you to be Dave. Forget you’re our head of quality. From his point of view, what’s his biggest concern about this project right now?”

This gives people permission to step outside their official roles and think more freely. You’ll be amazed at the insights that emerge when your logistics manager starts thinking like the customer’s warehouse supervisor, or when a machine operator considers the challenges of the person who has to service the equipment they build.

4. Close the Loop

At the end of the meeting, take two minutes to debrief. This is crucial for cementing the value of the exercise and making it part of your culture, not just a one off event.

Ask the team directly:

  • “Did having the empty chair here change any of our discussions today?”
  • “Did we make a different decision on anything because we considered that perspective?”
  • “Was this a useful exercise? Should we do it again?”

This reflection reinforces the purpose of the technique and gathers feedback, making the team a part of the process.

Why It Works So Well in Manufacturing Environments

I think this technique is uniquely suited to the world of manufacturing, precisely because our environments are so process driven. On the factory floor, consistency, efficiency, and adherence to standards are paramount. This is a good thing; it’s how we produce high quality goods reliably.

But that intense internal focus can build a wall between the people making the product and the people using it. The customer can feel very far away when your immediate reality is a CNC machine, a welding torch, or a quality control checklist. The empty chair acts as a bridge across that gap.

It connects the tangible work on the factory floor to the value it creates for the customer. Suddenly, tightening a bolt to the correct torque isn’t just about passing an inspection; it’s about ensuring the machine doesn’t fail for Dave at Acme Engineering during a critical production run. Calibrating a sensor isn’t just a task on a maintenance schedule; it’s about providing the accurate data the customer relies on to run their own business.

This creates powerful psychological and cultural shifts:

  • Empathy: It’s hard to feel empathy for a spreadsheet. It’s much easier to feel it for ‘Dave’, even an imaginary one. This technique builds a muscle of empathy, encouraging your team to think about the human impact of their work.
  • Accountability: It fosters a deeper sense of accountability. The team isn’t just accountable to their line manager or the company’s KPIs; they start to feel a direct sense of responsibility to the person in the chair. This is intrinsic motivation, and it’s far more powerful than any top down pressure.
  • Innovation: True innovation comes from solving real problems. By keeping the customer and their problems front and centre, you create fertile ground for new ideas. Your team will start spotting opportunities for improvement not just in your processes, but in your products and services themselves. They might suggest a small design tweak that makes maintenance easier or a change in documentation that clarifies a common point of confusion.

Real Examples and Tangible Outcomes

I’ve used this technique in workshops with manufacturing teams and have seen the shift happen in real time. In one session, a team was discussing how to handle a recurring, minor defect in a batch of components. The default conversation was about rework costs versus scrapping the batch.

We brought in the empty chair, representing their biggest client. I asked, “What does the client do when they receive a component with this defect?” The quality manager, role playing, said, “Well, they probably just toss it and grab another one from the box. But they’re probably also thinking, ‘Here we go again.’ It chips away at their confidence in us.”

The mood in the room changed. The conversation shifted from the cost of the defect to the cost of eroding trust. They didn’t just decide to fix the batch; they launched a root cause analysis project to eliminate the defect entirely. The empty chair turned a financial calculation into a relationship issue.

The tangible outcomes of consistently using this technique can be significant.

  • Customer aligned projects: You’ll find that new initiatives and continuous improvement projects are more likely to be focused on things that deliver real customer value.
  • Increased customer satisfaction and loyalty: When your decisions are consistently made with the customer’s best interests at heart, they notice. This leads to fewer complaints, better relationships, and repeat business.
  • Improved product market fit: You’ll develop a more intuitive understanding of what the market needs, leading to better products and services that solve genuine problems.
  • A more engaged and proactive team: When people see the direct link between their work and the customer’s success, their sense of purpose and engagement skyrockets.

Quick Wins: Making the Most of Your Next Meeting

Ready to give it a try? You don’t need to wait for the perfect moment. Here are a few things to help you implement this in your very next meeting.

Your Agenda Item:

Simply add a new line item to your standard meeting agenda: “Customer Perspective Check In (The Empty Chair).” This formalises it and signals its importance.

Your Opening Script:

Feel free to borrow this: “Team, we’re adding a new permanent fixture to our meetings: this empty chair. It represents our customer. At any point, I want anyone to feel free to ask, ‘What would the person in this chair think?’ The goal is to make sure we don’t lose sight of who we’re doing all this for.”

Your Follow Up:

After the meeting, send a brief email. It could be as simple as: “Thanks for a productive meeting today. I thought the ’empty chair’ discussion about the packaging issue was really valuable. It’s a great reminder to keep thinking from the outside in. Let’s keep it up.” This reinforces the behaviour you want to see.

The most important tip is to just start. Don’t overthink it. Don’t worry if it feels a bit awkward at first. All meaningful changes in culture start with a small, sometimes slightly uncomfortable, first step. Encourage experimentation and be open to the team’s feedback.

A Simple Chair, A Profound Shift

In the relentless pursuit of operational excellence, it’s easy to become internally focused. We optimise processes, streamline workflows, and analyse data until we’re a model of efficiency. But efficiency without purpose is just motion. The empty chair is a simple, powerful, and profoundly human way to bring that purpose back into the room.

It reminds us that behind every order number, every spec sheet, and every delivery address, there is a person or a business relying on us to do our best work. It’s not about abandoning your KPIs; it’s about enriching them with the perspective of the one person who matters most.

So, I invite you to try it. In your next meeting, pull up an empty chair. See what happens. You might be surprised by the conversations it starts and the direction it takes you.

Have you ever tried a technique like this? Or do you have another way you keep your team focused on the customer? I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments below.

If this simple idea of shifting perspective resonates with you, imagine the impact of a dedicated programme designed to unlock your team’s full potential. Our High Performing Teams Workshop is an immersive experience that goes beyond single techniques, providing your manufacturing leaders with a complete toolkit to build a culture of accountability, innovation, and true customer obsession. Learn more and book a discovery call today.

3 Signs You’re Managing a Group of Individuals (Not a Team)

Posted on by Adam Payne

Have you ever sat in a team meeting and had the strange feeling that you’re not actually in a team at all? You look around the room, or at the faces on the screen, and you see a collection of talented, hardworking people. They’re all employed by the same company, they all report to you, but the connection just isn’t there. It feels more like a loose collection of freelancers who happen to share a building and a Wi-Fi password.

Let’s be honest, it’s a common feeling. We use the word ‘team’ so often it’s almost lost its meaning. The people on the shop floor are a team. The sales department is a team. The folks in accounts, they’re a team too. But are they really? Or are they just a group of individuals who have been assigned to the same department?

The distinction is more than just semantics. In the world of manufacturing, where every second of downtime, every rejected batch, and every missed deadline hits the bottom line, the difference is everything. A group of individuals can get a job done, sure. But a true team, a cohesive unit that trusts each other and moves with a shared purpose, can achieve phenomenal things. They solve problems faster, they innovate, they hold each other to a higher standard, and critically, they make the workplace a place people actually want to be. Their morale is higher, and your staff turnover is lower.

We’ve spent years working with businesses just like yours, from precision engineering firms to large scale food production plants, and we’ve seen this play out time and time again. The difference between a high performing operation and one that’s constantly firefighting often comes down to the health of its teams. That’s why we built our entire workshop around what we call the five pillars of team health. Things like having a genuine Shared Purpose, fostering Psychological Safety, and ensuring absolute Clarity in decisions.

So, how do you know which side of the line you’re on? How can you tell if your ‘team’ is just a group in disguise? It’s not always obvious, but there are telltale signs. Today, I want to walk you through three of the most common ones I see out in the field. Think of this as a quick health check for your team.

Sign 1: The Invisible Walls of Siloed Work

You know what we’re talking about. It’s the classic ‘us and them’ mentality. The office versus the shop floor. Engineering versus production. Day shift versus night shift. Sales versus, well, pretty much everyone else. This is siloed work in its purest form. It’s when individuals or subgroups operate within their own little bubbles, guarding their information and focusing only on their specific tasks, with little to no thought for how their work impacts anyone else down the line.

We remember visiting a factory a while back that made bespoke metal components. The sales team were brilliant at their jobs. They were hitting their targets, bringing in huge orders. The problem? They were promising clients ridiculously tight turnaround times without ever stepping onto the production floor to see what the actual capacity was. The production team, in turn, saw the sales team as clueless suits who just threw impossible jobs over the wall. They wouldn’t proactively share updates on machine maintenance or supply chain delays because, in their minds, “sales wouldn’t understand anyway.”

The result was chaos. Constant emergencies, stressed out operators, furious customers, and a blame game that was frankly exhausting to watch. Each group was doing their job, but they weren’t working together. They were a group of individuals, not a team.

So why does this happen? To be honest, it’s often a natural side effect of growth. As you add more people and create departments, specialisation is necessary. But without a strong, unifying force, that specialisation curdles into isolation. The root cause is almost always a lack of a clear, compelling, and constantly communicated Shared Purpose. When the sales team’s primary goal is just ‘hit the sales target’ and the production team’s goal is just ‘minimise defects’, their objectives can actually end up in direct conflict. A true shared purpose, something like ‘To be the UK’s most reliable supplier of high-quality components’, forces them to work together. The sales team can’t sell reliability if the production team can’t deliver it.

Symptoms to watch for:

  • Fragmented Communication: Important information is shared via long, confusing email chains instead of quick conversations. You hear “I sent them an email” used as a defence, not as a form of collaboration.
  • Knowledge Hoarding: People become gatekeepers of information. An experienced engineer might not share a clever workaround they’ve discovered because that knowledge gives them a sense of job security or power.
  • Duplicated Effort: You find out that two different people or departments were working on solving the same problem, completely unaware of each other’s efforts. It’s a colossal waste of time and resources.

The consequences are severe. Productivity plummets due to rework and inefficiency. Morale takes a nosedive because nobody feels like they’re on the same side. Innovation dies, because new ideas can’t survive the journey across departmental walls.

Quick Diagnostic Questions:

  • Does my sales team truly understand the current pressures and constraints on the production floor?
  • When a problem arises, is the first instinct to pick up the phone and talk to the relevant person, or to write a formal email to cover one’s back?
  • Can every single person in your team articulate the company’s number one priority for this quarter in the same way?

If the answers to these make you a bit uncomfortable, you might have some invisible walls that need knocking down. It starts with establishing and over communicating that shared purpose.

Sign 2: The Toxic Air of a Blame Culture

Picture this. A batch of products has failed a quality control check. You call a meeting to figure out what went wrong. What’s the mood in the room? Is it a collective, curious, “Okay, let’s break this down and see what we can learn?” Or is it a tense, defensive affair where everyone is subtly, or not so subtly, trying to prove it wasn’t their fault?

If it’s the latter, you’re dealing with a blame culture. This is perhaps the most destructive sign that your team is just a group of individuals looking out for themselves. In a blame culture, mistakes are not seen as learning opportunities; they are seen as indictments of competence. Finger pointing becomes a survival skill. People spend more energy on deflecting blame than on finding solutions.

This behaviour is a direct result of a lack of Psychological Safety. That’s a term that gets thrown around a lot, but it’s actually very simple. It’s the shared belief that it is safe to take interpersonal risks. It’s the feeling that you can speak up, ask a ‘stupid’ question, admit a mistake, or challenge an idea without fear of being punished, humiliated, or shamed.

When that safety is absent, people don’t raise their hands to say, “I think I might have mis calibrated that machine,” or “I was feeling rushed and I skipped a step.” Why would they? Admitting a mistake feels like painting a target on your own back. Instead, you get a lot of, “Well, the raw materials we’ve been getting lately haven’t been up to scratch,” or “The night shift must have left the settings like that.”

The operational impact is terrifying, especially in manufacturing. Small issues that could be fixed easily if caught early are hidden or ignored until they become massive, expensive problems. A machine that’s making a funny noise, a process that seems inefficient, a safety concern… all of it gets swept under the carpet because nobody wants to be the messenger who gets shot. Communication grinds to a halt. People only tell you what they think you want to hear.

And the emotional impact? It’s draining. It creates an atmosphere of anxiety and mistrust. People stop helping each other because helping someone could mean becoming associated with their mistakes. Your best people, the ones who are proactive and want to solve problems, will be the first to leave. They’ll go somewhere they can actually make a difference without constantly watching their back.

Recognising and Addressing Blame Culture:

  • Listen to the language: Pay attention to how people talk about problems. Is it “we have an issue” or “they made a mistake”? Do people use phrases like “to be clear, my part of the process was fine”?
  • Watch your own reactions: How do you, as a manager, react when someone brings you bad news or admits a mistake? If you show even a hint of frustration or jump to conclusions, you are reinforcing the idea that it’s not safe to be honest. Your first words should always be something like, “Okay, thank you for telling me. Let’s figure this out together.”
  • Reframe mistakes as data: Actively separate the person from the problem. Run post mortems on issues that are genuinely blameless. Focus entirely on the process. What can we learn? What can we change in the system to make sure this doesn’t happen again?

Building psychological safety is the only antidote to a blame culture. It’s the foundation of trust, and without trust, you don’t have a team. You just have a room full of people waiting for someone else to mess up.

Sign 3: The Whiplash of Inconsistent Decision Making

The third sign is a bit more subtle, but just as damaging. It’s when the team feels like they’re constantly changing direction, with decisions being made in an erratic or unclear way. One week, the absolute top priority is reducing waste. The next, it’s all about hitting a specific production number, even if it means waste goes up. One manager approves a certain type of overtime; another rejects the exact same request a week later.

This inconsistency creates a kind of strategic whiplash. It’s confusing, it’s frustrating, and it kills momentum stone dead. Teams thrive on clarity and predictability. They need to understand the rules of the game and trust that those rules aren’t going to change without warning. When decisions feel random or contradictory, it erodes trust in leadership and makes it impossible for the team to align their efforts.

What are the root causes? It’s rarely because managers are deliberately trying to be confusing. More often, it stems from a lack of Clarity and Alignment at a fundamental level.

  • Unclear Roles: Who is actually responsible for making which decisions? When it’s not clearly defined, you either get decision paralysis where no one wants to make a call, or you get multiple people making conflicting decisions. Who has the final say on shipping a product that’s borderline on quality? The shift supervisor? The quality manager? You? If the team doesn’t know, the answer will change depending on who is on shift.
  • No Decision Framework: Decisions are made based on gut feeling, or who shouted the loudest in the meeting. There’s no consistent process for evaluating options, weighing trade offs, or communicating the final decision and the ‘why’ behind it.
  • Fluctuating Priorities: This is a big one. Of course, business priorities have to shift sometimes. But when they seem to change every week based on the latest crisis, the team stops taking any of them seriously. They adopt a ‘this too shall pass’ mentality and stop investing their energy in new initiatives, because they assume the goalposts will just move again.

You can spot this pattern in your meetings. Do you find yourself re-litigating the same decisions over and over again? Do people leave a meeting with different interpretations of what was actually decided? Does the team often execute a plan, only to be told later that it wasn’t what leadership wanted? These are all symptoms of inconsistent decision making.

The effect is that your team becomes passive. They stop taking initiative because they’re afraid of doing the ‘wrong’ thing. They wait to be told exactly what to do, which slows everything down and kills any sense of ownership or engagement.

To fix this, you need to bring clarity. Define who owns which decisions (a simple RACI chart can work wonders). Establish a basic framework for how key decisions are made. And most importantly, when you set a priority, stick with it long enough for it to gain traction. Make sure everyone, from the newest apprentice to the most senior operator, understands not just what they’re doing, but why they’re doing it.

From a Group to a Team

So there you have it. Siloed work, a blame culture, and inconsistent decision making. If you’re nodding along and recognising some of these signs in your own workplace, don’t panic. The first step is always awareness. Seeing these things for what they are, symptoms of a weak team foundation, is a huge part of the battle.

These three signs are not isolated issues. They are deeply interconnected. A lack of Shared Purpose leads to silos. Those silos, combined with a lack of Psychological Safety, create the perfect breeding ground for a Blame Culture. And all of this is made worse by a lack of Clarity, which results in inconsistent decisions that leave everyone feeling confused and disengaged.

The good news is, none of this is permanent. You can absolutely transform a disconnected group of individuals into a high performing, resilient, and engaged team. It’s not about finding a magic bullet or doing a one off ‘team building’ day. It’s about intentionally building the foundations, the pillars of genuine team health. It’s about creating an environment where people want to collaborate, feel safe to be honest, and are clear on the direction of travel.

If you’re ready to stop firefighting the symptoms and start building a truly healthy team from the ground up, we can help. Our High Performing Teams Training is designed specifically for the challenges of the manufacturing sector. We go deep into the five pillars of team health and give you practical, no nonsense tools to build a culture of trust, clarity, and shared purpose.

Take a look at what we offer. It might just be the most important decision you make for your team, and your business, this year. – Click Here

Leveraging Growth Mindset and Fact-Based Management in Manufacturing

Posted on by Adam Payne

The difference between stagnation and growth often lies in mindset and management approach. The case of an SME Manufacturer with an £8m turnover, which lost a monumental £1.5 million order to a competitor that did not even manufacture but merely outsourced, illustrates a vital lesson in resilience, mindset, and strategic focus.

The Importance of Managing by Facts

Today’s manufacturing landscape demands a shift from traditional, often emotionally-driven decision-making to a more robust, evidence-based approach known as ‘managing by fact.’ This paradigm underscores the necessity of grounding decisions in data, metrics, and factual evidence rather than intuition, gut feelings, or emotions. It’s a shift that aims to heighten efficiency, enhance productivity, and foster innovation by making informed decisions that are aligned with strategic objectives and market demands.

Understanding ‘Manage by Fact’

‘Manage by Fact’ is not just a catchphrase; it’s a comprehensive approach that encompasses:

  • Data-Driven Decision Making: Leveraging real-time data and analytics to guide strategic decisions, leading to more targeted and effective outcomes.
  • Performance Metrics: Establishing clear, measurable objectives that help in assessing performance against goals, thereby facilitating continuous improvement.
  • Objective Analysis: Encouraging a culture where decisions are made based on objective analysis rather than subjective opinion or hierarchical pressures.
growth mindset

The Power of a Growth Mindset

At the heart of the SME Manufacturer’s story is the concept of a ‘growth mindset,’ a term coined by psychologist Carol Dweck. It denotes an underlying belief that talents can be developed through hard work, effective strategies, and input from others as opposed to a ‘fixed mindset’ which posits that talents and abilities are static and unchangeable.

A growth mindset in manufacturing signifies:

  • Embracing Challenges: Seeing failures, like losing a significant order, as opportunities to learn and evolve instead of insurmountable setbacks.
  • Persistent Effort: Understanding that mastery and improvement require time, effort, and perseverance.
  • Feedback and Critique: Welcoming constructive criticism as a resource for learning and development.
  • Learning from the Success of Others: Viewing peers and competitors as sources of knowledge and inspiration rather than threats.

Combining Fact-Based Management with a Growth Mindset

The synergy between managing by fact and fostering a growth mindset can become a formidable strategy in manufacturing. Here’s how:

  1. Data-Driven Insights for Continuous Learning: Utilising data not just for operational decisions but for learning and development, aligning employee growth with strategic business goals.
  2. Metrics for Performance and Growth: Performance metrics and KPIs can serve dual purposes—measuring current productivity and efficiency while identifying areas for skill development and innovation.
  3. Adaptability through Objective Analysis: An objective, fact-based approach empowers teams to adapt swiftly to market changes, technological advancements, and competitive dynamics, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and agility.

The Story of Resilience and Adaptation

Returning to the narrative of the SME Manufacturer, the loss of a £1.5 million order could have been a crippling blow. However, the management and team’s growth mindset, coupled with a strategic focus on facts and data, turned a potential disaster into a learning opportunity. It pushed the company to analyse what went wrong, to understand the market and competitors better, and to refine its value proposition and operations accordingly.

Their journey underscores several key takeaways for manufacturers:

  • Resilience is Key: The ability to bounce back from setbacks, powered by a belief in continuous improvement and the possibility of growth.
  • Embrace Change: Being open to change and willing to adapt strategies based on what the data shows can differentiate between stagnation and growth.
  • Collaborative Teamwork: A shared growth mindset within the team fosters collaboration, innovation, and shared ownership of both challenges and successes.

Conclusion: Forging Ahead with Facts and Growth

As the manufacturing sector continues to evolve amidst ever-changing market dynamics, the story of the SME Manufacturer serves as a compelling case study in the power of managing by facts not by emotion, and the transformative impact of a growth mindset.

Their experience illuminates a path forward for manufacturers seeking to navigate the complexities of modern-day business. It’s a dual approach where decisions are driven by data and insights, and where challenges and setbacks are seen not as endpoints but as stepping stones to greater achievements.

The manufacturers who will thrive are those who embrace the power of data, leverage the resilience of a growth mindset, and view every challenge as a new opportunity for growth and learning. Just as the SME Manufacturer demonstrated, the key lies in not just focusing on what to shrink but rather on what to grow. By striving to be better today than yesterday and planning to be better tomorrow than today, manufacturing businesses can ensure they remain competitive, innovative, and poised for success in an ever-evolving landscape.

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Teamwork – Wales & Leicester Prove the Point

Posted on by Adam Payne

I’ve never been one for football, but the two recent examples of how teamwork and purpose make an absolute difference comes in the form of Leicester City winning the Premier League and Wales currently in Euro 2016. You only have to see the camaraderie within both teams, the celebration in achievement with Wales, and seeing most of the players watching the result of the premier league pan out at Vardy’s house with the celebrations that entailed.

Now a common factor in this, is the role of the leader, both Chris Coleman (Wales) and Claudio Ranieri (Leicester) have set a purpose and belief within their teams which was unstoppable for Leicester and proving so for Wales. These leaders have set the tone for what they want from the team, the goal. They also have what most good leaders have which is ‘Charisma’, but these leaders offer much more than that. Noteworthy leaders also deliver some combination of expertise, commitment, dedication, motivation, focus and concern for others. These leaders are naturally goal orientated and understand the need and the best way to communicate the objective to the team.

 

The Five DYSFUNCTIONS of a Team

 

Absence of Trust

The failure to build trust is damaging because it sets the tone for the second dysfunction:

Fear of Conflict

A lack of healthy conflict is a problem because it ensures the third dysfunction of a team:

Lack of Commitment

Because of this lack of real commitment and buy-in, team members develop the fourth dysfunction:

Avoidance of Accountability

Failure to hold one another accountable creates an environment where the fifth dysfunction can thrive:

Inattention to Results

Team members put their individual needs or even the needs of their organisations above the collective goals of the team.

 

The above you could witness in England within the Euro’s, this is only my opinion, but for comparison look at the England RFU team and what Eddie Jones has achieved in a short time. Again a leader that builds purpose and teamwork, they haven’t lost yet under Jones and did something that has not been done since 1971, white wash Australia in Australia.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT!

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