Today, alongside my Gisborne-based colleague, I facilitated an Operations Management lecture at the Eastern Institute of Technology (Hawkes Bay campus) which centered on how to manage/ resolve manufacturing bottle-neck situations – once the cause of the given bottle-neck is deemed to be “people-related” (e.g. a member of the team isn’t able to sustain packing fruit into trays/ cartons at the same rate as their colleagues).
Students worked in small groups to address an exercise which called for them to consider “how” they would go about talking with the member/s of the team who had been identified as the main cause of a bottle-neck situation. Firstly, each student per group wrote a short script which outlined the words that they wanted to use when interacting with the remaining members in their team; and then each team member took it in turns to be the Production Manager – requiring them to deliver their scripted words to their colleagues in a manner which:
a) Ensured that their colleagues were invited to provide input into understanding “why” the bottle-neck situation had developed – and was a recurring event (i.e. interaction with employees encouraged participation and inclusivity).
b) Ensured that their colleagues were not “accused” of “wrong doing” – i.e. discussions focused on “fixing the problem” and not blaming any particular individual for the bottle-neck situation.
c) Ensured continuation of strong, positive and mutually respectful manager-subordinate working relationships.
So the key learning realised from this exercise was that it is just important for managers to think about “how” (i.e. the manner in which) they communicate with people who report to them as it is to ensure that the right words are used. Enduring constructive, functional relationships depend on it !