Manufacturing Connections - contact james@m3publishing.co.uk
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The latest Manufacturing Connections meeting discussed Communication, with special guests contributing their insights on trends and practices. Most of those present took part in lively, constructive conversations in both the main room and breakout sessions.
With many different perspectives and experiences to draw from, a range of issues
was covered including how to define the needs of a culture and dealing with difficult
workplace situations. Providing a closed environment in which to discuss matters in
confidence, the meeting enabled participants to open up about personal concerns
and limitations which the group could relate to and benefit from considering. In a
wider context, entire companies can fruitfully employ this kind of facility as one guest
pointed out; a safe psychological environment is essential to gain and maintain trust,
so opportunities for honest and safeguarded communication in the workplace
naturally feature highly in a fully engaged employee matrix.
“We can’t be all things to all people,” a key speaker mused, yet clearly everyone
appreciates and recognises empathy and respect. All contributors touched upon
these aspects one way or another, with recall of personal circumstances helping
those present to situate what was being said. With communication topping the list of
dissatisfactions in personnel surveys, the consensus was that companies need to
meet increasing demands for higher standards, while centralising focus according to
the nature of the individual workplace environment.
“People tend to use the term ‘communication’ glibly,” said one of the guests,
“and it could mean anything, making specifics difficult to interpret.” On a similar vein
it was noted that while top-down communication was relatively easy, achieving
information flow from the ground up was another matter. “It’s incredibly hard to get
people to talk openly,” a CEO observed, with general agreement pinpointing
reluctance to ‘step up and be heard’ from lower echelons of the hierarchy. Again, the
essential provision of safe spaces in which to engage entered the conversation, with
chat rooms on-site being mentioned as one of the relatively new innovations to arise
from present-day expectations.
As ESG and other templates of governance make their way onto the industrial stage,
employees are voting with their feet and actively looking for cultures they can enjoy
being part of. Setting out to bring about transformation may be a challenge to start,
but with so many provisions available to assist companies in developing their
workplace environment there’s little excuse not to take the plunge and invite positive
change. Everyone wins, the company benefits in all respects, and finding solutions to
specific problems faced is aided considerably by talking about them with others in
similar situations.
Look forward to seeing you at Manufacturing Connections! This is the only network-discussion group of its kind dedicated to our industry; whether engineer or manufacturer the taking part in this evolving socio/cultural whirl is going to be important - let's go there together.
Kathy Ratcliffe, WorldLine Training Ltd
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