Mindfulness Manufacturing Trevor Blondeel

Results matters! Whether you’re looking at safety, quality, or productivity, you and your team want to know how you’re performing. But when it comes to people, it can be difficult to measure your return on investment.
In this episode, guest Martin Low walks us through the best strategies for measuring your team, plus shares great insights on why people matter most in your organization. Martin is the founder and CEO of On Plane Consulting, where he helps organizations transform and improve by building and leveraging their people capabilities. He also has over 20 years of human resources experiences at companies like Amazon and Blue Apron, and brings great insights on how to measure your team, clarify your processes, and create a culture where everyone shows up at their best.
3:23 – You can’t measure people in the same way you measure inventory, cash flow or other main areas of your organization
6:31 – If you don’t invest in your people, it leads to issues like high turnover and halted productivity
7:36 – If you don’t have a baseline, you can’t measure
8:45 – If someone on your team is underperforming, use curiosity to find the cause
8:52 – Establish a baseline for what good looks like within your team or organization
9:45 – If someone on your team has higher rates than others, study their process and see how you can implement their methods for your whole team
11:50 – When results don’t meet expectations, approach the issue with curiosity instead of judgement
14:08 – With clearer processes, your team can improve and your organization can reduce turnover
14:24 – As a leader, you should make your expectations clear and hold others accountable
15:33 – With clarity, your team members find more agency and can improve the way they show up
17:31 – Create a process where you and your team can use your energy in a productive way, instead of just trying to survive the day
19:37 – Surveying your team is a strategy for assuring everyone is aligned and understands your processes, values, mission, and goals
22:52 – With a survey, leadership can find solutions directly from their team on the floor
24:18 – Most people show up wanting to do a good job, and clear processes can help them improve how they show up
Connect with Martin Low
Learn more about On Plane Consulting
Contact On Plane Consulting at hello@onplane.com
Contact Martin at martin@onplay.com

Stories resonate with people, which makes them a valuable tool for sharing information, seeking new outcomes and connecting with your team. So let’s bring more storytelling to the manufacturing floor!
In this episode of Mindfulness Manufacturing, meet guest Trevor Perry. Trevor is an award-winning speaker, author, and perspective-changer, who uses his unique perspectives and love of storytelling to help others find their own light and improve their influence in the world. In this episode, Trevor shares his journey of finding his storytelling passion, and discusses why leaders should learn and practice storytelling skills.
4:04 – When someone owns, lives, and feels a story, that makes for powerful storytelling
5:31 – Some people might be bad storytellers with great stories to tell, or great storytellers with bad stories
6:24 – Storytelling is a way to connect and help others relate to what you’re trying to share
7:12 – Good storytelling is transparent and draws on your own experiences
8:42 – If you’re telling someone else’s story, you still need to find a way to personally connect and own the story you’re telling
11:18 – Storytelling is an inherent part of human nature, which is why stories resonate so well
12:47 – Every story needs a purpose, especially if you’re in a leader or mentor role
15:15 – If you’re trying to adopt someone else’s story as your own, it won’t feel authentic
16:19 – A culture of storytelling can bring more connection to your organization
17:44 – How you tell a story is always going to be different depending on your audience or situation
20:28 – Practicing improv is a unique way to hone your storytelling skills 
20:30 - Learn more about improv and storytelling in Episode 97
22:55 – You can also learn about storytelling about listening to others
23:57 – As a human, you are a storyteller
Connect with Trevor Perry
Visit his website
Thanks for Listening!
Thanks for tuning it to another episode of Mindfulness Manufacturing! To learn more about Trevor Blondeel and Manufacturing Greatness, please visit our website or contact Trevor here.
 

How can we bring more mindfulness to the manufacturing floor without comprising speed or efficiency? With a background as an award-winning senior executive for agencies, brands, and team properties in NASCAR, IndyCar, and Formula One racing, Mike Mooney knows all about speed! He now uses his unique background to help leaders accelerate culture, unlock potential, drive opportunity, and create traction.
In this episode, Mike shares why humans are high-performance vehicles, and how leaders can use presence, intentionality, and curiosity to improve communicates, reach creative outcomes, and improve their organization’s culture.
3:46 – Like racecars, humans are high-performance vehicles that needs building, fixing, innovation, and restoration
5:04 – Being high-performance involves being present, intentional, and curious
8:13 – You can still get work done well and efficiently without sacrificing your relationships or workplace presence
9:22 – To improve your presence and how you show up, commit to shifting your micro-behaviors
12:00 – Sometimes, you need to slow down to go fast
13:33 – In the space between stimulus and response, you have a choice to jump to conclusions or react with curiosity
16:22 – Curiosity opens up conversations and leads to more productive outcomes
19:10 – Great ideas can come from anywhere, not just the executive team
23:20 – With curiosity, any idea can be interesting
25:05 – We were all designed to be high-performance vehicles and with time and authenticity, you can become the leader your organization needs
Connect with Mike Mooney
Visit his website
Find him on LinkedIn
Connect on X and Instagram @mike_mooney
Connect on Facebook @mikemooney_speaks
Thanks for Listening!
Thanks for tuning it to another episode of Mindfulness Manufacturing! To learn more about Trevor Blondeel and Manufacturing Greatness, please visit our website or contact Trevor here.
 
 

Trust is the antidote to so many common issues that can occur on the manufacturing floor. But how can you build trust—both in yourself and with your team? Find out in this episode of Mindfulness Manufacturing with guest Justin Patton! Justin is a certified speaker professional and leadership presence expert, who challenges leaders to reimagine how they lead, love, and communicate. He’s also the author of Your Road to Yes: How to Build Trust in Yourself and With Others and the recently-released The High-Impact Manager: Your Blueprint for Bringing Out the Best in Your Team.
In this episode, Justin talks about the vital role trust plays in improving your leadership, empowering your team, and showing up as your best self, and shares why transparency, tact, and togetherness are the three key foundations you need to improve how you show up and built trust in your relationships.
3:10 – Trust requires transparency, tact, and togetherness
4:03 – Trust is your biggest competitive advantage
4:41 – When people don’t have all the information, they fill it in with fear or make up stories
5:59 – As a leader, you can create a culture of trust by having the courage to be transparent and vulnerable
8:39 – You have to speak your truth, but also take accountability for how you deliver it
10:41 – When an organization values results over everything else, it leads to issues like a lack of trust, increased disconnect, and poor leadership
12:22 – Think about who you are at your best, then work to show up for others as that best version of yourself
14:37 – To grow as a leader, you don’t have to fundamentally change who you are, but can learn how to lean into your best qualities and align your actions and behavior with who you are at your best
16:21 – Trust is built in small moments
17:46 – Find the balance between oversharing and transparency
20:51 – Trust does not leave people second guessing
21:20 – Choose discomfort over resentment
22:53 – There are also situations where building trust can require staying silent
25:43 – Every choice you make either gets you closer to trust or drives you away from it
Connect with Justin Patton
Visit his website
Learn more about his books
Check out my book reports of Your Road to Yes and The High-Impact Manager
Thanks for Listening!
Thanks for tuning it to another episode of Mindfulness Manufacturing! To learn more about Trevor Blondeel and Manufacturing Greatness, please visit our website or contact Trevor here.
 

The manufacturing industry just keeps getting greater—and it’s all thanks to passionate, mindful leaders who show up every day ready to engage their teams, improve their mindset, and create an environment where people love to work. One of these leaders is Karen J. Lund, a bestselling author and keynote speaker with a long career in the steel industry. Drawing on her experience in the steel industry, Karin now leads the team at G-Power Global, an organization she founded to inspires corporate and organizational entities to lead with compassion while continuing to focus on productivity, service, and profits.
In this episode, Karin talks more about transformations facing the steel industry and manufacturing as a whole, and shares why compassion, connection, and conversations are the key to unlocking creative solutions, overcoming challenges, and bringing new energy to the manufacturing floor.
3:03 – In manufacturing, you can’t do everything by yourself, which makes it very important to seek out and build strong connections
5:33 – It can be a challenge to form relationship on the floor, especially for younger professionals
6:48 – When people have connections on the floor, it makes it easier to voice feedback and navigate challenges
9:01 – By creating a culture that fosters connections and conversation, you’ll find more productivity and more creative solutions  
11:37 – Compassion is the competitive edge
15:55 – There is a difference between training and learning
16:39 – Employee resource groups are a strong tool for building connections and community in the workplace
19:20 – If you want to redefine your industry and image, start by having conversations about your values and how you present to the media and others
22:25 – In manufacturing, it’s important to have conversations about how your role impacts the work of others, and vice versa
23:29 – Everyone learns in different ways and some people may need different accommodations
25:02 – When someone makes a commitment to their industry, it can have a positive impact for entire teams and organizations
Connect with Karin J. Lund
Visit her website
Thanks for Listening!
Thanks for tuning it to another episode of Mindfulness Manufacturing! To learn more about Trevor Blondeel and Manufacturing Greatness, please visit our website or contact Trevor here.

When a mistake occurs on the plant floor, your mind might jump to one question: who caused this issue, and should I write them up for their mistake? But there’s a more productive approach you could be taking—and in this episode of Mindfulness Manufacturing, guest Dr. Jake Mazulewicz breaks it all down!
With a background as a firefighter, EMT, and military paratrooper, Jake knows the challenges of high-hazard industries, and works with organizations to reduce errors and create safer, more reliable workplace environments. In this episode, Jake shares why you can’t procedularize everything, including the way you handle errors and accidents, and offers great insights and stories about how to use connection and curiosity to improve safety, address errors, and strengthen your organization.
3:35 – Procedures and policies are the work that is imagined, and on the floor is how the work actually gets done
4:19 – The work as-done is almost always radically different than the work as-imagined
5:20 – Even when you have standards and people show up wanting to do a good job, you can still see issues that need to be addressed
6:44 – There will always be areas that absolutely need to have procedures in place
8:02 – There are also adaptive jobs, which leans less into procedures and more intro troubleshooting and tacit human knowledge
10:56 - In an ideal environment, both mechanistic and adaptive models are used and respected and needed
12:11 – There are four levels, ranging from strict procedurals to looser guidelines that show what to do, but not how to do it
15:36 – Tacit knowledge gets shared through conversations
16:22 – A way to share important information is to have frontline experts record videos sharing their insights to problems, especially those that are not covered in procedures
19:44 – Through conversation and connection, more knowledge is shared
21:58 – Debriefing also plays a central role
23:45 – If you have strong discipline, you’ll find more freedom
25:31 – In most situations, errors are signals, not defects
27:07 – When an error occurs, be curious and find the deeper cause of the problem
Connect with Jake Mazulewicz
Find him on Linkedin
Visit his website