How to Create an Awesome Manufacturing Culture, with Jim Mayer–EP 222

“This is how it’s always been done.” Businesses sometimes can do OK with a philosophy like that. Maybe even make good money.  But it sucks being just ok, because you know you could be so much better. Today on the podcast we are joined by Jim Mayer, founder of the Manufacturing Connector and host of the [...]

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
This is how it's always been done. Businesses
sometimes can do okay with a philosophy like
that. Maybe even make good money, but it
sucks being just okay because you know you
could be so much better.
Today on the podcast, we're joined by Jim
Mayer. Founder of the manufacturing connector, and host
of the manufacturing culture podcast.

(00:24):
Jam is a manufacturing advocate who helps companies
break free from that it's always been done
this way mindset.
He specializes in transforming
workplaces
where the culture is just okay into awesome
places to work.
Where employees are engaged.
People trust each other, and they celebrate successes
together.
It was a great conversation.

(00:46):
He even gave me valuable advice on improving
meetings at our company Graph
From Graph Pink,
this is
Cast.
The show for professionals and precision machining.
I'm your host, noah graph.

(01:08):
As listeners of this podcast know, my family
company, Graph Pink has been buying and selling
used machine tools all over the world for
the last 80 years.
Every day, while selling machinery, we talk to
owners of machining companies who tell us they
wanna expand their business through acquisition.
We also encounter a lot of owners of

(01:29):
companies who are ready to exit, but don't
have successors.
This inspired us to start a new business
service,
Graph,
acquisitions and sales,
in which we serve as consultants for precision
machining companies who want to buy or sell
their businesses.
There are a lot of business brokers out
there who can list your company, but for

(01:50):
the most part, those people are generalist.
They may not have even heard of precision
machining.
Another unique thing about working with graph
is that we often have a personal
relationship with both the potential buyer and seller.
Putting us in a rare position to evaluate
if the 2 parties are a good fit
for each other. Go to graph pink dot

(02:11):
com to contact us for a consultation to
see if your sales or acquisitions needs are
a good fit for our services.
Mention this podcast.
I am honored to be with Jim Mayer,

(02:34):
founder of the manufacturing connector.
And host of the manufacturing culture podcast.
Welcome to the show, Jim. Thank you, noah.
Thanks for having me.
Hope you're doing well.
It's a beautiful day today. It's over a
hundred degrees here in Phoenix, but,
the Ac is working and working well. So

(02:55):
could be much worse. It could be humid
and over a hundred degrees.
As as you probably could predict,
judging from
what podcast
I mentioned,
the Jim Hosts, we're gonna talk some about
manufacturing
culture,
work culture today.

(03:16):
I just wanna
start by asking
what you do in a nutshell. We'll we'll
delve deeper, but I wanna give some people
context. Yeah. So I
help companies
measure and
identify
the
employee engagement levels that they have within their
organization to help them build the cultures that

(03:37):
they want.
My job is to not judge
organizations on the cultures that they currently have
because what it could be healthy for
1 person,
and
find that alignment. Could be completely toxic somebody
else. Culture is a very individualistic

(03:58):
concept.
And and so I don't go in judging
people's cultures or or their levels of engagement.
I help them increase them and get them
all rowing in the same direction. As I
I mentioned to you before, I'm I'm a
believer in not using the word should. I
try to change the word should to

(04:18):
could,
both for others and and myself. However, you're
in the business of
improving people,
And
I looked on your website
before this. And 1 thing I thought was
you mentioned taking
okay to another level. And I think

(04:39):
okay
is it's a tough thing
because
you know, when it's not,
a real
issue that's
destroying you. You're okay with okay, plugging along.
Maybe you're making decent money,

(04:59):
maybe you feel
okay at work and you come home and,
you know, you you're you're satisfied with okay.
Yep. I found that really interesting
that that would be,
1 of the things you're talking about, and
I suppose that's where the whole being not
quite judgmental

(05:20):
comes in. But at the same time,
I think you have a definition in your
mind
more or less
of what
manufacturing
or not manufacturing culture necessarily, but culture of
a of a workplace of a company,
and

(05:40):
what is ideal? Not what it necessarily should
be, but what is
ideal?
Yeah. So even though I'd I'd love to
to get into where you're coming from. This
this is just coming to mind. So
I'd like you to talk about this dealing
with okay. And how you came up with
that and

(06:00):
and how you deal with that? Because it's
like
probably more difficult to reason with people,
that they need to improve when things are
okay. But I'm assuming people come to you
when they feel like their mediocre.
So
anyways,
I'll let you take it away now. There's

(06:22):
a lot to unpack in in what you
just talked about, Noah.
Okay.
In in the sense that I use it
is status quo. Right? It... That's... The way
things have always been done. And hate when
people say that. I well, so I hate
it, but I also love it because

(06:42):
when when I hear people say that's the
way things have always been done. That means
that there's room for growth. There's room for
opportunity. There's room for improvement. Right? So while,
when I work for companies,
and and was an employee w 2 employee
for another
organization,
hearing things like,

(07:04):
when I would question why things were done
a certain way,
and I would hear that's way it's always
been done. It was super frustrating to me,
earlier in my career. But as I grew
as I developed as I I evolved, I
realized that
that was just an opportunity for me to
take what had always been done and

(07:24):
provide a solution or a way to become
better to become more profitable to become more
process oriented, whatever it that looked like. So
the concept of okay is is just that
status quo that that
I am fine.
And and to use an example, I worked
with an organization that had

(07:45):
a 60 percent
turnover rate. They were losing 60 percent of
their employees on an annual basis. That's not
okay. And and it's so it seems.
On the surface, right? To you and me?
No. That's that's horrendous.
But they had dealt with that situation for
so long

(08:06):
that it was
okay for them. It was normal. They had
built processes
they'd built processes
around
having 60 percent turnover, where they had a
new training class every
2 weeks
of of new recruits and and they had
built these processes.
So I help

(08:28):
uncover that okay and say, okay,
you are okay with having 6 percent turnover
Do you know what that 60 percent turnover
is costing you? Because a lot of manufacturers
don't realize the cost of turnover? Right?
And so
I quantify
what could be better in that concept of

(08:50):
okay or that concept of status quo. How
did you get in there though? If they
thought it was really okay. I mean, why,
why were you introduced to them in the
first place?
Somebody didn't think it was okay. Either it's
from people listening to the podcast, it's
people
showing up to
leadership
or workshops, leadership development, workshops I do or

(09:13):
or other soft skills workshops that I do.
In Arizona and surrounding states.
They...
There's
something that has
made them gravitate to me ultimately.
And
I have
uncovered
that

(09:34):
Okay. That that concept of okay.
To make them realize, okay. This might not
be
Okay. Anymore. They had a nudge,
some kind of nudge. Absolutely.
That brought them in contact with you. Absolutely.
Yeah.
And and the the idea of culture to
me is that

(09:55):
you have a good culture win
your employees and your
organization
have alignment of values.
So when
your corporate values or your company values are
x and your employees also value that same
thing.
That's when you have that alignment. And that's
when you have the healthy coal culture for

(10:17):
your
organization. Again, it's individualistic
because every employee going to have their own
values,
every organization is gonna have their own values
based on the values of top line leadership.
So when you have that full alignment, that's
when you have a healthy culture. That's why
I... It's not my job to judge because
what I value may be different

(10:39):
than what that company values or what the
employee's value,
I'm just making sure that they're aligned.
It's not my alignment. It's the alignment of
the organization and the employees. I've interviewed
a few people interviewed somebody recently you talked
about lee.
I'm I'm not an expert yet. But, I
mean, 1 of the things it is is

(11:00):
related to culture. Absolutely.
And, it's
employee engagement.
Just came out with another podcast this week
about an Es op, and
they really talked about,
you know, employees feeling
as 1 and contributing. And
so to me,

(11:21):
I feel like
maybe the data shows that when you have
that
generally companies thrive. Would you say you're kinda
caught in between that? Or you really
feel like you come in because somebody says,
this is my vision. And you go, okay.
I'll I'll help you reach your vision. Or

(11:44):
do you often go
Well,
it seems like this might be a good
idea. This has been working for other people.
I have an assumption
that
that you have certain ideals that you feel
like,
are for
healthy company, no matter whether they're small and

(12:05):
whether whether they're. I have my idea of
what is a healthy culture for me,
I think when you talk about the data
though,
that's where
employee engagement comes into play. Right? And and
that's just a component of that culture.
Employee engagement data
is is that

(12:25):
quantifiable
it's quantifiable as well, but it's quantifiable data
on employee sentiment. Right? And so that's where
you get those common themes of what employees
are looking for from their place of employment.
So I have over the last 6 years,

(12:48):
gotten results from 218
employee engagement surveys.
And so I have
10
things that
employees are typically feeling over the last 6
years,
employers have done really well, And I have
10 things that

(13:08):
employees feel that their employers have not done
well. Right?
And so when I look at providing those
solutions to my clients or or to the
organizations that I work with.
It's not
my feeling of what needs to improve. It's
really the employee's feeling. Right? And what my

(13:29):
job is to do is find the common
themes between the quantifiable
and the quantifiable data that I collect
and
provide those solutions. I don't... I I'm not
an expert in everything
that
needs to be solved within these manufacturers.
I... And that's why my company is called
the manufacturing connector.

(13:50):
I do my survey, and then I connect
manufacturers with the solutions that fit what they
are looking to achieve. Right? So,
for example, I I just
in the last couple of weeks have done
an assessment. It's a 2 day assessment
at a manufacturer here in the Phoenix metro
area.

(14:12):
They had a strong feeling that
the the employee's,
strong feeling that they don't have the right
tools
for to do their job. Right? And that
means they don't feel like they have the
right software. They don't feel like they have
the right machine tools and they can never
find
the the cutting tools that they need. When

(14:32):
they need it.
They also felt like their manager doesn't walk
the walk. Right? So how do you then
develop leaders in internally to help them walk
the walk.
Not easy not easy.
Another thing was,
particularly if they don't wanna buy in. Absolutely.

(14:53):
Or some of the people don't wanna buy
Absolutely.
So so that's just...
There are common themes that come out through,
you know, having conversations with people and then
conducting the actual survey itself,
to get that hard data. There are common
themes that come up, and that's how I
then create that success checklist for the companies

(15:15):
that I work with. The company is that
I work with that are able to check
off every single 1 of their success checklist.
They typically have
a 40 percent reduction in turnover,
and a increase of about 20
26
percent,
of revenue per employee. So they're not only

(15:36):
getting more out of the employees that they
have, but they're turning over their employees less.
So that means their bottom line is easily
able to grow. Right? And and they're seeing
more profitability.
But they're doing it from a, human centric
bottle where they're putting the people first, that
employee sentiment is what is driving the disney

(15:56):
cis decision making within the organization, which then
in term drives higher prop profitability for the
organization. Before we go any further, wanna get
just a little
context of you. But give me your 5
minute bio.
Start out in construction, Noah,
after I dropped out of college,

(16:18):
I I did construction and and worked in
the restaurant industry.
Spent
a quick 9 months living it and working
in Mexico over spring break 2000, which was
simultaneously,
the least healthy and most fun, 9 months,
I've ever had my life.
But
was in construction and

(16:39):
restaurant industry,
and got into industrial
distribution
because I was tired of of falling off
of
houses.
And so
when I was in industrial
distribution,
I walked into my first machine shop,
and absolutely fell in love with the environment.

(17:01):
The sides to sounds, the smells,
but most importantly, the people. The people... They
felt like my people. They were construction workers
that weren't sweating and freezing outside. They were
working in a climate controlled environment, but there
were craftsman in their own brain.
And
and you didn't feel that way with construction
workers. You just felt like you guys were

(17:22):
robots out there. Oh, no. I I love
construction. III
still love construction. I love the construction industry.
But,
the way that
manufacturing
touches every component of everyday life is really
what drew me to the industry. Right?
Construction... Yeah. I mean, we all have houses

(17:43):
and offices and all that kind of fun
stuff. But it it takes some manufacturers of
this world to make the computer that you
and I are talking on, the microphone, the
hat that I'm wearing, the clothing, the desk,
everything that I come in contact with every
day, a manufacturer has created. Right? This wasn't
created by me. It wasn't created by robots.

(18:03):
So I really was drawn to that because
I loved creating the things that people lived
in, but then I found that this industry
called manufacturing was creating everything around me. And
so it really, like, just being part of
those processes was great. And so I really
don't head first.
That's something I tried to tell myself every

(18:25):
day is to be mindful of all the
great things in life, but I'm really glad
that you reminded me of that because sometimes
you know,
you, not to bring this back to me.
But, you know, to your show. You can
bring whatever you want back to you, Man.
Well well. I know. But you are the
featured guest and and

(18:45):
you know, my take on it is back
you know, I buy and sell, use machinery,
use machine tools, to take stuff out of
metal and make something out of it.
But so often,
I just get
distracted with,
you know, I'm gonna buy this for a
thousand dollars and try to sell it for

(19:06):
1500,
and I don't think as much about the
people and what it's making.
And
I'm just... I'm appreciative that you reminded me
of that. Yeah. I... Well, thank you. And
I'm glad to be that that reminder. I
mean, everybody needs that reminder every once in

(19:27):
a while, whether it's it's you or or
myself. I mean, there there are days that
I forget why I'm doing what I'm doing,
and I have to to to be reminded
of of that.
You know,
manufacturing,
the people behind this industry,
you know,

(19:48):
this industry, other skilled trades were really the
the foundation, Noah to
the middle class, and the middle class set,
I grew up knowing
that, you know, you and I are similar
in age, I think.
But that you... How old are you 45?
Okay. Yeah. I'm 44.
Yeah.

(20:09):
So we we had this this middle class
growing up. And and when
manufacturing left
city centers. Right? When manufacturing left,
rural areas.
When when manufacturing decimated
economies,
it you can see that direct correlation between

(20:32):
manufacturing
job shrinkage in the Us and a shrinkage
of the middle class.
And so
my love...
I I find the technology
interesting. Right? The things that you sell, the
the
machines that are built, the automation systems that
are built, the robotics that are built. I

(20:52):
find them all fascinating.
But every single 1 of them has has
had either a human touch it at 1
point or has
has
is reliant on human interaction. Right? There there
are
no machine tools that I know
that

(21:13):
can program themselves that,
are able to run
asynchronously
and and
coming. It it's coming for sure,
and it needs to come because we don't
have enough people in the industry,
but
to my knowledge, everything at some point is

(21:33):
touched by a human hands,
somewhere in the process. It it doesn't mean
that there aren't automated process assess in in,
you know, machining and things of that nature,
but the humans and their stories and what
drove them into this industry
is is really what drives me every day.
I like that that you're getting really

(21:54):
into the
into the essence.
Thank you to everybody listening to this It
gives me a real sense of purpose knowing
that people feel they get a lot of
value out of the show. Enough value at
least to take the time to listen.
Likely, some ser occurrence caused you to discover

(22:16):
cast.
And I know it might get tiring with
me Constantly talking about Serendipity.
But it's just on my mind a lot
lately. You might have saw a promo for
the show on social media or a coworker
told you about it. In any case, if
you know of somebody out there who would
get some value out of the show, I'd
like you to return the favor that you

(22:38):
received once at upon a time and spread
the word.
That's the only way others are gonna find
out on it back to the episode.
I I interviewed this guy...
1 of my favorite interviews
was
with a guy who makes
70000

(22:58):
dollar
watches, and he uses...
He uses very old machinery and, like, the
highest tech machinery possible.
But this guy he's very religious. He's a
religious jew. And
he he defines what he makes as as
beautiful
toys for rich people.

(23:19):
It says, you know, I... If I had
this,
kind of money, I would go and buy
a machine.
But
he's... What he said was that
you know, in the end, it's all made
by God.
I thought was really
fascinating,
Particularly somebody who's selling. Absolutely. 70000

(23:39):
dollar watches and making them.
And making them. Yeah. I mean, his thing
that is that he's making them from scratch
from scratch.
Okay. So
you
you then you worked in manufacturing,
and then you heard a lot of that's
the way we've always done things,

(23:59):
then
how did you get from there to becoming
a a coach.
You You consider yourself a a coach. That's
1 of the Yeah. Your main titles.
I... I mean, when I put when I
register for trade shows,
I'd never know what to put as my
title.
III
owner... It sounds
pre contentious because I what am III own

(24:22):
a company of 1.
What am I a president? I don't think
so. So I always put manufacturing advocate because
that's really what my title is to me.
That's that's my role is. I I advocate
for for manufacturing and Advocate for the people
of manufacturing.
So
going from industrial distribution, I went in,

(24:42):
you know, worked for Oems. I worked in
the nonprofit space
but continually heard,
you know, a couple of things. A, that's
way it's always been done, and b
we can't find anybody who wants to work.
And so I... As part of my
Mba, my cap stone for my Mba. I

(25:04):
created a,
this employee engagement survey. And
So 2 years later, I was
able to launch it as kind of a
side gig
and start collecting
survey responses
and this was in in 20 18.

(25:25):
And
yeah, it was
something I didn't provide any insights for people
who bought the survey link at the time.
I simply would provide them a survey link
and and give them the data back. On
what their employee engagement levels were.

(25:45):
And then,
in 20 22, I was fortunate enough to
start my company,
go full time in it 20 22.
And
I... I made every
mistake
possible. Noah?
What are them... What what are some of
the key staff? First of all, I called
myself a cultural consultant, and what I found

(26:06):
over 2 and a half years are there
are 2 words that every manufacturer hates. And
the first one's consultant, and the second 1
is culture.
So,
now I talk about solutions
to help in
manufacturers,
recruit and retain the top and
the the top level employees that they need.

(26:26):
Right? Different way of saying I consult on
culture. I coach on leadership development. But in
my my main job is to
conduct these surveys and and then
connect people going back to that. I connect
people with the the solutions that they need.
Some of them are my partners. Some of
them are not. And

(26:48):
I don't make recommendations based on who's paying
me and who's not? I make recommendations based
on the the best fit for
an organization. So employee engagement... I mean, that
is,
like, the fundamental
thing about
what what you provide. So going back to
the mistakes,
the the next mistake was I created the

(27:10):
manufacturing culture podcast,
but I kept the brand
separate from my original consultancy, the the cultural
consultancy.
And I did that for a year, and
So I had this
divide between the content that I was creating
with the podcast
and the the use cases that I was

(27:32):
seen on on the the consulting side.
And I I may be able to relate
to that a little bit Yeah. And so
this year, I've been able to
combine them into the manufacturing connector into 1
brand.
The manufacturing connector is
not only the the trade name for everything

(27:52):
that I do now, but it's also
soon to be a Youtube show,
where I have
solutions,
companies that provide solutions that help change culture,
help change employee engagement levels.
And they're going to be able to do
case studies and and live demos. Right there

(28:13):
on on,
Youtube,
because what I found is I have 2
very distinct audiences. 1 wants to hear the
human element side
that the manufacturing culture podcast is focused on.
1 recognizes that they have a a human
capital problem,
and they're looking for solutions on how to
solve those problems.

(28:33):
And they... Those 2,
the the venn diagram doesn't overlap. Oh, the
venn diagram totally overlaps. But they don't get
that at overlaps.
They don't understand that. And so I... This
year on the podcast,
on the manufacturing culture podcast,
I've had more solutions based guests.

(28:54):
And those solution based guests,
the the episodes I haven't seen a drop
in download numbers, but what I have seen
is the returning users or the returning listeners
Right. And that's very intelligent to to look
at,
because your idea of having
connection in your title is really good because

(29:16):
people are
just constantly
looking for connection. When you look at the
data from
trade Associations? Right? And what value their members
find
out of the their membership
its connection. It's networking. That's always the number

(29:36):
1 answer. Right? And and so to your
point, that's part of why I put that
word in the the trade name of manufacturing
connector. This is what people are looking for.
They want those connections. I'm not saying I
have the most robust
network.
I have a good network.
But my network may know somebody who knows

(29:59):
somebody who is the best fit for somebody.
Right? And and if I can make those
connections, that's that's really what what my
place in this industry is?
If you listen to a few of my
podcast podcasts episodes, you'll know that I'm... All
I can talk about is serendipity.
Probably
annoys some people,
but other people like it.

(30:21):
So here's here's an interesting question. How has
remote
work and remote work culture,
affected
business culture and manufacturing culture. Yeah. So I'm
assuming that's something that people consult you on.
Right? Absolutely. And and typically,

(30:42):
what I find in
with the shops that I work with is
when I walk in the door, remote work
is not accepted. Of course, your your folks
out on the shop floor
can't be
remote,
but they can have flexible hours. They can
have hours that are more flexible to their

(31:05):
lifestyle, their own work life balance needs.
Right. And that's something that's kinda of become
more illuminated after the apocalypse. Absolutely, you know,
a couple years ago, people didn't even fathom
it probably?
And... Because they think if I can't work
remote... If I can't work remotely, at least
why couldn't I at least have more of

(31:26):
a life.
Why couldn't I come in at 4 instead
of 6 and be done with my day
at 2. You know, I I could get
10 hours done by 2,
be able to get home or pick up
my kids from school or whatever the case
may be. Right? It's it all comes down
to to what that individual is looking for.

(31:50):
But remote culture
in in manufacturing can thrive.
It's just a matter of,
trust,
is really the the foundation of why it
doesn't work. Our leadership in this industry is
so conditioned to
have eyes on processes,
have eyes on the people who are part
of the processes

(32:11):
that when they aren't able to have eyes
on somebody,
the the trust just isn't there that they're
getting their job done.
Yeah. Now you look at some of the
roles within
our our companies. Because it's all... It's it's
always been done. Exactly. Going back to it.
But when you when you look at some

(32:32):
of the roles within these companies, right? Estimating
quoting. That can be done
remotely. You're getting a set of drawings so
as set of prints, you can do that
job remotely. You can do engineering cad cam
work remotely. I mean, I I have
recommended to a couple of companies
that they outsource and and just have a

(32:53):
part time Cad cam
you know, employee,
find somebody on
upwork or on fiber or a platform like
that. They don't need
typically,
somebody on... All the time for for some
of these roles.
You know, I use up upwork for my
editing for the podcast They use upwork for

(33:15):
a virtual assistant.
In these cases,
it does not
influence the culture
of the company.
It if if nothing else, I mean, I
suppose
it might make certain people happy that they
don't have to do certain
things that they might not wanna do. That

(33:36):
would be 1 of your main reasons to
recommend that to just, like, get rid of
some busy work. So people have a better
feel better at work. That's why you recommend
that. Yes.
I, you know, again, it it all comes
down to values. Right? So if an organization
values,
you know, emotional,

(33:59):
emotional and physical health and wellness,
then, yeah, it looked at different ways that
you can provide
a different
job, a different
place of employment for the people who work
for you. If it's looking at
their job descriptions, and what are some tedious

(34:19):
repetitive tasks
that are getting in the way of you
truly being great? Is it something that you
can hire somebody below that person and and
or or lateral to that person? Or is
it something that you can outsource the work?
Right?
Not all work needs to happen and in
house at all times.
Okay. Let's go to a few other takeaways

(34:40):
advice for the home gamers out there who
who aren't hiring
you to come in and do an assessment
somebody goes, I think my culture sucks or
I think my culture is just okay.
I think my
engagement is just okay.
What are some
some quick hacks or some things that they

(35:02):
can at least start doing to lay the
foundation?
Trust is is the ultimate foundation to everything.
Right?
And I can't go in and do my
assessment without a foundation of trust.
Which is why I do the survey on
day 2. I spend day 1 building credibility
and building trust with the employees within the

(35:23):
companies that I work with.
So for those owners that are looking to
improve their employee engagement, improve the trust and
really start learn from their employees, what they
could be doing better. They have to build
that foundation of trust.
And and that's really walking the walk doing
what you say you're going to do,

(35:44):
and and forcing
force... To what would be an example of
that. How can... What's what's a thing that
you can say I'm gonna do this and
you're gonna gain credibility in respect?
If if you're having a
team meeting with your employees, and you say,
hey, I'm going to get you XYZ.

(36:04):
Make sure you get that Right? Come through.
Walk the walk, Do the things that you
use to. Such as? What's XYZ? Well, I
mean, it could be as little as
you know, I'm going to
provide a a new learning and development pathway
for you. Right? Or I'm going to,
we're going to start really diving into

(36:27):
your last performance review
because I want to help you get from
your current score of a 3 on this
area to a 5 on that area. Right?
And how what are the gaps that you
have there? And how do we get you
making more money? How do we tie your
performance to your pay? How do you make
sure that you're truly feeling like you have

(36:49):
a pathway here. Things of that nature that
our basic blocking and tackling and people know
these concepts, but a lot of them don't
implement them in your companies. Okay. I now
I'm gonna bring it back to me because
this is my chance to selfish officially try
to solve my own problems.
So 1 thing I've wanted to do more,
a graph pink is

(37:12):
we don't have really any hud,
any meetings.
We we had 1 the other day because
we're we're doing this move,
and I
I thought it was really a good thing.
And also now, we're gonna have
that a challenge of
like, we gonna have a separate office and
a separate warehouse.

(37:34):
2 people will be in the warehouse
several of the people will kinda swing back
and forth.
For someone like me who
wants to change
this paradigm and and get meetings,
more meetings.
I don't role play a little. Say you're
me and you have
4 people

(37:55):
in the office,
including
the owner,
and then 2 people in the shop,
you know, it's difficult to just sort of
change
change things around right away, and
I tried to
change the paradigm a little bit by getting

(38:16):
a meeting where people were talking about our
meeting our our our our our move.
And I thought that was sort of an
interesting ent entree, But
I mean, what do I have to do?
Do I have to to say, hey, everybody.
This is something we're gonna start we're gonna
start doing meetings.
You know, that takes some let's take some

(38:37):
balls.
I don't know role play. What would you
say? Well, I would say,
you know, start with with a weekly meeting.
Right?
And and but really define
what that weekly meeting is designed to accomplish.
Right, ahead of time. Hey, team, we're going
to have a weekly meeting where we talk
about this week's wins,

(39:00):
this week's
failures,
this week's lessons learned,
whatever it looks like to you, Right?
But you you have to have that defined
ahead of time so that people don't walk
into it thinking
why are we having this meeting? I have
no idea. Right? Because then you start off

(39:21):
the meeting with them immediately on the defensive.
But if you say, hey, team every Friday.
From here on out, we're gonna have
a 10 minute stand up meeting,
where we talk where we share our wins
we share our successes as an organization this
week.
We share our lessons learned. Our opportunities,

(39:41):
etcetera.
And almost make it into AAA
company wide swat session. Right? Where you... Rather
rather than,
saying,
what's everybody working on, what's everybody dealing with,
that... That's not what you. I mean, I
I... Is that's what I was expecting? No.
I
people typically...
Every... I mean, unless you are in a

(40:04):
dis
more siloed
organization, people know what other people are working
on because they're are all up or downstream
from each other. Right? So
instead of to some extent, So instead of
talking about work in progress, which is good
too. I mean, and and you can maybe
take that as an element, But I always
like to to talk about

(40:25):
those celebrations. Right? What are were our successes?
What were our opportunities for learning this week.
Because when you take that kind of a
mindset, it changes the the framework of the
discussion. Right?
1 of the the top 10 things that
in 218
surveys that I've done,

(40:45):
that is common is
that companies are not doing is they're not
taking time to celebrate successes.
So if if you take the time 10
minutes a week, where you look at the
the successes that people feel like they've had
that week. As small as it could be,
could be, hey. I I you know,

(41:07):
ordered the right
machine for this client, or it could be
as big as, you know, we just won
AA4
million dollar deal, whatever.
But just celebrate successes that people are having.
But then also the way that you create
a culture that that values those people and
values that learning and development is asking them,

(41:29):
and and what were your failures and what
did you learn? Right? What were some of
the misses we had this week? And what
did you learn from them?
Because,
you know, those those
companies that generally have healthier cultures,
don't view failure as a a mistake. They
use... They view failure as an opportunity to
grow.

(41:50):
So
talking about... That's interesting. Thinking about those
those wins. The victories and failures and yeah.
Because I was thinking it would be more
like...
Alright.
What's we working on?
Then people feel like at least their tech
into each other and they know
they've been heard and they know what's going

(42:11):
on with everything.
Believe it or not even in our
tiny office
I feel like people don't know enough of
that. But you you think
a good way to get started would be
would be that. So that's really interesting. Because
then people can talk about what they're working
on. Right? When when people talk about their

(42:32):
successes with their wins their victories
as you put it. That that didn't
encourages them to talk about those things that
they're working on. Hey, I... I've been working
on this really big deal for the last
month
just got it over the line and and,
you know, wanna celebrate that with the team.
Right? That's a that's a big deal, but
then they're talking about the their own processes,

(42:55):
and it gives their counterparts or coworkers, the
ability to ask more questions about what it
is that they do
in the course of of getting that deal.
I I just wanna really thank you. I
I think they've got some really good takeaways
and I really look forward to talking to
you again.
For everybody out there, tell them where they

(43:16):
can find you, reach you, talk to you
etcetera. Well, first of all, Noah, thank you
for having me on. This was a great
conversation.
I do look forward to having you on
on the manufacturing culture and hearing more about
your story.
For those of you out there who are
looking to get in contact with me,
easiest way is to either find me on

(43:36):
Linkedin,
Jim Mayer.
I'm in a giant
brass bathtub filled with orange ping pong balls,
because there are multiple Gym Mayer out there
So just look for the 1 with the
orange ping pong balls, or you can find
me at the m g connector dot com.
2 best places to find me. Alright. Thank
you, Jim, and

(43:57):
I will talk to you soon on your
podcast. Fantastic. Noah. Thanks. Have a great weekend.
From today's machining world, this is sw cast.
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(44:39):
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