Running a shop comes with all kinds of challenges. While working in a shop can help prepare you for how things work on the shop floor and how to manage the company, it’s much harder to learn how to be a great leader. Below are three practices of great leaders in the manufacturing world.
Hire Good People
A leader can’t exist without people to lead. Ideally, a leader would hire experts who know more about their jobs than the leader does. After all, the point of hiring people is to do something that you either can’t do or don’t have the time to do well. You should save your time for the really important decisions and delegate everything else. As mentioned in a previous blog post, delegating is an important part of keeping a shop running well. The best way to get the most out of your employees is to give them the right tools. With an ERP system, they can run reports, schedule the shop floor, estimate jobs, and many other tasks much more quickly than by hand. The more your employees can do in a day, the more you can delegate to them and the less you have to worry about.
Learn
You don’t want to waste your time reviewing something you know how to do. However, you also don’t want something done the wrong way because you never learned the best way to do it. Like so many other things in life, it’s a balance. To achieve that balance it’s all about asking questions. For example, if you’re getting a new ERP system, you’ll want to be sure it has plenty of options to help you understand various parts of the software. The best ERP systems will have a library of training materials, from articles to videos as well as a customer forum where customers can compare notes on how they use their system. Use this collection of material to learn more about your ERP system, ask questions, and keep up with a few new features. The only way you’ll know is if you ask.
Communicate
Another trait of a great leader is communication. People don’t like to be surprised when it comes to their jobs. If your shop is thinking of changing something, make sure everyone knows what’s coming and why it’s happening. A great leader should also listen to their employees. Taking feedback and acting on it makes the employees feel like a valuable part of the shop and inspires them to make the shop better. It is also important to make sure employees can communicate with each other so they know what’s coming next on the job floor. An ERP system can make sure they’re all kept in the loop. A great ERP system will keep your customers informed as well. The system can automatically notify your customers at certain points in the process, such as when their products ship out. It is much easier to keep your shop running smoothly when everyone from the shop floor to the customer is informed.
Conclusion
It takes a lot of qualities to make a great leader. However, if you hire good people, learn, and communicate, you’re on your way there. Great tools will make this journey easier. An ERP system can be a huge help to a leader in manufacturing. A good system will help employees, give you information, and let everyone in the shop communicate. Being a great leader also means using everything at your disposal to make your shop better. Why not start with an ERP system? To learn more about E2 and how it can help your shop, click below.
