Inspiring and motivating your workforce isn’t easy, but it’s necessary if you want them to grow and remain satisfied with their jobs. It’s a driving factor that leads people to work harder, resulting in more productivity for your company, and contributes to overall satisfaction, which leads to higher employee retention.
We covered this topic in a panel discussion with a few our clients at ProMat 2017, the leading trade show for the manufacturing and supply chain industry. Snyder’s-Lance, American Signature Furniture, and a leading global manufacturer and distributor of medical products joined us to discuss their journey of adopting ProTrack Labor Management Software, and how they’re using it to motivate and inspire their workforce.
We began by asking about their experiences with adopting an LMS- the good, the bad, and everything in between. Our goal was for audience members to see things through the client’s eyes, and gain a true understanding of everything that’s entailed in implementing such a powerful tool. TZA’s medical products client, a 10-year veteran user of ProTrack, stressed that the key to a smooth adoption lies within how you present it to your organization. They spent a lot of time training their supervisors and managers on directing conversations with team members, and showing them that ProTrack is there to help them do their job more efficiently, and work the same number of hours while getting paid more each week by hitting their performance goals.
American Signature Furniture, a new user of ProTrack, shed some light on their experience as well. Being in the early stages, they were met with a bit of fear of change and the unknown by their people, but said it led to some great conversations. Through their experience, they believe the most important factor in a successful adoption is having the front-line supervisors fully embrace and believe in the software. Gaining buy-in wasn’t easy, however they now have data not available to them before, which is being used to coach and engage associates, and has helped promote implementation from the top down.
How are they using ProTrack to inspire and motivate their people? Prior to implementing ProTrack, Snyder’s-Lance shared that one of the most common complaints within their operations was that people thought they were doing more work than others, and weren’t receiving credit for it. Since implementing ProTrack, they now say they have a solution that can be brought to associates to show them how they’re performing, with facts. They’re engaging people to understand what’s impacting their performance, because they believe that everyone wants to perform better, but that they need feedback. Now that ProTrack has enabled them to provide that feedback, associates and supervisors understand that it’s a “partnership”, and are having regular one-on-one interactions to understand how they can get better together.
Although new to ProTrack, American Signature Furniture has already seen significant results. They’ve always prided themselves on having a coaching environment, but say that ProTrack is “taking them to a whole other level”. They’re now engaging associates based on the observations they’re conducting, which provides more substance to their conversations, and has led to confidence building in their associates, and people coming around to support one another. They believe ProTrack has given them the opportunity to build a team-sport culture and they’re gaining more buy in every day.
We asked our medical products veteran user how the software has changed communication and engagement between front-line associates and supervisors over the years. Much like Snyder’s-Lance, they had concerns from employees about measuring true workload. ProTrack has given them visibility to discreet details and allows them more prompt interactions and follow-ups. Their supervisors, managers and directors are fully trained in conducting performance observations with associates, and are using that data to provide feedback during monthly continuous improvement one-on-ones. They say it keeps “open communication”, and helps them stay in tune for the day-to-day to set their team members up for success, day in and day out.
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