Building a high-performing team for your manufacturing company is hard work. Not only do you need to choose the perfect candidates from day one, but you’ll also need to ensure that you have the right strategies in place to nurture those experts towards success.
According to research from the Gallup organisation, employees are 7.8% more productive when they’re aware of their strengths. In today’s competitive marketplace, productive staff might be the ultimate way for any business to invest in future innovation and customer satisfaction.
With the new year now fully underway it’s time to think about how you’re supporting the future of your brand with the right development strategies. Here are just some of the steps you can take to set your organisation on the right track.
1. Make Expectations Clear
When bringing a new hire into your team, it’s tempting to rush through the onboarding process and get them to work as quickly as possible. After all, the manufacturing sector is often challenging and fast-paced. However, skipping over the induction process can damage your chance of retaining employees and increase the risk that they don’t fully understand what their role entails.
While spelling out what you expect from a new member of your staff might seem like a waste of time, it’s actually a great way to get your relationship started on the right foot. Begin with a briefing and outline what you hope they’ll be able to achieve by the end of the year, complete with insights into your overarching company goals. This will help to keep everyone engaged, and focused.
2. Identify Development Gaps
As you organise your experts into productive teams and discuss their plans for development , keep an eye out for any skill gaps that are holding your business back. Sometimes these issues are easy to spot – such an inexperience with a particular piece of manufacturing software. However, if you’re struggling to determine where your venture needs to grow, it might be worth asking for input from your team.
Often, your staff will be able to tell you if they’re struggling with specific tasks in their position, or if they’ve noticed any areas where your organisation might be lagging behind other people in the industry. The simple question “Is there anything you can learn to make your job easier?” can work wonders.
3. Choose the Right Training Opportunities
Building on the existing talent in your pool is crucial to ensuring the continued success of your brand, because it helps to inspire people, and set them off on the track to powerful new skills.
Once you know where you need to grow, it’s essential to choose the training or development strategies that are most conducive to success for your experts. Remember, different people learn in different ways, so it’s worth speaking to each employee and asking what kind of lessons would work best for them.
Alongside traditional courses, there are plenty of ways for your professionals to expand their knowledge today, including group sessions, online platforms and more. You can address each person’s preferences when you’re discussing their development plan during the induction process.
4. Celebrate Every Success
Expanding your knowledge as a company and making your teams more efficient doesn’t have to feel like a chore. Some of the best learning experiences stick in the minds of top-tier talent because they’re fun and “different”. Meetings and group events can be a great way to encourage bonding and give your people a chance to explore some new skills.
At the same time, remember that today’s top performers need more recognition from their employers. When someone on your staff completes their training, make sure that you celebrate their decision to take another step towards their ultimate career goals.
5. Give Them Plenty of Freedom
Finally, when manufacturing professionals want to get the most out of their teams, it’s tempting to hover over each employee and structure everything they do. However, the truth is that many of the professionals in this industry work best when they’re given the freedom to explore their own ideas and think outside of the box.
Giving your people the space they need can be difficult at first, but it also means that they’ll be able to encounter and overcome challenges themselves – developing their problem-solving skills. It will also ensure that experts begin to learn which problems they need to come to you with and which they can handle alone.
Empowering staff to make their own decisions creates trust and inspires better performance.
We are ‘South Wales Recruitment Specialists’ based in Cardiff, Wales.
We offer a full range of permanent recruitment solutions to many of South Wales’ and the South Wests’ leading manufacturing, technical, automotive and life science organisations. This includes companies in Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, Ebbw Vale, Port Talbot, Bridgend and the surrounding areas in South Wales.
Sigma Recruitment has one of the largest and most comprehensive recruitment candidate databases in the area. To get in touch with our team call us now on 02920 450 100. Alternatively, contact us here.
