I am the maintenance coordinator in
a CAW automotive assembly plant that supplies most of
the major automobile makers. In the late 80s our
workforce was reduced from a thousand to about 300.
These 300 are still here and for the past 10 years
morale has not been the best. All of the typical
problems exist: lack of ownership, finger pointing,
poor priority setting, lack of mutual respect, etc.
This is an excellent place to work, with good people
and plenty of opportunities, we just have a few bad
habits.
How can I pull my team above the history and
skepticism, take advantage of the opportunities and
become a leading department? I think that if just one
department could lead the way, the transformation would
spread like wildfire. The upper-management support is
present, it's just not happening. I've been improving
communications and receiving positive feedback. We are
not ready for a transformation to self-directed teams
yet—but it is definitely a goal.
It seems like I get caught up in the day-to-day
symptoms of dysfunction and just cannot mount an attack
on the root cause—poor communication. How do I
shake things up and get us committed and motivated to
progress?
John Paul Gladstone, P.Eng.
Siemens AT PT EC
Chatham, Ontario, Canada
H. James
Harrington responds
John Runyan
responds
