Hanon Case Study for Deepening Your Leadership Skills

How To Recognize Employee Strengths To Improve Productivity

Turns out, managers who recognize when an employee is willing and able to take on more responsibility not only further motivate their staff – they wind up more productive in their managerial role too.  During a Loyalist Training and Knowledge Centre (LTKC) Deepening Your Leadership Skills learning exercise, Managing Director at Hanon Systems, René Veillette, uncovered that the traditionalist theory of supporting your staff by not letting others interrupt them does not fit every scenario.  Led by Mark Norman, the Deepening Your Leadership Skills program gives leaders access to a unique learning tool, which participants say created significant “Turning Points” for their company.  For example, a manager answers questions as if they are the employee they are mentoring. The mentee then answers the same question.   “The format gave us an opportunity to be really honest and candid with each other,” said Veillette.  “I had thought we were really well aligned – and we were in some areas – but not others.” The information allowed the manager-employee to shift tasks around to better support each other to improve productivity.  “I didn’t realize I had been blocking my plant superintendent from trying some tasks he was keen to try. I thought I was supporting him by keeping it off his plate,” explains Veillette.  Now Veillette has not only boosted the confidence of his employee with increased responsibilities, he’s been able to delegate tasks and manage his own workload better.  Giving people new challenges and ways to stimulate their work efforts have had a great impact on the company.

The Bottom Line: Here’s How Productivity Improved for Hanon Systems

  1. Realigning staff skills and strengths to different tasks meant Hanon didn’t have to panic when they were down 6-7 staff. More projects were completed by existing employees, keen for the opportunity, and allotted newfound time to complete the tasks because of the realignment.
  1. An assessment of processes uncovered new, faster ways to make decisions—Hanon went from 2 days to 20 minutes on some!—saving time and money;
  1. Rejuvenating company culture: the company made a shift to recognize the necessity of mistakes. A new tone that mistakes will be fixed together was set, increasing the likelihood that staff would feel comfortable suggesting innovations and improvements.

Is Your Company Keen To Reach Your Next Stage of Growth?

Have you already seen and experienced revolutionary positive change from your leaders taking The 3As of Leadership ? The Deepening Your Leadership Skills learning process is your next step – ask what’s entailed.

What Impact Has LTKC Leadership Training Had On The Manufacturing Industry?

LTKC tailors its courses to meet the needs of business in the region often pulling leaders and staff from different sectors together to learn from and share their experiences. Because LTKC focusses on training, companies can pass along their needs and have LTKC find facilitators and set up courses for them.  “We’re lucky to have an organization with the individuals with the years of experience as LTKC. They recognize the role manufacturing plays in the community,” says Veillette. “Loyalist College is always right there to support and develop critical training for us.”  Even better, LTKC trains people to find gainful employment in the industries that need skilled staff—like food processing and manufacturing using programs like Eleva te!—giving businesses a qualified employee pool to hire from without a big investment.

Every dollar invested in manufacturing generates over $3.05 in total economic activity which is the highest multiplier of any major sector according to Canadian Manufacturers and exports (CME).”  —from the Quinte Economic Development Commission business plan.

 

Kennametal Case Study

Here’s How To Develop Your Leaders To Improve Production

Perceptions—yours and your employees’—can get in the way of production and career satisfaction.  The Loyalist Training and Knowledge Centre (LTKC) pilot initiative to develop leaders, Deepening Your Leadership Skills, offers tools to help managers be better leaders by understanding workplace perceptions.  Experienced leader Kevin Morgan of Kennametal Stellite Inc. discovered how this works first-hand. When he took the learning process – an extension of his knowledge from various LTKC foundational leadership courses like the Certified Manager of Quality-Organizational Excellence – participants completed a survey. The manager filled it out as if they were their employee, providing perceived employee answers. The employees filled it out for real. Then they compared answers.  “It was very insightful to see how you think things are versus how they are to your employee,’ Morgan says. “It really helped us understand our employees.”

Morgan realized without the Deepening Your Leadership Skills experience, even the best leaders are only partially aware of their employee’s experience.

Just one simple survey exercise from this LTKC learning process opened up a new dialogue with staff and uncovered what their needs were to be happy in the workforce.  What’s more, productivity improved as management uncovered more and more of what each person sought from their job—like training needs and expectations—increasing employee satisfaction too.  Because there’s all kinds of leadership and always an opportunity to learn from others, mentorship was an important theme of the session. Morgan says he acted as a mentor to help staff learn from him, and found his own mentor (from whom he gained yet another perspective). These are exactly the kinds of thing great companies, and great leaders, pursue – and LTKC facilitated the experience for Kennametal beyond what any company could do on their own.

Why LTKC Leadership Training Is Cutting Edge and Superior in 2016 & Beyond

The Deepening Your Leadership Skills program is not a course -it’s a learning process. “It’s a different type of learning. We talked in more detail about day to day challenges and took action based on discussions,” explains Kevin Morgan of Kennametal Stellite Inc.

Having the material presented from both sides of the employer/employee point of view was enlightening along with learning how to put the knowledge into practice at work.

Even better, the mix of attendees allows participants to build their repertoire – and their career- with examples of managing all kinds of people.

“I’m always impressed with the caliber of training at LTKC so I jumped at chance to participate in Deepening Your Leadership Skills program. I knew it would be worth my time,” says Morgan.

If you’ve taken foundational management training from Loyalist College – you’re already in love with the results you’ve experienced. The next step for your career and your organization is to deepen your leadership skills:  call LTKC to find out how to participate.

 

Northumberland County Case Study for Municipal Leadership Training

Ontario’s Best Municipal Leadership Training Program

Ben Walters knew he needed the training to excel at his municipal leadership role. A bioresource professional, Walters was now Forest Manager for Northumberland County.

He had a lot of education, two college diplomas and he’s working on his Ph.D., but neither of these prepared you for the intricacies of leading people, nor leading through municipal office procedures.

When the Loyalist Training and Knowledge Centre (LTKC) offered Deepening Your Leadership Skills as a follow-up to Managing and Leading in a Municipal Environment Walters says he jumped at the chance to participate. He knew LTKC’s courses would boost his capacity in his current role and be excellent for his career.  “I have the younger staff and I wanted to find ways to engage with them and work with them differently than was my natural inclination,” Walters explains.  And, while his relationship with his team was solid, Walters says the course helped him see things differently so he could better support and motivate his staff.  Walters says the course was a game changer because it wasn’t just theory: every element was tied to his role. The result went beyond Walters’ learning. The tools of the course helped teach his team too.  Together, they found new meaningful satisfaction in their jobs. As a bonus his employees better understand the challenge of his role too and how the organization works as a whole.

What’s So Special About LTKC’s Leadership Training?

Firstly, it’s not a course, it’s a process to improving daily life in your current role. This hands-on connection to your actual work means this course doesn’t create more work for you: it helps you with the challenges you already face.  Secondly, presented in an open learning style, participants built a repertoire of leadership skills by listening to each other’s experiences in sharing staff and a management point of views.  Thirdly, the course blends cutting edge technology to further learning for participants, along with the three themes: Thinking Clearly, Acting Wisely and Engaging Well.  And finally, LTKC facilitator’s Mark Norman brings a wealth of leadership development knowledge and workforce experience to the group making sure everyone gets the outcome they need from the program.

Three Takeaways From Municipal Leadership Training:

“LTKC filled a gap in my field. They’re an innovative community asset and help us stay efficient and effective,” he says.   Walters’ advice? Learning happens for life. Here are his three takeaways:

  1. “I think more about root causes of issues, listen more, and I stopped trying to solve everyone’s problems on my own.” Thinking Clearly
  2. “I tell my staff my expectations and they deliver a higher quality of work.” Acting Wisely
  3. “We communicate more – there’s a willingness to ask questions to help us reach a greater purpose.” Engaging Well

 

Hanon Case Study for 3A’s of Leadership

Why Experienced Managers Need Leadership Training Too

Giving new managers a chance to hone their leadership skills is a good plan. But the real value may actually be for experienced managers.  “When you don’t have the experience (in a management role) the theory doesn’t have the same impact,” explains René Veillette, Hanon Systems Managing Director.  After offering both new and seasoned managers to participate in the Loyalist Training and Knowledge Centre’s (LTKC) 3As of Leadership training Veillette says the company is working to implement the course concepts throughout.  At Hanon, experienced managers were able to take the course material and apply it to their company with such experience the results had game-changing results.

3As Leadership Course: Changing Perspectives To Improve Business

Hanon Systems had custom classes for their company leaders for both Level 1 & 2 of the 3As of Leadership Course.  Veillette says when managers understand their own perspective they can tailor how they’re leading, to make the right decisions. And, engaged leaders know when they should take the reins, and more importantly when they need to get out of the way of their staff.  The course has been so influential for Hanon Systems, they include the 3As—Aligning, Assuring, and Activating—in their corporate language, keeping it front of mind in all tasks.  By adapting courses to suit the industry, LTKC gives businesses a “quick hit” of theory, not a lecture, helping busy managers quickly identify perspectives and implement the knowledge to their work, says Veillette.

Is Your Company Facing A Challenge You Don’t Yet Know How To Fix?

Organizations like Hanon Systems rely on the Loyalist Training and Knowledge Centre in (Loyalist College campus, Quinte West).  “We say to LTKC, here’s my need can you help? And they jump to help,” says Veillette. So you have nothing to lose: why not start a conversation  to improve your organization?