Manufacturing and operations leaders are under constant pressure from three familiar headaches: the “forever labor shortage,” digital transformation, and the need to do more with less. In the latest episode of MetaPod, host Ron Crabtree sits down with author and consultant Jim Zelem to talk about a powerful lever that often gets ignored in this struggle: culture. Jim brings decades of experience in manufacturing, aerospace, and healthcare, and he is clear on one central insight: Most problems are not technical. They are cultural, behavioral, and shaped by how leaders show up.
Culture is Built on Behavior
Jim’s first message is this: Culture is not what you say. It is what you reward, tolerate, and model. You can only understand your culture by looking at behavior, especially when it contradicts what is written on the website or painted on the walls. A few practical ways he suggests assessing cultural gaps are:
- Asking whether daily behaviors match your stated values.
- Looking for tolerated behaviors that clearly contradict your core values.
- Paying attention to exit interviews and turnover trends. If people avoid saying why they are leaving, it is a red flag that they do not feel trusted.
Ron adds that walking the floor and asking operators simple questions like “How do you know if you are doing a good job?” and “What makes you crazy here?” can quickly expose communication breakdowns, poor SOPs, and a lack of feedback. What people perceive is their reality, which means leaders must actively listen if they want the truth.
Prevention Cannot Thrive in a Corrective Culture
The second big idea Jim shares is that you cannot build prevention on top of a culture that worships firefighting. If your organization constantly celebrates the person who jumps in to “save the day,” you may be unintentionally rewarding correction and punishing prevention. Jim urges leaders to ask a different set of questions. Instead of “How do we fix this?” ask “How do we prevent this from happening again?”
A few key shifts he highlights include:
- Stop focusing only on the heroes who fix recurring problems. Also recognize the people who quietly remove the root cause.
- Address both process conflict and people conflict. Process conflict comes from how functions like accounting and purchasing are set up. People conflict comes from broken trust.
- Remember that trust is emotional. If people do not trust you, they will not help you, no matter how smart your solutions are.
Jim shares advice he received early in his career: “Do not be quick to promise, but be quick to deliver.” Over time, consistent follow-through builds trust, which then makes technical problem-solving much easier.
Leadership is Earned, Not Appointed
According to Jim, leadership is a role you must earn. A title alone does not make you a leader. If people are not willing to follow you, you are a manager sitting in a leadership role, not a true leader.
The episode includes a powerful story from a manufacturing line producing clocks for the Honda Accord. An industrial engineer created a solid plan for the line, but constantly changed the work assignments from above. The operators, who lived with the problems every day, knew how to hit the target. When Jim gave them space to adjust the work themselves, they met the production goal.
The lesson is simple. Leaders live with the results of problems, and frontline teams live with the problems themselves. If you want better results, you have to listen to the people doing the work. Jim also stresses the importance of feedback loops and “upward evaluations.” He routinely asks managers to:
- Flow chart their processes so they truly understand where problems occur.
- Go back to their teams and ask what is really happening when things go wrong.
- Invite their employees to review them by asking, “Am I giving you what you need to succeed?”
Changing Culture Starts with Changing Yourself
When it comes to closing cultural gaps, Jim boils it down to communication. Get out of your office. Talk to people. Ask what their biggest problems are and what you can do to help.
He is realistic about the fact that culture change is not a quick fix. Trust does not appear in a week, but is rather an ongoing evaluation that requires leaders to change first. As he puts it, if you want change, look in the mirror.
Connect and Learn More
If you have further questions or are interested in learning more about how you, as a leader, can move from firefighting to prevention, build trust, and create a culture that truly supports performance, you can get in touch with Jim by emailing him at jim@urjustanumber.com. You can also get in touch with Ron via email at metapod@metaexperts.com or connect with him on LinkedIn.
MetaPod offers a wealth of knowledge and expertise for operational executives and organizations seeking to optimize their operations and supply chains, as well as common challenges such as digital transformation, the forever labor shortage, and doing more with less. Listen and subscribe today for more insightful and engaging discussions on operational excellence, leadership, growth strategies, and organizational transformation.