Leadership + Trust for Operations Leaders: Building Bridges and Leading from Behind to Strengthen Team Performance with LaVerne Roberts #56

Welcome to Manufacturing Greatness with Trevor Blondeel, where we work with organizations to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have to achieve greater retention, productivity, and profits. To learn more, visit www.manufacturinggreatness.com and click here to subscribe to Trevor's monthly newsletter. Now, let's jump in! What happens when you put others first, work hard, and become a true bridge builder? You build a legacy. In this episode, LaVerne Roberts shares her journey to becoming a Director of Operations in a traditionally male dominated manufacturing environment. We explore manufacturing leadership, authentic leadership, growth mindset, and resilience for Operations Managers, Production Managers, Manufacturing Managers, and Shift Supervisors. LaVerne reflects on decades of research and development success, the leadership mindset that fueled her progression, and how trust building, communication skills, and accountability shaped her impact. You will walk away with practical insights on leading with confidence, strengthening culture, and paving the way for the next generation in manufacturing. 3:20 – building a network, not even realizing I was doing it, relationships 5:05 – any doubts came from within, Vice President support and getting surrounded by great people 7:00 – you must work hard, learning the fundamentals not so much the leadership skill, like going to school 8:05 – not asking for help, self imposter syndrome(for more science on this, check out  Adam Grant's book Think Again) 10:00 – self-doubt more common, men verses woman may be different 12:00 – one on one coaching, identified my leadership style flexes from leading from behind and leading at the front 13:00 –leading from behind suggesting to the team, supporting them 13:55 – in the beginning, you may need to lead from the front, create the vision, help the team see what we wanted to look like 15:30 – Jim Collins, Good to Great, I or we, how LaVerne allows the team to take direction 16:30 – do more with the kernel, how it is received, will determine the next steps   17:54 – husband Scott says LaVerne is a bridge builder, not for LaVerne, for the excitement of what is going to happen when the connection is made 19:10 – when people can see you are not in it for yourself, people ask more questions about you 20:20 – finding the sweet spot-on building trust, finding the common ground, something we connect with 21:55 – you also must be a good listener, you can with enough ambition and desire achieve great things, and chart your journey, we are a lot stronger and smarter than we think