The Speech They Can Use

Leadership Brief

Picture a second-shift lead whose crew is running a new layout. The lead walks the line and says the same thing every hour. The layout is better. The numbers look good. The crew nods and keeps working. One operator stops asking about a jammed station because the speech never lands on the jam.

The lead is talking. The crew is not hearing a move they can make.

Most leads have one speech they give every shift. It made sense the first time. By the fifth time it is noise.

Every time a lead speaks, the crew checks one thing. Does this give me something I can do on the next job, or does it just fill the air?

The cost is quiet. The operator who hears another speech about the layout being better stops bringing the next problem. The lead thinks the crew is bought in. The crew thinks the lead is not looking at the station that is still jammed. Trust drops one small step at a time. Not because the lead is wrong. Because the words do not land on the work the crew can see.

The fix is simple. Speak only when the words connect to a piece of work the listener can touch. Name the station. Name the question the crew asked twice. Write the answer once. Put it where they already look. Then stop saying it.

Tomorrow, pick the single speech you gave twice this week. Write the one job it should have named. Put that job where the crew can find it without you. Stop giving the speech.

Marc Bradburry
Big Bearded Ginger