Machinery Lubrication

16 Reliable Plant | www . reliableplant.com Machinery Lubrication | www . machinerylubrication.com 2025 Annual LEADERSHIP intentions, even the most compelling ideas for change can fail to make any headway in the facility. JODY: You go to a conference, you get inspired, and you find yourself thinking, "I can use this!" But then you get home to your facility and find the daily grind is right there waiting for you, and suddenly, it seems like the good ideas and inspiration fade. What keeps you from implementing the ideas that excited you? KEVIN: It depends on whether you have buy-in from coworkers and other maintenance techs, management… really anyone involved in the implementation of a new idea. Everyone has to be committed. It just takes one person saying, 'No.' Implementing a new idea is all about gathering buy-in from management and coworkers. What prevents people from buying in is fear of change or the thought that "this is the way we've always done it." Or they don't see the long-term benefit. ERIK: I've been to three different types of leadership training. Some were good, but I was working with like-minded people, so our goals already aligned. But, at Reliable Plant, I was interacting with technicians on their level and taking notes, which is more efficient than the top-down approach. Through that, I found that there is resistance to bringing in a new path of direction. [To overcome this,] I have to give information, data, and real work experiences. JODY: The technical aspects of your work that relate to Reliable Plant products may be easier to launch than leadership aspects. Why do you think that is? KEVIN: Everyone likes the new "better" technology. But they need to realize that getting a new product in the door is all about cost. Everyone has to see the immediate benefit, and you have to be able to produce results. An idea doesn't cost money to implement, but a product does. ERIK: New toys are a lot cooler than what we used to use. Digital vs. analog is exciting. Whereas, with soft skills, people get used to a culture, a rut, a way of doing things because that's how it has always been done. The hardest part, especially in maintenance, is to show relatable success. If you can put a part on and push start, the machine runs - that's a success. You may get the same results from other measurable data. The machine starts, the machine runs, success. Ideas take time for the benefits to show. JODY: What makes implementing leadership concepts difficult? KEVIN: You have to have buy-in. If even one person isn't on board, we have to meet that person where they are to find out what's wrong and uncover their reservations. JODY: During many sessions at the Reliable Plant Conference, we worked on Employee Engagement, Giving Feedback, and Asking Great Questions. Of these three, which do you feel like you naturally have the greatest amount of success with? ERIK: I learned a lot from these sessions, and they showed me there is a difference between being a "task manager" and an "effective leader." I faced some ugly truths about team members being engaged, disengaged, and actively disengaged. I took this back and had great follow-up conversations with my boss about these concepts. It's difficult not to be hard on yourself, but he helped me see how far I've come as a leader and how our culture has changed for the better - which is hard to measure. Read Parts II AND III In part one of my three-part series, we've laid the groundwork by covering the foundational elements of the ideas that take form through collaboration and how leadership attributes – such as soft skills – can be tricky to implement, no matter how valuable they are to plant reliability. Graph 1: Cost savings and benefits to organizations resulting from proactive maintenance services reliableplant.com/ Read/32808/ reliableplant.com/ Read/32838

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