How to Develop and Motivate Your Warehouse Team
Working in the supply chain industry is not only useful in improving operational practices in the warehouse – it can also be helpful in developing your workforce. See how our Supply Chain expert, Tracy Warren, applies her experience in the supply chain industry to develop a Strategic Workforce Planning that continuously supports and motivates its associates.
In all my years in associate training, I’ve come to strongly believe that most under-performing associates can be rehabilitated. This might sound like a serious undertaking, but with a little more effort we can find ways to break the cycle from the moment of the new hire. People don’t start a new job and come to work with a goal of inefficiency and lackluster performance. In most scenarios, these team members (new or existing staff) just aren’t confident, prepared or well-supported for success in their current roles. Although there are a few bad apples out there, there are still a lot of good people out there too if we can find our way through the training and associate development process. Some things to consider when trying to enhance workplace culture and get people more excited about work are:
- Was each associate properly and consistently trained from day 1?
- Is there sufficient documentation available to reinforce training and support known exceptions?
- Are the associates well supported with knowledgeable and approachable leadership?
- Do the associates receive periodic usable and relevant feedback?
1. Associate Training
The foundation of our effectiveness lies with our associates. We rely on them to set the pace at every level of the fulfillment cycle, all in an effort to curate a positive customer experience. However, one of the largest areas of complacency is with associate training. People are often expected to ‘learn-on-the-fly’, receiving very little background about the task they are performing. In addition, process and system changes are often not communicated effectively to the end-users. With every wave of new recruits, the initial training is diluted unless the company maintains a program to make sure associates are trained on an ongoing basis. Successful corporations implement rigorous trainings often including mock scenarios to allow the user to experience and practice everyday functions as well as exception handling scenarios. At Katalyst we offer a summer internship program that guides and teaches students skills that will enable them to be successful in their future careers.
2. Process Documentation
Something the associates should be able to count on is their Process Documentation. Also known as SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) or Work Instructions, the process documentation should guide the user through all steps of a given process, outlining any known pitfalls, exceptions, tips for working the process most efficiently, as well as defining the physical steps. The associate should be able to depend on the accuracy of their documentation, like a foundation. It should be relatable, accessible, and up to date.
Companies can maintain an updated catalog of these documents that are accessible on company intranets, wikis, and shared drives, etc. This allows the users immediate access to answer 95% of their questions, if the documentation is solid. And most importantly, as new associates are onboarded, the information is passed directly from the authorized training material and not simply passed from associate to associate as tribal knowledge.
3. Creating a Supportive Workplace
Be the leader who people feel comfortable confessing their mistakes to. That’s a tall order, I know. But we have to be calm and show grace under pressure, encouraging open dialogue. That might mean putting some extra time into building relationships and trust with each associate. In fact, the relationships and trust that we build amongst our employees and leaders is one of the many reasons Katalyst is a great place to work at. We have to learn to mesh with people from all areas of the operation and with a wide range of personalities. We have the obvious extroverts and more subtle introverts, and sometimes we need to slow down and make sure everybody is up-to-speed and engaged at the same level. Make sure everyone feels comfortable raising their hand and shouting out when they mess up or, even better, when they have a new idea!
4. Providing Meaningful, Direct, Specific Feedback
Consider some additional training for leadership in learning ways to effectively communicate with associates and strategies to provide consistent, relevant and specific feedback. People inherently are competitive by nature and seem to respond well to direct and specific feedback as well as real-time and historical metric data.
The best advice I was ever given was that when giving feedback, be specific as you can and even though it’s painful sometime, be honest. When it comes to being specific, people like to know how they rate but also what made you feel that way. Our curious selves want more details. For example, if you told me I was “the best”, I’d say “Aw, thanks” but inside, I’m thinking, “Why do you think I’m the best?”, “What was that about?” I’d rather hear something specific like, “Thanks so much for taking the extra time with the client yesterday, it meant a lot that you were so patient with them.” That’s much better than, “You’re the best!”
This likewise applies to giving negative feedback; try to be honest and straightforward, but make sure you offer some positive feedback with it and some solutions for improving in the areas needing attention. For example, instead of, “If you keep messing up, I’m going to have to let you go. Get it together!” pull the person aside and ask them to tell you how it’s going and ask how they could be better. Offer some solutions for improvement, comment on any positives and try to leave the conversation on a positive note like “I know you have been successful on your prior team and even though we’ve had a rough start here on this team, we’re confident that you’ll improve daily and we’re here to support you.”
5. Real-time and Historical Metric Data
Leveraging your WMS data does not only provide information to enhance the customer experience and provide details about trends, current activity and historical performance. We can also use that data to provide creative feedback to the front-line users that might help them elevate their quality of work and overall productivity. At Katalyst, as part of our recruiting process, we integrate datafication by scanning materials written by prospective candidates and using technologies such as Predictive Index in order to analyze their personalities and get feedback on them – both before they are hired and afterwards. Some examples of how data can be used to use data to provide feedback include:
- Promptly relaying statistics about historical performance for the department or specific user in a report format or user accessible app or online tools
- Using display monitors to give real-time department data (i.e. cases received, cartons shipped, e.g.)
- Implementing visual cues that use data to determine a dept/user status like red/green/yellow light systems, package/unit count meters, percent complete, etc.
Take the time to build your Strategic Workforce Planning. Create a network of knowledgeable confident staff that are ready and able to provide world-class customer service at every level. Contact a Katalyst consultant today to start building your world-class team!
