When I joined a 15-person precision manufacturer, I had only a vague understanding of manufacturing and the industry it served.
I spent days researching, reading, studying the website, and learning the products. But that's not where I truly learned the business.
I got out from behind my desk and joined the shop. I got my hands dirty. I asked questions. I listened. I wanted to truly understand the work.
If I was going to design or improve a process, I believed I had a responsibility to understand it first. I made a commitment to never change a process until I understood the full impact that change could have on my team.
So I walked the processes with them. I observed how the work was actually being done, identified pain points, and saw where procedures weren't being followed, where efficiency was lost, and where bottlenecks developed. Then we worked together to improve it.
Years into the role, I pursued Lean Six Sigma training and learned there was a name for the mindset I'd naturally adopted: Gemba, go to the place where the work happens. That teaching has shaped how I've led ever since.
The best improvements don't happen behind a desk. They happen alongside the people doing the work.
Make changes with your team, not to your team. Build trust by being willing to learn before you lead. Trust your team to show you how the work is truly done, involve them in improving it, and they'll trust you when change is needed.
Because in the end, processes don't exist on paper; they exist in practice. The process and the people, not the spreadsheet, should drive improvement.
Originally shared on LinkedIn.
Taylor Ehlmann is an operations leader and ISO 9001:2026 Lead Auditor who writes about building processes and teams that keep getting better. More about Taylor