- Carlos Lozano Ehlers, bicg's General Director.
The need to improve employee engagement, communication, collaboration, leadership, digital empowerment, sustainable purpose, and cultural integration in industrial companies is more pressing than ever in a context of uncertainty and high competition.
In the current era of business competitiveness, industrial companies face a number of challenges that require efficient management and a strategic approach at all organisational levels. Safety, quality, productivity, sustainability and profitability are critical to the success of any industrial company, and achieving outstanding performance in these areas depends heavily on factors such as engagement, communication, collaboration, leadership, sustainable purpose, digital empowerment and cultural integration in the workforce and management.
Let’s look at each of these factors in turn, highlighting the risks and elements to develop in order to stand out in the current context:
1. Motivation towards engagement: working to improve work
Encouraging employee engagement is vital to achieving organisational goals.
To improve engagement, industrial companies should implement strategies that promote a positive work environment, recognition, and professional development. This includes offering training and development opportunities, fostering a culture of recognition, encouraging the exchange of ideas, and providing work-life balance, among other issues.
2. Expansive communication: beyond merely effective communication
Effective communication is a fundamental pillar of any organisation. In industrial environments, where safety and accuracy are critical, lack of communication can lead to accidents, costly errors, and production delays.
Implementing an expansive communication model, based on clear communication systems, and promoting open communication between all levels of the organisation is essential. This includes training in communication skills – especially for leaders – and the use of information technology to facilitate the transfer of relevant information.
3. Interdepartmental collaboration: when the links are disconnected
Interdepartmental collaboration improves efficiency and quality in production. Organisational silos can hinder the flow of information and make problem solving difficult.
Cross-functional teams and interaction between areas should be encouraged to optimize processes. This will allow for better coordination, identification of areas for improvement and process optimization.
4. Effective and humane leadership
Good leadership is essential to guide the team to success, especially in safety and quality issues. Leaders must be knowledgeable, inspiring, and willing to make tough decisions when necessary.
Companies should invest in developing leadership skills, identify and promote internal leaders, and ensure that leaders are aligned with the organisation’s vision and values.
5. Digital culture: the emergence of the One Collar profile
The robotization of production systems, the eruption of generative AI in management areas, the increasing proximity between management and production through integrated digital platforms and the adoption of additive manufacturing are also leading to a greater rapprochement between the so-called blue collar and white-collar profiles. This is giving rise to a new profile of professionals in the industrial environment, who are much more versatile and digital in their daily work, which we call one collar.
Therefore, it is becoming more and more necessary to train all professionals in the use of digital tools and to develop their skills in this aspect. But it is not just about training on digital devices, applications, and systems. Successful implementation requires a broader approach that includes skills development, technological integration, organisational changes and fostering innovative ecosystems. In other words, the creation of a true digital culture.
6. Cultural integration and sustainability.
Cultural integration is the foundation that binds all these aspects together. A strong and cohesive organisational culture provides a framework for decision-making, behaviour and identification with the company. Industrial companies must work on creating and maintaining a culture that fosters responsibility, safety, innovation, and excellence. This involves defining corporate values, promoting diversity and inclusion, and actively involving all employees in building the culture.
But what happens if the cultural process is left as a mere exercise in good intentions, triumphalist declarations and, in the worst case (and it happens in many cases) an inconsistency between what is said and what is done in practice. This would cause workers to lose confidence in the organisation’s strategy and vision, opening a gap that is difficult to bridge.
So, how do we materialise this commitment to the culture of the organisation, and how can it be lived out on a day-to-day basis?
The answer is the aforementioned cohesion and participation of professionals in the definition of cultural aspects, as well as having a sustainable approach to the transformation of ways of working in the organisation.
In this regard, a few years ago, bicg developed an environmental, social and governance (ESG) sustainability model that connects, in a practical way, the organisation’s activities, policies, dynamics and culture with international ESG sustainability standards, ensuring coherence between the purpose and practice of work and operations (Figure 1).
Figure 1. ESG initiatives matrix by bicg. Contact us for the completed version.
At bicg, we’ve embraced these principles, integrating them into our #ESG sustainability model to align our practices with global standards. The results?
An escalation in productivity that translates to an increase of up to 6-7% in field time efficiency, a quantum leap in the integration of the blue-collar workforce, and a renewed corporate image that resonates strongly in the market.
Professionals benefit from unprecedented access to information, which has not only mitigated union conflicts, but also catalysed the optimisation and reinvention of workspaces.
These new ways of doing have led to the creation of enriching work experiences, built on the cornerstone of technological adoption. Flexibility, now more than ever, becomes the banner under which more efficient shifts and more agile contract activities are completed. In this scenario, the execution of scheduled shutdowns, once synonymous with inertia, now unfolds with a speed that redefines what it means to be productive.
The industrial world is rapidly evolving. Join us in this transformation and let’s push the boundaries of progress together. Act now to redefine the industrial work ecosystem for a future limited only by our ambition to improve.
