Combustible Dust Management- Mentoring

As a manager of a large manufacturing company, you are concerned about the upcoming changes to the BC regulations and the repercussions to your business. You have someone who manages safety in addition to other responsibilities in your facility, but you are not sure if they have the experience to manage all the requirements of the regulations. You are concerned that if there is a problem your company could be subject to WSBC orders and administrative penalties.

A simple solution to this issue is to arrange for a mentor for your safety coordinator to help them navigate the regulations and to select the cost-effective solutions to mitigate the hazards. The resulting difference in your team’s performance will move from good to excellent. By supporting your team and improving their skills you will build trust and loyalty which reduces turnover and builds engagement.

In todays fast paced environment attending additional training programs that take months of afterwork free time are difficult to accomplish especially when employees are juggling a busy family life. Having regular contact with a knowledgeable person allows for a surgical application of knowledge on a as needed basis while building a foundation knowledge of problem-solving skills and program building strategies.

The best solution is to have an in-house mentoring program to develop your team’s leadership skills and to entrain the company’s mission and vision into the application of management objectives.  However, most employers will not have an in-house program until they grow to a size that can sustain one. This leaves most managers operating by the seat of their pants with the hope that they do not make a mistake that would be harmful to the company’s employees, property or reputation.

Investing in the training and development of your employees pays dividends in the areas of productivity, turnover reduction, job satisfaction and employee engagement. Failing to support your employee’s development costs you in the areas of task productivity, training expense, injury rates, insurance premiums, turnover costs, recruitment costs, the ability to attract the most desirable employees.

The cost cutting strategies of the past, that removed employee development programs have now come home to roost as the average tenure of a Gen Z employee is 2 years 3 months. (Gallup’s 2023 state of the global workforce study, North American results).  If you want you company to survive into the future you need to do a better job of training and retaining your leaders than your competition.

This article is not intended to be a definitive guide to mentoring. It is just a primer to allow people to consider mentoring as a possible solution to employee development and improved problem solving to move the company forward in a cost-effective manner.