Managing Maintenance Staff
Managing Maintenance Staff
(OP)
I just was awarded a promotion to a new role at my company. I am in charge of all mechanical engineering activities for our manufacturing facility. This includes managing all capital projects, any plant upgrades/modifications, and supervising the mechanical maintenance staff.
I've been working at this facility for 5 years now. I have a great relationship with the maintenance staff from my previous role as a process engineer. Although they did not report to me when I served in that capacity, I did issue some work orders directly to the maintenance team.
Does anyone have advice on this situation? How should I approach this transition into a role where these individuals report directly to me? How can I get the most out of my team? Has anyone else been through a similar transition in the past?
I should also mention that our company is non-union, so I do not have any reservations about attitudes. All of the maintenance employees have good work ethic and are very talented.
I've been working at this facility for 5 years now. I have a great relationship with the maintenance staff from my previous role as a process engineer. Although they did not report to me when I served in that capacity, I did issue some work orders directly to the maintenance team.
Does anyone have advice on this situation? How should I approach this transition into a role where these individuals report directly to me? How can I get the most out of my team? Has anyone else been through a similar transition in the past?
I should also mention that our company is non-union, so I do not have any reservations about attitudes. All of the maintenance employees have good work ethic and are very talented.





RE: Managing Maintenance Staff
So if you have not already done so, an all hands meeting with coffee and donuts or other refreshments and beverages for non coffee drinkers and non donut eaters is in order.
Introduce yourself, let them know that you are there to run interference for them, so they succeed in their tasks, ( If they do not succeed , neither do you.) and let them know you are there for them. Then let the chips fall where they may. One thing , if you have had a casual relationship with some coworkers, there may be some pushback, when it dawns on them, that you are now their boss.
B.E.
You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.
RE: Managing Maintenance Staff
A.
RE: Managing Maintenance Staff
Always give credits to the people, and always take the blame if your team hasn't done it right. Be a leader, don't be a boss - there are too many of those around.
Dejan IVANOVIC
Process Engineer, MSChE
RE: Managing Maintenance Staff
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RE: Managing Maintenance Staff
Run interference Means exactly what you said "Protect them from the rubbish, so they can get on with their jobs" It is a slang term, I guess I have been in the states too long. Yes don't promise too much and absolutely keep the promises you make. but above all protect them from the rubbish, and remove the excuses, ( Find out what has to be done to remove the problem so the job can be done).
B.E.
You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.
RE: Managing Maintenance Staff
What I didn't know at the time was that the Plant Manager wouldn't allow them to buy new tubing; they had to remove it from junked equipment, clean it up, straighten out the old bends, put new bends in, and get it working, in a very unreasonable time frame, without any fancy tools or equipment. Viewed from the workmen's perspective, they had performed a miracle, and I was wholly unappreciative of their accomplishment.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Managing Maintenance Staff
That is a classic example of " What you don't know, you don't know . " , coming back around to bite you.
B.E.
You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.
RE: Managing Maintenance Staff
Mike Halloran's post is also a ,good reason, for a manager not, to comment to others under him, about things on a job, until he can find out the whole story.
There was a story many years back of a facilities manager touring a building , making an offhanded remark about a suspended ceiling looking a bit dinghy, coming back to that same office the next day, to find his minions stripping out the ceiling tiles, and getting ready to put in new ones.
B.E.
You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.
RE: Managing Maintenance Staff
EmmanuelTop, I really like your advice of being a leader, not a boss. That is something that will most definitely stick with me.
To update: I've started by having a 1-on-1 meeting with each member of our maintenance team. In these meetings, I've been asking open questions to get a good feel for the general thoughts of each employee. I've gotten many great suggestions, many of which I will soon be implementing.
Overall, morale of the team is high because the guys are excited to have a new leader, so I'm trying to keep up that momentum!
Thanks again, everyone!