Leadership

Leaders who build strong career relationships earn more trust and achieve better results

Kim Harrison, Cutting Edge

Employee engagement, experience, satisfaction; employee manager feedback; and virtual, remote meetings and workplace relationships.

Even in this digital age, the most important deciding factor in your career journey is to remember that leaders who build strong career relationships earn more trust and achieve better results with all their stakeholders. This also applies to communication leaders themselves and to the advice they may give as respected advisers to their organizational executives.

One of the most respected leaders in our time is Leon Panetta, who said in 2021:

“It is human relationships that determine whether or not you’re going to be successful” – Leon Panetta, former US Secretary of Defense, CIA Director, White House Chief of Staff, and Member of the US House of Representatives, stated on 21 January 2021 during a media interview.

Panetta says our relationships with other people are such a vital part of our lives. During this time of stress for all of us, it is vital we reach out consistently to our friends, family, and colleagues – our personal stakeholders. And we should be reaching out to our business colleagues also – internally within our organization and externally as well. This is even more important during times of massive societal stress as we experience in the current pandemic.

Speaking of relationships, let’s consider the Public Relations Society of America’s current definition of public relations:

“Public relations are a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”

This definition strongly corresponds to Leon Panetta’s quote, above, that maintaining good human relationships is key to success. Organizations consist of one or more people, and publics consist of one or more people, so Panetta’s quote applies to the vital role of relating to people in our society. And what is the foundation for building good relationships? It’s good communication, of course.

Great business leaders focus on mastering relationships

“Mastering personal relationships that build trust and create a collaborative work environment is central to leadership effectiveness in the digital economy. This skill set distinguishes great leaders from merely good ones, based on my interviews with C-suite executives in companies around the world.” This important observation was made by Dr. Douglas Ready from the MIT Sloan School of Management in an article published in the MIT Strategic Management Review. Ready went on to say: “As our work world becomes more virtual and our business models more digital, the key determinant of sustainable success is less about the power of a company’s algorithms than it is about the efficacy of the relationships we forge”.

Positive relationships are the most important element of trust in leaders

If you have direct reports, your relationships with them require their trust in you. Three fundamentals are often the foundation of workplace trust, is the conclusion of experts Jack Zenger & Joseph Folkman in a 2019 Harvard Business Review article, after analyzing 360-degree assessments of 87,000 leaders:

1. Positive relationships. Trust is in part based on the extent to which a leader can create positive relationships with other people and groups. To instill trust a leader must: • Stay in touch on the issues and concerns of others

LEADERSHIP

• Balance results with concern for others • Generate cooperation between others • Resolve conflict with others • Give honest feedback in a helpful way.

2. Good judgement/expertise. The extent to which a leader is well-informed and knowledgeable influences the amount of trust people has in that person. The leader must understand the technical aspects of the work as well as have significant experience. This means: • They use good judgement when making decisions • Others trust their ideas and opinions • Others seek after their opinions • Their knowledge and expertise make an important contribution to achieving results • Can anticipate and respond quickly to problems.

3. Consistency. The third element of trust is the extent to which leaders walk their talk and do what they say they will. People rate a leader high in trust if they: • Are a role model and set a good example? • Walk the talk • Honor commitments and keep promises • Follow through on commitments • Are willing to go above and beyond what needs to be done.

The research found that relationships are more important to trust than judgement or consistency. When it comes to trusting leaders, all three of these elements need to be above average, according to Zenger & Folkman.

Leon Panetta, former US Secretary of Defense

Ways to build strong career relationships

Forming positive relationships is even more important during COVID-19 restrictions, according to leadership and communication specialist David Grossman. He made the following suggestions in an August 2020 blog to help leaders strengthen relationships and build positive results by: • Managing by ‘walking around’ (or being present on video calls, these days) to see employees in their day-to-day environment. Ask them what they are working on and listen to their updates and concerns. Stop by the break room, if you’re on-site, to say hello at a distance and take the opportunity to hear what people are up to. Take notes on items that need your

attention, ensure there is follow-up, and prompt response. • I can personally vouch for this approach. Several years ago, when I was working on a consulting contract for the State office of a national billion-dollar engineering construction firm, the group CEO arrived from interstate head office to meet with local top management about the financials of a couple of major contracts. During a lunch break, I found him walking along the corridor, putting his head around office doors to introduce himself and chat with staff, including me.

A rare event in any firm! I was so surprised and impressed, I still have a warm memory of the occasion. • Scheduling regular touchpoints to engage with employees face-to-face via video. In addition to more formal Town Hall meetings, consider informal interactions such as a video lunch for people with birthdays each month, or a casual visit to a manager’s team meeting or huddle. Ask employees what they need to get the job done. When appropriate, share your goals and ask for their input. Above all, listen to what they have to say to show you value them and their contributions. • Celebrating team and individual accomplishments. Everyone wants to feel appreciated and know that their efforts matter. When team goals are met or individuals go above and beyond what is expected, take the opportunity to personally thank the people involved, whether on a video call or by sending a personal note in the mail. This will help strengthen your relationships and reinforce the importance of their work to business success.

Any of these connection points offer opportunities to get to know employees personally. In addition to asking about workrelated topics, observe their at-home, or on-site workspace to understand more about what they enjoy and what is important to them. Ask about a photo or something interesting in their work area, talk about a favorite sports team, about their family, or what they enjoy doing outside of work. Talk about things you have in common that will help them get to know you, as well as you know more about them. What are the big and little things that matter to them? What are they excited about?

Overall, evidence repeatedly shows us that when you build strong career relationships you earn more trust and achieve better results with all your stakeholders.

ROTOMOULDING IN NORTH AFRICA

Adara Srl, Algeria Ian Hansen, Rota Consult

Adara rotomoulding facility, near Algiers

A Journey in Rotational Moulding in Northern Africa Adara Srl

Adara Srl, of Algeria, was established in 2000, initially to manufacture PPR (polypropylene random copolymer) pipe and plumbing fittings. The company grew to become a market leader in the manufacture and distribution of plumbing fittings throughout Algeria. In 2011, after researching the market and understanding the potential for water storage, Adara decided to diversify into polyethylene water tanks and so began their rotational moulding journey.

Algeria has a classic Mediterranean climate marked by summer months with little rainfall and clear blue skies. As the largest country in Africa, Algeria is mainly made up of arid land and 80% desert. Most of its 45million inhabitants live within a coastal strip 100kms (60mi) from the Mediterranean sea. Algeria has traditionally relied on groundwater and more recently on desalinated sea water for their drinking water.

While all the countries in North Africa have been left high and dry by the longer and more intense droughts over the past couple of decades, the water shortages faced by Algeria have been made worse by the mass migration of rural Algerians to the cities within the last 10 years. Algerian cities, including its capital, Algiers, have been experiencing significant water shortages.

The Adara factory is located in Oued Alleug, about 40km south west of the capital, Algiers. It is well positioned to supply the metropolitan area of Algiers, with an estimated 5 million people, and is also central to the heavily populated Mediterranean coastal strip of Algeria. Mr. Collu is one of the two partners who founded the company. Some of the larger water tanks (up to 25,000L) manufactured by Adara While he was familiar with plastics and the extrusion process to make polypropylene plumbing fitting, he had little understanding about rotational moulding. His research involved a steep learning curve to understand the rotational moulding manufacturing process as well as the potential for growth in the water tank market. After searching in Europe and Asia for suppliers of machines and moulds, Mr. Collu selected Rising Sun, from China, as his primary supplier. One of the key reasons for this decision was the ability of Rising Sun to manufacture and supply both the rotomoulding machine and the moulds as a turnkey project. Up until COVID impacted international travel, Rising Sun would send two technicians to Adara to not only assist with the machine assembly and commissioning, but also to train Adara staff on machine operation, machine maintenance, product moulding, and basic process control. Technicians would only leave Adara after the operators demonstrated they could

30,000L (8000USG) tanks loaded on truck ready for delivery to customers

operate the machine to make good quality products. Due to COVID-19, Adara’s latest shuttle machine will be installed and commissioned without any technicians.

While Adara is now very familiar with the Rising Sun machines and moulds their preference is to take advantage of the skills and experience from their supplier and use it as an opportunity to transfer knowledge to their own staff.

Adara does not have an in-house design team so they rely on Rising Sun to help them develop new projects, from concept to reality.

Their first rotomoulding machine was a 3 arm carousel. Commissioned in 2012, with moulds to make horizontal and vertical water tanks from 500L to 10,000L (500g to 2,600g), but also some moulds to make other products like road barriers, and pickup truck covers. Some diversification, just in case the governments huge investments in desalination plants and other big water infrastructure softened the demand for poly water tanks.

This decision was made with the knowledge that in 2011 Algeria had already built 14 desalination plants to provide more reliable water supplies. However, in the following 10 years this big infrastructure strategy failed to stop many cities being unable to supply enough water to keep up with demand. In recent years some municipal suppliers have rationed water supplies to once a day, and in some areas only once every second day. To manage this inconsistent supply city residents have resorted in increasing numbers over the past decade to store water in tanks, jerry cans, or whatever they could afford in their houses. In 2015, Adara introduced a line of large 25,000L (6,600g) water tanks, and by 2017, they began making 30,000L (8,000g) tanks. They now have expanded their rotomoulding equipment to 6 machines. Four carousel machines with ovens ranging from 2.5m to 4.5m (98in to 177in) and 2 shuttle machines with ovens ranging from 3.5m to 5.5m (138in to 216in). There is a 7th machine on the water from China, due to be commissioned in early 2022. While Adara have progressively made larger and larger capacity tanks for rural and industrial customers, the most popular tank sizes are 500l, 1000l, and 1500l. They are purchased by households to be installed on balconies, basements, or roofs of buildings. These need to be

small as they have to fit within restricted spaces, especially for people living in city apartments. They will typically be filled up from municipal supply, when the water is made available, so as to provide potable water whenever required.

Adara use a range of mould types, including fabricated aluminum, cast aluminum, CNC aluminum, but for water tanks the moulds are primarily fabricated steel.

The rotational moulding industry in Algeria is a thriving one, with 10 major rotomoulders and about 15 small scale rotomoulding operations scattered around the country. It suffers from the same problems familiar to many other countries. There can be a wide variation in quality between different moulders, which can create quality perception problems for the whole industry. The decision by Adara to diversify into water tanks has proven to be a successful one. It appears that the lack of confidence by the population in the government to provide water security, combined with the long duration of the drought, has sustained growing demand for individual water security through the use of storage tanks. Adara has grown their rotomoulding business significantly during the past decade and demonstrates the possibilities of rotational moulding, continuing to satisfy the basic human needs for water security with storage tanks, complimenting high technology solutions such as large scale reservoirs, desalination, and transfer canals.

Most rotomoulders in North Africa, Middle East, and Asia manufacture and promote triple layer tanks to their customers. They typically dry blend their colours, primarily to lower their raw material cost. However, dry blended pigments will leach into the water and affect the water quality which is one reason why they need to have an inner layer of natural; to minimise the risk of contamination to the drinking water. The black middle layer will

3.5m double shuttle machine, with operator access on top of oven for control of multi-layers

Customer collection of a domestic tank

be required in most tanks because the dry blended outer colour does not inhibit light transmission through the walls, as even low light levels can promote the growth of algae inside the tank. The inner layer of natural is a cheaper material cost, and allows the customer to more easily see if the water and tank inside is clean.

With the growth in demand for tanks over the past decade there have been some moulders importing low cost and low quality polyethylene resins and dry pigments, along with making tanks with inadequate wall thicknesses. This has resulted in some poor quality tanks entering the market, with a relatively short service life.

While Adara were new to the rotomoulding industry they decided to use high quality melt compounded colours to manufacture their tanks. They were aware of the technical advantages and disadvantages of tumble blending dry pigments and melt compounding, which were being drummed into the rotomoulding industry from recognised authorities such as Queens University Belfast. Adara understood the quality benefits of using an extruder to mix colours because they had extrusion experience manufacturing their own plumbing pipe and fittings.

Their business philosophy was to manufacture good quality products, using good quality materials with good quality moulds, combined with efficient and reliable machinery to ensure the market for water tanks have a long and prosperous future. Adara import their powder in a range of compounded colours, most commonly blue, green, and grey, as well as black for the middle layer, and white for the inner layer. They mould their tanks in 3 layers because consumers have been convinced that water tanks needed 3 layers to be fit for purpose. It has been easier to present their tanks to market with the same triple layer material design, using superior melt compounded colours, to avoid the disadvantages of tumble blended pigments. 2021 was a difficult year for the rotomoulding industry in Algeria. Like almost all countries around the world they faced significant increases in the cost of polymer. This was combined with the continued growth in demand because of the drought and increasing problems supplying drinking water. The increasing prices for tanks created customer anger as some perceived that they were being over charged because of the high demand, rather than the higher material costs.

Plastic tanks also received some bad press because some people were buying cheap second hand chemical tanks, which are not safe to store drinking water.

Algeria received large amounts of rain at the end of 2021, which fell into catchment areas allowing dams to increase storage levels significantly. This is good news for water stressed Algerians. While it may take some pressure off the municipal water supply authorities, and reduce the urgency for water tanks in the short term, it is likely that the long-term demand for rotomoulded water tanks will remain strong in Algeria.

The story of water scarcity is a growing concern across the world. Apart from Algeria, water scarcity is a problem all over North Africa, the Middle East, China, Brazil, and Australia. Even one of the world’s wealthiest countries, the United States, has suffered frequent and ongoing droughts in the southwest over the past two decades.

The quest for individual water security continues to support the growth of rotomoulded water storage solutions in Algeria and around the globe.

References

1. Mark P Kearns, Queens University Belfast, 2006 ARMSA

Seminar

Dru Laws and Daven Claerbout

Dru Laws

Inducted into the Rotational Molding Hall of Fame

Susan Gibson, JSJ Productions, Inc.

R Dru Laws was presented with the Rotational Molding industry’s highest honor, induction into the ARM Hall of Fame during the 2021 Rotoplas and ARM Fall Meeting held in Rosemont, Illionis in September. Dru was selected from a panel of his peers for his outstanding service and contributions to the industry.

Dru is a Past-President of ARM (Association of Rotational Molders) and currently CEO of Halltech Systems, as well as COO for Tango Manufacturing. He completed his tenure as the Senior Vice President of Seljan Company, with direct responsibility over the entire plastics manufacturing division of the company as well as significant influence over the metals manufacturing division.

A teacher and manufacturing expert, Dru graduated from Brigham Young University in 2003 with a BS in Mechanical Engineering, and a minor in Mathematics. In 2005, he graduated top of his class with distinction (honors) from the Queens University of Belfast in Northern Ireland with an MSc in Polymer Engineering from their school of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering.

Dru has several patents and has guest-lectured at several universities and learning institutions. In addition to running his own consulting business in the past, Dru oversaw the development efforts for Chroma Corporation’s Center of Excellence and was also the Director of Operations for Rotonics Manufacturing and a Division Counselor for the Society of Plastics Engineers.

A regular contributor of articles to plastic publications and presenter for many conferences worldwide, Dru has conducted and hosted several process workshops, helping manufacturers around the world better understand the principles of Manufacturing & Process Control. He published a 53-page technical resource guide on Rotational Foam Molding, which is now in its second edition. In 2014, Dru was recognized by Plastics News as one of the youngest rising stars in the entire plastics industry.

As Dru Laws accepted the high honor of the Rotational Molding Industry, induction into the ARM Hall of Fame, he shared the story of his journey in rotomoulding.

“As a young undergraduate at BYU in the mid 90’s, I had the privilege of working as an engineering intern at a company called Mity-Lite just before they chose to undergo an extensive rotation molding research and development project. And nothing about my first rotomolding experience was typical, but I didn’t know better,” he said.

The first machine Dru ran was a homemade shuttle that used infrared as the heating source. He used a Rotolog with every part because he thought everyone did. “I was trying to mold a XLPE skin with a PE foam-filled core in a very thin cross section because nobody bothered to tell me that wasn’t a good idea,” he said. Nonetheless, Dru was very excited about what he was doing….and he was immediately hooked. This was the genesis of Dru’s love affair with rotomoulding. It was one of the many

reasons he loves his engagement with industry colleagues. They are the only audience on the planet that can relate, he shared. He would have never guessed that that crazy project would place him on the most rewarding professional path he could have ever asked for.

The first person Dru met in the rotational molding industry was Steve (Ski) Andrzejewski, and the two have been great friends ever since. “Ski was the perfect industry ambassador for me at the time. Little did I know, he would be the first in a long list of amazing friends around the world,” he said.

Dru and his wife, Jessica, have welcomed many into their home to visit, stay, and share a meal. He named Jon Ratzlaff, Jim Carmon, Alongkorn Kanokboriboon, Fred Shockey, and others. He and his wife have, in turn, been welcomed into many colleagues’ homes with open arms including Rick Carlsen, Gary Lategan, and Lal Singh, to name a few. Dru has cycled hundreds of miles with Bill Spenceley and Carsten Erkel. He has rock crawled with Bob Bunday, jogged many miles alongside Oliver Wandres and Ronny Ervik, and ridden elephants with Gareth McDowell and Nick Henwood. Dru, along with his kids successfully navigated an escape room with Conchita Miranda. Dru recalled that his wife has walked the streets of several foreign cities with Orla Nugent and many other of his industry friends’ better halves. He has had excellent opportunities to seek counsel from Paul Nugent in many places around the world.

While at BYU, Dru was encouraged to submit the results of a school project he did, to Rotation magazine. That article led to a multi-year endeavor to develop a global standard for our dry-flow test. But more importantly, it also led to a wonderful friendship with Susan and Jennifer Gibson of RotoWorld® magazine for which Dru has contributed a number of articles and served as a department editor.

The first time Dru attended an ARM show, the program seemed to be dominated by speakers that had a close tie to the Queens University of Belfast in Northern Ireland including Mark Kearns, Mark McCourt, Paul Hanna, Luis Pick, Alvin Spence, and others. It was at that show that Dru determined to find a way to pursue his graduate degree at Queens Univeristy. And while at Queens, Roy Crawford, though a busy Pro Vice Chancellor at the time, took time to regularly meet with Dru and mentor him.

Dru and Jessica Laws “Thank you to my beautiful wife, Jessica. She knows more about rotomolding, process control, and foaming than she ever wanted to. And one day I promise to take her on a vacation somewhere that has nothing to do with rotomolding, maybe.” When first getting involved with SPE, he recalled being so hesitant to introduce himself to Glenn Beall. But his nerves were quickly calmed as Glenn genuinely encouraged him to get involved in the exciting rotational molding industry. “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time on the ARM Board, and the friendships I have forged with Adam Webb and Anna Evans. I always look forward to ARM meetings with much anticipation,” Dru said. In fact, he has enjoyed a tall glass of lemonade with too many industry friends at these meetings to count, and many of the attendees in the room have played some part in his roto path. “There are simply too many names to name individually. And there is simply not enough time to express my appreciation appropriately,” he said. “I owe so much of my career experiences to many of you, but none compared to the 5 people that have been at my side for the entire experience. Thank you to my four wonderful children, Ellie, Jaren, Kaden, and Grace. They can all identify a rotomolded part from a mile away. And thank you to my beautiful wife, Jessica. She knows more about rotomolding, process control, and foaming than she ever wanted to. And one day I promise to take her on a vacation somewhere that has nothing to do with rotomolding, maybe. I love you Jessica,” he said. “It is with humble heart, and gratitude to our Father in Heaven, that I accept this Hall of Fame honor,” Dru concluded.