Episode #76: The Pressure Paradox in Manufacturing Leadership (Overdrive vs. Avoidance) with Marilyn-Rosa Green
In this episode of U.S. Manufacturing Today powered by Veryable, host Matt Horine talks with former shop-floor leader and executive coach Marilyn Rosa-Green about the “pressure paradox” in manufacturing leadership—how high performers can swing between overdrive and avoidance, often leading to burnout. Green shares how her curiosity on the production floor shaped her career and explains how lack of formal leadership training (citing 82% of managers) contributes to unhealthy pressure patterns, procrastination, perfectionism, and imposter syndrome, including avoidance of difficult feedback conversations. They discuss why AI and automation can optimize output but cannot replace human judgment and psychological safety, using an emergency stop-button example. Green offers practical first steps: slow down, get curious about resistant behaviors, consider long-term consequences, and use her Pressure Paradox assessment available on her website.
Links
- Marilyn's Website
- Marilyn on LinkedIn
- Matt Horine on LinkedIn
- Veryable Is Revitalizing U.S. Manufacturing
- Sign Up on the Veryable Platform
Timestamps
- 00:00 Welcome to the Podcast
- 01:23 Meet Marilyn Rosa-Green
- 01:47 From HR to Shop Floor
- 04:32 Defining Pressure Paradox
- 05:44 Burnout and Sustainability
- 08:14 Overdrive Versus Avoidance
- 10:52 Imposter Syndrome Explained
- 12:07 Feedback and Mentoring Gaps
- 15:58 AI and Human Judgment
- 18:17 Psychological Safety on Line
- 22:04 Spotting It in Yourself
- 26:00 Helping a Team Member
- 28:41 Pressure Paradox Assessment
- 30:23 Where to Learn More
- 30:55 Closing and Resources
Episode Transcript
Matt Horine: [00:00:00] Welcome back to U.S. Manufacturing Today, the podcast powered by Veryable, where we talk with the leaders, innovators, and change makers shaping the future of American industry, along with providing regular updates on the state of manufacturing and the changing policy landscape.
Here's a line that stuck with me: When revenue climbs and margin doesn't, the leader is usually the one quietly covering the difference, and only one of those problems ever shows up on a report.
My guest today has spent 15 years inside that gap, working the floor of companies like Hormel and Kettle Cuisine before becoming an executive coach for manufacturing leaders specifically. She points to a number worth sitting [00:01:00] with. 82% of managers step into the role with no formal leadership training at all, which means that the variable that decides whether a plant absorbs pressure well or poorly is usually the one left most to chance.
We'll explore those topics today, and my guest is Marilyn Rosa Green. Marilyn, welcome to US Manufacturing Today.
Marilyn: Thank you, Matt. I'm so excited to be here. Thank you for having me. I can't wait to have a great conversation with you. It's gonna be good
Matt: For sure. This is a very exciting topic something that, kind of impacts all levels of leadership within a manufacturing operation or supply chain. And so something, to explore and learn more about. But before we get into, the framework that you're known for would love to give our listeners a quick version of how you ended up bridging the shop floor manufacturing experience and the executive s- suite, and how that turned into the work that you do now.
Marilyn: Yeah, for sure. I think honestly it just started with me just not knowing what was going on the production line. I came into manufacturing as someone working in human resources for a company who operated [00:02:00] online mostly. So that was a huge change in industries for me. And when I went into manufacturing, I just didn't know how it worked in there.
It was a mystery to... I got a tour, my first day and everything, and that was really fun, and I was just so excited. But every time I'd have an employee come and talk to me about an issue, I could not picture them. I'm a very visual person and so I would say why don't you... Let's just go in and why don't you show me what's going on?"
What... and so it kinda started just being curious and wanting to be immerse my- myself in their world, and then that's how I started to get more involved in training and development and lean and safety and just different things like that. And just really being a support for supervisors for the most part because those were the ones that were really just had so much heart and were promoted.
They started as an operator and were just promoted 'cause they knew how to do the job but didn't have that leadership or formal training in leadership or managing people, and so that's why they were [00:03:00] reaching out to someone from, quote-unquote, the office that maybe had the answers.
And so yeah, that's kinda how it started is just me being curious, wanting to go in there, and I loved it. It was... My favorite part of the day was when I could go into the production floor, for sure. And I started I think I just, I started from the very beginning because there is something about specifically food manufacturing that, or manufacturing in general, I think that I come across, is that if you're not from that world, you don't really understand.
That, that's kinda the unspoken expectation. You must l- You have no idea. You may be doing it somewhere else, but it's different. The way we do it is just a special way. And so building that credibility took some time, and I was really aware that how they failed and how protective they were of their processes and their people and everything.
And so I was... I just took a very humble approach of "Why don't you just teach? Why don't you just tell me the way?" And and yeah, I think that I think was the way of me starting to build that [00:04:00] bridge into advising and working more as a strategy partner because I was able to really listen and put myself in their shoes.
And I think after that was just a natural progression of kinda moving through the different ladders of leadership and being a liaison.
Matt: Yeah. That's a familiar story. You said something there that stuck out with me. It's like we're different. It's a lot of what we see in manufacturing, it's not different, but there are very, intricate processes by site, by a company, by-- And they all do things in their own special way.
But the leadership lessons are, and what we're gonna get into here is pretty exciting because I think it applies across the board. Some of that gap that we mentioned, in the opening, you have called it the pressure paradox. What does it actually look like when some of those high performers that you mentioned start managing pressure badly, and why does the same person often swing between two totally opposite behaviors?
You can see kind of the the differences play out
Marilyn: Yeah, for sure. I'll tell you, I'll tell you my story is that one of the things that attracted me to manufacturing was how dynamic it was. It was definitely fast-paced. It [00:05:00] is. It's just the way that it is. It's just fast-paced, and it's exciting, and there's so many different moving parts.
And to make one product, there's so many eyes, so many hands that have to be involved, and so I was just really excited for that ongoing change and challenge. I thrive in that kind of environment. That was very Man, I don't know if this is the I'm such a nerd for saying it this way, but it's kinda sexy.
It's kinda dangerous. It's kinda "Oh, this is fun. This is gonna be amazing." And and I saw the level of work ethic. I've just been very very fortunate to be around people that have very strong work ethic, and they worked really hard, to a point where they wear that as a badge. I t- how- look how many hours I'm clocking in, right?
That, that kind of mentality. And I think that when you have that level of thrive and you're able to thrive in that environment is... It's not everybody that can succeed in that, but I d- but I also think that the, the paradox is that how sustainable is that, right? [00:06:00] Sure, it gets you going, gives you that push, it gives you that momentum, that excitement.
It challenges you in all the right ways. But also over time at some point, it's just, it can become unbearable because then you cannot function without that level of chaos or without that level of pressure. And your nervous system, your leadership identity at some point is gonna want some level of stability and consistency and predictability.
And yeah I think that's why that's, there's that overdrive and we talked before the recording, but we talked about that avoidance and overdrive and how, we're under this level of I was, and that level of pressure, and I really enjoyed it, and then I got to a point where I burned out.
And I experienced burned out before I could even call it that because yeah, of course I'm gonna be sleep deprived if I'm working seven days a week. Of course I'm g- but I have this deadline, or I have this thing, or it's gonna be fine. It's like once we launch this product, and once we finish the expansion planning, and it, [00:07:00] l- there's always something.
There's always something that was gonna keep pushing me until I burned out, and I burned out really young. I was really young in my career. I was, I wanna say I was, like, mid-20s maybe. I was very young. And it really took me out, Matt. It really took me out.
And then what I realized through that experience was that it happens all of the time. The level of burnout in manufacturing is so high, right? And so n- now as an executive coach, what I help my clients with is to understand when they're in that level of pressure, when it helps them, what about the environment can be helpful to them, and what kinds of things are not helpful?
What kinds of things are not healthy? What things they are it's part of their job, and other things, they're making it be part of their job. That self-induced pressure, we start to identify, what is it about this that is, that brings you joy, and what are the things that you're trying to justify that you're supposed to do but you don't have that?
Matt: Yeah. There's a, there's an [00:08:00] element to that I think, you know I've heard it referred to as like a, almost a hijacking of like priorities, right? Where it's you've built in so much pressure on yourself that, separating what actually matters and, what what doesn't or what's not part of your role or part of your responsibility, people take that on.
And I think you described it as like the two extremes when we s- when we spoke, and kind of two problems, but, or same problem wearing two different masks, like overdrive and avoidance. Why is naming this or giving the leaders an actual language for it, it seems like it's half the battle if I'm, thinking about that right?
Marilyn: Yeah. Thank you, Matt, for circling back to those two words because when I, when you see many times I, I see the people that I work with, people in manufacturing that have been in manufacturing for 15, 20, 30 years, I see them as high achievers. They m- they might not self-label in that way, but I see them as, as high achievers because what you have to accomplish, what you have to go through to have that level of experience in manufacturing, it's a lot.
It's a lot of [00:09:00] sacrificing, and I admire that a lot. It's a lot of hard work. It's a lot of sweat and tears, right? And there are a lot of things that you have to avoid to do. You have to sacrifice a lot of things, and sometimes that becomes normalized, and sometimes is I have to really, if I'm actually just picturing someone that I was having a conversation with recently who was in manufacturing for about 30 years. He left a company as as, as a VP of operations and was kinda deciding his next step. Sh- should I, do some consulting? Should I go back and take this role with this smaller manufacturer?
What should I do? And they were having a lot of resistance, and what we recognized was, in conversation, that he was avoiding certain things in his life, and he was resisting that. And that was really uncomfortable because they have always been the person that was doing a lot of the overdrive. I'm not saying over-deciding, but even trying to decipher his d- direct reports [00:10:00] or feeling impatient when things weren't moving at a certain pace or being completed at a certain level of standard.
And so that was really uncomfortable to be the same person, right? But because the situation, the container had changed, they were behaving differently, and they were not, with this level of pressure or this level of pace, it was almost uncomfortable. Now they ha- they had this intentionality about how they made the decisions of where they were gonna go next, that they were second-guessing themselves.
Matt: Yeah, that's a really good way of s- it is a same problem, right? It's it's something that, kinda masks itself in, in appearance and really important to think about because a lot of leaders do that. It's at what point is it avoiding hard things or what kind of a, a point is it of subconsciously moving away from from things that, that really matter and, high performers are probably really prone to, to l- learning that the hard way.
We talked in, when we met each other we talked a l- kind of at length about this, and I maybe brought up, the competency crisis, which is something that we hear a [00:11:00] lot about, on the surface. There's big concerns about, competency across the board, not only in manufacturing, but a lot of industries and we'll get into AI and all that here in a minute.
But one thing that, that always seems to be thematic is this idea of imposter syndrome. And, how much of that, because we hear a lot about that sometimes on the show and, how much of the, quote-unquote, "imposter syndrome" overlaps with what you're describing? Is it actually a completely different thing, or is this something that applies under that kind of the avoidance banner?
Marilyn: Yeah. I think honestly it overlaps quite a bit. Yeah. It, it does. I think what I described was I think like two layers underneath that. I think that imposter syndrome is something that is more recognizable. Maybe it's because it's more talked to or because it I don't know, it's just something that we can really maybe acknowledge a little bit better, probably mostly in other people than ourselves because, that, that would require a level of vulnerability sometimes that it's hard to go there sometimes, at least in the line of work that I do.
That's really hard. But I think we all struggle with imposter syndrome in some way, and [00:12:00] the sooner we recognize that, the better. But yeah I think it does overlap quite a bit because it is about how you see yourself. If you are avoiding something let's talk about really practical things.
If you have, as a superintendent or as a plant manager, i- if you have a le- a percentage of your work that is involving mentoring a- and talking to supervisors and kind of training, kind of that development, and that's very important. That is, if not the most important thing, one of the top three most important things that you have to do in that role.
And there's other very important, very urgent, time-sensitive things. So what happens is you address the time- the deadline first, right? You... Or you're putting out the fires, and then you say, "I'll get to mentoring another time, tomorrow." You'll find a better place. And then you start to make, i- give yourself excuses that sound very logical as to why you're gonna put it off, right?
And so [00:13:00] then you put it off a day, a week, a month. Oh, boy. Now you're really behind i- in having these conversations. And and you start to think I..." I'm thinking of plant manager that I worked with recently. He just finished up my program, and that was his thing. He loved working with people, but he did not really wanna give the level of feedback that he needed to.
That's a really hard conversation. And he had a lot of resistance to that, not because he didn't wanna train or mentor, wasn't a people person, but he just didn't wanna go that deep with certain people because he just didn't wanna deflate them. He just wanted to be the, their cheerleader in a way, that he wanted to kinda pump them up or, and so he avoided those conversations. And then he started to think, I remember the first, the few sessions that we had he would say, maybe I'm not cut out for this. Aren't you supposed to be really comfortable giving feedback? I've been in this industry for 20 years.
Why can't I just do it? If I know what I need to do why can't I just do it," right? And so that's how the imposter syndrome starts to show [00:14:00] up, because what you do is you believe that you're not good enough for these things, and so then you o- over-focus on these other things, right? When it came to starting a project, he was great at that.
When it s- when it was... When it came to delegating, he was great at that. So he would double down on that, and then avoid these other things that were just really important. Then he really told himself that he just wasn't cut out for this whole thing because of this little piece of the pie.
And that if, it, that's definitely imposter syndrome. It's just that we see it as this one little piece, I don't believe I'm good enough, right? But we don't look at the behavior. And what I do is I look at the belief, and then I also look at the behavior tied to it, and it wears two different masks.
Most people that are very stuck in the, in this place, in this cycle, this pressure paradox, they struggle with both procrastination and perfectionism or avoidance and overdrive. However you wanna call it. But that's where they kinda get this push and pull. And it [00:15:00] may be on the production floor, or it could be something's going on at home and I deal with it differently at home, and something's going on at work and I deal with it differently.
So it doesn't have to be on the same production floor. It could be in two different dimensions of life as well
Matt: Yeah, no, that's well said. I think that a lot of people carry o- they can blend their dimensions, right? The, they're not the same person in one aspect versus the other, and that's where a lot of the imposter syndrome feeds in. It's also funny that you mentioned the feedback, because it's hard for everybody, even people that you would consider good at giving, you know, constructive feedback or those that...
They don't like to do it. Nobody, genuinely likes... They like to mentor, they like to point out where they can make processes better, but when you have to deliver the hard news, it probably does take a toll on a lot of leaders because they, they don't wanna be that person.
But it's the best thing they can do, to serve good leadership to, to people that they're responsible for, is providing them that feedback so they can improve as well. So thank you for kind of diving into that and bridging the gap there. I know that was something that we just talked about when we had the chance to meet.
I thought it was important, especially for our manufacturing audience. And we'll get back to what it looks like [00:16:00] on, on the shop floor, but I think one other big segment and a consistent theme around our show is the use of artificial intelligence and its impact in manufacturing, in the manufacturing space, and there's a lot of anxiety in the industry, and not just in the industry, just in general right now.
Whether it replaces judgment instead of supporting judgment, and you made the point on, on our call that a machine can tell you what the optimal output is, but it can't make the call when variables change. Could you un- unpack that a little bit and maybe give us a, a great example?
I think you had one about an emergency stop button that w- that we had talked about.
Marilyn: for sure. Yeah, I think the what I think back to was I worked with this factory that was really their focus was they needed to change the safety culture because they have worked on everything, and they had really the, like a, a wonderful training program and they had improved so much in their guarding.
There was a lot of slicers that they would use, so they had some dismemberment. They had some really awful incidents. And so they really worked [00:17:00] on from an engineering perspective. They really thought of everything, and yet when it came to the people using those tools, right? Or going even if they have the tools, just the confidence.
That just w- th- there seemed to be a gap there. And what I was talking to you about was just this, this idea that we had of if we have the emergency button and when something on the line is getting flash and it gets, the, the buzzer goes off and something's off, it's not gonna do everything on its own because you need some kind of, the emergency button needs to... Someone needs to walk over there and literally press the button. So like the machine can tell you it's not yielding right. It's it can tell you it needs more film. It can tell you, it can track all these different things, and yet if there's something off, whatever the reason is, you still need someone to walk over there and press the button to stop the line.
Because the system is there, the AI is there, or the robotics, whatever, it's there to make the thing work. But if s- a variable [00:18:00] changes, then how do we recalibrate? We can't... To a certain extent, we could have AI do that for us, but we still need the human to tell AI to do that. AI is just a tool.
We need to have the confidence and the judgment to be able to make those calls, to be able to educate it. And if an employee is scared, which is in with the, the company that I'm telling you about with this, this team, they, their systems were great, but if the people feel like if they press the button, they stop the line, everybody's gonna look at them, and they're gonna be scared to make a mistake.
What if that was the wrong call? Even though everything is directing you, you have the light that's flashing- It, the, it, you, the, everything is telling you, do you press the button or not, right? It, they're scared that if they do that, even though logically you're supposed to, you still have to make call.
So that's where psychological safety, we cannot... that's through human connection, that's through building trust that's through setting boundaries, that's through encouraging [00:19:00] people to speak up and giving them the the process of doing that and the space of doing that. And AI can certainly support in facilitating how we do that, but who does it?
You still need people for that. Who leads that initiative? You still need the leadership to do that
Matt: Yeah, that's a great example because it ties into-- We had an episode a couple weeks ago with Brian Fielkow who wrote a book about making safety happen, that describes a lot of, what we talked about with him, somebody making the call. And even, you strip out all the buzz around AI and everything that goes on even making the call without that sometimes can be y- somebody has to s- to step up and take that, that action, which is, a lot of people do sit on the sidelines because they worry about second and third order effects. What will people think of me? Did I make the wrong call? Is that something that now becomes a joke? Is it something that, informs people's vision of me as a leader? So I think it's-- we've weaved AI into this, but it's so fun- foundational to a lot of the things you're talking about, specifically like the psychological safety of, "No, I need to be, empowered enough to go make that call as, as a shop floor leader [00:20:00] or anyone."
So thanks for unpacking that a little more for us.
Marilyn: Yeah, for sure. And just to clarify, this this stop button thing that I'm telling you about had nothing to do with AI. I'm just kinda incorporating it because of what we're talking about because it makes sense, but at the same time, when we had that issue we were not talking about AI at all.
But in manufacturing, o- over the years, we've always gone back to technology. What can we improve? It's a whole mentality of continuous improvement, and so of course we've used technology, robotics, we've used anything that we can to be able to excuse me, to work more effectively and also to reduce the potential of injuries and all of these different things.
And I think AI, it's just, again, it's a new era of the level of technology or the tools that we use. It's just a different kind of one, but it's th- we've done this forever. Forever. When I started in manufacturing it... and it was not that long ago, to be fair. But still I would say maybe even in food manufacturing, 'cause I've seen other types of manufacturers are usually a little bit more behind in, [00:21:00] in automation.
A, a little bit. And there's a lot of reasons for that that has to do with the product and the shelf life and the d- different things like that capacity and a lot of things that I won't get into. But it... yeah, it's it's just a new... it's understandable.
People are gonna have fear over that, and they're gonna have hesitations and, are people going to lose their jobs? And all of th- these different fears and I think that just like anything new, it's better to be curious. It's better to lean into it and see how does it fit the brand?
How does it fit the narrative? How does it fit the functions of the business and how it needs to operate, and what needs to be improved? What's the vision? What does it look like with AI in it, as opposed to leading from fear? Because then we'll just make the wrong choices.
We'll be very reactive that way
Matt: Yeah that's well said. It's something that, you know, if you do lead from fear, that's the kind of thing that develops in an organization where the culture becomes like, what are the consequences of me making a call, a good judgment call? As opposed [00:22:00] to, it doesn't matter if it's right or wrong, somebody had to make the call because all the warning lights, all the signs were there.
So speaking of that, you've talked a lot about like the manufacturing leadership everything from the shop floor, you know, all the way up, up the chain. But if a plant manager or someone like a VP of operations or somebody, listening to the show suspects they're stuck in overdrive or avoidance, they're, they've heard what we've been talking about and they say, "No, that's me," or, "That's me," or could be both.
What's a realistic way to start noticing it in themselves, to make like an immediate change?
Marilyn: Yeah, for sure. I think that this is gonna sound, this is gonna s- Okay, so there's a couple ways to do this, right? 'Cause w- think about this. Someone in this situation is a doer, right? So that's why you're asking me already, what can they do? 'Cause they want something to do, right? They want an action, they want a plan, they wanna figure it out, and they wanna do it right.
That's fair to say, right? That's, that that's '
Matt: cause I jumped right into it. Yeah.
Marilyn: Yeah, exactly. It's like, "Tell me, how do I fix it? I see a problem, fix it." Okay. So my, my thing is, see, slow down a little bit. B- [00:23:00] before you get to problem solution, 'cause i- and that, that's something that I take away from manufacturing that has trained my problem-solving skills so much, so I'm very grateful for that, and yet it's also one of the things that get you in a little bit of trouble.
So what I would say is slow down enough to what is the gap between the problem and the solution. Get a little bit more curious about what that problem is, and try not to look at it as a problem, okay? So for example, if you are working crazy hours, and you're very sleep-deprived, and you're not sleeping well, the tendency would be to say, "I have a sleep problem.
I gotta fix it." Okay. What I'm saying is, before you go and try different things, maybe lean into what this problem is. Maybe it's not a problem. Maybe it's an opportunity to learn a bit more about yourself and why are you not sleeping. One of the reasons why people struggle with sleep is what is going [00:24:00] on throughout the day.
It's nothing to do with their sleep routine, but it's more about what is activating the nervous system through the day that's keeping them completely restless at night. It could even be deeper than this. A lot of people that are avoiding having a very serious conversation or maybe keeping a secret have a hard time with sleep, right?
And I would say notice one behavior in the next 30 days. Just notice something that i- you feel is holding you back, that maybe you have some resistance, or you can't seem to figure it out, and then get really curious. Lean into it a little bit better. Instead of trying to overdrive and try to fix it right away or avoiding it and not paying attention to it find a little balance in the middle, and be a bit more mindful about understanding.
Matt: No, it's
Marilyn: once you do that... so let me add just one more thing. Once you do that, I think if you wanna take it one step further, 'cause I feel like for those that wanna grab a pen and paper right now, just think about if you don't do anything about this problem, if you don't learn [00:25:00] about it, if you don't get curious, if you don't take one little small step, if you don't do that, what's gonna happen with you in the next six months to a year?
Where do you think you would be? Okay, and I'll leave it at that.
Matt: That's a great, no, that's a great way to think about it because you're just thinking about the immediacy of the issue, right? I jumped straight into it and said right off the bat, "How do I fix it? How do I solve it?" And, your, the sleep score or the sleep example is a perfect example because I just did it again.
Sleep score. People look at their sleep scores. They wear wearables, so they do all that stuff. They're like, "Oh, my sleep was this," or, "It was that." It's like, what does it matter? If you could have a, a sleep score in the 90 percentile or, a really high range, and you could still have a horrible day because you're avoiding things, or you could have a lower one and you're just a hard charger.
That's the overdrive avoidance thing, right? So I think the sleep score thing should probably resonate well because people try to track all these metrics and track all these, these things about themselves, and it's like, what is the root cause of why you don't sleep or why you don't do something?
You could take that and extrapolate it over, a ton of different scenarios. So that, that's a really good way to think about it. A lot of it is introspection and [00:26:00] observing yourself. What if you're noticing it in someone on your team, and again, trying to take action first, but maybe taking a step back.
But what if you're trying to catch that before it becomes a bigger retention problem or performance problem? Is there a way to, proactively, approach this as opposed to a call-out?
Marilyn: Yeah, for sure. L- you're saying if you notice it in one of your team members?
Matt: Yes. Yeah
Marilyn: Yeah. I I think that it's hard to say without knowing how much skill you have in having and approaching these conversations that sometimes can be perceived as very personal and not performance-wise, right?
And it's also hard to say because it d- it really depends. I feel when I was a safety manager, that's all I said to every question it depends."
It really depends. But in this situation, it also depends on the trust level, how comfortable. So I would say this less...
More is not better. More is not better. When you're try- when you see something in one of your team members, the idea is, again, slow down and get a little bit more curious about it. And instead of jumping to [00:27:00] conclusions, jumping to how do I help them fix it, what do I do, maybe is who can help me with this, right?
Maybe there's someone who can help me with this issue, right? Maybe there's someone I can talk to. If you're noticing that a lot of people in your team are burning out, maybe you need to talk to someone who knows about wellbeing in the workplace a- and help you gain a little bit more understanding and skill.
Maybe it's a one-person issue. It's not a team issue. Maybe it's just one person. So then maybe you have a conversation with them directly and just say what you've noticed. Just make an observation. "Hey, I've noticed here lately that that you're coming a little bit later to the meetings, and you're shuffling through your papers.
And typically you've been well-prepared. Not a judgment, just an observation. I just wanted to check in with you. What's going on with life? Are you doing okay?" "Is there something I can do?" And just leave it to them to share or not. And y- you don't even have to make an observation, right?
D- again, depending on the level of trust and comfort. [00:28:00] It could just be like, "Hey, I just thought I'd check in. How's everything going?" And let them talk. Let them just spill their guts, and then go from there.
Matt: No it's a good point because like you said, people like to try to solve problems immediately out the gate and, kind of the rule in-- it, it chalks up to a lot of things in life. It's a negotiati- negotiation in that you're trying to get the right, levers to pull or not pull out of it, and letting them talk maybe provides a little bit more of a sound judgment call from your side.
This is-- and I'm not gonna fall into the trap again about how do I fix it or how do I solve it. But but, the-- if someone was listening to the show today and they wanted to take a real step in the next 30 days, not like a, you know, problem prescription, problem solved. But if they wanted to take a real step in the next 30 days towards breaking out of overdrive or avoidance, if they've identified it in themselves, what would you have them do?
And, maybe it's if you could tell us a little bit more about the pressure paradox assessment that you offer.
Marilyn: Yeah, for sure. I think, having a little bit of data is always really helpful for manufacturing [00:29:00] leaders. That's really important to have, to your point, like a, a bit of what's the problem or what do I do, right? And so I created this assessment to help manufacturing leaders understand if they are, in this moment in life, more in the overdrive or avoidance, and then also the belief underneath that.
And that, that gives them a lot of information and also a breakdown of things that they understand, but it's hard to put all the pieces together because they're just being. They're just doing the things that they always do until they feel like they're stuck somewhere.
And so taking this assessment, I reply personally to every submission, and I take that step as a way to, again, get curious and really understand what is it that they're struggling with, and I try to help them connect the dots. So I personally reply to every submission. Here lately I've been adding a video as well to it.
It's very comprehensive and personalized. And then they get an [00:30:00] invitation from me to review those results during a call, and it really is just a conversation, so I can honestly empathize. The... My job here is before I prescribe, I wanna empathize. I wanna really get myself in your shoes, put those on, and understand what that feels like so that then we can work collaboratively on next steps
Matt: Sounds like a great process. Where can our listeners go to learn more about your work and to find that assessment and learn more about you?
Marilyn: Yeah, so my website is marilynrosaconsultingsolutions.com. A- I don't have a separate page for the assessment as of right now, but it's called The Pressure Paradox. So if you go to my website, marilynrosaconsulting.com, you should be able to find it there at the top
Matt: Excellent. Marilyn, thank you for joining us today and for, explaining the framework. I think a lot of our listeners are going to recognize themselves in that one and maybe check it out.
Marilyn: Thank you so much, Matt, for having me. It's been a pleasure
Matt: Thank you so much. To stay ahead of the curve and to help plan your strategy, please check out our website and under the resources section titled Trump 2.0, where you can see the framework around upcoming policies from the administration and how they will impact you as a manufacturer.
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