With the auto sector loan package dominating the news, Canada AM (Canada’s major national morning current events show) called me for an interview on what’s needed to turn things around in this critical industry. I have trained and consulted supervisors, managers, and executives across a wide variety of industries over the past 30 years. That includes working with Toyota and GM management teams, as well as automotive parts manufacturers like Magna and their industry association.

The Canadian and American governments are providing huge loans for the North American auto industry to retool their plants and modernize their product lines. But unless those companies also modernize their management practices, those taxpayer’s dollars will be wasted and one or more of the companies will fail. The old adversarial command and control approaches must be replaced by collaborative practices that get everyone highly involved and engaged (as Toyota has done so successfully). You can read some of my previous writing on employee engagement and empowerment here.