GA 646 | Connect Before You Correct with Royden Johnson and Luc van Merrienboer

Culture shapes how people receive change, and nowhere is that clearer than on a shop floor where history, language, and moral authority all sit alongside the 5S board. Royden Johnson and Luc van Merrienboer bring two distinct lenses to that tension: Royden from years of leading continuous improvement in South Africa, and Luc from rolling out digital transformation across Asia and now the African continent. Their conversation with Ron covers resistance, influence, and what it actually takes to bring people along rather than drag them forward.

In this episode you’ll learn:

The cultural context of 5S in Asia and Africa (5:01)

How 5S connects to every performance pillar in a manufacturing operation (9:43)

What digital transformation actually looks like on a shop floor (13:04)

Where their passion for continuous improvement comes from (15:42)

How to use personal, social, and structural influencing strategies together (17:18)

How to handle CAVE people without losing the rest of the team (19:29)

Why unemployment history in South Africa shaped resistance to continuous improvement (25:32)

What happened when a leader stopped pushing and started listening (27:28)

How to speak, listen, and lead while keeping everyone’s dignity intact (31:50)

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