Your Intentions Don't Matter with Trevor Blondeel

Intentions don’t matter.

At least not as much as most leaders think.

In this week’s episode of People First, I sat down with Trevor Blondeel, founder of Manufacturing Greatness, and we unpacked a moment many leaders quietly recognize.

Trevor was running a plant meeting. He explained the plan. Gave direction. Walked out thinking everything was clear. Then his assistant pulled him aside. “You really pissed those guys off.” That moment led to a realization many leaders eventually face:

Good intentions don’t guarantee good leadership. Because leadership isn’t judged by what we meant. It’s judged by how our actions land with others.

In our conversation we explore:

• Why good leaders sometimes damage relationships without realizing it
• The disconnect that often exists between leadership and the front line
• Why curiosity is one of the most underrated leadership skills
• The three conversations that can transform how teams work together

1️⃣ How are we showing up?
2️⃣ What are the expectations?
3️⃣ Where does accountability sit?

Simple conversations.
But most teams never actually have them.

If you lead people — whether in manufacturing, healthcare, tech, or anywhere in between — this episode is a reminder that the real work of leadership isn’t control. It’s connection.

🎧 Watch or listen here:
 [YouTube link]

And a question for you: When was the last time you asked someone, “How am I showing up for you?”

Creators and Guests

Guest

Trevor Blondeel

Founder of Manufacturing Greatness

What is People First! with Morag Barrett?

People First! with Morag Barrett explores the human side of leadership: workplace relationships, leadership trust, Meaning-FULL Connectivity™, and the Ally Mindset™ practices that drive real results in business and life.

In each episode, keynote speaker, executive coach, USA Today bestselling author, and Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches member Morag Barrett sits down with authors, business leaders, and everyday humans to uncover practical ways to strengthen connection, collaboration, and culture in an increasingly disconnected world.

Because success in business is powered by relationships. And success in life is fueled by connection.

Learn more at skyeteam.com/speaking

Trevor Blondeel [00:00:00]:
Morig.

Morag Barrett [00:00:03]:
Welcome to this week's episode of People First. And my guest today is Trevor Blondeel, and he personifies my mantra of two degrees of separation. Trevor and I were introduced for two very good reasons. One, we have a mutual friend in Karen Gibson, and if you haven't listened to that episode of People First, it's a doozy. You need to dial in. And we are also both alumni from the Heroic Public Speaking program. So we have so much in common. But when we aren't connecting on People First, Trevor is the founder of Manufacturing Greatness, a podcast and a leadership development firm that helps those in the manufacturing industries to develop leadership, team, and individual skills.

Morag Barrett [00:00:57]:
His passion is developing future leaders, driving organizational change, improving team engagement, and connecting the top to the shop. But what caught my eye as I was reviewing his website was this quote from Trevor: "Connection is the power that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued." I know we're going to have an amazing conversation today, Trevor. Welcome to People First.

Trevor Blondie [00:01:26]:
Thank you, Mari. That's a great introduction. Thanks for taking the time, and it's been cool getting to know you.

Morag Barrett [00:01:32]:
I am looking forward to it. So let's start with the skinny. What role have relationships and human connection played in your success?

Trevor Blondie [00:01:44]:
Yeah, so, you know, people describe, you know, me a little bit, they'll describe me as likable, uh, and, and in a humbling way, but just I don't know, I like people. I'm an extrovert. I'm interested in other people. And in general, I just have— I'm not rich financially, but I have some great relationships in my life. And I thought, okay, well, that's cool. That's going to serve me, right, through going through manufacturing, being a leader. But then I realized, oh, there's people that don't like Trevor. And there's versions of Trevor that shows up in relationships that can be very damaging.

Trevor Blondie [00:02:24]:
And, and I— and, you know, as I started to get excited and, and I had a great career in manufacturing, ran plants for 25 years, getting promoted, there are some behaviors of my bosses that I started to emulate which wasn't to my core values and who I was. And all of a sudden, Trevor started to be somebody else, right? And then that started to cause some, some dent in relationships, some that are— some that I broke that I, I can't even repair anymore. And this is coming from a likable guy. That just made some poor choices in moments when I was under pressure. And now I know better.

Morag Barrett [00:03:04]:
Wow. I mean, that level of self-awareness is a hard one for any of us because I think I can too look back at times in my career where I have said something, done something, and of course, internally, I know that I was doing it for the best of all or the best of me maybe, but the impact it has had is either disproportionate to my intention or completely unaligned. And that isn't other people's fault, that's ours. And it's easy to look out and see the toxic leaders around us and point the finger and blame. It takes courage and vulnerability to hold the mirror up and recognize that by other people's definition of toxic leader, I've been that person. I have been the adversary that I talk about in Cultivate and then choosing to show up differently, to acknowledge it, own it, and show up differently. That's where growth can happen.

Trevor Blondie [00:04:07]:
Oh yeah. And I just had some good resources and I was reading this pretty cool book and—

Morag Barrett [00:04:12]:
Snap! Look at that. Here's one I wrote earlier. So I know you'd sent me a beautiful book review that you're planning to publish about Cultivate. So huge hugs and thanks for that. And please write me a review on Amazon. That's the other thing.

Trevor Blondie [00:04:27]:
Oh, you will. Yeah. And so what I took out of that was when we start thinking of people in a certain way, like I'm thinking about this maintenance supervisor and he just wasn't engaged and I'm just like, I just kind of had to drive him. And what you said, Marc, was like, if you say, well, they're just acting like a 3-year-old, As soon as we start doing that, and that resonated with me because I, I, I had some moments in my career where I started to do that. And once you start to write somebody off in a relationship, it changes the whole dynamics because you're thinking that other person is the problem, but how you're showing up, how you're framing it, is starting to impact that whole relationship. So you're actually advocating that behavior of a 3-year-old. So that, that section really hit home with me. And I was like, yeah, you know what, we, we got to be more— and my whole thing is like, be curious.

Trevor Blondie [00:05:18]:
Like, if we can remain in that state of just— that's a t-shirt that I'm going to get that's going to say, just be, be curious. Because if we can remain in that state, it's like, huh, I wonder why they're acting like a 3-year-old. Well, hold on a minute, what do I own in that, right? Like, how am I fueling that, or how am I diffusing that? And I think that could— that is— that's transformational. And that part like really resonated with me.

Morag Barrett [00:05:40]:
So I love that because by becoming friends at work, which is part of the Gallup 12 questions, do I have a best friend at work? And it's the riff that we took on, You, Me, We: Why We All Need a Friend at Work and How to Show Up as One. It doesn't actually lower standards. When we become a friend at work, and as you've said, we're curious about what might be driving the behavior of that shift supervisor, Understanding the whole person, we can still articulate the expectations and standards that need to be met, but now we can be more creative about how we meet them together, taking into account whatever is driving that behaviour, whether it's a, a lack of understanding of the workplace expectations. Maybe it's something happening in their home life that is impacting them for the next few weeks or months, in which case, we know there's a time horizon. How do we work through it and be better together? So I'm curious though about your journey. You mentioned there the shift supervisor and the work that you do in Manufacturing Greatness. I know there's a book coming as well.

Trevor Blondie [00:06:51]:
Yes, there is.

Morag Barrett [00:06:52]:
Give us the short pocket history of how did you get where you are today? Because my guess is at 5, as a wee lad, you weren't sitting there going, ooh, I want to be doing leadership and team development in a manufacturing environment and writing my first book.

Trevor Blondie [00:07:12]:
No. And I'm sitting right here in this house that's been here for 60 years that my parents, you know, I grew up in. And they're nursery farmers, tree farmers, and they worked all the time. So I had some good foundation there. But there's a point where it's kind of like, you know, I want to make my own money and I don't want to work this many hours as they do. Somehow I thought manufacturing was going to be less hours than nursery farming. So maybe not. And so yeah, I went down that path.

Trevor Blondie [00:07:40]:
And because, you know, I thought I was interested in manufacturing and it was just a good— seemed like a good paying career and it was a place where I could advance. And I believe in, you know, in 2026, it is that today. It's not necessarily perceived that way. And that's part of my mission is to, you know, is, is to shift the industry of like, it doesn't have to be this way. It's got this reputation. So we're doing some research and we're doing, um, you know, obviously writing the book on the framework. But, you know, it, it— there was a moment where— so I grab all these engineers because I get a— and supervisors, and I'm running this, this plant, and, and I get this call. So 9 o'clock in the morning, I bring everybody into a room, and I got great leadership training Like, Trevor is likable, he's got all the training.

Trevor Blondie [00:08:26]:
Hey, everyone, we need these cycle times, you know, by the end of the day, corporate call, they need this. And everybody good? You know, so I told, you know, let's go back to my desk. I told them everything, and my assistant Amy walks in and she's like, huh, you really pissed those guys off. Like, what are you talking about? Like, I'm Trevor Blondeel, I run this place, like, I know what I'm doing. She says, I don't know, but I could tell that you didn't know, and I thought you should know because they left worse than when they came in. And I'm like, huh. So little pause there in the story, but that's relationships, right? So she and I had a good relationship. She was an adversary for me, right? Like, she was an ally.

Trevor Blondie [00:09:22]:
And so she just kind of made me think. So I go out there and I talk to one of the supervisors. I said, hey, Randy, how's it going? He's like, fine. And I know from your work, you know what fine means.

Morag Barrett [00:09:35]:
Fine is a 4-letter word right now.

Trevor Blondie [00:09:38]:
Yeah, that's an F word. And I'm like, okay, what's really going on? He's like, you really want to know? We're having a good day with production. You walk in, do all the talking, spin us all in another direction, and we're going to lose 10% production because of it. And that's— that was humbling. That was a significant emotional event. That was kind of like, that's not who I am. What is going on with me? And I— this has got— this, this is a problem. So I brought everybody back in and kind of asked some questions, and I had to kind of be humble and realize that, um, another thing that I liked in your book too, you talk about intentions.

Trevor Blondie [00:10:12]:
I like to say Perceptions matter more than good intentions. And I would say, well, here's my intention. But our intentions don't matter. It's what lands with our relationships that matters. So when I stopped focusing on, well, this is what I intended, and started being more curious on, like, oh, I wonder how that landed. Because Amy's not always here to grab me by the collar and say, hey, Trevor, you're being a jerk. I don't think you know it.

Morag Barrett [00:10:39]:
And I think what's powerful about that is it shows that in Amy, you had that best friend at work, the ally, the person who is not just gonna celebrate your successes, but as she did, come and speak truth to power, give you the kick in the pants that you needed that says, "Hey, Trevor, you're being a jerk." And often as leaders, we aren't. I've yet to meet really any leaders, maybe one or two, that get up in the morning with the intent of being a jerk to cost production 10%. But what leaders fail to realize is that when they talk, they create work and they create uncertainty or certainty in those around us. So we could be musing about how we could change the production line and others will hear that as a command, a request, and before you know it, busy work has happened and that was not your intent. So remaining curious and listening not just for what you've said, but what others have heard, is key. But I'm curious, I mean, the manufacturing industry, you've talked about and alluded to it, there are some stereotypes around the teams that, and the people that work in a manufacturing industry that lead us to believe that they're not touchy-feely, that likability is great, but that's not what they're here for. So what are some of the unique challenges that you are helping leaders and teams to overcome in the work that you're doing?

Trevor Blondie [00:12:15]:
Well, you know, whether it's manufacturing or adjacent industries like construction, you know, energy, logistics, it's like, it's so much is like, what have we done in the last hour? Like, you know, it's measured on our, you know, our safety or quality or throughput, our profits. And it's just so, the demands are just so heavy. Shareholders are putting pressure on that month-end result, right? Maybe the quarter, but we're very short-sighted. And You know, when you have people first, you know, that's, that's not always the case because we're driving off the spreadsheets, because that, that sometimes drives our behavior. And that's the real challenge because there's lots of great people that are making some bad choices. And sometimes they just don't know. Like, for example, I was talking to a plant manager, and, you know, a lot of your listeners, you know, have executive teams and, you know, have those relationships. And, and this individual this great heart, extremely technical, right? Like really smart.

Trevor Blondie [00:13:19]:
A lot of us get promoted because we're smart and we're good at what we do. And then now is the boss, right? And all of a sudden some deadlines are getting missed, right? So he's doing a good job. He's like, hey, you know what, Margaret, I see that you missed the deadline on Friday. You know what you need till Tuesday? You know, just a reminder. So let's try to do more reminders.. But in the relationship, and same thing with my son who's a counselor, and he has a coworker that went to his boss and kind of said, hey, I didn't really like your approach. And so you start getting these little things at work, and there's something that can diffuse all that, which is just, you just got to go in there and name it like David did in your story, right? When there was a story in your book, and all 3 stories have something in common. Which is we just got to have the courage.

Trevor Blondie [00:14:13]:
And you can't have that courage without the vulnerability, as Dr. Brené Brown would say. And, and then when you do that, you say, hey Mark, what's going on? Like, I'm just picking up that I seem to be frustrating you because, you know, you said you get— you said you'd have this to me by Friday. It's Monday. So what does that mean? Like, what does that mean between you and I? What's going on with you? And when we can just kind of be a little more upfront, and I believe that deeper conversation is going to transform the whole industry.

Morag Barrett [00:14:49]:
So how do you go about creating that deeper conversation?

Trevor Blondie [00:14:57]:
So it takes 3 conversations. Okay. The first conversation is just how are we showing up? That's kind of what I was alluding to there, right? Like, how are we showing up? Like, are my intentions matching your perceptions? Like, when— some of the questions that leaders will ask each other when they're in highly performing teams is like, when do you lean in when I'm working with you? Like, when do you want to work with me more? And when do you tune out? Like, What moments do you tune out when I'm talking? You know, like maybe you'd like to get away from Trevor, you know, and just that. So that first conversation is like, let's just figure out how we're showing up. And then the other part that really— the second conversation is what you just talked about is expectations. We don't talk enough about it, right? We just, you know, what does good look like? You know, what, how, how, you know, if, if we don't hit the deadline by Friday, What's the escalation, right? So when are you going to let me know so that, you know, we don't want to get till Friday? And then if you don't, if this doesn't happen by Friday, what are the consequences for both of us? Like, because if we can look at this as two people and over there is maybe the problem and we're just two people talking about that and we want to know what we expect, that's the second conversation is expectations. And then the third one is accountability. And in our world, accountability can build trust.

Trevor Blondie [00:16:21]:
I believe that happens in the whole world. But I think it builds trust when we're transparent with it and it comes from clarity. And I think it shows that you care about me if you come in and say Friday and it's like, what's going on? Like you said you're going to deliver this so that now we got some accountability. I believe those 3 conversations, we got to kind of go back and forth and I call them gaps in our framework. It's just like these are just gaps, but It's just 3 conversations.

Morag Barrett [00:16:48]:
So what I heard then, the first one is the showing up gap, which is all about being curious about when do you lean in and when do you lean out when you're working with me? I.e., when my phone number appears on your phone, your eyes roll with ugh, or do they go with, oh, this is gonna be interesting. Then the expectations gap, i.e., what is the problem we're solving? What are the results we need to deliver? And then the action gap being, What are you doing? What am I doing in order to deliver those results?

Trevor Blondie [00:17:19]:
Yeah, and I just called it accountability. It's just like accountability gets confused for awkwardness and progressive discipline. It has nothing to do with that. It actually builds relationships.

Morag Barrett [00:17:32]:
Absolutely. Clarity. And what I see in mistake-making with the leaders I work with is that misassumption of, oh, you've been doing this for 10 years, 15 years, Trevor, you know what is expected, or 'You're smart enough, you'll work it out.' And often leaders or team members will, but at what cost? Either at frustrating me as the boss because you didn't get there fast enough or you stepped on toes along the way, or maybe just the rules of engagement are different in this organization compared to before. But if we don't sit down and have that conversation, how would I ever know?

Trevor Blondie [00:18:09]:
Yes, yeah, it's different landscapes. If you don't ask the questions, You know, we don't have to— I think that's what's going to separate. Like, if you're listening right now and you're driving, listen to this. It's like, what assumptions are you making, right? Like, what do you— what do you— what questions do you need to ask? You don't have to wait. You know, you could say, hey, what are you expecting out of this? What does good look look like? You know, and just kind of going back and forth and just cultivating those relationships or those conversations. It just— it works.

Morag Barrett [00:18:39]:
It works. I mean, you used a word earlier that made me sit up and take notice. You said it shows them that you care. And care is not a word that gets bandied around very often. So tell me more about why caring at work matters.

Trevor Blondie [00:19:02]:
Yeah, I mean, there's another line that resonated with me there. I had a whiteboard in my office And at one point, I did. I wrote it. And I wrote, leave your emotions at the door. We have work to do. And what it should have said is, at this point in Trevor's career, he is not having the skill to unpack on what's really going on. So we're going to have a good day instead of a great one. That would have been like what the truth was in that statement.

Trevor Blondie [00:19:33]:
And I still can't believe I did that. But anyways, but that's what happens, right? Good people. Make bad decisions. And I was never not a good person, but I just made bad decisions. And, you know, when I started thinking that, you know, if you see someone's behavior is different and just say, hey, what's going on today? Like, you got a different skip in your step, right? Like, all that, that's all it takes is just to make someone feel seen. And that's because I had to— I was asked, you know, what's— if you said it in one word, what's the problem manufacturing? Manufacturing disconnect. That, that, that's it. Especially from the top to the shop, right? And you got the office to the shop floor, and you get this disconnect, or disconnect within the management team.

Trevor Blondie [00:20:22]:
And, and the solution is, is just having that, that deeper conversation, right, of just kind of unpacking what it is. And so when you think about care, it's like, okay, yeah, this, you know, this person notices me, that I feel like they want me to be successful. Uh, but I also know that they care enough, and that's why in your top tier of relationships, you said that, that, that relationship, they're going to give you tough love too, right? So they're gonna, they're gonna create a better version of yourself to something that you didn't believe you could do because they're kind of pushing your buttons a little bit to say, like, I know you can do this, and I'm pushing you for this not because I want to make it hard for you, it's because I just, I just believe in you, right? And you start doing that Bam, then that gets contagious amongst your management team.

Morag Barrett [00:21:06]:
It does. And it increases candor and debate because what I have learned, and I'm sure you've seen this too, you mentioned safety earlier on. We had the opportunity with an oil and gas company to work with their roughnecks out on the site, their drilling crews on a safety leadership program. Now, we're not OSHA certified, we're not interested in more checklists. I think that's what they were expecting. But instead, we built a safety leadership program all around the concepts here in Cultivate, i.e., strengthening the relationships. And you could see when we started, you know, people were a little uncomfortable, but we got them, each of the leaders, to talk about their safety story. We called it a safety stump speech.

Morag Barrett [00:21:56]:
Stump speech, but essentially what it meant for them and their families to come home safe. And I am not joking, not a dry eye in the house. This brought these workers together in a way that moved from just transactional or the, "See what that rookie's doing?" to, "Oi, Trevor, safety glasses," or whatever it might be, but a willingness to call each other out and to look out for each other. And no, in true seriousness, reportable injuries dropped by 18% within short order. We didn't change the rules, but we did change the relationships, the connection, the sense of belonging that mattered between these crews that came together ad hoc at different work sites. So how have you seen it? Because I know emotional intelligence, relationships, team building, these are all part of your toolkit. How have you seen that impact the shift leads, the workers that you get to collaborate with?

Trevor Blondie [00:23:07]:
It's a challenge because when I first started my business, you know, 10 years ago, I put on there like emotional intelligence. No, nobody in the, you know, in the group that you're doing the safety with, they're not asking for emotional intelligence, right? Like, nobody is. And they're not asking for deeper relationships. So, so that, that is the challenge, right? So it is kind of thinking about like, what's the outcome you're looking for? And, you know, if 3 people got hurt in the last year, it's easy to say, well, you know, this is kind of a freak situation over here, and it's manufacturing, man. People are going to get hurt in construction and manufacturing. I'm like, no, they're not. They're not. There's no reason that people should get hurt in manufacturing or construction any more than the office.

Trevor Blondie [00:23:57]:
It's just excuses. And what it really is, it's, it's exactly what, what you just said. It's, it's getting in that room. It's not about the checklist, it's about the mindset, right? Like, are we all having that mindset? And the only way you do that is through talking it through as a group, which is exactly what you did. So That's why I want to say thank you, because we need to transform the industry, that it is a safe industry, and that, you know, you, you will have good quality there. You'll feel valued. And, and we just got that behavior. But that, that's, that's how the shift happens, is that we got to have those conversations.

Trevor Blondie [00:24:30]:
So like, if you're, you know, if you're listening to this now and, you know, you're thinking now, what can I, what can I do here? I mean, it's some of the, the questions that you have in your book. It's just a matter of like really kind of questioning when we— when people have the perception that production is more important than anything else, that's all that matters, right? So you've got to get in front of that. And it's an 'and,' right? It's an 'and.' It's production and safety and relationships. And guess what? We can have it all. We just got to invest a little bit upfront. So it is a challenge, right? And that's why, you know, when you look at the— and you wrote about that too with Gallup and the engagement survey— like, manufacturing is 6% lower than any other industry, you know, than the average on engagement. That comes from— and I can guarantee you, after you did the work with that company and you go back, and if there's some method of keeping that afloat, keeping that top of mind, then their other statistics or KPIs is what they care about, they're going to get better. And, and you need somebody that can see that vision.

Morag Barrett [00:25:41]:
So as we come to the end of our time together, what's one message that you hope that listeners or viewers of this episode take away?

Trevor Blondie [00:25:49]:
I just hope that, you know, you'll think about maybe one area or maybe just one person that you could maybe just have that conversation about your relationship. And just from the point of like, how am I showing up for you? Right? And what's going well? And just, just being curious about yourself. Because when that happens, you are, are much more open to others. And, and one thing that our mutual coach said to us, Michael Port, uh, for— he's our speech coach that we share— is that it's hard to be a better professional speaker if you're judging other speakers, because you'll have a real hard time getting better. So if we can just kind of like just drop that judgment of maybe why somebody's doing something at your company and be a little more curious about maybe yourself and, and focus in that way and go with that intent, I guarantee you that you're going to help that other person, you're going to help yourself, and, and then everybody else is going to grow around you. That's my wish for the listeners today.

Morag Barrett [00:26:58]:
All right. And how can people learn more about you and the work you're doing at Manufacturing Greatness?

Trevor Blondie [00:27:05]:
Well, I just switched now my newsletter. If you work in any adjacent industries like construction and logistics, I mean, that's really where you get the most benefit. It's just manufacturinggreatness.com/subscribe, and I have that newsletter. That's the easiest way because then I do have the podcast, and that's gone weekly as well. But I think just the newsletter now is where I'm just going to start giving as much tips as I can to the world because the world needs us, needs all of us to kind of have more content out there. And that's why I'm going to post your book on my website because, you know, the more resources that the listeners have, they're going to resonate with, you know, certain paths. And that if we're listening, you know, if we're reading Cultivate, then we might read Manufacturing Greatness too because there's some parallels or some different connections. So, and I'm on LinkedIn too.

Trevor Blondie [00:27:56]:
Let's connect with people. So thank you so much.

Morag Barrett [00:27:59]:
All right, I'll make sure all of that information is in the show notes below. And if you've enjoyed this conversation, make sure you hit that little bell and subscribe. But Trevor, thank you for joining me today and for the work that you do for all the leaders at all levels in the manufacturing industry and beyond. I look forward to future conversations.

Trevor Blondie [00:28:20]:
Appreciate it. Thanks for having me on the show.