Generation Now Leadership: Climbing the Ladder at Sandvik Coromant

Name: Brad Connally

Age: 31

Company: Sandvik Coromant

Education: High School Graduate

Position: Production Supervisor for the Grind Department

Brad Connally knew finding his future career would be a process of elimination. “I was never the child in elementary school that knew I wanted to be a dentist or a police officer,” he says. “I never knew what I wanted to do. I just knew what I didn’t want to do.”

In 2015, he was working at a grocery store down the road from Sandvik Coromant, a global manufacturer of metal cutting tools and machining solutions where his brother was employed, when an opportunity arose.

“He had mentioned, ‘Hey, they’re looking for people interested. You don’t necessarily have to have experience; you can just come and interview.’ And I did,” Connally says.

He began working third shift at an entry-level position in the grind department, setting up machines, running parts and checking quality. Years later, Connally would go on to work other positions, including shift leader and technical associate, a position that had him writing CNC programs and working with process engineers.

“It's very technically challenging what we do here … that’s kind of what got the hooks in me at first,” he says. “That kept me interested, and then the development part of it is what made me want to stay. I was moving up and changing jobs often enough to where I wasn’t getting tired of doing the same thing.”

Connally expressed a desire to move up the ladder at an annual performance review, leading him to his present-day position as production supervisor.

“I started from the bottom in the grind department, now I’m running the department,” he says.

The Road to Success: Communication is Everything

Connally is proud of how far he has come, going from zero manufacturing experience to production supervisor in less than a decade.

“I have 40 direct reports, and I’m responsible for everything in my department. So that’s maintaining all the machine work orders coming in and out, corresponding with other departments, helping make the shipping plan for the entire plant, meeting and achieving plant goals. I hire people, I discipline people,” he says.

Connally attributes much of his ability to ascend within the company to open communication and relationships with management.

“For me it was always about clearly communicating … ‘This is who I am. And this is where I want to be. I’m happy to work here. I like this company. I want to be here for the long haul, and I want to help us get to where we want to go.’”

He credits this “passion to win” mindset and goal-setting strategy with managers for his fast-track journey to leadership. Connally’s positivity, reliability and soft skills probably didn’t hurt either. “I’ve had managers that identified ‘Hey, I think you have some good leadership potential. Would you be interested in XYZ opportunity?’” he says.

Today, Connally is the one creating development plans with his own reports. “If there’s people that want to go to a different area and learn a different machine, or if they want to be a leader someday, or if they want to get into technical work, we try to give them goals to get them to where they want to be,” he says.

Leadership Style: Genuine Relationships

His status as a young leader is not devoid of difficulties; however, Connally has found effective practices that work for him and his team.

“There are challenges … I’m 31 years old, and I’ve had people that have been with the company for 48 years. There are people that have been doing this a long time,” he says.

Communication is one such challenge. “Some of my older folks, they prefer face to face communication for everything. They want to be told in the office. Sit down, ask them how they’re doing today … and then talk to them about whatever. But then some of the younger folks that work for me, they want a text message,” he says. “You can change up your leadership style knowing who you’re dealing with, and that seems to help a lot.”

Along with tailoring his communication style, Connally also emphasizes sincerity and respect.

“I want the folks that work for me to know that I care about them on a personal level. So, I try to walk the floor as much as I can and keep up with people’s kids and grandkids and hobbies … anything I can [do] just to know the person,” he says. “I think your team is a lot more willing to go to bat for you if they know that that’s the kind of relationship that you have together.”

“I don’t want them to feel like a number. I want them to feel like we have a relationship. It’s little things, but that’s really important to me.”