🔍 Article co-created with Sebastián Cantor, a technical-operational leader in the Colombian agri-food industry (🇨🇴 Colombia), and Augusto Unzaga, host of Keru Podcast.
🎙️ This article was inspired by Episode 39 of Keru Podcast.
Keru Podcast, created by Globalita.io, is a series of conversations (in Spanish) with industrial leaders from Latin America about management, technology and decision-making in complex environments.
Sebastián Cantor Colombia: translating between the board and the operator
In many industrial companies, especially in agribusiness, the plant manager finds himself between two worlds: that of strategic decisions and that of operational execution. And if he doesn’t learn to translate between the two, the system breaks.
Sebastián Cantor Colombia puts it bluntly:
“A manager has to be bilingual. He has to talk with the board and with the operator. They are two completely different languages.”
This phrase sums up a silent but deep phenomenon: the need to translate profitability objectives into actionable instructions, and to turn daily problems into strategic data. Not every manager manages that “double reading”. Those who do become key pieces in agribusiness operations management.
When the manager doesn’t fulfill that translator role, problems arise. The board receives reports that are out of step with reality. Operational teams execute without understanding the “what for”. The culture fragments. Efficiency gets lost in poorly communicated details.
In contexts with high production pressure and multiple shifts —as happens in many agribusiness plants—, this doesn’t just slow down decisions: it wears people out.
That’s why developing soft skills in industrial leadership is no longer optional. Active listening, operational empathy, clear instructions and structured feedback are production tools, just as much as a machine in good condition.
Effective organizational communication is not a slogan. It’s a methodology. It involves designing information systems that flow between areas. Integrating technical language with human language. And above all, training middle leaders so that they also act as translators at their own levels.
Sebastián’s experience shows that this bridge is built through active presence on the shop floor and firm participation in strategic forums. But even more, through the awareness that teams don’t fail for lack of effort, but for lack of alignment.
From that awareness, industrial leadership Colombia Sebastián Cantor represents a way of managing that connects vision, operations and culture. That doesn’t deny conflict, but channels it. That doesn’t just communicate, but integrates.
In the second part of this article, we’ll go through concrete tools that make it possible to apply this logic: from TWI Job Relations to SIPOC, Coaching Kata, and shared boards that ensure more coherent decision-making across all levels.
Industrial leadership Colombia Sebastián Cantor: tools to translate, align and execute
When people talk about industrial leadership, they tend to imagine someone who makes quick decisions, solves problems and masters the operation. But in complex contexts, that’s no longer enough. A manager’s real differentiator lies in his ability to translate strategic visions into concrete operational behaviors, and to raise the signals from the shop floor to the decision-making levels.
Sebastián Cantor Colombia experienced it firsthand:
“It’s not enough to understand the operation. You have to know how to tell it. And also know how to listen to it, even when it comes disguised as a complaint.”
This two-way street is key. Because when the manager only communicates downward, he falls into imposition. And when he only gathers what happens below, he turns into a firefighter. The challenge is to build a flow logic: information that goes down as clear vision and comes up as concrete evidence.
Below, we explore five methodologies that make it possible to turn this idea into a system.
1. TWI Job Relations: training the relationship as part of the job
One of the most powerful tools for leading in operational environments is TWI Job Relations, part of the original Training Within Industry program. Its focus is not the process, but the relationship between the people who make the process possible.
In this approach, the manager doesn’t wait for conflicts to arise before stepping in. He anticipates, communicates with method, recognizes achievements and corrects deviations without breaking the bond. This logic was part of the success of many Lean implementations in Japan and is still valid today in environments with high turnover or production pressure.
Applying it means holding short 1:1 meetings with middle leaders, recording agreements, following up, and training in non-judgmental conflict resolution. In Sebastián’s words:
“You can’t lead just by knowing more. You have to build a network of relationships that sustains the system when you’re not there.”
2. SIPOC to map conversations, not just processes
The SIPOC (Supplier – Input – Process – Output – Customer) map is a classic in continuous improvement. But applied to communication management, it makes it possible to understand who needs what information, when and for what.
Sebastián used it to detect bottlenecks not in the machine, but in the communication between maintenance and production. Each one believed the other “knew what had to be done”, until the SIPOC showed that neither the inputs nor the outputs were clear.
Taking this map to soft areas (such as people management, planning or quality) is a powerful practice for reducing friction.
3. Coaching Kata to develop translator leaders
Inspired by Toyota culture, Coaching Kata proposes that each leader coach their team with a daily improvement routine. But beyond the technique, the core is the structured conversation: how to ask questions that reveal thinking, not just results.
As applied by Sebastián, this approach allowed shift supervisors to stop being mere transmitters of orders and become facilitators of change. Kata is trained, repeated, and ends up shaping a culture of distributed improvement.
“I don’t want people to come and tell me what happened. I want them to tell me how they thought when facing the problem.”
4. Layered boards: all the data, at every level
Many plants fail not for lack of data, but for lack of shared visualization. Layered boards (Layered Process Audits or DMS - Daily Management System) give each level access to the same information, adapted to its needs.
The operator sees the indicators for his cell. The supervisor sees those for his line. The plant manager sees the consolidated view. And the board, the strategic summary.
What Sebastián Cantor Colombia drove was a form of visual synchronization. So there’s no doubt about what is expected. And so alerts are shared in the same language.
5. Gemba with purpose: observing without interrupting
The Gemba Walk, another practice of Japanese origin, consists of “going to the real place” to see how work happens. But it’s not about walking for the sake of walking. A Gemba with purpose includes guiding questions, a focus on patterns, and notes to improve processes without intruding or controlling.
Sebastián structured his daily rounds with a concrete focus: observing how conversation happened on the floor. Was 5S being used? Were there visible instructions? Were causes being discussed, or only consequences?
“I don’t want my presence to be a show. I want them to see me as part of the system, not as the auditor of the day.”
This kind of Gemba strengthens respect, improves the detection of improvement opportunities and reinforces alignment.
What can a manager apply as soon as tomorrow?
This article doesn’t aim to be theoretical. It aims to offer actionable ideas. If you lead a plant and feel like you’re the constant translator between levels, these are three first steps you can take right now:
- Map your key conversations with SIPOC.
Identify who you talk to, what you give them, what you expect and what isn’t clear. - Implement 1:1 meetings with middle leaders using Job Relations.
Don’t wait for conflict. Get ahead of it with method. - Redesign your Gemba Walks.
Instead of improvising, use an observation checklist by topic: order, flow, dialogue, deviations.
Final reflection
“The manager isn’t the one who knows everything. He’s the one who helps everyone understand what needs to be done.”
This phrase from Sebastián sums up a cultural shift that many plants are already experiencing: technical leadership also needs to be communication leadership.
Because when the manager stops being a translator, the company goes deaf in one ear and mute in the other.
Are you ready to listen better… and be understood without repeating yourself?
🔁 Keru is a podcast (in Spanish) created by Globalita.io, where we talk with the people who lead Latin American industry from the inside.
Sebastián Cantor is a technical-operational leader with more than 9 years leading agri-food industrial plants in Colombia. An expert in operational efficiency, supply chain and industrial transformation, his track record includes achievements in production planning, waste reduction, integration of strategic indicators and leadership of technical teams. Sebastián combines systems thinking with rigorous execution, and has driven continuous improvement processes in variable environments applying tools such as OEE, Lean, asset management and cross-functional operational coaching. His vision integrates people, data and culture to build solid organizations from the shop floor up.
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