Episode 27

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Published on:

11th Aug 2025

Solo: 3 Culture Shifts to Keep Your Best Talent in 2026 with Lisa Ryan

Welcome to a brand new chapter of the Manufacturers Network Podcast! In this high-impact solo episode, Lisa Ryan dives into the critical workplace culture shifts manufacturing leaders need to make NOW to attract and retain top talent into 2026.

Lisa breaks down the three essential culture shifts every manufacturing organization must implement:

  1. Purpose Over Pay: Move beyond wages and help employees connect their work to a bigger mission.
  2. Recognition as a Habit: Discover why daily, specific recognition is the secret sauce for boosting morale and driving results.
  3. Acts of Service: Learn how removing small frustrations and truly listening to your people transforms your workplace.

Every culture shift comes with an actionable step you can implement this week; no fluff, just real-world strategies you can carry right onto the shop floor or into the boardroom.

Lisa also teases upcoming episodes focused on onboarding strategies that go beyond HR paperwork to make new hires feel valued (and stick around!).

Key Takeaways:

  • How to connect employees with purpose for stronger retention.
  • The power of intentional, frequent recognition.
  • Why small acts of service and problem solving matter more than grand gestures.
  • Simple action steps to build a culture people don’t want to leave.

If you’re ready to lead with purpose and build teams that last, this episode is for you!

Connect with Lisa Ryan:

Brought to you by Grategy: practical tools for manufacturing leaders to strengthen teams and boost retention.

Subscribe for upcoming episodes featuring expert guests and more practical strategies from Lisa!

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About the Podcast

The Manufacturers Network
Real conversations with leaders in manufacturing, automation, and workforce retention.
The Manufacturers’ Network is where manufacturing leaders, plant managers, and industry innovators come to talk straight about what’s working and what’s not, on the shop floor and beyond.

Each week, host Lisa Ryan sits down with people who live and breathe this business: operations executives, HR directors, engineers, and founders who are building stronger teams and smarter systems in the face of nonstop change.

Listeners gain real-world insights on:
• Employee retention and workforce engagement
• Automation, AI, and the future of skilled trades
• Supply chain and operations leadership
• Safety, sustainability, and company culture that lasts

If you’re tired of generic “leadership talk” and want practical conversations from people who get it, this podcast is for you.

New episodes drop every Monday and are short enough for your commute, sharp enough to shape your week.

Subscribe and be part of the conversation that’s connecting manufacturers across industries, one story at a time.

About your host

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Lisa Ryan

As a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), an award-winning speaker and author of ten books, Lisa Ryan, CSP, works with her clients to develop employee and client engagement initiatives and strategies that keep their top talent and best clients from becoming someone else’s.
Lisa’s expertise includes: strengthening workplace culture, improving employee engagement, increasing customer retention, and initiating gratitude strategies (“Grategies”) for personal and professional benefit. Lisa’s participants enjoy her high energy, enthusiastic delivery and quick wit and they leave the session with ideas they are committed to acting on immediately to make positive workplace culture changes.
Lisa costars in two films with other experts including Jack Canfield of “Chicken Soup for the Soul.” She is the Past-President of the National Speakers Association, Ohio Chapter and holds an MBA from Cleveland State University.

Relevant Experience

• Keynote, breakout or workshop speaker at more than 100 national and international conferences
• Thirteen years of industrial marketing and sales experience, including seven years in the welding industry – and yes, she does weld
• Host of “Elevate Your Engagement Levels: What You Need to Know” on the Elite Expert Network and the C-Suite Network
• Creator of “The Seven Mistakes Managers Make to Crush Company Culture” video series
• Best-selling author of ten books, including “Manufacturing Engagement: 98 Proven Strategies to Attract and Retain Your Industry’s Top Talent”
• Award-winning speaker