Senior leaders in heavy industry and manufacturing often say the same thing:

“We want to get started – but we’re not quite ready yet. We need to fill a few more roles first.”

They know they need a more consistent, aligned maintenance and reliability strategy. They’re facing rising costs, too much downtime, and an aging workforce. But they hesitate to move forward until the “right people are on the bus.”

But here’s the truth: waiting to build a strategy until all the seats are filled is a mistake.

Turnover Is Constant. Strategy Must Endure.

It’s tempting to believe that you’ll build a great strategy once your perfect team is in place. But perfect teams don’t exist. People retire, transfer, get promoted, or simply burn out. Some roles may never be refilled due to budget constraints.

If your strategy depends on stability, it’s not a strategy – it’s a hope.

Instead, your strategy should withstand turnover and onboard new people into its direction. Great strategies aren’t built on the backs of individual heroes. They’re built on alignment, clarity, and a structure that survives.

The Full Bus, Going Nowhere

A large chemical plant launched a criticality analysis for every piece of equipment on site. It was a major initiative; time-consuming, resource-intensive, and billed as the year’s top priority.

The equipment list was exported from the CMMS into a spreadsheet and the criticality ratings would be calculated automatically.  

The leadership team made sure every seat was filled. We had the right people and the right tools. We even had a catered fish dinner to kick off the project. Goals and bonuses were tied to it.

Over the years it turned into a slow-motion crash.  Meetings got smaller. Discussions lost energy.  By the end of the year, the work had essentially stopped.  Two years later, no one talked about it. Three years later, most people didn’t know where the spreadsheet was saved.

We had the people. We had the resources. Despite the effort to make sure every seat was filled, it became apparent there was no underlying strategy.  The bus was full but there was no driver  and no clear destination.

A Better Approach: Build, Align, and Grow

Here’s a three-step process to build a durable strategy:

1. Fit Strategy to Business Objectives

Before you think about roles or gaps, clarify your business goals.

• Competing on cost?  Your M&R strategy needs to reinforce efficient asset care that prevents unnecessary spend and extends asset life.
• Competing on throughput?  Reliability must be foundational to minimize unplanned downtime that meets production targets.
• Competing on quality?  Design maintenance to reduce process variability and equipment-induced defects.
• Competing on flexibility and responsiveness?  Your M&R strategy must enable agility by ensuring assets are ready to pivot with changing production schedules, handle rapid changeovers, and support shorter lead times without sacrificing performance.

Tie maintenance and reliability directly to what the business values most.

2. Understand Your Capabilities and Needs

Conduct a structured gap analysis:

• What do you have? Assess current capabilities across people, systems, and processes.
• What do you need? Based on your business goals, what must your M&R organization be capable of?

You might uncover gaps in PM optimization, work management, or technology adoption. These insights should guide, not stall, your org structure and hiring.

3. Hard-wire Execution into the Daily Reality

Execute daily with a clear understanding of where you’re going and what you’re missing:

• Identify core decisions.  Strategy is not a list of initiatives.  It’s a set of decisions you’re willing to defend no matter who comes or goes.
• Assign ownership of decisions.  Turnover kills tasks and projects but core decisions will still be made.  Chaos comes from neglected decisions.  
• Embed minimum standards in daily work.  Durable strategies survive when execution becomes part of the standard work.  

You’re not just filling seats. You’re building a team that aligns with and supports your strategy.  Consider how execution will remain stable as people change.  

Strategy First. Team Follows.

Your strategy is not something you build once the org chart is complete. It’s something that shapes who you hire, how you train, and how you adapt as people come and go.

Execution is the hard part. Between turnover, shifting priorities, and the daily flood of urgent issues, nothing happens fast. But steady, persistent work pays off—and it pays off even if your roster changes midstream.

The bus is always in motion. Start driving it in the right direction – then invite people to get on board.

Want help getting started?
If you’re navigating gaps in capability, turnover, or strategic alignment, feel free to reach out.  And if you’d like more insights like this, sign up for our newsletter for monthly articles, tools, and future learning opportunities.