Acquiring Leadership Skills through Learning Opportunities with Kylie Robinett

Kylie Robinett, Manager of Production Control & Logistics at Marine & Land Systems (MLS), spends most of her days being a part of the main line of the communication process interfacing with several departments, including quality control and manufacturing engineering to make sure that production has materials and tools needed.

Since beginning her career at Bell Helicopter as an intern, Robinett has held several roles within Textron as a Leadership Development Program participant before taking on a manager role at MLS. In her current role, she and her team continuously analyze processes to identify areas for improvement and manage and create schedules for the shop floors at the MLS facilities for vehicles and ships built there. Since becoming a leader, Kylie noticed that each day’s responsibilities are different.

As manager of production control and logistics, Robinett is involved in creating production schedules to satisfy program delivery requirements, all while considering risks and challenges such as materials impacts, labor impacts, quality issues and new customer requests. “After becoming a leader, I’ve learned how to think more strategically and to prioritize what must be done now and what can be focused on later,” says Robinett of juggling the different aspects of her role.

When asked about the challenges of taking on a new leadership role, Robinett says, “Know what you know and admit what you don’t know so that you can learn. Also, be adaptable and ready for change.”  Robinett says that a great strength about the leadership at MLS is knowing she can go to anyone to ask a question.

Robinett’s philosophy is to lead by example and to take every learning opportunity you can because, as she explains, “you’re not going to be a successful leader when you don’t understand the daily tasks and challenges your team undertakes.”