Human Resources: IT’S TIME TO Get on the Right Side of the Great Divide There is plenty of opportunity to get involved in our clients’ work earlier, stay longer, and satisfy a broader range of needs. I recently re-listened to Andy Paparozzi’s 2016 State of the Industry address at the EFI Connect Conference, held January 2016. (PrintingNews.com/12162167) As always Andy does a wonderful job of presenting valuable information on where we were and what’s ahead. About half way through his presentation he said that if he could sum up the industry in three bullet points, it would be: • More competitive • More complex • Historic opportunity ahead Th e industry is more competitive because as Andy indicated, “everyone is into everyone else’s business.” Companies are continuing to add new revenue streams to try to keep up. Many jobs require more elaborate skills than they once did. For example, a person who was mechanically inclined could be trained to be a press operator. Now, computers are more prominent in running the new digital presses, so these positions now require in-depth knowledge of technology/ computers along with mechanical capability. As for historic opportunity, Andy pointed out that sales have been up four straight years now. Th e growth has been modest, but that’s a very promising sign. Andy also said, “Th ere is plenty of opportunity to get involved in our clients’ work earlier, stay involved longer, and satisfy a broader range of their communication needs.” So what does this mean? First, you need to build a labor force for our new industry. You need a team that is well-equipped to understand and keep up with the changes that are taking place. Th is means evaluating your current staff objectively. Do you have team members that are knowledgeable enough to understand your customer’s needs and are able to articulate those needs into products and services? You will need to analyze if your employee is capable of adapting to rapid change. Andy stated that, “Nothing will be more important to sustainable success in our industry than the ability to adapt to the rapid, disruptive, unpredictable change.” For years I have read and heard about the need to have the right people in the right seats on the bus, and getting the wrong people off the bus. Many owners/managers tell me that they just can’t let certain people go because they’ve been there so long. Th ey owe them the security or they will be retiring soon, and on and on with excuses. But, if you want to go and grow in the coming years, you need the absolute best team you can hire. You need to have experts in each one of your positions. Andy says, “Hire experts because many of the services we are adding are new businesses, not simple extensions of our core businesses.” You need a staff that covers critical skills such as social media and database marketing, consultative selling, strategic planning, database analytics, and IT. To fi nd these employees you will be competing with many industries so you will need to fi nd ways to attract these candidates. You will also need to fi gure out ways to be competitive in pay and benefi ts. Th is is where eliminating the employees that no longer measure up is needed in order to free up money to pay for upgraded staff . Our industry has changed. You need to change. You need a strategic plan to address who you will serve, what you will off er, and what you need to be the best at it. But you need, as Andy so well puts it, “the will, discipline, and focus to execute.” “Where does strategy live in a company? Too oft en, a company’s strategy sits on a shelf, gathering dust. A strategy that doesn’t infl uence critical decisions on a day-to-day basis, however, is not a strategy—it is a book report.”—Wimple Rules: How to Th rive In a Complex World, Donald Sull & Kathleen M. Eisenhardt. By Debra Thompson President of TG & Associates Debra Thompson is President of TG & Associates, a consulting fi rm specializing in “The Human Side of Business” specifi cally for the Graphic Industry. Her company provides Virtual HR Services and Customized Staffi ng Solutions. Contact them about the use of Personality Profi ling and Emotional Intelligence Testing to improve communication and cooperation in your workplace. Debra can be reached at 520- 751-8922 or email her at Debra@ TGassociates.com. Find this article at PrintingNews.com/12228908 48 Printing News ® September 2016 PrintingNews®com
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