NASHVILLE, TN—With a workforce that can span generations, the average pressroom likely has a wide range of ages, backgrounds and personalities that need to coexist. Looking to shine a light on that potential problem area and offer ways to bridge any gaps, Forum 2015’s “From Tribal Knowledge to Technology: How to Understand The Needs of Your Workforce” began with a mock game show, pitting stereotypical versions of “old” and “new” age flexographers against each other. At the end of the five question competition, the score remained tied 0-0, indicating the only way to really accomplish anything in a pressroom is to identify and accept those differences, and work together.
Catherine Haynes, part of All Printing Resources, Inc.’s (APR) Technical Solutions Group and Joel Engelberth, Esko FIQ team leader, portrayed the old and young operators, respectively, before they cooperated on a presentation that focused on different styles of training to accommodate different personality types.
Haynes spoke about instructor led options, which included:
- Onsite vs. offsite
- Group vs. individual
- On the job vs. in a classroom
“We’re going to have to adapt,” she said, echoing a common theme of the entire session.
Engelberth then went into different types of Web based training and highlighting FTA’s Flexographic Image Reproduction Specifications & Tolerances (FIRST). The pair then talked about the potential pros and cons of either solution, from costs to customizability to generational preferences.
Tackling obstacles to having active and engaged participants, Haynes highlighted a few common road blocks, including:
- Intimidation (to change, to technology or to displacement)
- Motivation (a lack thereof)
- Impatience
- Pride
On the other side of the coin, management can contribute to these road blocks. Engelberth touched on several:
- Engagement
- Accountability
- Communication
- Adaptability
Dr. Nona Woolbright, associate professor at Clemson University, followed with a detailed look at the psychology behind learning. “For the first time, there are going to be four generations working side by side,” Woolbright noted—Traditionalists, Boomers, Generation Xers and Millennials—before running through some of the shared traits of these groups.
But lumping employees into groups based on age provides little information on how to best communicate with them. “Look deeper” Woolbright advised. Instead, she proposed four questions that can help define the underlying traits that define a person’s personality preferences:
- Where do you get your energy from?
- Extroverted
- Introverted
- How do you gather information?
- Sensing
- Intuition
- How do you make decisions?
- Thinking
- Feeling
- How do you organize your environment?
- Judging
- Perceiving
“We’re all different, and that’s perfectly OK. It would be extraordinarily boring if we weren’t,” she closed by saying.
Plastic Packaging Technologies LLC’s Bob Coomes brought the session home by offering the means to make a pressroom “perform in concert.” Drawing parallels to Forum 2015’s theme of “Hitting The Perfect Harmony,” Coomes, a former musician, compared some workflows to free form jazz, devoid of any documentation, preparation and proper training.
With FIRST as a solid foundation, he described how to build a team, getting external help from FTA and suppliers, and internal help from leadership. A three part Implementation Phase was outlined as a roadmap for unifying these team members into performing as a cohesive whole.
Echoing advice given to countless musicians, Coomes finished his presentation by reminding the audience that “There is no such thing as an overnight sensation” and to keep practicing, in pursuit of perfection.