All the technology in the world won’t make a difference for your organization without the right culture to promote change. Supporting that culture, you need the right employees in place—people who can manage, implement, and sustain the specialized portfolio of products and services. It doesn’t matter what type of technology you’re implementing: Succeeding in the long run requires having the best teams in place. You can build this team through targeted recruitment, but it’s also important to invest in your existing workforce to help current employees build necessary skills to keep on top of the changes.
It’s essential to create a consistency of core values and a shared mission among diverse employees who feel empowered to work across functions to test out new ideas and challenge the status quo. Let’s look at how you can create this nimble new workplace to increase productivity and get the right people into your organization.
Find the Right New Hires
Don’t wait: Look for new talent now and be more open about where you might find the best employees. You may need to look somewhere you don’t expect: Consider hiring people who are not necessarily prepared for a career in industrial equipment but are technologically savvy and a solid asset for a manufacturer in transition. As these new hires work with experienced industry personnel, they’ll build a healthy mix of talent. Provide multiple opportunities for these fresh recruits to ply their technological skills and add value to the company.
Invest in Your People with Education and Training
The general workforce is often lacking the math, engineering, and programming skills necessary to operate the factories of the future. To combat this, some countries have apprenticeship systems that educate workers on the job.
Consider partnering with community colleges, nonprofits, and government agencies to develop skills training and vocational programs that will prepare entry-level employees for your company’s specific needs. In-house training as well as external partnerships will also help to prepare the existing employee base to program, operate, and maintain any robots or digitally enabled machinery they may end up using in the production lines.
People, Success, and Workplace Culture
Industrial manufacturers must compete with tech companies and startups to attract millennial talent, workers who tend to prefer flexible work environments that are light on hierarchy and encourage creativity and risk taking. Industrial manufacturers must get out in front of this war for talent. Corporate culture that has been part of a company’s DNA for decades cannot be overhauled overnight. Start building workplaces and processes now to attract and retain the most skilled and educated workers.
The biggest challenge for industrial manufacturing companies in the process of digital transformation isn’t getting the right technology, it’s getting the right people. Success will depend largely on the digital IQ of leaders and their teams. The makeup of the workforce may need to change drastically, and transformation can be hard on individual employees. Leaders must deploy and enhance change management capabilities to help ease their people through this radical disruption, working closely with teams across all functions before, during, and after implementation.
Ready for Change with Accounting Systems, Inc.
Get ready for all the new technology to come by implementing the right software for the job, along with training, so that software is used the best way it can be. Accounting Systems, Inc. is committed to helping businesses get the right software solutions in place for increased productivity, reduced inefficiencies, and growing revenue. Find the right software solution for a profitable future with ASI. Contact us today to get started.