Our fearless leader's thoughts . . .
Editors’ Note: Bill McCurry
doesn’t has a Blog . . . this is as
close as he gets to blogging –
occasionally he blurts out various
thoughts for your consideration.
We’ll return to our normal format of
subscribers’ ideas next week. In the
meantime, enjoy and profit from
Bill’s observations . . . .
“My lab manager is a great
person, but she doesn’t get how
digital has changed what she has to
do.” This type of complaint is heard
in various forms all over our
industry. The store owner continued,
“We have the same number of people
on the lab payroll as we did in our
silver halide days. Our total
dollars are less but she isn’t doing
anything to change our staffing.”
It’s understandable that lab
owners are frustrated with this
situation. But let’s not put all the
blame on the manager who isn’t
changing. I asked the owner, “How
have you helped the lab manager
educate herself on the changes in
the industry.” He responded, “When
we joined IPI, I sent her to their
convention. I don’t think she
learned much there that helped her.”
Here was my opening - I went
for his jugular. "What prompted
you to send her, by herself, to the
IPI convention?" I inquired.
“Everyone in the lab business
says it’s the best
convention to send lab people to.
They can network with other labs
that own the same equipment, meet
vendors, and hear presentations that
are targeted to lab operations.”
I had him now . . . I closed
in for the kill. “I’m sure
before you invested all that money
to fly her to the IPI convention you
sat down with her and set objectives
of what she should learn, what
problems she should address while
she was assembled with some of the
greatest minds of the industry. When
she got back and you sat down to
debrief her on what she got out of
the IPI convention, what was her
response?” Bullseye! Our lab
owner was speechless. Buying the
air ticket and making the hotel
reservation was only pre-planning.
No objectives were outlined, no
thought given to the desired
results. Failing to plan is
planning to fail!
How many times do we promote
people into jobs they aren’t trained
for? How many times do we send them
someplace thinking "they’ll get
educated" - and they have no basis
for gaining the education. In this
situation, the lab manager learned
maintenance and operational
techniques from her counterparts in
IPI. That was valuable to her.
The broader picture as to how
labs were coping with the financial
impact of fewer rolls and more
digital work was not something she
ever focused on. Yes, the lab
manager shares some of the blame,
but the owner has the lion’s share
of the responsibility.
When you send someone for
training/education you must also set
some guidelines as to what you
expect them to learn, plus hold them
accountable for a debrief upon their
return.
If employees have never attended
an industry trade show or
convention, they are overwhelmed.
They need guidance and direction.
Before they go, sit down together
and determine what sessions they
will attend. Who should they meet
there that could mentor them and
introduce them to other people? What
are the clear objectives they should
accomplish while they are there. A
few years ago Rick Chernick (Camera
Corner Connecting Point, Green Bay,
WI) told me that he tasked his PMA
team to “not come back until you
have ideas that will change our
sales at least $100,000 this year.”
From that challenge came Rick’s
Digital Café, which he’s now
expanding, to 12 stations. Without
this challenge, Rick might only have
the used airplane tickets as a
souvenir of the trip.
If you can’t attend a convention,
that’s no excuse to not send
employees you want to grow and
nurture. Equip them with objectives.
Help them be successful by setting
up mentors they can meet there. I’m
constantly introducing people to
others who have similar interests.
If you have an employee who needs to
meet industry colleagues, shoot me
an email and we’ll find people who
will be at PMA, PRO, IPI or similar
gatherings with similar business
issues. Don’t be shy.
According to Expedia, there are
hotel rooms and air flights still
available for PMA 07. If you’re
thinking you can get by this year
without having your company at PMA
to learn what’s new in the
marketplace, please think again.
A decade ago, you wouldn’t have
dared go to PMA only once every five
years . . . Today we’re moving at
five times the speed we did a decade
ago – so missing this year’s PMA
show is like missing five shows in a
row a decade ago.
There is as much change in our
industry between 2006 and 2007 as
there was from 1990 to 1994!
We’d encourage you to bring as
many of your team as possible. We
recently heard one dealer remark
that he wouldn’t allow his staff to
attend any industry functions
because someone might offer them a
job. The irony is his employees are
more likely to be solicited to
switch jobs when working on the
counter than they are attending an
industry event. Your employee
relations should be maintained as if
every day someone is offering your
best employees another job. Chances
are they are!
It does bring up a story from
1986, almost ancient history.
McCurry Camera Stores was the PTN
Dealership of The Year. We announced
we would have 35 members of our
management team come to Vegas to
jointly receive the award. One of my
“friends” from New York called to
tell me that every other dealer
would be offering my people jobs.
That caused a few sleepless nights.
I’m forever grateful to Mike Boerner,
who headed up our camera store
division, for putting this in
perspective for me and for our team.
A week before departure we had a
meeting for everyone going to Vegas
to outline each person’s objectives
for the trip. Just before we
adjourned the meeting, Mike said,
“We need to talk about how to handle
job offers while you’re at PMA.
Because McCurry’s is receiving the
award this year, many people will
know of us, they will see your name
tag and want to talk with you about
coming to work for them. You should
arrange for them to interview you
while you’re in Las Vegas.” At this
point, my heart was in my stomach,
which was filling with indigestion.
Mike continued, “You owe it to
yourself to do the best for you that
you can. Be proud that someone
thinks enough of you to want to
interview you. They’ll tell you that
their company values their employees
and you can join their team and
grow. At the end of the interview,
tell them you’re very impressed with
their company’s commitment to their
employees and you’d like to meet
some of the employees that
they have brought to PMA who
are in a position similar to what
you have . If they haven’t
brought anyone to PMA that tells you
how much they really think of their
people.”
I relaxed every so slightly when
Mike continued, “If you don’t get
three or four job solicitations
while you’re there you should ask
yourself 'Why?' Are you not
projecting a professional image?”
Bottom line, about half our
employees got some feelers about
possible job relocations. As far as
I know, every employee asked about
who else the prospective employer
had brought to PMA. Not a single
company that was soliciting
employees brought anyone below top
management to PMA. That spoke
volumes to the McCurry employees
about who really cared about growing
their people. It was the most
impactful thing we could have done
to reinforce to our people what we
stood for. You guessed it; we didn’t
lose a single employee.
Every woman on your team who is
at PMA should attend the “Women in
Imaging” Round Table on Thursday at
2:00. Don’t let them miss this.
You’ll be glad they went and so will
they.
Looking forward to seeing each of
you at PMA.
Bill
