Training Isn't Mentoring: The Future of Printing Depends on Both

By Debbie Nicholson

One of the greatest misconceptions in our industry is believing that because we've trained someone, we've mentored them. Those are two completely different investments!

Training is an event-driven process focused on teaching specific, required skills and procedures.  However, Mentoring is an ongoing, relationship-driven process focused on long-term career development and personal growth.

As an example…Training teaches someone how to process an order.  Mentoring explains how that single order ripples through the entire company, impacting customer service, scheduling, production, profitability, and ultimately the customer’s confidence in our business.  (Big difference, wouldn’t you say?)

The Employee Who Wants More

Every now and then, a special employee walks through your doors. You know the one. They're the person asking questions. They're staying a few minutes after everyone else leaves because they want to understand why something happened or didn’t happen.

• They're curious about estimating.
• They're interested in prepress.
• They're fascinated by production.
• They're hungry to learn all they can.
   

Unfortunately, too often, the response they receive is something like:

• "Just worry about your job."
• "You don't need to know that."
• "We've always done it this way."

Or perhaps the most damaging response of all...Silence!

This happens not because anyone intended to discourage them.  It could be because everyone was busy.  But here's the reality. When someone reaches out for knowledge, and no one reaches back...Eventually, they stop asking.

And that may be one of the biggest losses a printing company can experience.

Mentoring Doesn't Have to Be Complicated

Do you want the good news?

You don't need a fancy program, expensive software, or a blue three-inch binder labeled "Mentoring Initiative."  YAY you!

Sometimes mentoring looks like:

• Inviting a CSR to sit in on an estimating discussion.
• Letting a production employee spend an hour in prepress.
• Walking through a difficult customer situation and explaining the "why" behind the decision.
• Asking a young employee what they hope to be doing five years from now.
• Simply making time for one conversation every month.

Build From Within

One of the strongest companies I've ever seen wasn't successful because it hired all the right people. It became successful because it developed the people it already had.

There's a tremendous difference when employees grow inside your organization, they understand your culture, they know your customers, they understand your standards, they become invested in your success because they've helped build it.

Now, that's a foundation that can't easily be replaced.  Your Future Is Already Here!

I will leave you with this…I once asked a young employee why they wanted to learn estimating.  They said, “Because someday I want to run a printing company.” I smiled.  The person standing beside me smiled too (the supervisor), and then immediately sent them back to collating. 

My heart broke a little because that employee wasn’t asking for a promotion, they were asking for a mentor.