February 2008 From the Editor: The Talent Gap By Danica Tormohlen
Our industry, like many others, is facing a serious shortage of talent. This isn’t news — we’ve been talking about it for years, but I think it’s getting worse and I wonder when we’re going to start doing something about it.
As Boomers begin to retire, there simply aren’t enough employees — let alone talented employees — to fill the gaps. According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, “even as they contemplate layoffs, many companies are also hunting for new hires to fill management gaps. One reason for the hunts: Companies haven’t been grooming and training enough employees for promotions and now have a mismatch of talent for open positions.”
Let’s be honest: Our industry has never really been good at training. While we tout the value of our own shows’ educational programs, management in this industry doesn’t seem willing to devote the necessary resources when it comes to sending their own people to training at industry events like IAEE, SISO, NACS and many others. And how many associations and trade show organizations actually have a formal training program in place for new employees?
A friend of mine who worked in pharmaceutical sales for a number of years recently started working for a major international show organizer. In less than a week on the job, she was talking to exhibitor prospects about their space requirements for the next show — despite the fact that she didn’t even know how to calculate the rate of a 10-by-10 space. Can you imagine a major pharmaceutical company sending a brand new sales rep into the field after one week? Their new hires go through extensive training and months of education about the company’s products.
Yes, a case can be made that if you hire smart, talented people, they can and should be able to learn the business through on-the-job training. But does that really offer the best opportunity for them to succeed and stay in our business? And what about leadership training? One of the best attributes of show organizers is their ability to handle operations and logistics, but most aren’t offered leadership training or experience demonstrating strategic skills.
Pay is an issue too. My pharmaceutical friend already loves the industry — and I think she’ll do well. But will she stay? Pharmaceutical companies (and many other industries) pay more — a lot more — than our industry. When are we going to recognize that if we want to compete with major industry for top talent, we’re going to have to pay for it?
To make matters worse, according to The Wall Street Journal article, most employees don’t really understand employer expectations. “Nearly half of 20,000 employees surveyed at 100 large global companies by YSC, a London-based corporate-psychology consultant, said they don’t receive enough feedback from their managers to help them improve performance.” If we don’t offer our employees any type of external or internal training or provide them with formal or informal feedback on their job performance, how on earth do we expect them to lead and run tomorrow’s shows?
It sounds simple enough in theory, but in principle it can be a time-consuming, expensive process that’s easy to push aside in favor of today’s crisis. (Believe me, I’m just as guilty.) But if we don’t address the talent development issue soon, it will be tomorrow’s crisis for our industry.
