INDUSTRY TIPS / THE ONLINE PRINT COACH 41 www.printmonthly.co.uk November / December 2024 - Issue 351 ▲ Being aware of when you and your colleagues are feeling the effects of being short staffed is vital says Sinclair McDermott Start by Looking at Your Current Staff – Are your current employees operating to their full capacity? Perhaps there are people you already have who can fill the appropriate gaps with some additional training? Make sure everyone is reaching their potential bandwidth before throwing more financial resource at the issue. Future Proofing Your Business – Consider the direction the business is moving in and try to anticipate what future demands might be expected of your overall team. Consider which roles are likely to be more top-heavy and hire accordingly based on both the present and the future. Ticking all the Boxes – It’s obviously important to hire the right people with the right skills but from experience, it also pays dividends to take things like soft skills into consideration. You want to not only make sure the individuals have the right technical skills, but you should be looking for people who possess good soft skills such as being good communicators, problem solvers, and are comfortable in a overstretched team will likely struggle to maintain a good level of customer service that both you and your clients have come to expect. If this is the case, hiring extra personnel in this department can help alleviate some of the pressure and bring your standards back up to where they should be. You want to ensure your clients feel valued and you maintain consistency with your communications. Increased Downtime and Maintenance – Believe it or not, this can be one of the key things to look out for. If you’re working your teams and your kit too hard without allowing enough time for essential maintenance, machines are going to start breaking down at the worst possible times. It’s important to make sure you’re building in capacity and have the staff bandwidth to keep on top of this, therefore, unexpected breakdowns are an indicator you need to expand the team in these areas. team environment. I’ve seen firsthand how employees who are team players will cause fewer issues and are also better at adapting to change and in fact, support it. Test the Waters With Outsourcing – We’re lucky to live in a time where there are lots of options in regards to freelancers. Websites like Fiverr, Upwork, and People Per Hour are great sources of talent and allow you to build a case for a particular role before you get to the stage of actually employing someone. To Conclude – Managing staff is probably one of the most difficult parts of running a business, therefore, it is worth putting the legwork in up front to make sure you build the right team at the right time. For all the businesses I’ve coached in the industry over the past few years, this is still the most challenging area. When you get it correct you set yourself up in a much stronger position to become a more predictable and profitable operation. So, What Is the Best Way to Grow Your Team?
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