Are you consistently identifying and nurturing leadership potential in your business?
With the manufacturing industry facing an ongoing labor shortage, today’s machine shops can’t count on qualified candidates to show up and knock on the door. The next wave of machine shop management team members will have to come from within.
Today’s Machine Shops Must Train for Tomorrow
To fill key roles, CNC machine businesses have already begun hiring young people and training them from the ground up. The problem is that this training commonly begins and ends on the shop floor—lathes and routers, schedules and estimates.
To fully benefit from the presence of these eager young minds, machine shop management teams must begin providing training in the basics of business.
Emerging Leaders: focused training for manufacturing professionals
That’s exactly why NTMA established the Emerging Leaders training program: to give passionate professionals the skills necessary to run a successful manufacturing business.
We launched the program with the goal of enlisting 10 participants before training could begin. By the time the program started in March 2023, we had registered 30 impressive manufacturing professionals across two cohorts!
Over nine months, Emerging Leaders enrollees will participate in two in-person trainings and seven virtual classes covering a range of business topics, including conflict resolution, finance, leadership, and communication.
Positive feedback is already flowing in!
Here at NTMA, we understand how difficult it can be to add business training to your already-packed shop schedule. Emerging Leaders can take over that aspect of training on your behalf, helping brilliant young manufacturers connect the dots between their shop floor skills and what it takes to lead.
By providing young workers with business training today, tomorrow’s shop leaders will be able to pass the torch when retirement day arrives.
Machine Shop Management Is a Job for Insiders
Manufacturing jobs have long exceeded the availability of skilled workers, and the problem is only worsening. NTMA is doing its part to bridge those gaps by providing training solutions for not only leadership but also HR, sales, marketing, and more.
After all, who better to run the manufacturing businesses of tomorrow than natural leaders who are already comfortable on a shop floor? If today’s machine shops want to be around tomorrow, now is the time to train young talent to one day take over.
Good Leaders Are Easier to Find than You Think
Decades of private equity dogma has told businesses that the best leaders must be hired from the outside. But skilled machine shop management team members need more than a brain for business; they also need to understand the intricacies of the industry—and some cursory knowledge simply won’t cut it.
Contrary to popular belief, identifying potential leaders isn’t difficult. Look for the workers who consistently go above and beyond to achieve excellence. Take note of the team members who are respectful and compassionate and earn the respect of their colleagues. Do whatever you can to hold on to the employees who learn eagerly and share their knowledge freely.
If we fail to empower the best of us, we’ll lose them—not just to other shops but to other industries altogether.
But if we embrace the talent already in-house and give them the tools they need to grow, we’ll ensure success today and for generations to come.
Be part of our movement. Join NTMA!
