Manufacturing is at a pivotal moment. With an aging workforce, rapid technological advancements, and a widening skills gap, the industry faces significant workforce challenges. To overcome these hurdles and ensure long-term success, manufacturers must rethink their approach to talent development. One of the most effective strategies to address these challenges is through the implementation of apprenticeship programs.

Many of us can remember taking a personality assessment, whether that is in a current position, in a first job - maybe even in college. Personality assessments are typically aimed at identifying strengths and weaknesses. In an educational setting, these assessments may provide the participant with good career matches. In a workplace setting, these assessments can help leadership identify candidate position fit, or overall work team diversity.

You have navigated your new employee through socialization, position training, and overall integration into the organization. They are now confidently going through their day and meeting other co-workers. You have noticed they attend your check in conversations with excitement and suggestions for improvement and began answering questions for newer hires joining the organization.

Now, let’s dive into the core of the onboarding process. If you missed the blog about pre-onboarding, I suggest reading that first and then coming back to this one. We went through the first impression, now the new hire has officially arrived for their first day: the first moment of onboarding. This stage is where the new hire becomes an integrated and productive member of your team. Let's explore this critical phase in the employee journey.

Onboarding is a free, first opportunity to retain your new hires. It allows the organization to set the tone for the new hire experience, while having an opportunity to instill a new culture or proper training. Many organizations focus on the main course of onboarding, and even more often on orientation. There is a less known (but highly valuable) missed step: pre-onboarding. In this blog, we'll explore what pre-onboarding is, how it can positively impact your employees and your organization, and some best practices to bring back to your new hires.

In the early 2000’s I took part in a training course which I’ve never forgotten, and nearly twenty years later, it’s still as important as the day I first began learning about it and practicing what I was learning – How to have a “crucial” conversation and stay in dialogue. The training course took place at the Danaher Business System University (DBSU), housed in the Videojet Technologies facility in Wood Dale, Illinois, and it was there that I (and those attending with me) first learned about Crucial Conversations.

This is an original article from the NIST Manufacturing Innovation Blog.

Many manufacturers have struggled for years to hire qualified workers. The outlook is for more of the same. With an aging workforce, emerging new technologies requiring more skilled talent, and the continuing decline of trades education in high schools and community colleges, an estimated 2.1 million manufacturing jobs could go unfilled in the U.S. by 2030.

I remember my mom would make sure I had a quarter in my pocket in case I had to make an emergency call while out with friends. The quarter obviously for the payphone. Do you remember using the payphone? How about when watching your first music video? MTV was a big thing back in the early 80s. Some of us can remember those firsts in our culture yet for some of our colleagues, that transition from “how it was” to “how it is” did not happen. It just always was.