Colin Sinclair McDermott, The Online Print Coach foresees mentoring and education ramping up in 2025 to stay ahead of the competition
Something I’ve seen change significantly throughout this year, and I predict it ramping up in 2025, is the need to upskill, both to stay ahead of competition and keep our workforce engaged and on an upward career trajectory. Businesses that view training and education as an investment and not a cost will lead the charge in 2025.
From an employee’s perspective, and certainly, something I am witnessing with the younger generation coming through in the industry, they want to feel that their role has meaning and purpose and, more importantly, that they have room to grow within a business. I believe that employers who recognise this stand a much greater chance of retaining their employees and not losing them to either competition or, worse still, losing them from the Industry altogether.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have a highly knowledgeable and skilled workforce coming to the end of their careers. I believe the businesses that act on this and utilise this to bring on the new generation through mentorship and coaching can aid in developing a much stronger industry. It’s a conversation that has come up many times at trade shows I have attended, and businesses should be working to feed this knowledge base down from the older generation.
These are exciting times as we move into 2025 and the Industry needs to take advantage of evolving technology we have at our fingertips. We need to learn how to embrace things like AI and Automation. Customers are more demanding now than they ever have been since I joined the Industry, and if we fail to adapt, we adapt to fail.