Industry Knowledge Fast Tracked!

Feb 13, 2020

By Carol McGlogan

We are on the cusp of a major tidal wave hitting our industry; the onslaught of 10,000 new employees are set to replace the current base who are over 55 years of age and are on the horizon of retirement. This talent refresh brings on many opportunities for progress to address evolving customer needs, new product solutions and supply chain digitization. New skills and new ways of thinking will propel us forward. However, the challenge this talent pool will have is to understand the industry that they have settled in. This challenge is further magnified as the time required to absorb industry knowledge is compressed due to the accelerated exit of industry knowledge.

EFC recognized this opportunity over a year ago at a Marketing Network meeting where more than half of the participants were new to the industry. These marketers were tasked with spending their budgets wisely, targeting the right segments and players, and understanding the channel dynamics to develop their value propositions. When asked if they would value training on the industry ecosystem and market drivers, the answer was a resounding “yes”.

The Electrical Industry Playbook is an online training module that reviews the market segments and their drivers, the roles of various industry players, the channel options in the electrical industry, and the project and specification processes. It also outlines the drivers that make the distribution channel successful and how companies can positively impact those drivers.

The playbook is effective for new and existing employees as it provides the “big picture” and allows employees to understand which segments/players/channels they are participating in. This bigger picture will empower employees to better understand the challenges their customers are going through and will allow them to be better problem solvers.

For managers, the P[aybook comes with a discussion guide to review with module participants. The gold standard for implementing the training module is to take advantage of the discussion guide to customize the training experience to the company’s markets/products/players. For participants, the playbook comes complete with a glossary of terms and a map of the ecosystem, which help further support their learning journey.

Learning through experience is a long road — one that I have travelled. I have been in this industry for 35 years and I wish I had an industry playbook when I started. It would have accelerated my understanding of the market and my effectiveness. As my career developed, I know that different aspects of the playbook would have been meaningful to me.

I am proud of our team and the industry committee that was assembled to spearhead this project. The playbook has received tremendous positive feedback. The comments below are typical of the feedback we have received:

“I completed my training and as a newcomer to the Canadian electrical industry found it to be a great resource in understanding the Canadian electrical ecosystem. I was able to grasp the interrelationships amongst various channel partners as well as gain knowledge of the various types of projects and the bidding process of products. The course definitely gave me a better understanding of the market.” — Saud Ayub, Prysmian Group

“This resource is not only a great refresher for anyone working in the electrical industry, but it provides an amazing jump-start for new talent joining the industry. Thinking what new employees had to learn in the past through endless questions and listening to story-telling over years, is now all mapped out and well presented in this one-hour training module.” — Uri Levy, Legrand Canada

Watch this video and take a brief tour of the playbook: https://youtu.be/W-lkoZt7dqc

For full details and to order your company’s online seats, go to https://www.electrofed.com/efc-training-modules/

Carol McGlogan is President & CEO, Electro-Federation Canada.