IPMA Regional Conference Becoming A Better Manager

In-plant managers gathered recently near Oklahoma City to compare notes and improve their leadership skills.

by Bob Neubauer

For the second year in a row, the Central Oklahoma chapter of the International Publishing Management Association (IPMA) hosted a fall regional conference for managers interested in fine-tuning their management skills and broadening their industry knowledge.

The two-day event drew 25 people to Norman, Okla., just south of Oklahoma City. The cold rain outside was more than offset by the warm camaraderie among attendees.

Chapter President John Hurt, of Oklahoma Gas and Electric, gave a friendly welcome to the group before introducing the lead speaker, Carrie Griffin.

A familiar face to IPMA members, Griffin started a business called Peopleware to help companies balance people and tasks. Her high-spirited, day-long presentation left everyone feeling energized.

Repeatedly stressing that her former job as an in-plant manager was the best job she ever had, Griffin pointed out that being a manager was not the same as being a leader. Leaders have specific attributes:

• Self mastery (knowing your strengths and weaknesses).

• Visioning (knowing where you are going).

• Stewardship (using resources strategically).

• Persuasive communications (showing staff what's in it for them).

• Empowerment (understanding, enabling and encouraging others).

Working As A Team

Her arms flying as she made her points, Griffin's enthusiasm was contagious. She led the group in several team exercises, one of which involved building a boat out of foam core and tape.

In some groups, members tacitly assumed different roles to complete the project. Other groups admittedly didn't work well together because they didn't believe in the product, had no vision and no interest, and were not able to have fun with it. Griffin used this to show the importance of getting employees to believe in the work they are doing, and to give them some input in the direction the in-plant is going.

To show managers how to work with people whose personalities differ from their own, Griffin had the audience complete a Personal Profile System exercise in which they evaluated their own personalities. In the end, most people fell into one of four categories: Dominance, Influence, Conscientiousness or Steadiness.

Griffin's point was that a manager in the Dominance category, who values immediate results, might not understand or get along with someone in the Influence category, who values interacting with people and generating enthusiasm. A true leader will recognize the difference in styles and alter his or her behavior toward someone with a different type of personality.

Griffin went on to say that leadership isn't about catching people doing something wrong, but about catching them doing something right—and recognizing them for it.

IPMA Perspectives

To provide some insight on the in-plant industry, Carol Kraft, COO of the IPMA, addressed the gathering. She noted that while there are fewer in-plants today than there were a few years ago, there are also fewer commercial printers. In 2000 there were 56,000 of them; today there are 46,000, many having closed or merged.

"It's not necessarily an in-plant problem, it's an industry problem," she said.

Some trends influencing in-plants, she pointed out, are competition from the Internet and increasingly tight deadlines, as people come to expect instantaneous satisfaction. Kraft also sees in-plants working more closely with company data centers and marketing departments in the future to build more business.

Digital technologies continue to provide in-plants with the most opportunities for growth, she said, pointing out that paper companies are now focusing most of their attention on developing papers for digital printers.

Kraft noted that IPMA has welcomed 93 new members in the last quarter.

"As the economy tightens up, people realize that they better be out there networking...because they never know when they might need that 'neighbor,' " she said.

Kraft also informed the group on steps IPMA is taking to upgrade its services, including organizing mini conferences with the theme "birds of a feather" to bring in-plants from the same industries (i.e. insurance, retail) together.

Following Carol Kraft, I gave a presentation on the state of the in-plant market, featuring data IPG collected from hundreds of in-plants.

Then Niki Steenhoek, of Pioneer Hi-Bred, in Des Moines, gave an amusing and insightful talk on the different hats in-plant managers must wear to do their jobs.

As she spoke, she actually put on a number of these hats. A magician's hat signified a manager's need to read minds and perform impossible feats. A hat with a shark's head on it illustrated a manager's need to be a financial shark, identifying costs and savings.

Steenhoek also impressed the crowd by playing a CD-ROM promoting her Communication Resources department. Featuring both video and static text, it resembled a talking, moving brochure.

As part of the conference, attendees toured the University of Oklahoma's Printing Services operation, getting a look at the in-plant's five-color Miller press, along with its other printing, prepress and bindery equipment.

The regional conference was an ambitious undertaking for an IPMA chapter. Organized by Hurt, along with Larry Clements, of Redlands Community College, Lora Geionety and Charles Logan, of American Fidelity, and Cheryl Mlekoday, of the USPS Tech Training Center, it was a successful example of what in-plant managers can do to create opportunities to network with one another.