Craftsmen are meaningless until you need one in an emergency,” says Josef Zauner. “If you’re ankle-deep in water when a pipe bursts in your apartment, studying won’t do you any good.” Zauner is a locksmith and craftsman with a passion: he has completed his training in a company in Schörfling am Attersee, later worked as a managing director in two different companies.At the same time, he completed training as a “speaker” and recently took over the management consultancy “Digital Blocks” with a colleague – all with one goal: “Handicraft must become sexy again. It must not be a social descent when people decide to become a craftsman.”
His lectures on the subject recently even took Zauner to Mastershausen in Germany: He was one of 96 participants who showed their skills at the “Speaker Slam”. The speakers spoke about their heart topic and had four minutes to enthrall their audience.
“There, too, I noticed that some people were concerned about the topic,” says the 41-year-old Lenzinger, who comes from a real family of craftsmen. With his management consultancy, he wants to help small and medium-sized craft businesses to become attractive to workers. How can that succeed?
First, the companies would have to be clear about their visions, goals and values, and represent them internally. Those who take up the cause of appreciation, recognition or sustainability must also live this, says Zauner, “otherwise it will have the opposite effect”. Those who live and practice these things honestly can approach potential employees who identify with them.
Secondly, companies would have to provide modern equipment: “Anyone who has the most modern smartphone in their free time does not want to work on an outdated machine.”
Authentic inside and out
Thirdly, for many, a good public image, for example on the Internet or via social media, is still not a matter of course.
Another approach of “Digital Blocks” is digitization, which has not yet found its way into many painters, plumbers and carpenters: “Almost all companies are struggling with staff shortages.” Companies would have to take advantage of digitization for things like administration in order to use employees for value-adding activities.
Zauner’s grandfathers were carpenters, his father a plumber. Does he, the fitter and current consultant, miss the daily manual work? “I’m very satisfied. I can do more for the trade than when I’m behind a machine.”
Source: Nachrichten
