Maybe it’s just me, but even the most dissimilar topics Control and I are covering lately seem to be overlapping. Of course, I can see how mobility, wireless and edge computing lead straight into IIoT and then to data analytics. They’re collectively driven by digitalization.

But what the heck does workforce development, recruiting/retaining, learning interpersonal skills and solving the brain drain have to do with analyzing plant-floor data? I thought they were polar opposites, but once again, my brain had to catch up with reality.

The system integrators and many other sources in Control’s 15-part August cover story, “How to build process engineers and operators,” reported that process industry companies seek people and develop training based on the technologies they’ll use and the skills they’ll need. Because time and resources are always limited, this means close study, focus and awareness are crucial to determine which capabilities are the most necessary, and what are most effective ways for staffers new and old to internalize, employ and retain them.

Motivation and action are crucial, but keen awareness is indispensable.

Fast forward to this issue’s feature story, “Data analytics show up for work,” and it seemed like everyone was giving me the same answers to different questions. Wait, what? Yup, close study, focus and awareness again, this time to find the most appropriate data analytics functions and software. Source after source reported that users must again be aware and conscious of their organization’s individual goals, capabilities, operations, performance and snags to select the right analytics software and support solutions.

Unfortunately, despite its universal value and usefulness, awareness often seems to be an impossibly tall order. Many interviews I conduct trigger a stream of unspecific, muddy-headed cliches. Conference sessions and online staff meetings feature speakers spinning the same vague platitudes they’ve been spouting for 20 years or more. I’m sure you’ve attended a few. It seems like many speakers don’t care about their listeners or audience.

I’d guess there must be some awareness underneath, but there’s typically no expression of it. For example, many process control and automation topics get mentioned in passing before a speaker segues into what they’re promoting. However, there are usually few details and no context about how they fit in how evolved over years, mainly from hardware to software, and all the side alleys, nooks and crannies related to digitalization.

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Even more concerning is younger speakers who pipe up with “new ideas” like giving out golf balls at tradeshows. Spit take! If they weren’t distributed as tchotchkes at London’s Great Exhibition in 1851, they were given away shortly after and at every tradeshow since then. As Wally from the Dilbert comic strip said at a tradeshow, “Pens. Well, that’s original. Time to hit the buffet.”

I’m not saying golf balls won’t be appreciated—for a few seconds. However, like all come-ons and gimmicks, they’re just an ice breaker.  So, they’d better be followed by something solid and useful that doesn’t come in a better version elsewhere. Long-term relationships can’t be built on introductions.

Genuine partners must be able to learn, develop their own focus and awareness, and form the specific answers their audience and clients are desperately seeking, which they’ll prize and remember. The few who are willing must get immersed and educated, learn to quickly recall details, and eventually gain enough expertise to synthesize new answers for upcoming situations and challenges.

I’m not saying we must immediately develop razor sharp intellects. I know I can’t. However, we can all rouse ourselves to greater degrees of activity and consciousness than we’ve performed up to now, right?

I know it’s difficult to find and deliver input that can genuinely help people do their jobs better. But, would you rather take on that difficult task, or just be the baloney that recipients push aside on the way to what they value?