WWEMA Window: What's Inside Matters

By Vincent Baldasare, Gorman-Rupp Company

Technological innovations are pervasive in today’s business climate as well as in our personal lives.  Many facets of technology have made our lives easier by allowing us to do more with less.  At the same time, overuse of certain technologies can cause us to do less with more, enabling us to destroy relationships in a New York minute.  The challenge for all of us is to effectively manage all that technology offers while not getting ensnarled in it, undermining direct human contact and the personal touch. Technology, while a great thing, can cause a disconnection between ourselves and those in our lives.

Just a few weeks ago, many of us attended Water Environment Federation’s annual water and wastewater conference in New Orleans — WEFTEC.  Our purpose for attending was to discover what is new and trending in the industry, including the latest technology. Manufacturers attend to showcase their new and existing products and programs developed to assist owners with their unique challenges; operators and consultants often attend to earn continuing education credits while attending WEF’s informative educational sessions, as well as to discover those emerging trends exhibited by the manufacturers. 

A third, possibly more important, reason to take part is to reconnect personally with associates with whom we normally interact by using communication technologies such as phone, email and text.  In short, WEFTEC allows us the opportunity to personally meet and visit with customers, associates, and friendly competitors face-to-face.  It is the people factor — what’s inside an organization — that matters.

The people inside an organization make it what it is, not the technology. We must not forget that the personnel within our organizations make the difference by building the relationships that create the opportunity for sales. Technology can be a distraction from the things we should be focusing on, leading us to neglect important personal interactions with those around us.

Opportunities to connect with customers and colleagues are often interrupted with casual chats with friends or family, or the beeping of a personal device as it receives text messages. We can be mid-sentence with a customer or client, hear our cell phone ding, and respond reflexively like Pavlov’s dog.  What if we miss out on something? What if someone needs us and we are not available? What if there is an emergency? We often find ourselves withdrawing only to miss the real human-to-human contact with the person beside us who needs us most.

I witnessed a new phenomenon while strolling through the exhibit hall this year — a “virtual salesperson.” I was shocked to observe the humans in the booth on their devices while the young (virtual) lady attempted to catch the attention of passers-by.

I would encourage all of us to disconnect from technology for a small portion of our day and reconnect with those in our lives, whether personal or professional, and focus on human-to-human contact. In fact, I often encourage my team to pick a day of the week and make it a “no email” day, connecting with our customers by picking up the handsets of their phones and talking to them directly instead.

I was encouraged to learn that at WWEMA’s upcoming Annual Meeting, November 6 to 8 in Tucson, AZ, there will be a session titled “Boosting Performance…and the Bottom Line.” Our organizations are not made up of our products, plans, or promotions, but rather our people. Our people are what matters most.

WWEMA’s role in the water and wastewater industry as the voice of the equipment manufacturer is to assist us in maneuvering our legislative and regulatory environment. In addition to this and many other related services, WWEMA provides specialized training on emerging trends in technology and how best to employ this technology without forgetting our most important assets: the people in our organizations.

Vincent Baldasare is Sales Manager, Engineered Systems, at Gorman-Rupp Company and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Water and Wastewater Equipment Manufacturers Association (WWEMA).