The War for Talent Continues

December 21st, 2011

In 2006 I was sharing with many people about the impending employee shortage that was looming on the horizon. At that time it was predicted that by 2010 there would be a 10 million more jobs than qualified employees to fill them. There were a variety of factors that were going to be in place to cause this shortage, including the beginning of retirement of baby boomers in 2006. Another reason was that jobs were becoming increasingly more technical in nature, requiring people holding even the most rudimentary of jobs to have some sort of technical skills. Then 2008 hit and threw things dramatically off track. Or did it?

Here we are in 2011, with unemployment rates still hovering around 9%, considerably much more than where we were in 2006. But after just over 3 years of higher unemployment rates we are beginning to again see the job market tighten, and employers are struggling to fill positions with qualified, high performing employees. I spent the summer of 2011 talking with current and previous clients about their employee situations. Every single one of them indicated that they were having a hard time to find qualified employees with the right skills to fill their vacant positions.

It seems that they are not alone. In a survey conducted by Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute found that there are currently about 600,000 open positions across the industry in the USA. This is about 5% of the manufacturing workforce, and is due largely to the lack of skills by current applicants. This isn’t an isolated incident. Across all industries there is about 3.2 million jobs that are vacant for the roughly 14 million unemployed.

Most claim the 3.2 million job openings is normal, a result of normal turnover and the lag in the ability to refill the jobs. In fact, this number has been fairly consistent for a number of years, even before our recent economic downturn. But with current employees hesitant to jeopardize their income, many have postponed looking for new or better jobs. So we should see a drop in job openings, not remain the same; and with the number of unemployed people, we should be able to fill the positions even quicker than before.

But this isn’t the case. In a survey by Towers Watson recently, they found that 59% of companies across all industries were unable to fill critical skills positions due to a lack of skills by applicants. This is down only slightly from the pre-recession rate of 66%; a rate that was at a time when unemployment rates were 5% or less!

What this all tells us is that finding top performing employees that have the drive and skills to dramatically impact your organization is still going to be tough. They are still in short supply while being in great demand. It doesn’t matter how many people are unemployed, the best employees will still have jobs and everyone will be competing to recruit and retain them. These top performing employees can still move from job to job with little concern, as they will always be in demand.

The challenge for employers is to be able to find and retain these top performers at all levels within their organization. This means that organizations must create a climate where these top performers can feel appreciated and have the ability to be responsible for their own work as they continue to grow and become masters at their craft. Most organizations struggle with this, while only a few excel. These few have learned how to master the Seven Elements of High Performance™, and these elements allow them to find and keep the best employees.

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Taking Action on Technical Skills

July 20th, 2011

The other day I received a link to a video that talked about our current unemployment situation and the number of jobs that are currently vacant and waiting to be filled in the USA. It shared that there are approximately 13 million people unemployed as of June 2011, and that there are an estimated 2 million job openings, and the impact that filling those job openings could have on the economy. Of course, the thing holding back the filling of many of those job openings is that most of these jobs require people with specific skills.

On the same day that I received the link to this video there is a news segment on TV about the need to retrain people who have obsolete skills with the new skills that we now need. This brought back memories of when I worked on a project with a large mid-western state back in 2001 that was trying to do the same thing. They wanted to “retool” their workforce from steel and coal to the more high-tech jobs that were at that time in demand. Unfortunately, most of the jobs that they wanted to focus on aren’t that much in demand today.

These stories also made me think of one of my clients that I had visited this past month. Despite what most people think, manufacturing is not dead in the USA, and I have been fortunate to have a few of these organizations as clients. One of them was sharing with me that they had the need for some screw machine operators, and that they had 5 positions that they needed to fill.

For those that do not know what a screw machine operator does, they operate a machine that manufactures very small, very delicate, and very precise screws for use in other precision machinery. This isn’t something you just take someone off the street and teach them how to do it in a few hours, days or even weeks. It takes many, many years of training and experience to become a good screw machine operator. Unfortunately, there just aren’t that many people choosing this as a profession, so despite the client being willing to pay these people $30 per hour or more, and willing to pay to relocate them, they were having a very, very hard time filling these 5 positions.

In his book “Outliers,” Malcolm Gladwell shared some research that reveals that it takes about 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become a master at doing something. If you are working full time at trying to master something, then it would take you about 5 years to accomplish this. Gladwell shared that it usually takes about 10 years to become really good at doing something, because rarely do we “deliberately practice” 8 full hours a day.

This has three implications. First, if we are going to try to “retool” people from their obsolete skills to new skills, it is going to take some time to get them up to speed. While there might be some learning transfer, what is most often being talked about is the delivery of totally new skills, and most of these skills are high-tech skills being delivered to low-tech workers. Second, not all “old” skills need to be retooled. It is far easier to teach a modern machinist how to be a screw machine operator than it is to teach someone who has no skills at all in operating modern machinist equipment. Unfortunately, we do not encourage children to become a machinist when they are in high school; we encourage them to go to college or a university instead.

The third issue is related to the second. If employers know that they need these rare, highly skilled technical workers that don’t require a college education, then they need to get involved with the school systems to share this need. They need to reach out to parents and get them out of the idea that a university is the preferred destination for their child and the only way that they can be financially successful in the future. After all, a technical college training program is far less expensive than a 4 year degree, and in the end their child can be easily earning $60,000 a year or more, plus benefits.

This is precisely what my client is doing. They are greatly involved in their own local public school system, as well as being involved with the state technical college system to help insure that the right skills are being taught for their needs. They are building the relationships at high school now so that in the future they will have highly skilled workers to fill their positions.

So what are your needs, both now and for the future, and what are you doing now that will insure that your needs will be met both now and for the future? Are you relying on the system and hoping that they will meet your needs, or are you taking a proactive approach to insure that your needs will be met? Remember, a good manager sets out with Intent and acts accordingly to achieve their goals.

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Despite High Unemployment, Good Employees Are Still Hard to Find

June 30th, 2011

I was fortunate to have a considerable amount of downtime during the month of June of 2011. There are a lot of ways that I could have spent that time, but I chose to spend a lot of it visiting with past, present, and future clients and just have some casual conversations with them about what was going on and what they saw as some challenges for their future. Now, please understand that these organizations are not average at all. I have been very fortunate to get to work with some very good organizations and help them on their journey to becoming even better. So what I heard from each of them came as no real surprise to me. Every single client shared with me that they were struggling to find great employees to fill positions in their organizations.

That’s right; despite an unemployment rate running above 9%, every single one of these organizations were still having a hard time finding the right kind of people to fill critical positions in their organizations. After all, they weren’t just looking for anyone to fill a position. They all knew the damage that this approach could have on their organization’s ability to perform, as people who do not fit and who are not high performers could set the wrong example for the rest of the organization.

Instead, they were very meticulously searching for employees who had both the right skills and the right attitudes that could enhance the performance of their organization. This isn’t an easy task, but these organizations understood the value of taking their time to find the best employees and then doing what it takes to make sure they are welcomed and that they will want to stay for the long-term.

One of the things I often do in our Strategic Executive Briefings, as well as in our work with executives and managers, is to ask them about the challenges that their organizations face over the next 7 to 10 years, and the kinds of people they will need to overcome those challenges. No matter what the challenges are that these organizations face, in over 8 years that I’ve been doing this, the answers about the kinds of employees remain the same. They all want committed, self-motivated, creative, innovative, responsible, team players who are talented, proactive, willing to learn, and who will work hard for their organization.

Everyone is after the same type of employee, and even with the high unemployment rate, they are still hard to find. It is all too easy to put bodies into vacant positions and see if they will make it or not, but that approach is very costly, both in recruiting and onboarding costs, as well as the long-term impact it has on your other employees. It is far better to leave a position open, even those critical ones, than to fill it with someone who is not the right person for the job or the organization. These organizations understand that.

What my clients, both past and present, also understand is that no matter if they hire the best employees, they will only remain the best if they provide them with the right environment for them to work and excel. Providing this kind of environment also gives them an edge in recruiting the best employees, as the best employees do want to work for an organization where they can excel and are not micromanaged. Of course, this environment comes from the way management chooses to manage, and the Seven Elements of High Performance™ provides them with an excellent blueprint. After all, it all begins with Putting People at the Center, and making sure that you have good people and a good environment for them to work in is a key component to high performance.

This is just one of the many insights that I gained from my visits with my clients and what they had to share with me. Keep an eye out for more articles, as I expand on this issue of finding good employees, as well as other thoughts that they stimulated.

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Oprah, Black Eyed Peas, and Creating a Feeling

February 7th, 2011

Whether you thought the Super Bowl XLV half-time show was good or not, in the fall of 2009 the Black Eyed Peas were a part of a rather fantastic experience.  The event was Oprah Winfrey’s 24th Season Kickoff Party.  Below is the video of this performance.  As you watch the performance, pay attention to the young woman in the blue shirt at the front of the stage…

This video has gone viral, with people sharing this version or posting alternate versions, many with comments like “girl starts dance party,” or something similar.  Many of the comments talk about the amazement that a single person can get 21,000 people working together, and then lament why we can’t even solve our own problems, either for the country or at work.  The belief is that this spectacular event just all seemed to happen on its own, and all of these people just magically worked together all of a sudden.

But that isn’t the case.

I must admit that as I watched the video I felt the power from the crowd; its excitement; its focus; its energy.  And while I do believe that powerful things can and do just “happen,” I also know that this isn’t usually the case.  Powerful things that are well executed come from inspiration, yes, but they also come from good planning.  So I went off to investigate and find the real story behind turning this “mob” of individuals into a well functioning dance machine. 

What I discovered was that, like most great things, it did start with a person or at least a small group of people, although it wasn’t the young woman in the blue shirt.  It was from director Michael Gracey and choreographer Ashley Wallen, and the planning for this began many months prior, long before the young woman in a blue shirt started dancing. 

First came the idea to do this as part of the Kickoff Party.  Then simple steps were designed into the dance that would make it easy to teach others.  Then a core of about 20 professional dancers learned the dance and how to teach it, and they helped teach it to 800 other professional dancers.  On the day of the event, and prior to Oprah arriving, these 800 dancers were placed throughout the crowd, and then the crowd was taught the basic moves.  If they happened to forget the moves it wasn’t a problem.  All they had to do was watch one of the 800 professional dancers who were stationed throughout the crowd who already knew the dance by heart. 

So, no, this dance wasn’t spontaneous at all, but actually well thought out, well planned, and well executed.  And guess what?  Yep, the young woman in the blue shirt is one of the professional dancers. 

So what does this have to do with organizational performance?  Well, the same thing is true in the best organizations.  High performance does not just happen spontaneously, nor is it left to chance.  It doesn’t happen simply because a CEO or other leader starts jumping around and getting excited, hoping that others will get excited too.  Rather, it begins with some well thought out goals and plans that are created by a small group of people; the senior executive team.  Then the senior executive team “teaches” what is important about the plan and how to accomplish the plan to the managers in the organization.  Then the managers “teach” what is important to their employees.  These managers also make sure that they are around to be good examples for their employees, and that they are being good coaches to help their employees perform within the parameters of the plan. 

When you create clarity, focus, and alignment in the organization, then all of a sudden everyone is moving at the right time and in the right way to accomplish some really great things.  Did you notice that in the dance that not everyone was doing the exact same thing at the exact same time?  Everyone had their part, sometimes being different from others.  For example, did you notice in the dance that not everyone turns around to the back of the crowd at the same time?  So it isn’t about everyone doing the same things at the same time, but about people doing what they should do at the right time. 

As employees perform, interacting with others in the organization, as well as outside of the organization, and as they follow the plan, doing their part, then great things begin to happen.  As these great things begin to happen they get excited, and pretty soon performance can take on its own energy levels, fueling higher and higher levels of performance in the organization, which leads to even greater excitement about what is happening in the organization.  

It is this feeling of excitement surrounding Purpose and the accomplishment of the Goals surrounding that Purpose that creates engagement in employees.  And while this feeling might happen spontaneously, the things that led up to it really did have to be carefully planned and executed.  It takes time to create this kind of excitement.  Often times others will not see the time and preparation that goes into creating something fantastic, like the performance in Chicago’s Miracle Mile.  All most see are the results and the excitement surrounding those results.  They think it is magic born out of spontaneity, when, in fact, there was a lot of hard work and planning that went into making that fantastic performance look spontaneous and effortless. 

To brow from and paraphrase some from the song, I’ve got a feeling that today is going to be a good day, but it takes my conscious effort and some well laid plans to make sure that it is going to be a Great Day.  Don’t leave your Great Day for you and your organization up to chance, but rather take the time to plan and share those plans with others. 

 Make a Great Day!

Posted in Engagement, Intent, Leadership | No Comments »

Good Enough and Being the Best

October 22nd, 2010

The other day I received an e-mail promotion where the person was talking about being “good enough.”  They shared that they had to replace their old food processor, and the new one had all sorts of features that they did not use and that it was very hard to clean.  They didn’t enjoy using it, which was quite frequently, and in a couple of months it had broken.  They then went out and bought a different machine that only had “chop,” “blend,” and “pulse” as features and it was simple to take apart and clean, and it is very durable, allowing it to work consistently on a daily basis over many, many months.  To top it off, it was even less expensive than the fancy machine that only lasted three months.  As they shared this story they said that they loved the second machine and that it was “good enough.”

I have also heard several others talk about this concept of “good enough” in regard to a variety of products, including the revolution of the new video cameras that are simply point, shoot, and upload the video to the internet.  Again, they talk about the simplicity of these products as being “good enough” because they cost less and do less.

I would disagree with their assessment.  I do not see these products as being inferior and just barely satisfying the customer’s needs.  After all, that is what “good enough” really means; just barely satisfactory.  Often just barely satisfactory products are made of inferior components that do not last for a very long time.  But that is not the case of the food processor or the video cameras.  They are well made and perform very well. For millions of people, these products aren’t simply “good enough” but are meeting the needs of the customer extremely well.  For the situations in which these products were created, they are the best solutions to meet the customer’s needs.

I think we need to be careful when we start confusing inferior products and services with those products and services that meet our needs extremely well just because those latter products might cost less, have less features, or only do one or two things.  It usually takes a lot of thought and preparation to provide our customers with the things that are just what they are looking for so that we can delight them.  Rarely does it just happen because we are cutting costs by using inferior materials or by providing less features.

For example, the manufacturer of the food processor would need to know what speeds that their customers usually use (chop, blend, and pulse) before they decided to only provide those speeds.  But what would have happened if they had left off the pulse speed, or perhaps the blend speed?  Obviously it would not meet the needs of many of their customers.  Or what would have happened if they did not take the time to insure that the blender was easy to take apart and clean?  Again, it would have had the same complaints as its fancy predecessor had as being hard to use.  And finally, what if it had only lasted a few months, also like its predecessor?  It would have hardly seemed a bargain at any price if it won’t work as we want it to. 

Being the Best means listening to your customers and giving them what they want and doing it well, even if those products or services are simple to use, have less features, or cost less than their competitors.  How they are manifested in your product or service is up to you to find out from your customers, but here are some things to consider: 

  1. Solution – What ever else the product or service does, it must be a solution to the customers’ needs.  If it is not providing a solution to the customers’ problems or desires, then it will not capture the attention of the customer. 
  2. Simplicity – While customers might want a robust solution to their needs, they never want something that will be hard to figure out to use.  They want to be able to understand it and want to be able to use as few steps as possible.  When things get to be complicated then mistakes can be made, steps forgotten, or things just not work as they were intended.  The more complexity an item has, the more chances are that it will be less reliable or fail entirely. 
  3. Reliability – Customers want things to work as they expect them to work and for the period of time that they expect them to work.  If an item is a single use item, then they expect it to work that one time.  If it is something that they expect to last, then failing after a few times of use is unacceptable. 
  4. Choice – Customers want to have a choice of features or options.  While these might be limited to only a few, they hardly want the old Henry Ford choices of “any color as long as it is black.”  Many of the “smart” phones that are on the market are a good example.  These phones come with some basic features, but a buyer can chose to add on additional applications or not, and if they do then they have thousands of choices of add-on applications that they can download to their phone, making it as robust as they would like so that the phone meets their needs.  On the other hand, just imagine if all of those applications came pre-loaded on your next phone and the problems it might cause in simplicity and reliability.
  5. Value – Customers want what ever product or service that they buy to provide them with value for their investment of either money or time, or both.  If something is extremely valuable to a customer they will pay more for it, especially if it will help them do more or enjoy more.  Value is not always connected with cost, but with how well the product or service meets the above criteria. 

Meeting the above criteria is not easy, and it certainly is not “good enough” no matter how simple the product or service is.  The research, however, is clear that those organizations that know who their customers are, know what they want and give it to them are typically much more successful and sustainable than those organizations that just give their customers “good enough” solutions that are only marginally useful. 

Besides, which would you rather be known for: being just “good enough” or for being “the best” at meeting your customer’s needs, no matter how simple you make it look when you meet those needs?

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