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Agenda 2005
By Roger E. Herman, CSP, CMC, FIMC As you read this article, 2005 is opening before us. By some measures, we're half-way through the first decade of the 21st century. And what a ride it has been so far! In the past few years our lives have been disrupted, challenged, and influenced by an economic downturn, a major terrorist attack on the United States and countless other terrorist acts around the globe, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, armed conflicts--even called "genocide" in countries that have been troubled by civic strife for decades, and significant shifts in geo-economic trends as jobs move off-shore. Mixed in with all this, we've experienced devastating weather--hurricanes in the United States, flooding and other problems in other countries--and stormy political campaigns. Corporate ethics and inadequate leadership have tainted the business environment, rewarded by prison terms or multi-million dollar buyouts of executive contracts. In the midst of all this turbulence, corporate leaders are expected to achieve sufficient economic success to produce impressive results on Wall Street, develop and introduce new products and services, penetrate markets, apply technology, motivate their workers, and generate bottom line strength. These objectives cannot be accomplished without a competent, dedicated workforce: that's the secret ingredient that will separate the winners from the whiners. Velocity With the speed of change and challenge, an astonishing proportion of corporate leaders have concentrated their attention and energy on short-term issues. Their perspectives have been diminished, their strategic focus shortened considerably. Executive emphasis has shifted from long-range multi-year concerns to micro-managing of the moment. More attention has been devoted to immediate and near-term concerns than big-picture visionary concepts. The speed of leadership life has forced--or enabled--executives to grasp the immediate instead of illuminating the inspirational long-term path that their followers need so desperately to see. Too many people in the o-zone--the top levels of their organizations--have fallen into the trap of short-term thinking. They're not looking intently enough at the Big Picture, and, consequently, neither are their people. As a result, many companies are stalled in the present with limited capability of moving into the future. Corporate executives find themselves on the horns of an interesting dilemma. On one hand, they are swamped--practically overwhelmed--with work because they don't have enough people on their lean staffs to accomplish their objectives. This condition means that progress is much slower than they would like, building frustration. On the other hand, they sense that the economy has been picking up and that they need to be doing more to position themselves to ride the wave. Unfortunately, they are hampered by a lack of resources to move more aggressively. They're trapped in a classic "Catch 22" situation and, in many cases, simply don't know how to get out. Complicating matters is the fear that competitors are moving at a much faster pace and eroding their market share--current and future. Without being able to gather enough data quickly enough, corporate leaders find themselves engaged in more seat-of-the-pants guessing ("strategic estimates") than is really comfortable for them. This fact is particularly true--and troubling--for executives who have come from business schools where they were taught to gather information and analyze it before making decisions. With the varying speed of databits ricocheting in a three-dimensional environment, capturing the right metrics at the right time, and knowing how to use the intelligence that has been gathered, has become a monumental challenge. Recommended Action. Take a deep breath! Collect as much information as you can and lay it out in front of you. Invite selected colleagues (not too many or your effort will be counterproductive) to join you in digesting, evaluating, and analyzing your data to make decisions that will benefit the organization. The world will continue to move faster than you'd prefer…and you have to accelerate your own organization's speed. The secret is to move forward deliberately. Speed--timeliness--is important, but only if you're consciously focused on where you're going and why. Take the time to get all your people on-board with you. Appreciate the role you play in educating and inspiring others to do what they have to do. Link your vision and support roles so people know where they have to go, why the journey is important, and what assistance you will give them in making the trip. Labor Shortage As we move through the next decade, practically every employer will face unexpected and frustrating challenges due to labor shortages. Most of the shortage will be in the area of skilled labor--workers who need education and/or training to perform their jobs. As we interpret data generated from studies conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we see the possibility of a shortage of as many as 10,033,000 skilled workers by 2010. If this happens, employers will wrestle with the most severe shortage of skilled labor in history…something that no employer can really totally prepare for. As the economy grows, you will need more people. Competition for top talent will be intense, with recruiters behaving like starving wolves on the prowl. The companies that are most attractive to applicants will win the battles in the war for talent. Positioning tools, such as being recognized as an Employer of Choice®, will help differentiate one company from another as highly capable workers struggle to choose the right place to continue their careers. (www.employerofchoice.com) Shortages will be seen in almost all fields, particularly in technical positions, service jobs, and professional roles. Demand will be high in healthcare, bio-med, technology, advanced manufacturing, design, and practically anything involving computers. Electronic recruiting will be the weapon of choice in the new war for talent. For an example of what can be done, see www.retailology.com. Of course, you should be familiar with what's happening on the job boards--the major services and the niche services like www.vetjobs.com and www.retiredbrains.com. This field is exploding and employment professionals who are not up-to-speed will be behind the curve. And playing catch-up in this environment will be expensive and damaging to your effectiveness. Pay attention to technology leaders like www.recruitmax.com to be aware of what is happening in this vital arena. Note that we just gave you a handful of websites to visit.This is just scratching the surface. Invest the time to know this playing field. It is not a level playing field, and it's filled with potholes and quicksand. Recommended Action. Strengthen your recruiting process now. Do not wait. Your competitors are already taking aggressive steps, even though you may not see them. Almost every day we hear about employers engaging in various forms of "stealth recruiting." They're quietly going after top talent, probably including people who work for your organization. Get active in the recruiting space. Reach out to prospective employees--for now and for the future--through your company's website and every other place that may be even marginally valuable for you. But realize that recruiting is more than a one-way process. Follow through with response to every candidate. Listen to the sage advice of Peter Weddle, well-known and respected authority on recruiting: "Taking this step is vitally important because the experience a candidate has while interacting with an organization is a key element of its employment brand. The way candidates are treated conveys a subliminal, but powerful message about an employer's culture and the value it places on people. While those who are desperate for employment will probably apply no matter how shabbily they are treated, the best and brightest will not tolerate impolite or disrespectful behavior, even if it is unintended. They deserve to be treated better, they expect to be treated better, and they will only consider working for employers where they are." Leadership America's corporations are hampered by some serious leadership deficits. Frankly, too many people in top positions don't know how to manage, let alone lead, their organizations. Overcoming this problem is a responsibility--an obligation--of human resource professionals. These leaders often don't realize how ineffective they really are, especially compared to what they could be. Somebody has to tell them, and brave HR leaders are the best ones to carry the message. In some cases, you'll be dealing with clear cases of unconscious incompetence. However, in most situations the leaders will already feel that they aren't doing all that they should be doing, but don't know where to turn for help. The Chief Human Resource Officer can play a very important role, confidentially (if that's most appropriate) or very openly as a strategic support service for the entire senior leadership team. While we are engaged in this vital improvement process, let's not overlook the need to grow mid-level mangers and front-line supervisors into tomorrow's leaders. These people will be important to the company's future--and, if your employee turnover includes managers, your need may be sooner than you think! Good leaders are essential to corporate performance. They set the pace and make sure that things are done--and resourced--to get results. These people have a big job to do, but usually aren't prepared sufficiently to achieve peak performance. Many of today's top executives grew in their management roles in the late 1990s when resources were plentiful. Their job was almost as easy as dealing cards--passing out the bounty for their subordinates to crank out the work. Then, when the economy slowed dramatically, they shifted to cutting resources…almost in the infamous style of "Chainsaw Al." Now they're faced with ever-changing resources, an uncertain operating environment, workforce stability issues, unclear visions and missions, and opportunistic competitors.The ball game has changed and they don't know the rules or the moves. Recommended Action. Arrange an audience with your top executive to talk about the critical need for effective leadership throughout your organization. Suggest diagnostic processes like 360-degree assessments, leadership skill competency evaluations, and "Come to CEO" meetings to look seriously at what growth is needed. Guard against the defensive as you interact with leaders; it's natural for people in high places to protect their turf by not admitting (except perhaps to their therapist) that they fear they aren't as good as everybody thinks they are…or expects them to be. The Imposter Syndrome is more widespread than we might believe, placing your organization's future at risk. Establish a leadership development process. It can be open and public, including a few people or many. Or the process can be closed and quiet. It can be as simple as sending one person to one of the personal development programs at the Center for Creative Leadership or as extensive as bringing in outside consultants who can help executives grow and improve their influence. In our firm's work with leadership teams, we emphasize that "you don't have to be sick to get better" to neutralize the sense that executive growth is intended to "fix" people who are "broken." Education and Training If people aren't moving forward in their personal and professional development, they're either stagnant or moving backward. A lack of forward movement--conscious growth--affects self-esteem, performance, and retention. In these times of economic growth and beckoning job-change opportunities, employers with strong education and training programs have a substantially greater chance of attracting and holding top talent. Training and development will occupy a high place on your agenda for 2005 and beyond. Included will be soft skills, much of them focused on building stronger human interactions, and technical skills. Technology is racing ahead at a frenetic pace, demanding training and retraining just to keep up with all the changes in the way things are done. Keeping up with technological change is critically important in the computer fields, particularly in software. Your changing workforce demographics will include older workers and young people fresh out of school. Both will need training, and there will be opportunities for the older to teach the younger…and vice-versa. Employers that develop a learning culture (a la Peter Senge) will enjoy a much stronger sense of community, shared purpose, and personal satisfaction among employees. Recommended Action. From wherever you are, invest the resources to build a dramatically stronger employee development program. Whether you call this effort a corporate university or not, assure that each component is integrated and connected to other parts. There is no stand-alone learning; everything is linked to something else as a process of growth. Create an Individualized Learning Plan for every employee. Start during the onboarding process for new employees; catch up with existing employees as soon as possible. Include classes, seminars, workshops, stretch assignments, coaching, personal reading assignments, and mentoring. Use internal resources, community colleges, universities, commercial seminar companies, contract trainers, and organizational development consultants. Include personal development (e.g. how to help your child in school) as well as personal growth in your offerings. Recognize publicly--notices on bulletin boards, etc--learning achievements of your people. Include evaluation of growth as part of each employee's performance review. Place this responsibility in the lap of each supervisor, and measure the supervisor's support of employee growth. Globalization Like it or not, every company will be affected by the globalization movement. Some will be heavily involved in global operations; others will be limited to perhaps selling products that are produced in other countries. Our world is shrinking, yet most Americans have minimal appreciation of other cultures, environments, or the political and social issues in other countries. Few native-born Americans speak another language and a large percentage of our citizens have not traveled outside the borders of the United States. In a recent informal survey, I was astonished to discover how many people haven't even traveled outside their own state or region of the country! Our ignorance about international issues, concerns, and experiences places us at a distinct disadvantage in the global marketplace. While we can easily beg off and say that gaining this knowledge is a personal responsibility, employer involvement can strengthen education and awareness for employees--and their families, building new levels of competence and confidence. Broadening perspectives can make a big difference in attitude and performance. Recommended Action. Teach your employees, and perhaps their families, about other countries and cultures. Utilize resources from universities, consulates, and the U. S. Department of Commerce. Even some minimal surfing on the internet will collect interesting information to share with your people. You can put up maps of the world so employees can appreciate where other countries--like Iraq, Korea, or India--are located. Post "factoids" on bulletin boards and other places (like above the sinks in restrooms) to help people learn little pieces of knowledge about other places. Do you have an internationally diverse workforce now? Take advantage of that strength. Some companies (like 1-800-FLOWERS) have pot-luck lunches where employees bring food from their native countries and explain the significance of the dishes. There's More Your agenda for 2005 and beyond will grow. You'll be investing more time and other resources in building employee engagement and strengthening the stability of your workforce. Read industry publications and magazines in your field. Absorb everything you can get your hands on. Your fellow leaders will look to you more and more in the years ahead for guidance. Prepare yourself so you can serve effectively. You can--and will--make a powerful difference in the years ahead.
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