T+D Blog

Skills gap webcast Feb. 14

The response to the T+D cover feature on the Skills Gap has been pretty exciting. I have had some very positive phone calls and emails. I hope you have had time to read it. If you would like an opportunity to dive a bit deeper into the subject, and perhaps quiz some experts, I would urge you to join in the follow-up webcast tomorrow. (That would be Tuesday, Feb 14, 2 p.m. Eastern).

To get ready for the webcast, please check in at this site. It will walk you through the very short technology checkup that will allow you to participate in this event as well as other future webcasts from ASTD.

Thanks. I look forward to talking with you on Tuesday.

What role do you play?

In your workplace are you an anthropologist or an experimenter? The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelley has won rave reviews, but this item in The Globe and Mail, cuts out most of the praise and gets to the essence of the book. The article states: “Tom Kelley, general manager of the IDEO design and innovation consultancy, says we need to move beyond the devil's advocate role, which can be toxic to fresh ideas, and ensure our workplaces are populated with 10 positive roles that nourish new ventures.” The 10 roles will probably not surprise you, but I will bet that all 10 don’t exist in your organization.

A review on Amazon.com suggests: The Art of Innovation really teaches indirectly (not to mention enlightens and entertains) by telling great stories--mainly, of how the best ideas for creating or improving products or processes come not from laboriously organized focus groups, but from keen observations of how regular people work and play on a daily basis.”

I have a Borders gift card in my wallet that was a Christmas gift. I think I know how I am going to use it.

Cheer up, already

Looking out the window this morning I see the streets and sidewalks of Alexandria, Va., completely soaked by rain. We are not alone ... much of the East Coast is suffering from various forms of precipitation this morning. It seems that we were lucky the past two weeks. We had a bit of sunshine and the kind of temperatures that cause trees to bud because they think it is spring. But no, January is truly upon us and the folks who suffer from the lack of sunlight are in for a few days of misery.

Oddly enough, researchers at Cardiff University have identified the most depressing da of the year. It's January 24. According to an article on an HR profession website about the research: "Employees have returned to work after the festive break and HR needs to prepare and face the challenge that motivation is quite low. Although for many the festive period is a stressful one, many do not favor returning to work, and reality, as an exciting prospect."

The article provides a few steps that HR departments can take to ease this problem for employees and their organizations. As a kid raised by a hard-working mother -- who happened to be a nurse in a busy unit -- I got little sympathy for illness or emotional maladies. If my brother and sisters were feeling a bit blue, we heard a standard answer: Snap out of it!

Of course, that is not an acceptable answer in dealing with your own co-workers. And, as much as I sometimes want to say that when I hear a co-worker complain about the gray days of January, I hold my tongue. The good news is that as bad as the weather is today, it will be much better in a few weeks. So, cheer up, already.

Human Capital and the NYT

Weekend emails regarding work can send me off in directions I never imagine. Author and frequent contributor to T+D, Saul Carliner, dropped a mail on me over the weekend telling me to read a piece in the New York Times on Human Capital. I stopped my spree of online Christmas present shopping to read the article and I never got back to the shopping. So, when my mom doesn't get her Indiana Pacers chip and dip bowls, I plan to blame it all on Saul.

The piece, by David Brooks, is part of the Times' new, pay-for-their opinions section called TimesSelect. I am a bit annoyed about them charging me to get to opinion pieces, but that is the way of the world. You can start a free temporary subscription if you want to look at this piece.

Brooks wrote: "(S)kills and knowledge - the stuff you can measure with tests - is only
the most superficial component of human capital. U.S. education reforms have
generally failed because they try to improve the skills of students without
addressing the underlying components of human capital."

Is that the case in workplace learning? I don't think so. The sad thing about teaching school-age students is that too many people have their fingers in the soup. Politicos, administrators, school boards, teachers unions, uninformed parents and dozens of others can mess things up.

When profit is the motive, Human Capital is a commodity that is an essential element to an organization's future. In many savvy companies and organizations it is respected and leveraged to the Nth degree.

Top trends affecting human capital strategy

From a press release from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM):

"As economic, social, and business conditions change, executives stay alert to the issues that will have the most impact on their human capital strategies in the year ahead. 

As health care costs continue to increase, the number of uninsured grows, and baby boomers approach retirement, the business world must adapt to ever-changing conditions to stay competitive.

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) asked non-HR executives what business trends will most affect their company’s human capital strategies."

2005

• Rise in health care costs, 30 percent
• Demand for flexible work arrangements, 35 percent
• Economic uncertainty, 26 percent
• Talent retention, 21 percent
• Exporting of U.S. jobs, 19 percent

2006

• Rise in health care costs, 37 percent
• Demand for flexible work arrangements, 31 percent
• Economic uncertainty, 29 percent
• Talent retention, 24 percent
• Exporting of U.S. jobs, 22 percent

A sobering truth

As I ate my lunch today, I perused the latest issue of Workforce Performance Solutions. The very first column I turned to really made me stop and think. In the magazine's opening pages, the well-respected leadership expert Marshall Goldsmith wrote about "The Danger of Denial." This article did a really good job, I think, of pointing out the looming problem of the United States falling behind in the global knowledge market.

Goldsmith talks about traveling abroad and meeting workers in Eastern Europe, India, and China who are well educated, value learning, and are willing to work 80 hours a week for less than $20,000 a year. They're also fluent in English and motivated to improve their and their families' quality of life.

He says many people in the United States are hiding their heads in the sand and saying that the country will always continue to have the world's number 1 economy. But, according to Goldsmith and Intel Chairman Craig Barrett, whom Goldsmith quotes, "...if Americans don't increase our efforts in research and development, and dramatically improve our education system, we may lose our leadership."

This idea isn't a new one, but I think Goldsmith does a good idea at getting to the root of the problem when many others simply take issue with one of its symptoms: outsourcing. Whether or not you believe companies in the United States should be outsourcing work to other countries, it's important to realize that this phenomenon is just a symptom of a greater problem.

The quote from Goldsmith above succinctly and, I believe, accurately sums up what needs to be done. He says it's not impossible for the United States to meet this challenge, but it will take hard work.

How can those of us in the United States do it? Goldsmith says we need new leaders who tell this hard truth and challenge workers to face the new reality, and we need to make continuing education a high priority. We need to invest in people, and we need to let go of our arrogance that says we will always win.

Got other ideas? Leave a comment below.

Aging workforce puts organizational knowledge at risk

Many U.S. companies are failing to capture critical knowledge from retiring employees and transfer it to new ones, says a new study from Accenture.

The company surveyed 500 workers between 40 and 50 years old, finding that almost half (45 percent) of respondents' organizations don't have a formal process or tools to capture their workplace knowledge.

One quarter (26 percent) of respondents said their organizations will allow them to retire without transferring any knowledge. Only 20 percent said they would have an intensive, months-long process of knowledge transfer before they left. Twenty-eight percent said the  process would take one or two weeks, and 16 percent said they'd just have an informal discussion with others in the company before retiring.

Says Kathy Battistoni, a partner in Accenture's Human Performance practice, "With more than 25 percent of the current working U.S. population reaching retirement by 2010, companies must undertake workforce development and training initiatives to capture knowledge and minimize its loss. Additionally, they must support these initiatives with technology, which can help capture critical information and distribute it directly to employees' desktops."

She says companies must take three important steps to effectively transfer knowledge from retiring employees.

1. "Understand the extent of the problem, including the skills at risk, and their organization's ability to tackle it."

2. "Develop a strategy to capture and transfer core skills from retiring employees and to identify, attract and retain new workers with critical skills."

3. "Manage and measure the progress of the entire effort."

She concludes, "The bottom line is that leaders in this arena know that capturing critical workforce knowledge and skills can't be left to chance."

Five steps to smart human capital growth

The U.S. employment report released on Friday shows a growth of 274,000 jobs in April. According to WisdomNet Inc., a consulting and technology company, that was 100,000 more than analysts had predicted.

The company says these numbers show that companies are growing, but that they need to be careful about how they do so.

Brian Wilkerson, WisdomNet's president and CEO, asserts that knee-jerk hiring can result in a bloated organization. He offers these steps to smart human capital growth:

"Step One: Align people with your business objectives.

Many smaller organizations have a similar set of talents throughout the organization--for example, techies, marketers, salespeople, or engineers. 

Other organizations do not systematically add to their base of expertise, hiring salespeople without examining the growth objectives, or adding management that often are not suited to the role.

Successful companies avoid this problem by aligning human resources with the business goals. Expansion only begins once recruitment, training, and deployment of individuals is planned with growth in mind.

Step Two: Take an inventory of current skills, talents, and behaviors.

There are a number of ways to assess a company’s current skillset including internal evaluations, talent management software, or outside consulting.

Internal Evaluations
Most companies conduct formal appraisals of their employees, and the more sophisticated will have a number of different criteria for evaluation. The more in-depth the evaluation, the more useful it will be in assessing the alignment of skills and talents with job requirements.

Technology
Talent management software is becoming increasingly popular, allowing human resources and company executives to track all details pertaining to employees and their skillsets and traits.    

Professional Consultants
Another methodology for assessing a workforce is to bring in a consulting firm that specializes in this arena. Consultants provide an objective, professional opinion with regard to staffing. They also provide a consultative document from which senior management may glean information before making decisions that may affect the bottom line of an organization.

Step Three: Undertake a gap assessment.

Gap assessment is the basic evaluation of where an organization is now vs. where they want to be. The evaluation of ‘now’ includes an honest audit of employees, their true talents, and their benefit to the organization. Additionally, it should include an audit of the skills required for each job description. Once complete, management must ask, honestly: “Can the current talent complete the requirements of the job duties?”

Without an honest gap assessment company executives make assumptions. Some assume (or blindly hope) that they have the in-house talent to achieve planned growth.  Others assume the opposite: they’ll need to hire new and expensive staff that have the necessary experience and savvy to take the company to the next level. Both or neither may be the right answer, but without an honest talent assessment management may pursue the wrong direction.

Step 4: Outsourcing

Like buying a car, management must ask the question – to buy or lease? Much has been made of outsourcing, but contract labor has its advantages: it can cost less, is far more flexible and can be easier to obtain from a skills perspective. On the other hand, hiring employees gives the company the final say over performance and costs.

Step Five: Close the loop.

So you have new employees or newly trained existing employees. Now what?

In the human resources space, the hot term is 'succession planning'. But the bottom line for management is how to keep employees productive and engaged. To do this, organizations must have the processes and the infrastructure to ensure the work of their staff aligns to the goals of the business, and that the right evaluations, structure, rewards, and training are in place.

In conclusion, the overriding strategic imperative is to consider talent as a key ingredient in business success – just as important as other capital investments. And just as additions of hard costs are examined carefully during times of growth, so should the additions of personnel."