The speed of the market
Thursday, June 24, 2004
One of my favorite topics -- really my favorite current challenge -- is the reality everyone working today is facing. The speed at which markets change is faster than any company can keep up with. The product side is pressured by global economies, political climate changes, and shifting consumer tastes. But that's only one side of the story. What about the people -- or the human capital - side? A friend of mine forwarded me a link to an article by Kevin Wheeler, founder and president of Global Learning Resources. In the article, he talks about the ways it is impossible to plan for and stay ahead of the shifts, from a training and development standpoint.
Wheeler offers an interesting central point: "...it will be impossible to "plan" the workforce of the future in any meaningful way for more than perhaps three to six months out."
As a person involved in development and training within organizations, I know that reality dictates that it may take this long to plan a training program, much less execute and support one. And even less to be ready to put any new skills or perspectives into use in a functional way.
No, planning and traditional training are not the best answer about how to keep up with the moving target that is a prepared workforce and a prepared organization. (It is one answer, but not the best.)
Wheeler does offer a strategy to be better prepared in the current reality, outlined in four steps:
1. Anticipate the challenges you will face. To educate and guide hiring management, you must gain a thorough knowledge of both your supply chain and your current employees' capabilities and skills;
2. Focus on Employee readiness, not succession planning that prepares a wide range of employees ready for any needs that arise, versus the traditional succession planning organizations normally use;
3. Rapid Response that occurs once a need is identified, enabling you to fill the arising needs very quickly;
4. Taking a new look at jobs, -- which means admitting that the concept that a job is a more or less static set of skills and competencies -- needs to be replaced with accepting that job descriptions and titles need to have built-in flexibility around the skills required to get a piece of work done. This provides for more internal staff who can be used, and broader set of external candidates that may be qualified. By keeping jobs narrowly defined, we limit not only our ability to hire quickly but also the potential for creativity and change.
The bottom line, at least to me, is that we are in a period when transition and movement is the norm. No longer can we expect the old systems and structures to exist, not if we are going to be competing in the current and in the future.
Wheeler offers an interesting central point: "...it will be impossible to "plan" the workforce of the future in any meaningful way for more than perhaps three to six months out."
As a person involved in development and training within organizations, I know that reality dictates that it may take this long to plan a training program, much less execute and support one. And even less to be ready to put any new skills or perspectives into use in a functional way.
No, planning and traditional training are not the best answer about how to keep up with the moving target that is a prepared workforce and a prepared organization. (It is one answer, but not the best.)
Wheeler does offer a strategy to be better prepared in the current reality, outlined in four steps:
1. Anticipate the challenges you will face. To educate and guide hiring management, you must gain a thorough knowledge of both your supply chain and your current employees' capabilities and skills;
2. Focus on Employee readiness, not succession planning that prepares a wide range of employees ready for any needs that arise, versus the traditional succession planning organizations normally use;
3. Rapid Response that occurs once a need is identified, enabling you to fill the arising needs very quickly;
4. Taking a new look at jobs, -- which means admitting that the concept that a job is a more or less static set of skills and competencies -- needs to be replaced with accepting that job descriptions and titles need to have built-in flexibility around the skills required to get a piece of work done. This provides for more internal staff who can be used, and broader set of external candidates that may be qualified. By keeping jobs narrowly defined, we limit not only our ability to hire quickly but also the potential for creativity and change.
The bottom line, at least to me, is that we are in a period when transition and movement is the norm. No longer can we expect the old systems and structures to exist, not if we are going to be competing in the current and in the future.
