The Skills Shortage is Us
David Earle

Here’s one for you. David Semb, writing in the October 2009 Chief Learning Officer (“The Upcoming Crisis in Talent Management”), cites a poll conducted by PriSim Business War Games, Inc., where he is a partner, in which better than two thirds of seasoned CFOs could not define “profit margin” in basic terms. Uh oh. Can the end of the business world as we know it be far off?

I’ve met many CFOs in my life and find it hard to believe that this percentage would stand up in a large data set, but it does raise a valuable point. Change (really) is the only constant. You’ve heard these words before, I know, but that maxim has never resonated as it does today. With all the factoids/metrics/stats/analytics flooding us; with all the current technology begging to be harnessed; with endlessly proliferating product lines; with global markets and demographics morphing at startling speed; and with the job marketplace in flux, now is the time for learning. Setting aside time and money for self-education is more critical now than at any time within memory.

This applies to us in staffing as much as anyone, and perhaps more. We are the talent professionals. We know more about talent – finding it, qualifying it, pitching it, landing it – than anyone on the planet. So we have to walk the talk.

Change always necessitates new learning. It really doesn’t matter what kind: self-learning, e-learning, on-the-job experiential learning or conventional “classroom” learning. Each one works. Do what works for you, but start doing it. A few weeks back, we referred to this process as upskilling. We were talking about technological literacy then, but the term applies to many other rapidly changing aspects of staffing – cultivating candidates, corporate structure, recruiting process, communication channels, hiring manager dialogue and relationships with senior management. You simply must, irrespective of age, time on the job, past professional designations, or type of organization, commit to some program that will keep you current and relevant.

Also writing in October’s CLO Magazine (“The Eight Toughest Transitions for Leaders”), Michael D. Watkins identifies eight career moves that the executives he’s studied will face during their careers. These senior managers will have to upskill around these exacting constants of business life:

• Promotions (into new and unfamiliar positions)
• Leading former peers (from pal to boss)
• Corporate diplomacy (which shifts with each new position)
• On-boarding (their own when starting new positions)
• International moves or assignments (into different cultures)
• Turnarounds (taking on non-performers)
• Realignment (changes in organizational priorities
• Business portfolio (new or unfamiliar products and services).

This is to say nothing, Watkins adds, of moves between business functions, cross-functional project role assignments, or specific organizational changes such as acquisition integration. If each such move into uncharted territory requires a reconfigured skill set, just imagine the demands of grappling with, say, three of these issues concurrently (and perhaps doing so in Mandarin).

Fortunately, the inclination towards training is part of HR’s and staffing’s DNA. We already understand the connection between performance and education. We deal with it every day, replacing workers whose job skills have eroded with those whose skills are up to date. We compare resumes and interview results all day long. We are trained to recognize talent that knows how to learn and adapt. Now we need to look in the mirror.

As Jay Cross writes (“Whose Learning Are You Responsible For”), again in the same publication and issue, “An organization that is committed to working smarter needs to assess the impact of helping employees learn at every step in their career cycle.” And there are more steps for almost everyone today than ever before. We understand this too because it’s us who’s filling the seats.

How is your company treating your education? Are they, as Cross challenges, making it easier for you and other seasoned employees to self-educate through collaboration, self-service learning and skill bites? Are they walking their own talk about talent management and development?

All this learning is hardly the wave of an imagined future; it is the wave of this actual moment. Do for yourself what we counsel others to do for themselves. Take the following steps now, Semb writes:

• Closely align (your) talent management and succession planning with business strategy.
• Train like the future depends on it.
• Ensure that all (including your) talent disciplines learn the business.
• Make training an enriching experience instead of a painful one.
• Utilize business simulations and experiential learning.
• Become an employer (and employee) of choice.
• Learn from the ones doing it right.

Keep current in your own field and job. (I know, I know, there’s never the budget or the time.) Make sure your laundry list includes all of these: Business alignment. Business relevance. Traditional metrics and new metrics. Enterprise marketing (as in branding). Job marketing, way beyond the old “push and pray” job posting model. Technology. Adjusting to new sourcing channels. Upgrading relationships with hiring managers and senior managers.

If you think there’s a lot to learn, well, there’s plenty more coming.
 

Related Reading:

Be a Mover or Shaker: Learning to Learn Drives All Significant Change

10 Recruiting Lessons That You Can Learn From the Super Bowl

A Time for Rebirth: Rethink and Refocus Your Career

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