Many sheet metal contractors as asking themselves the questions: “Who will my next generation of leaders be? Who will replace those in my organization that will retire in the next four to fourteen years? What will our workforce look like in the future?
If you have asked yourself these same questions then you are in good company. When we look at the amount of talent that is retiring in the next four to fourteen years and then take a look at the level of commitment and experience of those who are currently entering the workforce some concern is warranted.
Many of the issues I am seeing in our workforce fall under what I call The Four Core Competencies.
Communication
The Shift – How a young man or woman chooses to communicate today is completely different than those who entered in the workforce 30 years ago. Face -o-face and voice-to-voice conversations are becoming a thing of the past. (This is not a good change, by the way.) The ability of our young workforce to accept constructive criticism or deal with conflict has greatly diminished. Conversations that used to take place via phone or in person are now being replaced with text messages and an unmanageable amount of email. Information, and in many cases an unnecessary amount of information, is trying to take the place of a good old fashioned conversation.
The Problem – Take away one’s ability to have a meaningful face-to-face conversation with another person and you will take away that person’s ability to build a relationship. Most of those who prefer to text and email over having a face-to-face conversation believe their choice is just a choice of efficiency or personal preference. There is a time a place to “deliver information” where the text and email chains are the perfect solution. Building relationships is different. Business follows relationships. Take away your ability to build a relationship with another person and consider how you that may cripple you to perform at your best. Today’s leaders heavily rely on relationships to be successful, but for a large part of the next generation entering the industry this skill is becoming obsolete.
Self-Leadership
The Shift – Self-leadership is not about leading someone else; it’s about leading one’s self. It takes one set of skills to lead a group of men into battle or on the jobsite. It takes a completely different set of skills to show up on time, or not be on your personal cell phone all day.
The Problem – Many of our organizations are trying to figure out how they are going to train this next generation of leaders when they have not attempted to develop a level of self-leadership in our workforce. The cellphone issue is not a technology issue. If you have a member on one of your crews that is constantly on Facebook or texting his girlfriend this is not a technology issue. This is an integrity issue. If the cellphone was the problem then everyone with a cellphone would have the same behaviour.
Professionalism
The Shift – The construction industry already has a tough reputation in regards to professionalism. We have guys that look like they got dressed out of their glove box, and smell like they slept under a bridge last night. When I ask about their basic appearance, behaviour, or general odor I often hear, “This is how I roll, and I do damn good work so it shouldn’t matter.”
The Problem – It does matter. The individual who doesn’t care about their professionalism must not realize they are representing more than just themselves. They are representing the trade, the company they work for, and their Local if they are a member. This is damaging our reputation and, in turn, our ability to be successful.
Entrepreneurship
The Shift – Entrepreneurship includes the basic knowledge around how man hours are created. We are seeing a generation entering the workforce feeling entitled and including many who do not care if the contractor is successful. Some do not understand how many dollars a contractor has to generate to replace the $300 drill they just lost. When I ask a room full of apprentices how much money a contractor makes on a million dollar job the number one answer is one million dollars.
The Problem – The contractors’ margins are getting tighter. The work schedules are getting compressed. It’s the little mistakes that are adding up, and those mistakes are proving to be catastrophic. Basic business sense, and personal financial responsibility are becoming concepts of the past.
These are the four core competencies we must begin to develop in our workforce if we want to be successful in the future. Most would say the issues in the above competencies fall under the umbrella of “common sense.” Well, common sense isn’t all that common anymore.
Take a look at your organization. Once you remove those who will retire in the next four to fourteen years who will take their place, and then who will take their place? The smart contractors are working every day to develop not only tomorrows leaders, but also their crews.
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Nic Bittle is the founder of Work Force Pro and works with contractors that want to prepare and develop their workforce to lead with impact, act like a pro, and perform at their best on a daily basis. He does this in a variety of different ways. Through presentations and workshops, through tools that he has developed which are designed to support the learning process, and through a unique information delivery system called D.R.I.P. InformationTM. He is the architect of two performance improvement process curriculums, that use the D.R.I.P. InformationTM process that are specifically designed to prepare and develop our current and next generation work force for the roles and responsibilities that lie ahead. Nic is author of three books, Small Business, BIG Mistakes, Perform Like the Boss!, and Good Foreman; Bad Foreman. Learn more at www.nicbittle.com.
