Posts Tagged ‘solutions’

“Companies in the rich world are confronted with a rapidly aging workforce. Nearly one in three American workers will be over 50 by 2012, and America is a young country compared with Japan and Germany. China is also aging rapidly, thanks to its one-child policy. This means that companies will have to learn how to manage older workers better. It also means that they will be confronted with a wave of retirements as the baby-boomers leave work in droves.” (Source The Economist)

So what does this mean for decision makers like you? Two issues. First, in terms of rising up the management ladder, great opportunities are available for innovative thinkers who continually self-educate and build upon their leadership strengths. Are you armed with the right and best mental tools, processes, education, skills, etc. to be able to go beyond the basics of leading and managing others? The winners of tomorrow are building their management ‘tools kits’ today, because they know that in tomorrow’s world even more so than in today’s, they’ll be forced to CREATE opportunities, not just capitalize on existing ones.

Second, in terms of succession planning and building current leadership teams within today’s organizations, the aging workforce means that you’ll have fewer qualified candidates from which to fill open leadership positions, so you need to start  building the leaders of tomorrow now rather than expect to pull these candidates from the currently fast-evaporating pool.  What systems and processes do you have in place to hire the highest-potential candidates, empower others to work independently, achieve results through others, and most importantly, to attract prospective leaders who THINK in ways that capitalize on and create new opportunities?

This issue of the aging workforce–and specifically, the aging leadership force–doesn’t have to be a negative challenge. In fact, taking steps now can give you great advantages over two kinds of competitors: individuals who are vying for the same job positions as you are, and organizations that your organization competes with in the marketplace. In a nutshell, begin with acquiring mental management tools for yourself and then teaching them to others. Here are three examples to get you started:

1. CPM and Ghantt charts that help leaders organize projects, inform and direct the activities within projects on a time line and according to budget, and keep projects on target for completion as planned.

2. New product and service development tools which help you in the selection of best product/service ideas and pull together cross-functional groups to provide input and support throughout the development of the product and service to outpace competitors.

3. Strategic planning processes that structure the ways in which you and your leadership team(s) strategize to move your organization forward not only today, but into the future.

Of course, you probably already have some ideas floating around in your head about other options, too. The key is to formulate a plan and act on it now. Don’t wait, the opportunities arising from the aging-workforce issue are here for the taking.

No one wants to be in a situation where they have to raise revenue quickly, but sometimes  that’s just a reality that decision makers have to deal with.  When a past client who does business in a service industry was facing a cash crunch due to price increases from two major vendors, the only solution he could come up with in two month’s time was to push his sales people to sell more contracts. After we spoke a bit longer, he admitted that he’d done the math and that in the back of his mind, he had serious doubts about the sales team’s ability to bring in the targeted funds in the time frame that he needed.

I suggested that he try instituting a nominal price increase to all his clients. He was concerned, stating that he had a client base of 4000 contract holders, and to make such a move would mean that he would have to have reps visit each client to rewrite their contracts, plus, he feared their negative reaction. But that was his assumption, not his challenge or solution.

We took a closer look at the client base and came up with a solution that would assuage his concerns, bring in the revenue quickly, and address any clients who might call to complain. He sent via regular mail and email a notice to clients that they would see a slight price increase on their next billing cycle. For clients who had small contracts of say $40, the price would move to $42. For clients of $400, the price would increase to $420 and so on.

Still worried that he’d have an onslaught of calls, he manned up anyway and braced for the worst. And then….nothing happened. A few dozen customers called and they made what ever arrangements necessary for the new amounts to be remitted. In the end. the client pulled in tens of thousands of dollars of additional revenue per month without much work.

I credit the success of this business owner’s across-the-board price increases to the tactics which included: a pricing model that would cause the customer to say to themselves “who cares,” a well written letter and email campaign, staffing for the ‘just-in-case complaints,’ the right name for the increase, and an accounting system that had no flaws in posting the increase.

There’s always a solution to every challenge. You just have to be willing to open your mind to new ideas and to swirl those ideas around ‘cyclonically’ until you find the best solutions to your challenges.

When our kids were 4 and 5 years old,  they went through a brief stage where they would argue over whose turn it was to select and watch the program airing on the family-room TV.  Since we limited television time overall, we wanted to come up with a fair solution that took us parents out of the equation and allowed the kids to solve their own problem.  So I created a tool to empower them to do just that.  It was a daily chart reaching out over 6 months at a time.  The chart would work in 30-minute intervals and the kids alternated days.  They used to define who had control over the TV by their half-hour mark.

We also set up a few rules.  Your time is your time.  If you swap your times and you end up with a conflict, we will adhere to the chart to solve the challenge.

The results were amazing.  No more arguments at all.  None.  They managed themselves.  If you’ve got a busy household, systems and structure can rapidly create new time, harmony and balance.

Using charts, schedules, technology, and standard procedures, you can erase conflicts within your organization and provide the tools to empower your staff to work through their own challenges.

Quite some time ago, prior to the global recession, I signed up for an email alert system from manufacturing.net where they send to me current news on the manufacturing sector.  What I’ve loved about the system is that during these past few months, I’ve seen both sides of the layoff situation and the potential solutions, and they’re being provided in a non-judgmental forum.  I get just the news…globally.

For example, in the posting below, the report notes global concerns in Italy & Germany.  The writers could have easily talked about green initiatives or what’s going on within the business.  They did not.

Italy Paying New Car Buyers $1,900
Manufacturing.Net – February 06, 2009

A Sr. VP of a legal department in a major insurance company realized that his department needed more resources to solve the challenge of always keeping current with existing legal changes around the country.

His solution was that in order to keep up, he’d have to hire two more people. To some degree, he was asking how many people he would need to keep up with the current and future influx of legal changes impacting his company. The answer: more staff.

I picture the teletype coming in and an individual reading it and then running around the company making sure that all the implementation is completed. My thoughts were confirmed. They did not know if all projects were completed nor did they track these changes.

What might have happened if he asked—what would it take to keep up with all legal changes impacting our company and to never have to leave the legal department?

Different question, different answer.

Picture this. An email coming in from the field and the GREEN button on the desk is initiated. A project is created that ties the necessary departments together assigning individuals to coordinate the project. One person from legal and one from the unit.

The plan outlines a 30-day program as defined by the Green Button versus the Red Button, which is 60 days.

Milestones are generated together of 10 days each.

Part one would be completed in ten days, part two in ten more, and everything finished at 30 days.

In the first 10 days, the work is done and when completed the individual in the unit hits a button that says completed. If not, an email is sent to get some feedback. All of this is automated. The next milestone requires a document for legal. One is uploaded at the appropriate time and the next phase is turned green; green denotes that the function is completed. Legal does their work in 3 days and sends back the results. The bar moves a step further. Finally, a notification comes in that the project is done.

All of this occurs while never leaving the seat of the legal department.

Now expand this. You have 17 different legal projects running, each tied to this digital screen. You only react, (fight fires,) when projects are late, or if they are being done on time. No worries. You could even be on a fishing boat tied to wireless connection, open the computer, look at the projects, and then go back to fishing.

Sometimes new ideas sound complicated. But if you think about it, this new process is not as complicated as hiring staff, training staff, and then paying for human error. This type of technology would leverage the department and not tie it down.

What questions are you asking?