Strategy for an Inexperienced Workforce

There is a looming experience gap in your workforce, presenting a significant risk to many businesses.  Here are some specific strategies managers should implement to anticipate and overcome this problem.

The Demographic Reality

• Most of the population is older than 50 and younger than 30 due to the baby boom
• Organizations fired most of their middle managers in the ‘90s when they restructured/reorganized
• As more experienced employees retire, you’re going to have trouble replacing them
• Immigration only partially addresses the problem
• Your 20-somethings used to have 15 years to develop their skills, whereas now they might have only 5 years

The bottom line: You need to “skill up” people faster (both accelerated leadership development and technical development).

What To Do?

We need to lead our businesses differently to account for this looming experience gap.  This problem may or may not be addressed by HR in your organization, so you need to go ahead with or without their support.

1. Build a Talent Projection

• You need to know your situation.  What is the scope of your problem?  What is the gap in your skilled talent?
• How many people do you lose per year due to normal attrition?
• How many people will you lose to retirement in the next 5 years?
• What people demands will the growth of the business place on your talent?

2. Become a Capability Building Machine

• You need to figure out how to capture the knowledge of retiring employees, and transition it to younger employees.
• Training is one method, but should not be the only method (and many organizations default to training).
• Other more effective methods include mentoring, job shadowing, stretch assignments, and coaching.

3. Insist Leaders Be Coaches

• If you have an inexperienced workforce, or are anticipating one, your leaders must be coaches.  They must be inspired to bring out the excellence in others.
• The number one priority of leaders in such situations must be to build skills (both leadership and technical) in the organization.
• You need to hire, promote, reward, and reinforce for the development of people.

3 Things to Remember About Anticipating and Dealing With an Inexperienced Workforce:

1. This is NOT an HR problem.  This is a management problem, and a significant risk to many businesses.
2. Don’t let leaders off the hook because they are technically excellent.  They need to make others excellent.
3. Think beyond training.

Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about dealing with an inexperienced workforce (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):

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