Brian Gareau Engaging High Performance Blog

Invest Now – Don’t Get Caught Short On Talent

6/20/2013

A June 2013 CNNMoney.com headline – “Home Builders Struggling to Find Workers” caught my attention. Given that millions of people are unemployed in the U.S. and the importance of the housing market to our overall economy, I was hooked and read on. The article highlighted findings from a National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) survey which showed nearly 50% of its members had fallen behind on finishing projects – 15% turned down jobs – and 9% lost or canceled sales. The simple reason given for these disturbing results was many home builders could not find enough workers to keep up with demand! Some home builders have even been forced to ‘poach’ workers from competitive job sites to meet their needs.

This trend is not unique to the U.S. housing industry. We have 3-4 million unfilled jobs in the U.S. as well as 3-times as many people unemployed. Deloitte calls it a ‘Talent Paradox’. Currently U.S. unemployment remains high, voluntary turnover is low, but employers are facing talent shortages. The shortages are across the board including technicians, skilled trades, sales reps, engineers, and laborers.

Don’t get caught short on engaged talent and create unnecessary product/service delays, customer satisfaction issues, and lost business. Here are some key questions and areas I help my clients to proactively discuss, debate, and ultimately address.

As the economy and your industry rebounds, will your organization’s--

ongoing efforts trying to do more with less people allow you to retain needed talent? (Research indicates up to 2/3rds of employees may be ready to ‘bail’ current employers.)
current workforce be strong company advocates to attract future talent?
business culture be unique and different to balance competitive C+B?
high potential employees be easily ‘poached’ by other organizations?
employees eligible for ‘early’ retirement leave but ultimately work somewhere else?
employee engagement (commitment, effort, and loyalty) enable your organization to quickly respond to new opportunities?

Securing a strong future of organizational high performance requires making wise investment choices. One critical set of choices to make involves human capital and talent. What current investments should your organization be making ‘now’ to attract, develop, engage, and retain talent in the future? Don’t get caught short!

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The Shed Project

6/7/2013

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Research consistently shows that most teams underperform. Simple things, not done correctly or at all, create frustration, waste, and inefficiency. Here’s a success story from this past Memorial Day weekend involving a team of seven - a “home project” – and some critical teamwork principles successfully executed.

Let’s set the stage. My wife and I have a special tradition of spending time with close friends at their Wisconsin lake house. Many of our visits include projects for all of us to participate in. The work usually goes fast with extra hands and the projects have created lasting memories. This year was no exception – we got to help build a storage shed on the lakefront. A team of seven (males and females), set out to clear and level a space in a wooded area – move hundreds of pounds of building materials down 78 steps to the lakefront – construct a wooden platform – and assemble a prefab shed on the platform. We succeeded!

Here are some simple teamwork principles reinforced during our weekend project:

On the same page. We had a common goal - build a solid, safe, storage shed. We knew where and what we wanted to build; key process steps; jobs needing to be done; tools and materials available; and how we would measure success. We had clarity and focus!
Energetic. We initiated our project at the beginning of the holiday weekend. Everyone had a good night’s sleep and healthy breakfast. Our team’s heads, hearts, and hands were rested and fueled for success. We had energy!
Shared leadership. Obviously our hosts who own the lake house provided key leadership. But they shared leadership at different stages of the project with others. They even left for a short time to run another critical errand. We shared leadership and increased ownership!
Helping hands. Everyone looked for small ways to help each other. Digging, chopping, carrying, lifting, measuring, cutting, assembling, and cleaning up were all more effective and efficient because there were multiple hands for each task. We unconditionally helped each other!
Trust. We exposed our vulnerability to each other by openly admitting we did not know how to do some things and/or asking for help. Holding a wooden stake while someone else swings a sledge hammer is a true test of trust. Our actions showed we believed in each other!
Opinions mattered. A number of times during the construction we actively solicited ideas and verbally brainstormed options. No one was critiqued or judged for their input. Ultimately we piggy-backed many ideas to get a better finished product. Everyone had a voice!
Balance. We got fatigued – especially after clearing & leveling the site and carrying all the materials down the stairs. We also had to ‘redo’ several things. But, we kept our perspective and balance by reminding ourselves of the highs/successes when we hit lows/setbacks. We kept things in perspective!
Celebration. We celebrated three major milestones (site preparation, platform building, and shed assembly) with a few moments of verbal recognition. At the end, everyone was personally thanked and we toasted the team’s ultimate success. We reinforced our accomplishments together!

Reflect back on teams in your organization that have and have not been successful. How would they compare against these principles from our successful weekend project? What impact would better teamwork have on engaging and sustaining high performance?

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Invest Now – Don’t Get Caught Short On Talent

The Shed Project

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