I read a very interesting blog post written by Tom Stanfield, a colleague of mine and wanted to share his wisdom with you.
It pertains to MI yet others will find interesting ideas on hiring quality people.  I find that many of my clients need bodies to fill positions because things change so quickly.  This causes conflict in the workplace because expectations are not met.  Employees tell me that they are confused because they were hired to work in one position and the next week they are moved into another role because the company is changing so quickly.

This is nothing new.  This Job Dilemma can be solved when leaders know where to find quality people and how to be transparent on what is expected both from the company and employee.

I’m asked the following question from leaders:  What is accountability coaching?  They usually ask the question when they are exploring the possibility of getting help from a trained consultant to improve communication and improve the flow of the company.
Click here to read my blog post to find out how accountability coaching can help your organization

Enjoy Tom’s article!

M Live Article: The Jobs Dilemma

I read an article by Melissa Anders from M Live The headline is “The Jobs Dilemma”. I must say it was a great job of reporting differing opinions without trying to drive the readers to her conclusion. Nice job Melissa Anders.

There are two sub-headlines. “If Michigan graduates so many skilled students, why can’t they find work here?” and “Online job screening: Are companies missing talented applicants?” I have never had a full-page in any newspaper fall so strongly on my greatest passion; the Talent Management of Michigan Organizations.

There were many facts stated like the mismatch between available jobs and available talent, there are thousands of unfilled jobs on-line but employers say they have a hard time finding qualified candidates, some say the wages offered are too low, some say employers’ expectations are too high, etc.

The scariest statement to me was from Doug Rothwell, President and CEO of Business Leaders of Michigan. He said, “By 2018 Michigan will need to fill 1.3 million jobs, 836,000 of those requiring post-secondary education or training. At current rates we will fall hundreds of thousands short”.

This “battle” for our State’s economy is like the battle the medical world has with cancer. We all want to conquer it, but “it” has “multiple faces” in the overview and a “singular face” with any one individual patient. I have personally learned that when dealing with health issues at the individual level, the patient needs a “patient advocate”. The patient in the “stress of battle” needs an advocate that is intimately involved with the patient but not living in the day-to-day stress of the issue. An “advocate” can help guide the patient’s decisions because they know their needs and desires deeply and are with the patient while consulting with the doctor. They are able to bring observations to both the patient and the doctor.

In my career I was given the opportunity to be the “patient advocate” for the Owner/Operator of a manufacturing company in Grand Rapids. My job was People Development Director. My responsibility was to ensure we had a well qualified, well-trained workforce available to accomplish the corporate goals in the present and into the future. I was an employee of the company, but did not have day-to-day product responsibilities that would distract my focus from Talent Management.

I believe every organization needs someone at the leadership level “driving the Talent Management bus”. If our people are our greatest resource, we need someone that has the understanding of the organizational goals and directions; someone that can project the needs 5, 10 or more years down the road. Someone that can connect to the right sources of the talent the organization will need for the future; an advocate for the entity that cannot speak for itself; the organization.

You would not put an ad on-line for your material inventory needs. Can you imagine an ad that said, “Needed 100,000# of tube stock. Anyone interested in supplying this product please call 616-123-4567”? I don’t believe you would go to Angie’s List to find an electrician to solve a major problem in your facility. Sourcing is the key to controlling the quality of any resource. We need an “advocate” to ensure we connect to the right “doctor”.

Let’s take a tip from the Corrective Action process a lot of organizations use.

1. Define your specific problem or problems. If you have more than one, separate the issues. You cannot solve a generic problem. If you are having trouble finding candidates, define what candidates. Are they Engineers? Are they Welders? Are they Nurses? You cannot solve all of them with the same solution.

2. Determine the right team to work on the problem. If you do not have the right resources in-house, “rent” them. If you were going to build a new building would you use just your staff or would you bring in contractors where needed? Your key people, along with needed outside “experts”, make a great problem solving team.

3. Determine the Root Cause of the problem, not the symptoms. Get to the Root Cause. If you can’t find the right candidates it might be a sourcing issue, or it might be your method of searching for candidates, or it might be your pay scale, etc. If you don’t find the Root Cause of the problem you cannot solve it.

4. Determine Interim Corrective Action. Determine how you can quickly control the problem. This usually means spending a little extra money, but it “stops the bleeding”.

5. Determine Permanent Corrective Action. Once you have “stopped the bleeding” determine the best method of control for the future and get your costs back in line.

I believe we need to get this conversation out of generic statements and into organizational specific statements. After all, how do you eat an elephant?

Who is Tom Stanfield?

Entrepreneurial Business Leader and Business Coach with 40+ years of management experience in automotive tier 1, automotive tier 2 and flat rolled steel processing that supplied the automotive industry; the office furniture industry and the farm implement industry. Proven vision and ability to establish a business culture that focuses on core values and achieve results. Team builder that has learned to harness the natural “flow” of talent in an organization and channel it to create stability and an upward movement of talent while focusing on the bottom line.

Thanks to Tom for giving me permission to share his article with my loyal readers.
Read more of Tom’s articles on his blog

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Thanks for reading and remember…
YOU get what YOU tolerate!

PS
Check out this link on how Joyce can help your company reduce conflict in the workplace.
Find out how accountability coaching could be a key to your company’s success!

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