— It’s what good leaders do!
One of your best employees (by whatever performance measure you use) needs an extra day of bereavement leave for the death of a grandparent who raised her near single-handedly. This employee has been with you 6+ years, with no attendance issues, no unreasonable demands, and you can’t even remember the last time she asked you for something. (more…)
Here’s an email I recently sent to my Houston-based clients. I’m adapting it for a nationwide article to the rest of my clients as well. Though it sounds regional (and in an extreme way, it is), the fact is that competent candidates are getting harder and harder to source nationwide.
More jobs were created in Houston between January 2006 and January 2007 than in any other metropolitan area in the nation, new figures show.
So, that’s great, right?? Maybe yes, maybe no…
A recent article shows Houston outpacing the nation in job creation, posting a 4.4% growth over 2006 (almost 250K new jobs), versus the nation’s ~1%. National unemployment is around 4.5%, while Houston’s is closer to 4.3% and DFW around 4.7%. Houston’s unemployment dropped almost 20% from 2007’s 5.4%.
Hardly 10 years ago, economists called a 6% unemployment rate “full employment.”
250,000 new jobs created in 12 months. These, of course, are in addition to jobs created through death, disability, retirement, and regular attrition/turnover. Business Services grew by almost 50,000 jobs, and Construction by almost 30,000.
Houston remains in the top 5 metropolitan areas for per-capita adjusted personal income.
What does this mean? It means we’re in a growing, vibrant, local economy. Certainly better than the alternatives, yet we cannot ignore how difficult this makes our efforts to source, recruit and retain competent talent. The competition for a dwindling pool of candidates is fiercer today than ever before.
What to do? Crying won’t help; begging is only marginally effective; whining is out, since there’s no unaffected peers with which to whine. Just for starters, I have 3 suggestions:
1. Create a longer-term talent management plan, including hiring, retention, and succession. Don’t wait until it’s operationally critical to start thinking about a new fill, replacement, or promotion.
2. Grow what you’ve got. If you spend the time, effort, and resources to hire and keep them, for heaven’s sake go the distance and develop them into a higher, better use for the organization.
3. Lead your managers, and make sure they have a long-term focus on talent management & development. You simply don’t have room anymore for the rogue manager that delivers performance while leaving a trail of bodies in his or her wake. Make them personally accountable for talent management within their responsibilities.
Not a do-all, end-all, but a start. This situation will continue for at least a couple more years, and may be our way of life for decades to come.
Let me know if I can help in any way.
Warm Regards,
KB
So, what do we do?? Throwing our arms up and complaining are probably not conducive to career advancement or professional success — many operational managers don’t yet “get’ the severity of the candidate problem.
Is there any answer except cussin’, commiseratin’, and drinkin’??
(Please feel free to respond to that question — use the “Ask Kevin” link on the left side of this page. I’ll publish any responses that look good for all to see…)
— If you ain’t failin’, you ain’t tryin’
Oops!
“Crap! Now what…?”
We investigate our mistake, searching minute details in hopes of ensuring we never make that mistake again. Or any mistake, frankly. Many of us spend numerous waking hours fretting over the possibility (and reality) of making one mistake or another, incorrectly believing that error-free efforts are the minimum threshold of success for leadership.
How’s that working for you? I’ve got some suggestions that may help you be more successful — and less frustrated — in your leadership decision-making. First, a newsflash: you will make mistakes. Get over it. Mistakes are not inherently bad; our reactions to mistakes are much more telling than the mistake itself.
So, here we go… The 3 Principles for Avoiding Death through Mistakes: (more…)
Ok, this is a bit of a reach for a Leadership blog, but not really. Tipping — gratuities for service employees — has reached entitlement status, not much different than many current, regular employees.
This is interesting to me, as my wife and I are active consumers. We eat out frequently, do the Starbucks thing, and utilize service providers all the time in our daily lives — as do many of you.
Tips are extra – something on top of a bill for receiving something, literally, “extra.” I’ll tip 20-30% for outstanding service in a nice restaurant, particularly one that we frequent regularly. The level of service provided, then, is truly top-notch.
I’ll even tip 15% for mediocre restaurant service. If the server is neither abusive nor neglectful, I assume they are simply poorly trained, and will mention something to the manager – but still leave a respectable 15% tip. Let them be abusive or (in my mind) purposefully disrespectful, and fuhggetaboutit. I’ll leave the big “0” when necessary to make a point. No more scaling down from 15% or so.
We tip regular service providers, such as stylists, delivery people, etc., usually around 10%, depending on level of service and extenuating circumstances. Tips are both a reward for current service, and a notice of future tips for FUTURE service, so we use them judiciously.
But, and here’s the crux of this post, those tip jars in all the coffee joints and related places… are you kidding me??? I’m going to get out of my car, walk into the shop, wait in line, order and pay, then wait in line for my $4.25 triple-venti-nonfat-no-whip-mocha, and then put money in a tip jar??
What the hell for??
When pigs fly…
They recently opened a new Starbucks in my small hometown of Spring, Texas. The drive-in window – YES, THE DRIVE-IN WINDOW – has a tip jar on the little ledge that sticks out.
After giving my order, I tapped on the glass. The nice young lady slid open the window, and I said, “Excuse me, it seems you’re out of mints,” while gesturing toward that ridiculous tip jar.
IN THE DRIVE-IN LANE OF STARBUCKS!
And we wonder if this “entitlement” thing is real??
Cheers, and enjoy your coffee.
I was just doing some thinking on a plane ride recently (not much else to do). Often, we are our own worst enemy, sabotaging our efforts with our own behavior. Though added resources (people, money, etc.) seem to be an answer to many of our challenges, the reality is that Leadership, first and foremost, is what will cause us to succeed or fail.
(more…)
I was asked this question on Quora:
I have never been in leadership but I want to be a leader. How can I achieve this target?
Though straight-forward, your question has some depth of thinking…
Two things to start:
Now, to be promoted, I tell people to be mindful of the Three P’s for promotion… for you to be promoted:
Be Brazen.
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