Labor Shortage: Try Leadership Shortage

There's a lot of talk about labor shortages right now. People seem surprised, yet we've been talking about it and predicting it for years. The tail end of the baby Boomer generation is reaching retirement age. The Covid lockdowns accelerated their exit. The fact is that we won't have that massive supply of workers ever again. And that doesn't even include the massive health care needs that will have to be staffed for the next 30-40 years while they reach their end of life. The result is that employers will be continuing to compete for fewer employees. Now automation will help with that - something that Andrew Yang didn't take into account when wringing his hands over the loss of jobs due to automation.

That also means that companies that rely on employees to provide goods and services will be forced to break out of the mentality that their employees are merely resources that are easily replaceable. They can't continue to act like it's a one-sided relationship where employees are there purely to help the company make it's quarterly earnings. It means they can't just hire and fire staff to make up for poor management planning and decisions. It means they can't expect to hire fully qualified workers without having to provide training and a path for entry level workers and employee growth. 

Companies that don't change their way of thinking will not be able to provide goods and services at competitive prices and will likely go away as their competitors figure it out. Temporary salary and benefit hikes may help in the short term, but that eats into the cost for your business. It's going to take something different. The smart companies will recognize their employees are critical partners in providing their goods and services to meet their customer's needs. They will recognize that dollars will buy someone's physical presence and their labor, but their hearts and minds will come through recognizing and enabling that partnership. The engagement of hearts and minds only comes from volunteerism, and you must have an environment that inspires that. 

That engagement comes from leadership. It's one of the things sorely lacking in the workplace today - maybe the majority of workplaces if the research is correct. The world has plenty of managers. What's missing is leaders. Leaders understand the idea of partnership and inspiring volunteerism at work. When one employee sees something out of place, and fixes it, even when it's not their job, it means that employee is motivated to meet the company's goals. When multiple employees see something out of place, and fix it even if it's not their job, that means there is a leader inspiring that mentality. 

The short answer is that there is a labor shortage, and it’s likely to continue. Companies need to invest in real leadership to attract and keep quality workers in the marketplace. Otherwise, they’ll be in the trap of increasing their cost of services by constantly trying to bribe employees to join and stay.

Getting to the Bottom

  So, I just came back from being the Course Director for a Boy Scouts of America National Youth Leadership Training camp. It was a great experience. The program is essentially like a BSA Woodbadge course for youth. For those who aren't familiar with Scouting and the culture of leadership in the program, Woodbadge is a week-long advanced leadership training for adult leaders. In my military service, I attended a number of leadership schools - Airman Leadership School, NCO Preparatory Academy, NCO Academy, as well as several professional leadership programs in the civilian word. On top of that, I've made it a self study goal and have ready countless books on leadership (including some very interesting themed ones, such as "Make It So: Leadership Lessons from Star Trek TNG" and "Leadership Secrets of the Rogue Warrior"). Of all of that, I have to be honest and say that Woodbadge was the course that had the biggest impact. Not that any of it was really new, but the environment, the experiential training aspect, and the reflections made a huge difference. Well, NYLT is very similar and geared to youth. It is taught almost exclusively by other youth who have previously taken the course. We discussed communication, vision, team development, ethics, servant leadership, and a number of other topics. All with opportunities to experience them at some level.

  Well, after coming back, I've had the opportunity to witness an event that reminded me how difficult these principles can be in everyday life. One of the important principles of leadership is to keep situational awareness - to understand what is really going on. Too often, it's much easier to just view the surface and react. Often, that puts good employees in the crosshairs and often lets poor employees, who may be better at dodging the situation, continue on. This is often a source of employee disengagement which either leads to poor performance or high employee turnover. The manager is the person with the responsibility to understand and react appropriately. Let's look at the situation.

  The event involves an employee who is a baker at a very popular, and thus, a very busy restaurant. The employee woke up in the morning not feeling great after a poor night's sleep. The employee goes to work to find the person working the station the previous night before has not properly closed and cleaned the station, and food that should have been prepared for the next morning hadn't been prepared. This puts the employee under discussion behind about an hour or so of work in the morning. This takes place on a Friday - a very busy day in any case. The restaurant runs two bakers on a typical Friday - a morning and an evening baker for a good 16 hours of work. The employee works through the shift and forgoes any breaks or lunch due to how busy the restaurant is. It turns out on this day, the second shift baker calls in and is unable to come to work for whatever reason. The employee in question's shift was over and there was no end in sight. She has now been going for 10 hours straight baking bread, brownies, etc handling large pans of dough in and out of the ovens. It's pretty difficult work. At this point, she is pretty exhausted - her hands are shaking a bit, and she's dragging. She tells the assistant manager who is in charge that she really can't keep going. The assistant manager was unhappy and told her she could go home. When she reports to work the next day, she is told she has a meeting with the owner and is fired for leaving work on Friday.

  On the surface, it's easy to look at the employee and criticize for her lack of motivation. But if you analyze the situation, she is the one employee who fulfilled her responsibility and more. Let's go through the cast of characters.

courtesy: www.gratisography.com

•   Employee in question - She worked her shift and beyond, while making up for the previous night's gaps. She asked to leave and was released. It could be argued she didn't show motivation by not staying, but in actuality, she wasn't asked to (it seems there was just an expectation to keep working). Of course, the employee did notify the Assistant Manager of her physical condition. In a busy restaurant, I'd certainly question the wisdom of keeping an exhausted employee working just from a safety standpoint. A major slip of a knife or burn would cost the restaurant a lot more.
•   Previous night employee - Didn't complete their work and left it for others to cover. 
•   Evening shift employee - Didn't fulfill their responsibility and left the restaurant out of luck. It may have been a legitimate illness or a "Friday Night Cold," but in any case didn't do the job.
•   Assistant Manager - Didn't have any plans to cover for sick employee and didn't get another employee to come in to work (we don't know if he tried and none were available or not). In any case, the number of trained bakers is not sufficient for the workload or contingencies. He also made no indication on what the plan for the evening was with the employee's shift ending a couple hours before and ultimately released the employee. The management is responsible for maintaining the staff schedule and planning the workload. In this task,the management failed to do so effectively.
•   Other bakers - We don't know if any were contacted, but if any of the bakers who were not working were called in and declined to, then they have failed their responsibility, but have shown no more motivation than the employee in question.

  The result was the Assistant Manager notifies the Owner and the one person who fulfilled her responsibilities is fired. The owner and manager react out of frustration and rather than explore the problem so it doesn't happen again, blame the employee and ignore it until it happens again. They leave the employee holding the bag for their own shortcomings. Of course, other employees see this, and this becomes part of how they see the organization - leading to hiding problems, or covering them up.

Leadership Lessons from Booker T Washington - Engagement

I have never taken the opportunity to read Booker T Washington’s book, Up From Slavery, so I decided to rectify that situation and read it recently. I have been very impressed, and I can see why it has been a classic. I wish I had taken the opportunity to read it years ago.

  I won’t go into detail about the book (I’ll let others do that), but I do want to comment on some specific principles that stand out on various topics of leadership. While he led the building of the Tuskegee Institute over the various years, Mr. Washington understood how to get everyone – faculty and students - engaged in the institute. Everyone became part of the building up of the institute, and not just from a figurative standpoint, but from a literal one as well. Students and faculty (including Mr. Washington himself) were involved in the design and construction of the facilities, and even made their own beds and furniture. There were a few reasons to do this. Mr. Washington felt the students needed the basic industrial skills, but more importantly, he understood that by participating in the development, it would become theirs and not just “his” institution. They become invested in the organization. He saw firsthand how this concept affects organizations. He made the following observation:

Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him, and to let him know that you trust him.  When I have read of labour troubles between employers and employees, I have often thought that many strikes and similar disturbances might be avoided if the employers would cultivate the habit of getting nearer to their employees, of consulting and advising with them, and letting them feel that the interests of the two are the same.

In Boy Scouting, we try to cultivate a similar principle. It’s called the “youth-led” troop. The goal is to support the Scouts (or Venturers – a Scouting group for older youth) in planning and implementing their own program. For Scouting, the result is far greater youth development. They have greater interest and see the reason for the various activities. It substantially minimizes the behavior issues that otherwise might arise. With Boy Scouting, the greatest indicator of engagement is behavior.  When the youth members aren’t engaged in the program, they will either get into trouble (for younger members) or stop showing up (for older members). In either case, they demonstrate their disengagement very directly.
  In the workforce, a lack of engagement shows up in poor work, lack of initiative, and high employee turnover.  A quick internet search will find a huge list of sites with signs of employee disengagement, but a much smaller list of sites addressing it. I have read a number of articles through the years, and they offer suggestions such as increasing employee recognition, doing surveys, more flex time, or ultimately getting rid of disengaged employees or getting rid of their managers.
  My experience is that Mr. Washington identified a key to the solution. Responsibility and trust. Let’s face it, a company hires employees for their skills, why not use them? When employees really understand the mission (a subject for another time) and have a chance to help plan how to meet it, they “own” the solution. What greater trust can you show an employee than letting them help determine their own fate? I had the opportunity to experience that in a company that I worked for. The Board identified the goals – or target they wanted to hit. The management team then planned how to accomplish those goals. Each manager then went to their teams with their responsibilities and turned it over to them to determine how to accomplish it. It went down the line until everyone knew the mission and their part in it. This decomposition process helps an organization plan to accomplish it’s goals, but more importantly, it provides a process to give each employee a stake in the results. They become part owners of the solution. Personally, I’d rather have that than a half-hearted congratulations so we can fill the checklist of “engagement techniques.”

Things My Sergeants Taught Me

Today is Veteran’s Day, so it gave me a chance to reflect on some of my experiences while serving. I served for 9 years in the USAF, including a tour to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm.  During my service, I met a lot of exceptional people. Some were truly great leaders – even if they weren’t my leader. I learned some great lessons in leadership from them. As they are in my thoughts today, I decided to put some into writing. Here goes:

Doing Something Imperfectly Now is Usually Better than Doing Something Perfect Later

My specialty code was an Engineering Assistant, and we worked in all forms of engineering tasks needed to keep an Air Force Base operational. We would survey the base, design new facilities - whether it be roads, buildings or sewer lines (I was involved in a sewer rehab project on Holloman AFB – I had to open and measure every manhole on the base – to this day I notice every manhole I walk by), monitor the construction of said projects, do soil and concrete testing, and various related jobs. In wartime, we did the same things, except while carrying an M16 (sometimes at least – most often they were locked in the armory) and doing it faster with lower standards of quality. As a matter of fact, that was a key lesson we had to learn. In out Tech School, we spent a considerable amount of time studying and practicing surveying. We were diligent in developing skills to do highly precise measurements. When we did our regular peacetime design work, precision and accuracy were very important to us. We would double our surveys to get a more accurate reading and correct for any equipment errors.

Pretty early on my first base, I was in my first exercise – that’s what we called our wargames where we practiced wartime skills. I had an assignment to set up a small tent city in preparation for troops being deployed in. My job would be to lay out and setup stakes for all of the facilities. I started to get out some survey equipment, and Sgt Bennett, one of the NCOs (that’s non-commissioned officers for those who might not know – sergeants) over me stopped me and gruffly asked what I was doing. I explained my plan to survey the site. He chuckled and asked me how long I thought that would take. I told him I thought it would take a few hours (I was pretty quick actually). He then explained to me that the aircraft were coming in to drop of the troops, and they would have to be able to get in and settled before nightfall, and after I laid out the stakes, crews still had to put up all the tents, lay the utility lines and do all the other things necessary to get the base ready. He showed me some techniques to do a fair job in the field quickly. I was a little worried that I would not be as proficient at getting the distances correct without practice. He then told me that “Doing something now, even if it wasn’t perfect, would be a lot more important than doing it perfectly later.” Getting it done right after the fact didn’t help anybody.

While this doesn’t apply all the time, it applies a lot more often than we might think. It also helps keep us from analysis paralysis – where we fuss over the right way to do it until it is too late. The lesson is that we should act early and more often. We can alter the course as we go if necessary. I saw a very specific example of this while in Desert Storm. In Riyadh, there was an Army engineer, Major English (I’ll talk more about him later) who during the US attack on Iraq and occupied Kuwait had the responsibility to provide heliports for the Army to base their attack helicopter units from. The attack went so rapidly that by the time Major English and his men could get a base built, the advance had gone too far for them to be useful. They had to quickly adapt to some expedient techniques for the helicopters to be useful. And the helicopter turned out to be one of the most critical weapons in the fight.

Take a Step Back and Breathe

One of my first leadership lessons in the USAF, was during Basic Training. While the physical training was important, the biggest part of the USAF basic training was mental. Mind games were the biggest element. One of the “games” we played was being a Dorm Guard. Each flight (the basic group of a basic training unit – there were four 12 man squads in a flight) had to have a guard on the door 24 hours a day. We were to assign people in 2 hour shifts. The Dorm Guard was supposed to stand at the door – which was always locked and operated by a standard push bar to unlock – and assure that only authorized people came in and out. There was a list of those by the door.  Nobody else was supposed to come in. There was a little sign that presented a script to follow “Sir, May I help you?” “Sir, May I see your authority to enter access or military ID card, sir” and finally, “Sir, May I refer you to the orderly room.” I was in an all-male squadron, so we didn’t use Ma’am much.  Of course, we were all exhausted, mentally frazzled by a constant barrage of orders, and stressed about getting every detail right. It is surprising how completely unnerving a screaming, drooling NCO can make you forget all of your instructions. It was quite the game for TI’s (Training Instructors) to try to get into other flight rooms (only the TI’s for that flight were allowed in). Even after constant drilling, a TI would get their face in the window, yell and threaten the poor airman at the door, and he would let him and then the poor slob would get reamed. A few mistakes could get someone recycled – sent to start training over.

Our TI, Sgt Hermann gave us the secret. He told us not to stand close to the door. When you were too close to the door, it was too easy to lean against the panic bar and open the door. He said to step back away from the door and to take a breath. That would give you a fraction of a moment to keep from panicking and get yourself composed. Then it became kind of fun watching the TI’s yell and scream. Stepping back and taking that breath gave us a completely different perspective.

Little Johnny

In the Basic Training Squadron, flights would be paired up – called sister flights. Our sister flight had a TI – Tech Sgt Conway. TSgt Conway was a Blue Rope – that signified his exceptional skill and experience as a TI – far more than the average TI. TSgt Conway may have been one of the best. He could curdle milk with a look, and could start a tsunami when he started yelling – oh, wait, he never yelled. He enunciated. Let’s just say he was intense. TSgt Conway taught me a valuable lesson about training and letting people learn for themselves. He told us the story of Little Johnny. Now Little Johnny is the kid who just doesn’t seem to get it. Anything. He can’t seem to do anything by himself. But Little Johnny is a nice guy, and nobody wants to see him fail, so we help him along. Maybe we carry his load and do things for him so he can keep up. It’s just being a good team right? This carry’s on through basic training, and on through tech school. You do his homework so he can pass. Make sure he is supported on every assignment.
Now, let’s fast forward 10 years. You have a new assignment to go to Germany for several years. So you pack your family and you’re all getting on the airplane to go. You hear someone call, and you can see Little Johnny waving to you. You see the wrench and rag in his hand and realize he has been working on the plane you are getting on. Now how do you feel about getting on the plane? Or your family getting on the plane? Carrying someone’s load during training doesn’t help them or anyone else. People need to learn for themselves and too much support can actually hurt them – and others that need to rely on them.

Rats in a Hole

Several years after Basic Training, I was stationed at Holloman AFB near Alamogordo, NM. I was now an NCO. We were having an ORI – Operational Readiness Inspection (a type of wargame conducted by the Major Command – in this case, Tactical Air Command – to judge our war fighting capability). I was in the Survival Recovery Center ( the base central control center during an attack – had Civil Engineers, cops, and representatives from all the critical groups on base to recover from an attack). One of the inspectors came and handed me a card denoting that I had died to take me out of play and see how they would react without my skill set. Well, in my “death”, I was sent to go outside to hang out in the back of a cargo trucks with the rest of our “fatalities.” With me was a brand new lieutenant (just under two weeks out of school) I was assigned to “look after” and show the ropes. In the back of the truck we had the chance to observe the operations of our troops.

Another one of our “fatalities” was Master Sgt Smith, or Smitty. Smitty was a height challenged (~5’4”) black man from an inner city area in Maryland. He was also a bit of a body builder. His shoulders were about as wide as his height. Up to this point, I really didn’t think much of MSgt Smitty. He was pretty brash and a bit of a loudmouth with a pretty strong attitude. Very much like some of the stereotypical gang bangers of the media – I'll just say we were not really complimentary personalities. As I would learn, I just didn't know him very well. That day, though, MSgt Smith taught me a lesson in leadership I have never forgotten. In the back of the truck, we were explaining what was going on to my lieutenant. Smitty started telling us to watch. He said it would be like watching rats in a hole. Soon, we started seeing movement in the various foxholes and bunkers. His troops weren’t waiting for all clear signals, they were all independently getting busy and checking each other out for casualties or wounds, checking for equipment and facility damage so they could get back into action quickly. They couldn’t see or tell if the rest of their team was functioning or not yet, they were just all taking the actions they could. When the all clear signal came, they were immediately back in action and reformed into a cohesive team. MSgt Smitty explained that they each man knew the team’s mission – down to the last man. When they lost communication with their leaders – or lost their leaders, they stepped up to take on that role to keep the mission going. I recognized that right there, keeping your team in the dark and feeding them only enough information to fulfill the immediate task keeps people from getting engaged. When they know the mission, and their place in accomplishing the mission, they all get engaged. Since I’ve been out of the military, I see many companies have no idea of their mission, and their employees are not engaged – or if they are, they are often working at cross purposes.
I also learned that the cover of a book doesn't always give away the contents...

Best Job I’ve Ever Had

The last lesson I’ll mention, is from Major English. The Army engineer doing heliports I mentioned earlier. When I met him, he was managing a number of construction projects around Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Major English was a tall black man who was quite a storyteller and had a great sense of humor. I don’t know if I ever met anyone who stayed so even tempered regardless of what was going on. He would say his job was the best job he’d ever had. He would say this even when something really obnoxious was going on and you just knew it couldn’t be true. One day he explained it to me. He said that it was all about attitude. He could get frustrated by the things going on and hate his job, but that would only make him miserable. When he said “This is the best job ever” he was making a statement of purpose, not just expressing a condition. He was choosing to make it the best job ever. As a result, he was very effective, and pretty consistently having a good time. Call it a positive affirmation if you like, but I saw that he made a choice to have a good job, and so that was what he had. While I may not have perfected this concept, I definitely see the effect as I choose to have a great day or have a great job.

Blue Topping

As an inaugural post, I feel the need to explain a few things. This is my blog on leadership. The study of leadership has long been a hobby of mine. Some of my interest stems from having worked for many years under good and bad leaders, and wanting to understand what I'm dealing with. Partly it's because I'd like to be an effective leader during those times I'm in a position to lead. A major part of my interest comes from that I've been engaged in teaching young men leadership through Boy Scouting for 25 years.
My interest really began as a young teenager. I was asked to serve as a president of a youth group in my Church. I took that very seriously, and began a lifelong interest in the topic. Since then, I served in the military, where I attended a number of leadership schools and academies. While in the USAF, Total Quality Management was a huge fad, and the USAF purchased and implemented a number of "systems," each with their own terminology, forms, and training. It seemed like they must have had two year contracts, because we trained in a new system every two years. Professionally, I've been through a number of courses, and of course, in the engineering and technology fields where I practice, project management and leadership is very important.
The deepest impact training on leadership has been with Scouting, believe it or not. In 1998, after 15 years as a leader, I attended the Woodbadge course. Woodbadge is an advanced leadership training where you study eleven leadership principles. That study included experiential opportunities to put those principles in action. At the end of the training, we were left with a "ticket" to complete. The ticket was essential nine major projects to undertake over two years. These projects were targeted to personal growth, growth in your specific assignments, and growth in your involvement in the community. This ticket helped cement this training to far beyond the week of direct training.
So, where does blue topping come from? Professionally, I have worked in the world of engineering (mostly civil) and geospatial systems (computerized mapping and analysis). While in the USAF, I spent a lot of time surveying. One of the techniques we used included placing specially marked stakes, called blue tops. Blue tops are 2X2 hub stakes with blue chalk at the top. They are set at a depth where their top was at the grade, or elevation, you desired for the finished grading. The grader would then set his blade to the height of the stake. In essence, the blue top set the standard for the grader to work from.
As the blue top provides the standard or example, my belief in leadership follows the same principle. Effective leadership requires the leader to set the example; to establish the grade for his or her followers.
In no case does this mean I have reached perfection. Far from it. This is a journey, not a destination. But my hope is that as I travel the road, I will share my experiences, and we can travel together.