I believe most organizations struggle in the area of staff planning because they look at the situations that effect staffing as static. They believe their business will keep doing the same things they are currently doing and in the same processes they do it, they are going to grow at a steady pace annually, therefore they know what amount of and type of talent they will need, etc. When reality doesn’t follow that pattern they are thrown into chaos.
The reality is nothing is static. Customers come and go and customers’ products and needs change. Employees come and go and their needs and desires change. Technology changes which changes the expertise needed to use it. This list goes on.
I like to use the phrase a flowing river when talking about managing all areas of business. Everything is continually changing and evolving. Imagine yourself standing by a river near you. Normally it flows along peacefully, but that can change depending on rain fall. Heavy rains can cause the flow to speed up and the banks to over-flow, while the lack of rain can slow down the flow and even shrink the river within its banks.
Think of the parallel with your business. Normal business flow moves peacefully through your normal processes (banks). However, when that flow speeds up or slows down at a rate greater than anticipated, like a 5% growth becomes 25%, chaos ensues and the banks overflow.
The flowing river principle can apply to your staff. Every individual in your organization grows and changes every day. Look back at your own knowledge of your organization a year ago or five years ago. You are not the same employee you were on your first day. Also think of your personal life. Staff change from single to married to parents to empty nesters to caring for their elderly parents. Your staff is truly a flowing river.
Now think about customer needs. The first problem is their staff is also a flowing river. New people show up in key spots that your organization interacts with. The relationship can change from easy to work with to demanding an unreasonable overnight if there are personnel changes. Your customers’ needs change because their market changes. Competition is always trying to work with your customers to take business away from you. Customers are a flowing river.
How about technology? It is changing today at a faster rate than ever before. That changing technology changes the knowledge level your staff needs. Think about a typical machine shop. Only a few years ago everything was manual; now it is mostly computerized. The skills needed in the past were how to change tooling, how to pull a lever or which button to push. Now in many machine shops the Operator is also the machines Programmer. They need knowledge of the CAD / CAM processes.
What happens when three fast moving rivers all intersect? In the scenario above, it is your business with everything moving constantly. So then, is there any wonder why most staffing plans are in constant turmoil? I believe there is a better way to build flex into your planning. The question is how to control the chaos.
I was the People Development Director at a manufacturing company with four locations; Grand Rapids, Detroit, Louisville and Windsor. The staff and customer base varied greatly from location to location. One plan did not fit all. The one thing they had in common was people. People that needed to support their families. People that wanted to be respected for what they did. People that were drawn to different parts of the business not only at the time of hiring, but also as their careers evolved.
Most organizations hire to fill a certain skill set. Skills were important to us also, but the most important hiring qualification was team fit. Did their personality fit our team? Did their work ethic match the people they would be working with? We knew we could train the right people how to do what we do. But we could not train them to be the right people. Our goal was to fill entry level positions everywhere in the organization with the right people and then let them “bubble up” throughout the organization. If an employee found interest in a different area of the business, we allowed them to move around.
Many organizations don’t allow employees to move around the company because they say they are “good at what they do”. This is stifling to the employee development process. I see it as an organization trying to stop the flow of the river. I found what brings amazing results in employee satisfaction and retention is to let the river flow. It takes open communication with your people to help them explore and find their best “seat” to work in; find the place where job satisfaction is the greatest.
To accomplish this, we built a Road Map that included the flow of each river above. Our needs were projected and planned for with all flow in mind. If we were purchasing new technology, we began the process of educating employees to use it. If we were acquiring a new location, which we did three times, the timeline included helping the new staff understand our ways.
We also instituted an Employee Continuous Improvement process. Every 90 days each employee would meet with their Manager and discuss their progress, the organizations upcoming needs and the employee’s desires within those needs. People felt their desires were important to us. The process built an amazing team with turnover under 2%.
If you are struggling with employee satisfaction or planning for the future, stop trying to control the flow of the river and set it free. It takes a little effort to get the process working, but the results are amazing. Make a plan to get to really know your people. Helping them become the best they can be at what they love to do will reap rewards beyond what to can imagine. Think about your current staff. Do they love what they do so much they enjoy coming to work? Do they feel free to explore new opportunities within your organization or do they feel trapped in their job and are they wondering if the grass is greener in another pasture?
Christian Life Coach 