As Published in Business 2 Business, September 2003

Is America headed for a Talent Blackout?

Just yesterday, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board released its report on NASA's responsibility in the loss of the space shuttle Columbia. They blamed the accident on foam that hit the shuttle's wing, but more implicitly blamed NASA's culture made the catastrophe happen. The cost to America was over one billion dollars and the loss of the seven crew members was unconscionable.

Before the accident, NASA mission managers fell into the habit of accepting as normal some flaws in the shuttle system. The managers also were cited for ignoring or not recognizing that these problems could lead to tragedy. The Board noted that “ineffective leadership failed to fulfill the implicit contract to do whatever is possible to ensure the safety of the crew.”

Management techniques also discouraged dissenting views and ultimately created “blind spots” about risks.

This is just two weeks after the Northeast experienced t he biggest blackout in North American history. The cost to American businesses has been estimated to be somewhere around $6 billion. And although the exact cause of the blackout has yet to be established, the root cause will ultimately point to human error – the failure of leaders and executives to build and maintain an electricity grid that is reliable. Government officials and utility executives simply failed to anticipate – or at least act on their anticipation – the consequences of increasing demand without assessing the vulnerability for a complete system collapse.

Instead it was easier – and more profitable - to keep pushing and stressing o ur nation's electricity grid built on towers and transformers manufactured decades ago than upgrade and replace to modern day technology. While consumers spoke in terabytes, our utilities were still speaking kilowatts.

For the past decade both NASA and the utility industry have reduced staff. Although the bottom line improved and productivity jumped by using fewer people to do more, the question begs asking – at what cost to human lives? For example, to cut costs, NASA reduced its staff and contractor work force 68 percent from 1991 to 1997. As the report noted, “the program was operating too close to too many margins.”

What is even scarier are the parallels of the Shuttle accident and the electricity blackout to the employee skill crisis in the United States. Is America head for an employee productivity blackout?

While teachers struggle with basic computer skills, students are searching the Internet and emailing friends during class on their PDA devices. While matures and older baby boomers still struggle with blinking lights on VCRs, replacement workers communicate with Instant Messaging and take photos with mobile phones. While half of the working population struggles with writing skills, business today requires a proficiency with emailing and web research. While businesses struggle to find enough people who will even show up for work, consumers expect on-demand customized 1-to-1 services. Not only is our current talent pool capacity too small to meet these needs, much of the talent we have is too weak and unusable to deliver it.

Despite laudable productivity gains announced last month (August 2003) by the U.S. Department of Labor, you can't help but ask: “how far you can push revenues up with fewer people and inadequate skills?” Surely the economic downturn has forced many organizations to come to their senses and shed excess capacity and re-examine their core markets, resources and products. But at some point you just reach a point when you can't squeeze much more out of the people you have without investing in them or replacing them when necessary.

It's like using space bags to travel. To avoid having to wait in check-in lines and baggage areas when I travel, I've learned to pack light and use carry-on luggage. But every now and then, I find myself needing to carry a suit or jacket or a few extra changes of clothes. By using a space saving travel bag, I can vacuum all the air out of the bag and carry more clothing in less space.

Many businesses have already reached the point of critical mass. Those employees left behind are being asked to do more and more. Many are too exhausted and stressed to perform while others lack the skills to keep producing at expected levels of performance. Signs of fatigue and burn-out keep popping up on management's screens but are largely ignored, hoping they can just keep hanging one for just one more quarter before needing to deal with the problem. Each of these situations lead to mistakes, accidents and turnover. We're on the verge of a skills blackout of colossal proportions.

A case in point.

Just recently I was retained to assess the personality, work style and abilities fit of four candidates for an administrative assistant position. I also assisted the hiring manager during the interviews.

The new employee he would eventually hire would need to demonstrate excellent administrative skills including organization, planning, and basic bookkeeping skills as well as proficiency in Word®, Excel®, Powerpoint®, Quickbooks®, e-mailing and the Internet. The organization was very high-profile and the individual selected for the position would have to have excellent customer service skills and an ability to interface with customers from all walks of like.

After three days of interviewing, here's what we found. Of the final four, all were currently employed and three of the four were recommended for the position by other people. You would want to believe that current employment and good references would indicate some degree of skills proficiency.

Reality reveals a different story. All four candidates said they had computer skills. Many managers would have stopped there. But with further probing we discovered that only one had at least some experience in each of the required areas. One said she had experience using Word because she typed her resume in it and printed it out. She admitted she “really doesn't understand computers and my 12 year-old son has to help me a lot.” Another said she had used Word and Excel but really didn't trust computers. Two used email regularly but only one checked it regularly. Only two said they ever wrote a letter on behalf of another person and one said she never wrote a letter at all. Only two said they could balance their own checkbook.

Two had excellent communication skills but a third never looked either of us in the eye when answering our questions. Three out of four said they might find it uncomfortable to represent the company at a public meeting or event yet they thought they would be good at the job.

When asked about how they have dealt with an angry customer or boss, only one provided what you might consider a proactive, professional response. She said that she would accept responsibility for the problem and do whatever she could to rectify the situation. Another candidate actually told us she's glad she didn't have to deal with customer problems in her current position but she knew she would be good at it if she had to do it. She then went on to describe that when she's busy, she forwards all phone calls to voice mail and tells her assistants to take care of the problems. At one point she described some customers as “friggin' annoying.” The other two candidates simply “tried to keep smiling” until the customer went away or they had to call the manager or cops.

From basic skills like reading basic instructions and counting change to analytical thinking and customer focus, finding qualified and motivated employees is becoming increasingly difficult. Many businesses have just succumbed to their inability to recruit and retain the right people. Some have disappeared.

A few businesses fortunately get it. These organizations recognize that talented people is the one resource that can't easily be copied and therefore gives them a distinct and long-term competitive advantage. They recruit individuals who have the right skills and when the pickings fall short, they train, coach and develop employees who have the potential and motivation to learn and use the skills they need.

Despite ominous forecasts of an impending workforce crisis, many managers strive to thrive in a world of competitors, driving on the information's superhighway, with employees qualified to be country bumpkins clip-clopping down an old country lane. Improving standards of living requires increases in productivity. Continuous productivity improvement requires employing workers with the skills to do today's jobs.

New and improved skills are the fuel for productivity but the gauges in many employees – young and old – are running dangerously near empty.