"Sticky Workforce" – how to maintain innovation speed in VUCA times?

The elephant in the room is literally standing on our feet, how can we keep ignoring?

(Article appeared also in Dicht, 04-2022, in German: https://www.isgatec.com/pdf/?file=%2Fmedia%2F3gshoql0%2Fdicht-4-2022-e-paper.pdf&page=38 )

If you would ask many different business people what their top 3 issues are, the ones that occupies companies most, I am sure that “Supply Chain issues, preventing getting the required materials”, “Raw Material prices – so if you can get it, it is even more expensive than yesterday” and “Energy Crisis – will we have enough energy & gas this winter? And for a price we can afford?” will be heard most often.

We are however, unfortunately as usual, omitting the 2 longer term topics that will make, or break, our industry in the upcoming years. These really are ones that cannot be postponed to be acted upon. In my last column I highlighted Sustainability, Circular Economy as the driver for the future. This time I want to focus on the drive itself: WHO will be with us in the bus to make the journey? And this is all the more relevant for the self-adhesives and tapes business, as – let’s be honest to ourselves for once – we are not per se the most sexy in the market…

Retaining and getting employees could actually be your real number 1 priority. Because without them, a company is just an empty shell. By the way, I do not use the phrase “talent”, everybody misuses that. Be honest, really honest, and young people can choose nowadays, it is no longer an employers market. So, WE should be the talent THEY are looking for…?But to make our lives better and easier, just to keep your people is the “low hanging fruit”.?

A really Sticky Workforce!

And then mainly the people with an open mind, a “young” mindset – see my first column. The ones that can and will make the required changes. At Afera we have had the 2019 conference focus on The Future Workforce, to underline the importance.?Do note, these people can be 26, or 61. As long as they can deal with the VUCA of today’s world. Many of these people however are stifled by “the 4 P’s”… In our industry more so than in many hipper, and bigger, industries – i.e. our job market competition. Time to change. Debond from “the old style”, and re-bond for a stickier employment.?

Management today is, in my opinion, too much about process, instead of content. Beautifully laid-out processes, fantastic GANNT charts, impressive swim lanes, and a whole array of thought-through KPI’s. And all the control bells & whistles you can think off. Asif this is an accounting job… Protocols are most important, and literally days in retreat are spent to create these. However: they serve to make sure things do not go wrong. Never to ensure new directions are taken, or for things to go right. Time keeping and -registrations were no longer mere tools, but have become goals per se. And upcoming unfortunately soon even the law! Just realise this little fact: our salaries are paid per working hour. We have salary ladders based on job position. We are not paid for what we deliver. Isn’t that weird? It almost looks like we have not enough imagination, might I say fantasy, to think of something else: “this is what we do, what we always have done, and what everyone else is doing”. I think it started when time = money, say begin 20th century. The clock became as important as the machines. Monetizing everything. What a pitiful view of live. I could ramble on too long here, let me focus on our workforce. And no, they are not your “most valuable asset”, because human beings are not an asset! Also we must realise one more fact about the younger part of the workforce: in the hierarchical cultures their parents grew up in, monetizing and shareholder value thinking led to layoffs when profits didn’t hit arbitrary targets.They saw this happen in their families. Thus, the trust in employers is very low – indeed why would you??

This all leads me to the mentioned 4 P’s: Processes, Procedures, Protocols and (old-school management of) People. These things never made something truly change course, but intend to keep it on course, or at least slow down course change. Even if it’s the wrong course. They are obsolete nowadays, because the future is no longer an extension of the past, and will never again be. VUCA! We need to deal with that: Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. Bob Johansen in 2007 gave a great alternative: Vision, Understanding, Clarity and Adaptability.

Unlike “my generation”, the younger one is seeing all above, and is less likely to “do whatever it takes to get The Job done” or “give 110%”. They know what the world can give them elsewhere. And either not come, take it easier (“quiet quitting”), or worst-case: leave. Leaving the employer without (enough) workforce.

I think we need to review how to keep – and with that attract – people in our industry. Less management and bureaucracy, stop the neo-feudalistic management pyramid. More trust, i.e. less oversight -??we practiced that with good results during the pandemic. Stop the folly of timekeeping, stop spreadsheet management – the dictatorship of numbers - guiding project by KPI’s only. It should be about making choices, not following processes and graphs. Dashboards… shiver! No dashboard guides me over an unknown road to an unclear goal. Imagination does. Give your people the freedom to do it their way, make them have more fun in work and let them spread the news – to attract more people. So the future can again be created. Not in a spreadsheet but in the minds of people. And we will need that for the future of our industry, more so than for most other industries that have already seen the dead-end road here.