Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom

Why You Probably Need More Training, Not Less

In my work as a business and workforce consultant, I’ve observed that in times of change and uncertainty, some organizations stop spending money – and especially money that goes to employee training and development. However, given the future work trends of cross-functional teaming, workforce-wide digital fluency, and an emphasis on uniquely human skills, this may be a short-sighted approach. Let’s look at these one by one.

Cross-Functional Teaming

I’ve noticed that employees are starting to move around organizations with greater speed, and so they may need to know more skills than were required in the past. Even if they received a solid university education, employees might well be moved to a role in which nothing they learned in their degree program applies. For instance, it’s not unusual for someone trained in finance to end up in marketing, and vice versa. And, even those schooled and working in marketing often find it beneficial to have cross-functional expertise in finance.

My hunch is that employer training might not be able to keep up with the reskilling and upskilling requirements of cross functional teams, and this is why there are gaps. And, in the Career Advisory Board’s 2018 survey, Talent Activation, the Employee Experience, and Skill Development, 77 percent of respondents agreed with the statement: In my organization as a whole, I am concerned about employee skills gaps.

In the study, the greatest skills gaps were observed in the areas of technology/digital fluency (cited by 62 percent of respondents), communication (56 percent), business acumen (48 percent), diversity and cultural awareness (46 percent), and customer service (42 percent), and skills gaps affect employees at all levels. And, when asked about barriers to closing skills gaps, our respondents cited a too-small training budget most frequently.

If anything, it’s my opinion that cross-functional teaming requires larger training budgets, not smaller ones.

Workforce-Wide Digital Fluency

In the Career Advisory Board’s 2017 Job Preparedness Indicator survey, we defined an applied technology skill as a skill that is needed by employees to leverage the right technology to do their jobs. It’s another way to talk about digital fluency, and the research indicated that a majority of employers is now looking for these skills in new and existing employees.

Training existing employees in applied technology skills is a major challenge, in part because current professionals did not receive this type of instruction via traditional education paths. In response, many survey respondents are ensuring that their workforces continuously train and retrain on applied technology skills through the development of internal courses (40 percent), internal trainings (38 percent), tuition reimbursement (35 percent), and external trainings (31 percent). Only one-fourth said their organizations are taking no actions to develop this skillset.

As discussed above, however, developing skillsets can be expensive – especially when one round of training isn’t enough. So, in my recommendation, employers should have a specific and ongoing budget set aside for applied technology skills alone – in addition to other training requirements.

For more where this came from, check out the DeVry WORKS website.

 

Exploring and Closing the Middle Skills Gap

As the chair of DeVry University’s Career Advisory Board, I’ve been talking about skills gaps a lot recently. Usually, I address either the technology skills gap or the soft skills gap specifically, and I’m usually referring to graduates of four-year institutions who are pursuing careers in the business world

In reading my veteran HR thought leader Sharlyn Lauby’s new book The Recruiter’s Handbook, however, I was alerted to an entirely different type of skills gap: the middle skills gap. According to Lauby, the middle skills gap is defined as those jobs that require more than a high school diploma but less than a four-year-degree. Some industries affected by the middle skills gap are finance, manufacturing, telecommunications, healthcare, and retail, and the jobs themselves range from entry-level administrative positions to highly specific operational roles.

Digging Deeper Into the Middle Skills Quandary

Why is the middle skills gap a problem? “At the heart of the issue is an oft-discussed anomaly: while millions of workers remain unemployed and an unprecedented percentage of the workforce report being underemployed, employers across industries and regions find it hard to fill open positions,” said the report by Harvard Business School, Accenture, and Burning Glass Technologies.  “A first, essential step to closing this gap is to differentiate between the vast array of middle skills jobs in order to concentrate on jobs with three important attributes: they create high value for U.S. business; they provide not only decent wages initially, but also a pathway to increasing lifetime career value for many workers; and finally, they are persistently hard-to-fill.”

Lauby recommended addressing middle skills gaps by gaining information that allows you to bridge where your workforce is today with where you want it to be in the future. Specifically, Lauby suggested the following action steps for hiring managers and recruiters:

Pay attention to what’s happening in your geographic area and industry

What’s happening on a global or national stage might not pertain to your region. Your industry could also be affected by external factors other types of organizations aren’t facing. Anyone in the position of hiring needs to know their unique market conditions.

Find credible sources of information

If you’re going to cite sources for a trend or solution, they need to be from trusted authorities. You don’t want your CEO questioning your business case.

For more where this came from, check out the DeVryWORKS site.

SHRM Conference Recap: Solving the Applied Technology Skills Gap

Recently, DeVry University’s Career Advisory Board presented a session on the applied technology skills gap at the Society for Human Resource Management’s Annual Conference in Chicago.

As defined in DeVry University’s Career Advisory Board’s 2017 JPI survey, applied technology skills (ATS) are skills needed by employees to leverage the right technology to do their jobs. When an individual has ATS, they have the ability to integrate people, processes, data, and devices to effectively inform business strategy and plan for and react to unanticipated shifts in direction.

The JPI study confirmed that ATS are on hiring manager’s radars. Nearly 69% of JPI survey respondents agreed with this statement: “When I interview a prospective candidate, the presence of applied technology skills and experience is a competitive differentiator.” And, the desire for leaders to have these skills is even greater – 76 percent of managers who hire senior-level candidates agreed.

Why are ATS so important? As a workforce author and consultant, I believe that it’s helpful for anyone working in business today to leverage technology to sharpen their skills in critical thinking, decision-making and problem-solving, draw inferences from a variety of data sources, and understand overall digital infrastructure and how it can drive process efficiency and improvement.

Bringing ATS On Board

Training employees in these skills, however, can be a bit of a challenge. Also, technology is evolving more quickly than in the past, so skill acquisition can’t happen all at once and must be frequently revisited.

Fortunately, in our recent JPI study, we found that most hiring manager respondents are continuously training and retraining on ATS through internal courses and trainings (78 percent), tuition reimbursement (35 percent) and external courses and trainings (31 percent). Only 25 percent said their organizations are taking no action to develop the ATS skillset.

For the rest of the recap, head over to the DeVryWORKS site.

The Pros and Cons of International Entrepreneurship

 

In an increasingly global world, the advantages of international trade can give your business a substantial boost.

According to Abhi Golhar, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Nurse Practitioners Clinical Rotations, chief among the advantages of international trade are market-risk diversification and less competition.

“If there happen to be increasing regulations in the business owner's home country that may inhibit the sale of the business's widgets, identifying other markets with less regulation could be vital for the longevity of the business," Golhar says. “Also, the business owner may find that by expanding into a different market, there may be fewer competitors, which can result in higher profit margins and more business volume."

Added to the advantages of international trade are lower production costs. 

"Business owners should consider international trade when the cost of labor or products they can source locally negatively impacts their bottom line," says Scott Kacmarski, CEO of business process outsourcing company Reps Direct.

Additionally, becoming proficient in international trade in the early stages of your business can help you avoid prohibitively high costs down the line—another perk of expanding globally.

“The cost of one product or service may seem like a small issue at the beginning," Kacmarski says. “The problem comes when you have many products or employees. High costs then lead to cash-flow problems, and it's harder to go international once your business is more mature and operating at a larger scale."

International Trade Has Its Downside

Of course, there are disadvantages of international trade as well.

For one, if you don't have what Golhar calls “boots on the ground," it could increase your probability of failure.

“When my father opened a business in his hometown in India, his brother—who he trusted completely—assisted him," he says. "Without a partner with an established track record and contacts, international trade can be enormously difficult."

To read more, check out the full piece on the AMEX OPENForum.

 

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Should You Pursue Foreign Markets?

Operating a business outside your home country sounds appealing, and can in fact be an excellent way to take your organization to the next level. But, in addition to ensuring that you've perfected current processes first, expanding to foreign markets requires substantial time and resources and careful consideration of several factors. 

Haithem Elembaby is a startup founder with multiple exits, and is now an SVP at Harbinger, a firm that helps foreign startups gain sales traction in the U.S. market.

“An initial step is understanding where your value proposition will be most compelling. Sometimes, carving a niche that your competition has avoided is a much easier strategy than going head to head," he says.

But before you embark on that strategy, consider the following advice to help lay the groundwork for success abroad.

1. Join forces with the locals.

Certain markets may require collaboration with a local partner.

“Make sure you assess local regulations and expectations from new market entrants when determining which foreign markets to pursue," suggests Elembaby.

Tim McHugh, CEO of global book publisher Saddleback Educational Publishing agrees, citing the example of Starbucks. “For years, Starbucks didn't know how to enter India as coffee is not as big as tea in India," McHugh says, "but recently [they] partnered with a local company, Tata Beverages to have a better chance of success."

When considering foreign markets, it helps to learn the nuances of how your new audience makes purchases. 

“Map the key stakeholders and understand how to interact with them," says Elembaby. “For example, does the culture value directness or is relationship building more important? What works in New York will not necessarily work in London, let alone Beijing."

You should also think through the economic and political stability of the region you're targeting.

For the rest of the piece, head on over to the AMEX OPENForum.

Why Compliance is Relevant for Everyone

 

Regulatory compliance is the act of adhering to laws, regulations, standards or guidelines relevant to a particular business. High-profile examples of such laws are the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX).

 Since violations of regulations often result in legal action or fines, many organizations have responded to these laws by hiring regulatory compliance officers to manage the process. Smaller businesses may not have this option, but it's important for owners to fully comprehend the role that regulatory compliance plays in their organizations.

According to Russell Kommer, CEO of Microsoft support services firm eSoftware Associates, this is true even if a company is not in a traditionally regulated industry. 

“Not understanding how regulatory compliance and its applications could cause either long- or short-term issues with the potential to derail your business," he says.

Michael Fellows, CEO of software development firm Broadway Lab, offers an example. “Acquiring customer trust should be every business's main focus," he says. “Regulations are there to protect the customer in many cases. A failure to comply can result in financial loss due to legal repercussions like fines, but also from customers choosing more trustworthy alternatives."

Creating Your Regulatory Compliance Strategy

Regulatory compliance strategies should include:

• how your organization will address relevant standards from an operational perspective;
• how you will establish or modify corresponding processes; and 
• how effective risk mitigation and overall compliance success will be measured

For more where this came from, check out the AMEX OPENForum.

Are Your Operations Lean?

The days of spending months strategizing the best path forward are over for most businesses. Imagine proudly presenting a 100-page business plan to your stakeholders only to realize that half of your material was already outdated and your customers had moved on? Considering the current pace of change in today's marketplace, a lean business model has become more and more attractive.

Traditionally, being “lean" has meant doing more with less, but the concept has expanded.

Today, a lean business model is a strategy that streamlines processes to rapidly address customer requirements. It involves fast cycles of surveying customers about their needs, developing and prototyping new products and services accordingly and adapting to shifts in demand.

“To be lean, you need to make it a part of your company's DNA to prioritize ideas based on ROI as well as continuously test your assumptions and make adjustments based on the results," Lobo says.

“For example, when we started out, we used several marketing channels," he continues, "but eventually zeroed in on direct sales and in-house events based on our hypothesis of the potential ROI. Hosting large events has not only allowed us to generate new clients, it has also generated revenue via ticket sales and sponsors and helped us barter for business services with several vendors."

A lean business model often rewards experimentation and can be more cost-effective because they avoid lengthy implementations of unproven strategies and investments.

 

For the rest of the piece, head over to the AMEX OPENForum.

 

Hiring Managers: Are You Supporting Vets?

In a recent Prudential Financial and IAVA survey published on Military.com¹, two-thirds of veterans said they faced a difficult transition to civilian life, partly because they speak a different language than the business leaders hiring them.

Tom Tarantino, chief policy officer for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said that we aren’t doing a good enough job of training people leaving the military to look for work. “It’s less a matter of veterans overestimating their skills than it is miscalculating how their experience translates to nonmilitary jobs and how well business leaders comprehend what veterans can offer,” he commented.

Because of these disconnects, a veteran who managed a few dozen people in the military might only be considered for an entry-level, individual contributor role in a private-sector organization, and significant achievements might be overlooked because they occurred in a military rather than a business setting.

Preparing New Vets for Transition

A few years ago, as a workplace and career author and consultant, I worked with the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Defense to overhaul the military’s Transition Assistance Program (TAP)². This mandatory five- to seven-day program educates departing troops on job skills, vet benefits, and personal finances. The course explains the expectations, behavioral styles, cultural norms, and “lingo” associated with civilian employment and helps veterans adjust to a less rigid routine with increased individual competition.

Perhaps most importantly, it guides veterans in effectively translating skills acquired in the military – which often include strategic thinking, scenario planning, critical thinking, problem-solving, coaching, self-discipline, time management, attention to detail, teamwork, interpersonal communication, and adaptability – to civilian jobs in which these exact attributes are needed.

For the rest of this post, please visit the DeVryWORKS website.

Why Corporate Training Must Be Part of Your Mix

As a workforce author, researcher, and consultant, I observed many organizations that were concerned about a labor shortage brought about by baby boomer retirement. This shortage, and the skills gaps that went along with it, was partially delayed in part by the financial crisis and subsequent recession, because many baby boomers lost savings and were working past traditional retirement age¹.

Many baby boomers, born 1946-64, are now in their 70s, and the time has come for them to exit the workforce. According to a recent report by the Federal Reserve², industrialized nations like the U.S. are facing a shortage of working-aged professionals, and employers need enough qualified employees to survive.

In my experience working with dozens of companies over the last decade, I’ve seen that corporate training and development can be an effective solution to this problem. As more senior roles are vacated, corporate training, particularly for succession planning, may be a good vehicle for mid-level professionals to master skills like team leadership, business acumen, strategic planning, conflict resolution, and decision-making.

All Employees, All Levels

One of the topics I write about most is increasing automation and machine participation³, and given this trend, I believe that even employees who will not become senior leaders must continuously upskill or reskill to maintain their value within the organization. The days of having one degree and one corresponding skillset may be numbered, because if that skillset is automated, what then? Corporate training provides one way to diversify what each individual employee can contribute and the variety of roles he or she can hold.

There are other benefits besides skill acquisition. I’ve written that despite technological advances, productivity in most organizations is lagging⁴. Corporate training is one method for adjusting your processes, targeting efficiency so employees can better perform tasks and focus their energies more specifically on company goals.  I have personally seen that many organizations with solid corporate training initiatives keep their people longer because the employees appreciate the investment in their development. And, I’ve observed that organizations that do right by their people are perceived as having strong brands that customers want to support.

For the rest of this piece, please visit the DeVryWORKS website.

My Takeaways from the ATD Tech Skills Gap Panel

The technology skills gap is a well-known issue in American employment circles. Yet, research tends to focus on only one aspect of the problem – the shortage of hard tech skills like programming and information security management. But there is another, perhaps even more critical dimension to the technology skills gap¹: the lack of applied tech skills in the workplace.

As we’ve talked about previously, when an individual has applied tech skills,² they can integrate people, processes, data, and devices to effectively inform business strategy and plan for and react to unanticipated shifts in direction.

At the annual Association for Training and Development (ATD) conference³ in San Diego, I moderated an applied technology skills gap panel with John Aquilino, Manager, Skills Gap Training and Services, DeVryWORKS; Jessica DiCicco, VP, Learning & Development, Randstad; Jackie Linton, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer, City of Philadelphia; Kristen Switzer, Sr. People Development Manager, Taylor Morrison; and Andre Walker, VP of Training & Development, Securitas Security Services.

Applied Technology Skills: Why Now?

I began by asking the panel why applied technology skills have become so critical in business. “Everyone in our company, whether they are in construction, purchasing, accounting, or customer service, touches a technology system. They need to understand these systems to do their jobs well,” said Switzer. “We are also offering training on a variety of technology platforms that require employees to come up to speed.”

Next, I asked John to comment on how his cross-industry employer partners are equipping their workforces with applied technology skills. “Access to training and development is not the issue,” he responded. “It’s much more about how those skills are curated and aligned to arrive at actionable outcomes.”

Panelists shared that their organizations are searching for and using solutions that help their employees develop “soft skills” related to technology adoption such as critical thinking, reasoning, and problem-solving. “Applying knowledge of Big Data, digital infrastructure, and integrated processes is essential to effective decision-making,” said Aquilino. “Companies are infusing learning experiences with technology, so employees can leverage the familiarity of working with machines in their daily roles.”

For more panel insights, head over to the full piece at the DeVryWORKS website.