Get the most out of your changing
workforce.
A couple of
weeks ago I spent the Fourth of July holiday
with my family on the Eastern end of Long Island,
New York. As I looked around at people's faces at the
local parade, I realized that this was no longer the
same place in which I grew up. No matter where you live
or where you're from, our melting pot of a
society is forever adding to the landscape by blending
and mixing a variety of people with different racial,
cultural and ethnic
backgrounds.
These
differences are also apparent in your workplace. Having
your workforce effectively reflect your marketplace will
also be beneficial to your business. Today,
white Americans are the minority in several states such
as California, Texas and New York, so beware if your
workforce and leadership is lacking
diversity.
In addition to the growth
evident in the Hispanic, Asian and African-American
communities, there are many factors changing the
composition of your workforce.
For example, take a look
at the globalization of our economy. Gone are the days
where American businesses are contained to our borders.
Today many companies are outsourcing whole
departments like finance, accounting and customer
service to places such as India and China. As a
leader in such workplaces, you must be culturally
sensitive to the global differences both in and outside
of our borders.
Another contributing factor impacting your workforce
today is the fact that there are now four generations in
the workplace. Boomers are not overly enthused about
slowing down or retiring, so they are mixed in with the
nose-to-the-grind-stone traditionalists, working
side-by-side with the Xers and Millennials, which makes
for a very interesting crowd. What this means
for you is that you need to become more like a family
counselor and adept at making multi-generational teams
become functional. The natural order is to fall
into dysfunction, resembling dynamics found in
multi-generational families.
Speaking of which,
the family dynamic has largely changed over the past 20
years. Now leaders must focus on the differing and
growing needs of working moms who may be either married,
single by choice, divorced, or in same sex partnerships.
Women are making 70 to 80 percent of all
purchase decisions for most products and services and,
what this means for you is that you can no longer get
trapped into only understanding your lifestyle.
Chances are, your lifestyle is different than your
consumers, as well as those who are working for or
around you. Stepping outside comfort zones to connect
and understand other people's lifestyles will be
critical for your long-term success as a
leader.
Technology is also
fueling the growth in successful entrepreneurs.
Never before have so many people been able to earn
an excellent living with internet and home-based
businesses without the commute to an office.
Entrepreneurialism has always been at the foundation of
this country's economy, but so has the large
corporation.
As a result of this diverse population and
changing American lifestyles, large multinational
companies are losing talent and resources to the threat
of people going into business for themselves.
In fact, Generations X andY are fueling this. The
reality is that telecommuting, flexible work hours and
leading virtual teams are no longer just "nice-to-haves"
in big companies, but they are essential for retaining
talent and minimizing
turnover.
As a leader,
the pressure is enormous. Not only do you
need to produce results, you need to have the right
processes in place to allow these new working
arrangements to grow your business, not hinder it.
Having a "lump it or leave it" mentality will hurt you
in the long run if you aren't adjusting in order to keep
top talent. If you aren't providing the work
environments people are looking for, they will find it
elsewhere.
Despite these recessionary times, we are in a
"buyers market" for business today. Employees are the
buyers and employers are the sellers. This is a
foreign concept for the older generations since most
traditionalists and boomers grew up in economies where
the opposite was true. As leaders responsible for
inspiring and motivating people to achieve results, you
have to start treating employees like buyers if you want
to retain top talent and minimize turnover. This doesn't
mean that you need to heed to every whim, but you do
need to get the big things right. There is more
pressure to adapt quickly to these dramatic changes. Are
you changing fast enough to keep pace with these
ever-increasing workforce changes?
The ability
to extract the most out of a diversified and global
workforce is the number one differentiator in
business today. With more down-sizing,
restructuring and recession-driven downturns, people
alone won't be the differentiator, but the ability to
leverage people will be. The ability to keep
top talent, minimize turnover and have an engaged
workforce will be what sets companies apart.
Read Laura's tips in the Houston
Chronicle:
www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5894268.html
Laura
Lopez is a performance strategist, leadership specialist
and branding expert with more than 20 years of corporate
leadership experience. Most recently, Laura Lopez was a
vice president with The Coca-Cola Company. Laura's book,
The Connected and Committed Leader, is available via her
Web site at www.laura-lopez.com, at your local bookstore
or on www.Amazon.com. As the owner of her own business,
Laura helps companies and business associations achieve
more sustainable business results through the power of
leveraging diverse talent with effective leadership and
branding. She is available for speeches, workshops and
customized programs. Laura can be contacted via her Web
site at:
http://www.laura-lopez.com.
Join Laura for a Houston workshop on August
18,2008!
