Thinking Ahead - Will the future labor force be more prone to committing errors?

Thinking ahead--Will the future labor force be more prone to committing errors?

Over the years, we have had the opportunity to work with many outstanding organizations; we continue to be impressed by the performance and improvement efforts many displayed to retain their industry-leading positions.  Occasionally though, undesirable events still occur in these organizations.  When RCA's are conducted, inevitably, one or more of the causal paths uncover mistakes or oversights made by people. While efforts such as "error-proofing" or "engineering out" deliver great reductions in "human mistake" type causes, this alone won't prevent all mistakes.  Even though "training" can be over-used and is often an ineffective solution, in general, it does remain one of most important organizational weapons to combat errors to avoid future failures.  High-performing organizations always have outstanding training systems, however changes may be needed to adapt to a new and growing problem.

We are entering a new era in workforce experience and availability of skills.  As the front end of the 'baby boomer" generation retires, manpower shortages in many professions and trades are already occurring.  In the last economic expansion, we began to see shortages of skilled trades, health care professionals, and engineers, among others. While the current recession has masked this problem, the problem will again show itself, most likely to an even greater extent, once the economy recovers.  As vast numbers of highly talented and skilled employees leave the workforce, I found myself wondering 'how are forward-thinking leaders preparing themselves for this transition?'  If not managed well, it's likely we will see a great rise in failures, injuries and unplanned events as compared to current levels.  If this does occur, one of the causes will likely be due to incoming employees not having access to or receiving mentoring from experienced employees, as has been the standard protocol in training programs for many organizations for many years. I see this as a major opportunity for many leaders to be "proactive" and prevent a wave of problems in the future.

• How do you, or can you, justify preparing for the future at the current time?
• If you have already begun experiencing shortages of skilled employees, what are some "do's" and "don'ts" you can offer others who may soon face the same problem?
• Do you see your organization being affected by a shortage of skilled employees in the future?

o    If so, are your training and mentoring systems robust enough to handle the transition?  
o    What steps are you putting in place to address the shortage?

I would be interested in hearing your thoughts and experiences.

By Chris Eckert, 5/1/2009

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