Brain Drain

[David Sandusky]

We all know that with the baby boomer's retiring, we could loose talented leadership and project management skills, etc.

I don't think many will go away. Many still have something to offer. Living longer and healthier causes a need to fund the "retirement". But they will be cashing out and scaling back. What does this mean?

On one side, more project oriented work and free agent type of work. Cool. That is great for this generation. Concern: is the generation behind prepared to lead?

[Bob Dodge]

I believe many of the newer workers have risen so fast in their respective (silos) job-functions, they do not get a chance to see how others work. The inter-relationships and inter-dependencies that come with experience are so valueable. Couple that with a "Just Do It" (and don't bore me with the details) temperment on the part of many new senior managers, and we have a real train wreck coming.

[Rick Deans]

Many words have been spoken and printed about the “brain drain” of U.S. industry so I’ll give you many more words to express my opinions on this subject.

Blame for the brain drain has, by some, been placed on the pressure of quarter-to-quarter performance by Wall Street and/or the metrics of executive compensation to drive a myopic perspective to operational decisions. This focuses executives on near-term performance and generated the basis for reasons (read: excuses) why thinking beyond the quarter, let alone the year, was impossible. Many adopted the perspective of “one must survive each quarter to get to the next year”. Using this mantra, no dutiful executive could divert the organization to lofty, long-term goals such as avoiding the loss of corporate knowledge because such an effort would not impact this quarter’s performance (read: lousy leadership).

However, in my experience, the pending issue and expected consequences were predictable and harsh. Employee population data is an unabashed, irrefutable source. Fixing a known problem that has become a crisis through inattention will find no near-term solution. In some cases, companies and even industries may have difficulty overcoming the near term effects. Some will find it impossible. I never expect the loss of corporate knowledge may never be cited as a source of lagging performance. To do so would indict the senior executives of dereliction. Those who do succeed where their competitors don’t will have believed in the problem for many years and acted.

To recover from pending difficulties requires an ability to recognize the impact of the problem and choose to do something about it. I suggest instituting a systemic, non-optional employee enrichment program. Such a program requires unyielding support from all levels of management and the discipline to remove those from positions should they choose to ignore the issue.

Such a program might include a company-wide effort designed to predict the skills and associated levels of competency for the future, identify the gaps between the current and future state and then institute programs to train the trainable, hire the skilled and recruit the gifted. This is a tall order and costly one. The opportunity is to start now. Stem the flow by policy/culture changes in hopes of buying time for the systemic efforts to yield benefits. By all means plan to be successful though employees not through executives.

But, enough words for now…..

[judy]

Many in my circle are retired, or retiring in under five years. The conversations are around doing something different all together. Learning something new. We will take experience and apply to the new activity, but learning something new seems to be the charge. Replacing "us" is an activity I agree should have started some time ago.

[MrAC]

We can look forward to many issues in work and society as boomers retire. One of the major issues is the capturing of critical company and industry knowledge. Who do you get all that data out of the boomers before they leave to retirement?

[David Sandusky]

How: Many boomers are finding they can scale back in their role or when they retire, start a consulting practice around their core competencies and sell it back the corporations in downloading critical company and industry knowledge.

The largest problem as I see it is cultural shift as boomers and the youngest generations live independent. On one hand, I think the independence is a great thing. On the other, the team dynamics and service mentality could suffer. Customer service has been out the window anyway and that has to change. Adding excellent customer service to more product businesses and adjusting to new culture challenges is what our race is best at so we will lead through the brain drain.

[Rudolph]

On one side, more project oriented work and free agent type of work. Cool. That is great for this generation. Concern: is the generation behind prepared to lead?

Yes and no. Leverage for Boomers for sure in leadership training and information/experience download. The book "Free Agent Nation" is good and relevant on topic.