Downskilling: The dangers of getting less
Outsourcing. Downsizing. Offshoring. Nearshoring. Where did all these terms come from? I may not know the exact sources but I do know one thing. They all came from people. A person or persons coined each one of these phrases. Now I would like to create one of my own: Downskilling©. What is downskilling you many ask? Well, let us start with a wiki-like definition:
Downskilling© refers to a process of reducing the talent or skill level of a position, job, or vocation primarily for the purpose of decreasing short-term cost.
Sound familiar? Let me give you an example. A person has developed a skill or talent through study, hard work, and many years of specific practice. Unforeseen problems have cropped up and this person has solved them. Non-obvious opportunities for greater revenues, lower costs, or increased efficiency have arisen and this person has not only recognized them but applied them competently to the organization. Now, this person is replaced at a lower per hour cost by someone who, at best, can maintain the status quo for a while. That is downskilling. That is paying less to get less, a talent management approach rife with dangerous consequences.
The Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College is concerned about the erosion of proper skills, including experience levels, in the officer ranks. The SSI study entitled Towards a U.S. Army Officer Corps Strategy for Success: A Proposed Human Capital Model Focused upon Talent suggests that current strategies that undervalue talent in general and the proper placement of talent in particular seriously jeopardize the country’s ability to meet future defense obligations.
We find compelling evidence that the U.S. Army’s Officer Corps will be unequal to future demands unless substantive management changes are made. Perhaps the most obvious risk indicator is the Army’s persistent and substantial gap in mid-career officers.
Can the United States afford for its armed forces to be downskilled? The obvious answer is no. Can the United States afford for its key public and private organizations to be downskilled as well? The answer is no. Look for more postings on this subject in the near future.
… to achieve the right breadth and depth of officer competencies to meet evolving requirements–”the right talent in the right job at the right time.” To realize this vision, however, the Army must develop a strategy that commits ample resources, incorporates appropriate policy, and reevaluates existing organizational designs. Failure to do so may result in a U.S. Army unequal to its share of the security challenges confronting the United States and its allies.
Are local PeopleSoft veterans far less risky…
…than PeopleSoft resources obtained from far-off places? The Satyam scandal could make many organizations redo their outsourcing risk/reward analysis.
The Indian federal agency investigating the accounting issues at Satyam Computer Services Ltd. said Tuesday it has filed charges of cheating and forgery against the former chairman of the Indian software exporter, B. Ramalinga Raju, and eight others….
Hyderabad-based Satyam plunged into turmoil following revelations in January by B. Ramalinga Raju of overstating profits, revenue and creating a fictitious cash balance of more than $1 billion.
Perhaps it is time to take a harder look at well seasoned professionals, those with many years of proven success, who reside a little closer to home. We all know there is a lot more involved in determining the total cost of a project than hourly rates. Trust, performance, and risk must be factored into the equation as well.
Is Satyam the end of it? Some think not. The Satyam fraud should not come as a shock..
“Our experiences … suggest that manipulative accounting and aggressive promoter [owner] practices are more common in India than is generally believed to be the case,” he said.
“Many [Indian] firms have become so convinced of their own invincibility that they do not even bother denying irregularities when confronted with the evidence. They simply threaten you.”
The Wisdom Gap: Boomers and Bath Water
Don’t throw out the boomers with the bath water so says Deloitte LLC, a global provider of audit, consulting, financial advisory, risk management, and tax services with a workforce of 165,000 people worldwide.
…many organizations are taking another look at phased retirement as a way to cut labor costs without resorting to additional layoffs. Many have already reduced their headcount, and are worried that more layoffs will make it impossible to run the business, and put them at a serious disadvantage when the economy recovers.
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You need to cut labor costs. Layoffs, you think, are the one and only answer to survival. Perhaps, a phased retirement program is a better way of reducing labor costs while retaining the expertise your organization needs to profit from the inevitable recovery. Don’t be the next Circuit City.
Circuit City’s decision to fire 3,400 of its best-paid employees may not be such a big surprise. But what is surprising is the company’s public pronouncement that shedding these workers was not about poor performance, but expressly to replace them with cheaper ones. “It’s a sort of domestic offshoring,” says John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a global outplacement company.
“Circuit City would like to thank the millions of customers who have shopped with us during the past 60 years. Unfortunately, we announced on January 16, 2009, that we are closing our stores.”
PeopleSoft Upgrade Insights: Kick it off right
That big upgrade kick-off meeting you scheduled a while back seemed so far away. Now, it is almost here. What do you need to say? What do you need to show your clients, colleagues, and bosses? What questions do you need to be prepared to answer? How can you be successful?
Here are some areas to cover:
- What’s in the New Release?- Show your audience what they are getting for their effort. Pictures can be the difference your clients paying attention or zoning out on subjects that will come back to haunt the project..so don’t just show a list of new features show color screenshots instead.
- What is an upgrade?- It is time to pull out those easy to understand charts you have been working on. Explain the phases. Address the functional side of the upgrade process as well as the technical side. I like to use easy to understand phrases like: “After we create an upgraded version of you current system the next phase will be testing the heck out of it until it works.”
- What’s in and what’s out?- …otherwise known as the scope of the project. If someone has an expectation, realistic or not, that is not part of the project now is the time to kill it before it kills you, and your project. Any ambiguity on your part is going to be misinterpreted. It is better to drive a stake in its heart now than to have it rise from the dead during the testing phase.
- Who is going to do what on the project?- Many people in the room might be wondering if they will be working on the project and what they will be doing. In fact, this may be the main reason they are paying attention to you at all. You have an obligation to tell them. Show them a project organization chart and, if they ask, be prepared to describe the tasks they will be expected to perform
- What’s the plan?- My personal favorites are the gantt chart and milestones. The gannt chart illustrates the flow or activity. A list of milestones gives project team members mid-stream objectives that can be achieved and celebrated.
- What’s next?- It is critical to give everyone something concrete they can see, touch, and experience right away such as:
- Access to a new release demo system
- Basic training sessions
- Upgrade analysis Fit/Gap meetings
- Project information portal (e.g. Sharepoint)
- Weekly eMail broadcasts
In my next posting in this series, PeopleSoft Upgrade Insights, I will be covering the Fit/Gap upgrade analysis phase: How to approach it, How to conduct it, and How to get the results you need.