Who Will Be the Managers and Leaders of your Company in 2019? - aftermarketNews

Who Will Be the Managers and Leaders of your Company in 2019?

The following article is part one of a two-part series by special guest contributor Chuck Udell, a senior partner at Essential Action Design Group. The article picks up where Udell's last article series for aftermarketNews on leadership left off, focusing on recruiting and retaining tomorrow’s best and brightest.

Editor’s Note: The following article is part one of a two-part series by special guest contributor Chuck Udell, a senior partner at Essential Action Design Group. The article picks up where Udell’s last article series for aftermarketNews on leadership left off, focusing on recruiting and retaining tomorrow’s best and brightest.

Part 1

by Chuck Udell

During the past year we have all read the articles in the business press about the impending talent shortage that will be caused by the retirement of baby boomers. The Wall Street Journal reports that the retirement age group will grow by 120 percent while the working age population available to replace retirees will only increase 20 percent — a difference of 100 percent. For a lot of the jobs the baby boomers will be leaving, there will not be enough of Generation “Yers” to fill those positions. The new workers entering the marketplace will have their pick of which company they want to work for. Competition for recruiting, hiring and retaining talent will reach an all time high.

What will influence the “employer of choice” decision made by the new American worker? Research suggests that they have high expectations of their prospective employer. What are these expectations? There are several such as high profitability, fast sales and profit growth, opportunity for professional and personal growth, and low employee turnover. In fact most companies that have low employee turnover have better performance.

Business Week in a recent article (March 26, 2007), “The Top 50 Best Performing Companies”, reported that “one characteristic that these 50 companies have in common is that they all strive for excellence in all that they do.” And to achieve excellence, it takes a work force that has the right values (excellent hiring), is stable (low turnover), and gets the job done (well trained). Our research at the Essential Action Design Group has confirmed that at the best performing companies the entire workforce is absolutely clear on the direction their company is heading, what is expected of each person and what key measurements will be utilized to evaluate each person or team.

In my previous article series on Leadership, I defined the Three Clarities:

• Clarity of Direction – your company’s goals, what is to be achieved;

• Clarity of Structure – how you will achieve the goals, team members roles; and

• Clarity of Measurement – what performance indicators will be tracked.

It is critical that business leaders communicate The Three Clarities throughout their companies so that every employee can clearly articulate their personal role and contribution to the organization’s overall goals. The Three Clarities create energy, momentum, efficiencies and competitive advantage.

After the Three Clarities have been communicated throughout the company it is important to ask: How do best in class companies achieve support and commitment to the goals, structure and acceptance by teams and individuals for measurable outcomes? Best in class companies consistently grow their profits, retain their people and are regarded as the best companies to work for. These companies understand that their people are the true providers of differentiation and competitive advantage.

The first step to Three Clarities acceptance is centered in the core values of people – hiring the best and retaining them. This is the platform that this “buy-in” is built on. The best companies put a premium on each prospective employee’s personal values and their social relationship skills. They find that functional expertise including technical skills can be taught. Southwest Airlines, the only U.S. airline that has been consistently profitable during this decade hires solely based upon the candidates relationship skills and personal values that are deemed to “fit” into the Southwest Airline culture. They hire the person and teach the skill. They recently received more than 230,000 resumes and applications for 2,100 new job openings. One can assume that workers consider Southwest Airlines a desirable employer and preferred company to work for.

Best in class companies also communicate how each person contributes to profitability and once hired, they ensure that each new employee understands how their job tasks, activities, creativity and aptitude contributes to profitability and the achievement of the company’s goals. The new generation of workers wants to know how their work affects overall profitability. At Southwest you can ask any employee from a baggage handler to an engine mechanic “What is the most important factor to your company’s profitability?” And they can answer you with clarity. All of their 13,516 employees know the answer to the question and answer it exactly the same way, with the same enthusiastic response.

Retention

Retaining employees – research from the Center for Creative Leadership has found that people of all generations tend to gravitate towards companies that provide opportunities for career advancement and personal development. Best in class companies can’t always offer advancement, but they can provide continuous opportunities for additional skill mastery and personal development. At the 2006 AAIA Town Hall Meeting Judy Woodruff shared just how important continuous learning and career development is to Generation “Yers.” Aftermarket companies that want to attract the best of the “Gen-Yers” must offer opportunities for continuous learning and personal development – both functional as well as interpersonal skills.

A common statement heard from numerous aftermarket companies is that “our people make the difference” and that they are “our most important asset.” For a resource so important that can truly be a differentiator and competitive advantage, do automotive aftermarket companies provide the same amount of learning and development opportunities to their employees as companies do in other industries?

Let’s look at some benchmarks produced by American Society of Training and Development’s (ASTD) annual State of the Industry report published in 2006. This report collects data from private and public sector companies to identify what investment these businesses are making in employee learning and development. The report revealed that the average annual investment per employee for learning and development was $1,424 in 2005. And, this investment per employee was $1,600 per employee for high performing companies. How much do you invest per employee per year?

Another benchmark the automotive retail and wholesale segments can use to compare themselves with other retailers and customer-centered businesses is the investment in learning as a percent of total payroll. According to the ASTD report, other companies are investing 2.2 percent of their total payroll costs into employee learning and development. For high performance companies their investment was 2.7 percent of total payroll costs.

Aftermarket wholesale/retail companies invest much less. From the AWDA 2005 Financial Analysis report, you can establish that automotive warehouse distributors are investing less than 0.5 percent of their payroll costs into employee learning and development. Which leads to the question that is the title of this article: Who will be managing and leading your company in 2019? Ask yourself: If I were a Generation “Yer” just graduating from school and looking an exciting desirable company to work for – where the people work hard, play hard and the company offers opportunities for me to learn, grow and develop new skills, would you pick your company? The talent pool is shrinking and the competition to hire the available talent to replace retiring Baby-boomers is going to be fierce. Are aftermarket companies positioning themselves to compete for the best and brightest?

World class companies such as McDonald’s have a passion for training. They execute consistency through training. They have an obsession for consistent operations across nearly 32,000 stores in 118 countries. To obtain this consistency, it takes focused training at all levels through their “Hamburger University” and their on-the-job training. McDonald’s has found that this consistency along with linking this training to operational, sales and customer service metrics has led to achieving increased performance goals. Their management has seen comparable sales and guest counts impact quickly after this training. Plus, each McDonald’s executive is required to complete a minimum of 40 hours of training/learning per year. Is each member of your management team receiving 40 hours of training or personal development opportunities per year?

Another world class company, Starbucks, also looks at training as an investment and not an expense. Starbucks exhibits Clarity of Structure with their “Five Ways of Being” that enables their employees, called “partners,” to inspire Starbucks customers. To reinforce this, Starbucks management developed a pamphlet that fits into a partner’s apron called, the Green Apron Book. Through an ongoing process called “exploring customer stories” employees are presented examples taken from real customer scenarios, the employee must select a behavior from the Green Apron Book that they would choose if they were in that same situation with a customer, so that the outcome will be a positive experience for the customer.

And, in a program similar to the Automotive Aftermarket Professional designation from the University of the Aftermarket, Starbuck partners can earn a designation called “Coffee Masters.” Starbucks ensures that all their partners can take advantage of their opportunity to improve the company by improving their core competencies and that they are encouraged to share their knowledge in order to generate passion with their colleagues and customers.

Attracting and retaining good employees in the near term future is going to require a change of attitude and processes with aftermarket companies. The future will not be like the past. The new generation of workers has different expectations of their employer. Meet or exceed their expectations and your company will get the best the talent pool has to offer.

Next week, I will address another of the steps in implementation of the Three Clarities to help ensure that any new opportunities you offer your employees for learning and skill development will be money well invested.

About the author:

Chuck Udell, MAAP, is a senior partner with Essential Action Design Group, a Charlotte, NC-based consultancy that provides research, needs analysis, design and deployment of performance improvement training programs for retail and B2B sales organizations. Udell is a veteran officer of the U.S. Air Force. He received his MBA in finance and marketing from the University of Rochester and his BS from the University of Virginia. For 10 years, Udell served as a consumer products analyst for over-the-counter products with Marion Merrill Dow pharmaceuticals. He served for more than five years with Mobil Chemicals’ Hefty Trash Bags division as its product specific financial analyst for all channels. Udell is an active member in AAIA and AASA. He is the former president of the University of the Aftermarket and is also an active member of the American Society of Trainers and Developers, and continues his research initiatives in cataloging performance best practices and maximized employee effectiveness.

To email Chuck, click here.

You May Also Like

Continental, Synopsys Team Up on Automotive Software Development

The collaboration aims to accelerate the development and validation of software features and applications for the Software-Defined Vehicle.

Continental announced a collaboration with Synopsys to accelerate the development and validation of software features and applications for the Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV).

"This new collaboration integrates Synopsys’ industry-leading virtual prototyping solutions for virtual Electronic Control Units (vECU) within Continental’s Automotive Edge (CAEdge) cloud-based development framework. The results are digital twin capabilities for software development that help automakers accelerate software development and speed up their time to market," Continental said.

Epicor Unveils Digital Cataloging, Future Plans

The new catalogs use Epicor-validated, ACES-compliant data and an “Intelligent Search” feature to find the right part quickly.

Epicor digital catalog
Epicor Launches Automotive B2B eCommerce Platform

The Epicor Commerce for Automotive platform features multi-seller support and parts lookups for distributors and their customers.

Epicor commerce for Automotive
Marelli Launches Fuel System for Hydrogen Propulsion Systems

Marelli will present a variety of new technology at the CTI Symposium in Germany, Dec. 5-6.

The Automotive Aftermarket’s Role in a Circular Economy 

Take a deep dive into the factors driving the automotive aftermarket toward a more circular economy.

Circular economy

Other Posts

AI in the Aftermarket: Endless Applications Yet Hurdles Remain

The automotive aftermarket is delving into AI and ways it can help businesses be more productive and effective.

Intellias to Showcase HMI, ADAS and More at CES 2024

The company also will unveil the next generation of its IntelliKit, a portable fully-integrated digital cockpit.

Anyline Partners with Treads to Simplify Car Ownership

Anyline has partnered with Treads, an AI-driven car management subscription service, to enhance analytics for car owners.

Anyline Trends partnership
Unifying Your Parts Technology to Eliminate Channel Conflict

Harmonizing various channels in your eCommerce strategy through unified technology helps build an agile business model.

ecommerce channel conflict auto parts suppliers