Are people a fungible commodity? If so, so's their loyalty and innovation.

A couple of  recent Wall Street Journal articles by Joe Light illuminate some interesting training trends that impact innovation.

1) "In a poll conducted by human-resources consultant Right Management at the end of 2009, 60% of workers said they intended to leave their jobs when the market got better," one of the reasons is "the effect of heavy cost-cutting and downsizing during the downturn on workers' morale."

"'Employees feel disengaged with their jobs, which is going to lead to a lot of churn as we come out of the recession,' says Brett Good, a district president...for Robert Half International, an executive recruiting firm." (Read the complete article at: http://bit.ly/95Lco2)

2) "Employers cut spending on training by 11% in both 2009 and 2008, according to human-resources consulting firm Bersin and Associates LLC. Now about half of companies plan to increase their leadership-development budgets in 2010." An unintended consequence of these leadership training cuts is that "now executives are having a hard time finding strong managers to fill vacancies. 'We're finding times when we want to open a new market but don't have anyone with the capabilities to do it,' says Larry Looker, Amways's manager of global leadership development. 'It's a real weakness.'" Amway will be restarting the leadership programs that it put on hold, and in the meantime, Amway is hiring managers from outside the company, which Mr. Looker describes as risky and expensive. (Read the article about management training spending increase at: http://bit.ly/c4at7j) 

Our take? When you stop considering your people as the most important part of the business, they start looking for someone who will pay attention to them.  That's why managers of high performance teams focus like a laser on BOTH: a) the work (good management) and b) the people (good leadership).  When one treats people like a commodity to be acquired or off-loaded, then the people view their job the same way.  Oh, and bringing in the right people to replace them can be expensive and time-consuming!  And that money and time could be better spent on filling the innovation pipeline.

Layoffs are a double-edged sword.  They can have a positive impact on the bottom line short- and long-term. Yet they always have a negative impact on the bottom line in the short-term and long-term since they kill morale and innovation.  Yes, there are times when layoffs are the best choice, but without calculating in the long-term impact on innovation, it's not a well-considered choice.

(Thanks to Doug Reid (pictured above) for the inspiration on this post, and to Doug Stevenson -- one of our favorite ideators -- for being willing to innovate for food).

Comments

[Doug Stevenson]

Love "Whack a Mole", but little fun in being the mole - There is no "FUN" in fungible ... Let me say again, that I "will ideate for food" ...