Talent cliff. Skills Gap. Talent bubble. Talent vacuum. These are a few of the names for the monster under the bed that's keeping many senior leaders awake at night.
Many distributors and manufacturers in the electrical distribution industry have expressed concern about how leaders born during the post-World War II “baby boom” are either retiring or soon will be. Is the next generation of senior managers up to the challenge of leading organizations – as well or if not better – than their predecessors?
During the Western Region Conference held this past January, United Electric Supply President/CEO, and Chairman of the NAED Board of Directors, George Vorwick spoke about this topic during the General Session. He mentioned his entire executive team will be retiring within the next three years. He added that the challenge is bigger than finding qualified candidates. Losing a Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operations Officer, and Vice President of HR means a loss of almost 100 years of collective experience. These people are experts in their fields. They’re well-versed in the company’s history and in how the industry works. That’s a great deal of knowledge that needs to be transferred to the next generation of leaders.
Having the skills to lead is important. So is having the business/industry knowledge.
That’s why the NAED Leadership Development Program infuses industry-specific content throughout the curriculum. This way, the knowledge, skills, and abilities developed through the program are applied to the role to ensure that on-going lessons and new skills are established and become part of a participant’s routine before finishing the program.
The Leadership Development Program also adds a capstone project which challenges participants to take a problem or area for growth within their organization, then through their leadership skills, make a business impact. There’s a great advantage to this concept. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Foundation’s Guide on Succession Planning and Leadership Development, “When the changes come about from on-the-job developmental experiences, the transfer is more likely to be successful because the gap between learning and application is minimized in terms of both time and distance.”
Earlier this week, we opened registration for another class that will kick off this summer. Read more about the Leadership Development Program to learn how you can benefit from the program.
Who’s Enrolled? Fast Facts:
- The first webinar (the 2020 class kickoff session) was February 21.
- The 30 participants have already started the pre-work and getting to know their facilitators via video.
- Among those enrolled are men and women from manufacturers and distributors.
- Participants’ experience ranges from new to the industry to 20+ years in the industry; from new leaders to Vice Presidents; roles include leaders in sales, purchasing, lighting, quality and safety, operations, marketing, sales, project development, automation, training & development, warehouse, fleet & deliver, branch managers, product line, and finance and operations.
- Participants are from every region across the US and two participants are from British Columbia
- Several companies have enrolled multiple participants – which allows them to work in groups on their capstone project which will help bring the ROI back to the sponsoring organizations.
Another class kicks off this summer! Read more about the Leadership Development Program or submit your application!
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTORS