AGILE PEOPLE - THE ANSWER TO STAFF SHORTAGE

by Dr. Ng Yan Goh,Ph.D.

I have been known to many people as a person with many hats. Maybe akin to the situation of "Jack of all trade but master of none". Most of us probably want to be a functional specialist so that we can have cumulated knowledge and experience to back us up in terms of professionalism and job competency to gain vertical departmental promotion. My personal core competency is in industrial management and leadership. This scenario of single area of competence has to change as we progress for more senior positions, move towards general management, adopts the Agile enterprise business model or simply because of the global competition. 

Joel Barker, a renown futurist, in his videotape on the business of paradigms demonstrated that should there be a paradigm shift which can affect our business we can return to zero and be paralysed. Professor Ken Preisse and associates of the US Agility Forum, the organisation advocating that Agility is the strategy for forward-looking enterprises, have researched and concluded that perpetual continuous learning is necessary for us to be agile. 

I was motivated to establish the Malaysian Agility and Futures Forum to address the mounting problems with people in relation to enterprise development. The management blaming the workers and the workers blaming the management, if this culture becomes a way of life, we will not be competitive globally. We need to become Agile and develop strategies which can ensure successful enterprise development. The enterprise without the loyal and committed people cannot survive competition well. That culture of loyalty to the group leader rather than to the enterprise has to be changed. 

Challenges in the 21st Century
In the 21st century, we are faced up with a number of significant issues: 

• the technology of various kinds are developing so rapidly that is making it difficult for management and people to wait for the right technology. We have to make a decision some point in time and learn how to use them effectively. A lot of times it is how we use them rather than how powerful or advance the technology that can bring impact to the enterprise. 
• the business processes or systems need to be improved on a continuous basis rather than taking pride in the fact that our systems have been around for decades and they have proven to work. There are a number of jobs which will disappear especially those of routine and repetitive nature. 
• the people are expected to work in ad-hoc teams 
• the organisation objectives of higher quality, lower cost, faster delivery and superb service will not change 
• the impact of Internet communications and electronic commerce 
• most organisation will evolve to be an Agile enterprise so that they can be very responsive to customer changing requirements and expectations. 

Guidelines of Agile People 
There are a set of guidelines for Agile people: 

• they must be able to make own decisions or judgement implying some kind of personal leadership capabilities and knowledge 
• they are empowered to improve processes without approval provided that they do not require policy change and capital expenditure 
• they are trained to operate as business entrepreneurs and they learn how to grow the enterprise as though they are the owners 
• the management has to focus on the people's attitude and habits for continuous learning 
• multi-dimensional business skills are required 
• compensation is based on business success 

• Multi-skilled and Cross Functional 

For people to be agile, it is necessary for them to be multi-skilled besides having the specific job skills, develop effective oral and open communication, master report writing, acquire leadership capabilities, practises good time management, improves inter-personal skill and improving knowledge of other business functions. Once the people are multi-skilled, they can be cross functional and be very effective in teaming. This way it can also help solve the constant cry of shortage of skilled people.
• Leadership 

Each and every person must be trained on responsibilities, trust and respect for each other, understanding the need and the limits of empowerment, the ability to have independence, developing decision making skill, cultivate the organising know-how and learning the art of directing. The need to increase leadership confidence is crucial. 
• Knowledge 

A knowledgeable worker is one who can apply the theoretical and practical know-how on the job with or without supervision. It is also believed that knowledge can be improved incrementally to develop better wisdom and judgement if the person is positive and forward looking. The best way is to cultivate the habits of perpetual education and learning with the goal of enhancing knowledge.
• Education & Training 

There are a lot of complaints about fresh graduates who are not able to perform their job which is related to their field of studies or majors. This could be due to the person, the system of examination or even the method of teaching. For the while, the enterprise has to spent a lot of time, effort and money to train up a fresh graduate making it rather wasteful. The industrial training programmes for the undergraduates when managed properly will definitely help the graduates.

The enterprise must encourage lifelong education for everybody including the top management, operations management and the critical mass. This can be in the form of regular formal or informal training, the imparting or acquisition of theoretical knowledge and practical know-how from the superiors, peers or one's own initiative of self-learning. 

• Behavioural Modification 

We can keep on harping on the attitude problems of the people but what is actually needed is our ability to help these people. There are so many factors that can lead to the attitude problem.

I know of one person who had gone to International School, proceeded to London for a University education and failed the second year, was tested HIV-positive, and going through a divorce. This person resorts to drinks and becomes an alcoholic and blames anybody who tries to help him for causing him low self-esteem. In this case, self-help and self-realisation are important because without which this person may wait for the AIDS and leave the world. It will be a waste for the family and the society. People with attitude problems most of the time do not realise the root cause of the problem but they must be open to outside help.

It is difficult to change the attitude of a person if the person is unwilling. However, people can be motivated to change behaviour to adapt to the environment if they can match their goals with that of the teams and the enterprise as a whole. The one tool that has been used professionally is performance measurement and appraisal. The performance shall be used solely for motivating the person to improve and not meant for punishment. The other possibility is the use of the power of role model or mentoring to demonstrate to the not-so-positive person that others can do it and show the person how it is accomplished. Very often, counselling is necessary to monitor the progress of the weaker persons in the enterprise so that they can be motivated to progress. The last resort is to move the person to an area which suits the competencies or skills. Failing which I see no reason why the person should be retained in the enterprise if there is no value-added contribution.