How do you prepare your business for the Baby Boomer Apocalypse?
In part 1 of this series, we reviewed the characteristics of baby-boomers as part of the workforce. We reviewed their professional experience and how they’ve been leaving the workforce since 2003, and will continue to leave until 2030. In the part 2 of this series, we discussed how businesses are planning for the baby boomer knowledge gap that will be left as they leave, and what C levels are doing, or not doing, to prepare for this chasm. Now, in part 3, we will discuss how various consultants, outsourcing services, training organizations and other companies are working to narrow this gap, and help companies transform and prepare themselves.
When looking at the profiles of many of the larger international consulting firms, the average age of an associate is 28-30 years old. At the upper level leadership of many of these companies, they have seasoned veterans of business and the consulting industry. Having been a client of this type of consultant, I seldom saw the seasoned veteran deeply engage into the effort. It was normally the 14 hour per day associate. They brought external perspectives, but often did not bring external experience. They were smart, but often they pulled existing data and results and aggregated inputs to produce recommendation to key decision makers. Often it was what employees were already saying, but plugged it into a great slide deck. Without consultants, all too often employee’s comments can turn into political suicide, “cheese with whine” pessimism, or worse an ill prepared presentation without proper facts or credibility. We end up sounding like Colonel Jessep (Jack Nicholson) being interrogated by JAG Kaffee (Tom Cruise), and shouting, “You can’t handle the truth!” Often times consultants are used to deliver a message that we were too scared to bring ourselves, or to re-package and present a message that was not being heard.
As businesses continue to evolve, and experience the various phases of the Baby Boomer Apocalypse. The will seek companies and resources to fill holes through all means. One of the frequently used elements of augmenting the workforce is what I call, BiS-HoK (Butts in Seats/ Hands on Keyboards). The bigger firms offer these elements to IT, Engineering and Call Centers, and are the typical outsourced elements of a business. Sometimes these allow the core business to focus on critical competencies, or can move certain fixed cost into variable cost. These resources may also help you implement short-term initiatives. Clearly, by bringing in these resources you may be able to supplement some short-term knowledge skills gaps, but you do not want to make them a crutch for your business, as you ultimately must stand on your own. There is also the option of bringing back your own retired employees on a contractual basis. The big miss here may be that disgruntled employees left and don’t want to come back. Whether it is a front line resource, middle or upper management; you may struggle on formalizing their return to the business for knowledge transfer. Clearly, it would be better if you identify the need earlier and begin a systematic process of transferring experience and skills years before the boomer leaves.
There are other boutique firms that are beginning to build expertise for assisting small, medium, and large companies maneuver thru the Baby Boomer Apocalypse. There are also firms beginning to aggregate a pool of resources that can be called upon based on their experience. Some of the aggregation firms have more than 200K affiliated consultants. It is clear the baby-boomers are still working after retirement, but they are working on their terms. They want to work a little, while they play a little.
We have established Globulus as a firm that can become a partner along side you and your business. Our goal is to bring in outside perspectives, but from people that sat in your shoes. We fulfill assessment thru General Review, or a more detailed review in the areas of; Sales/Marketing, Product, Operations, Efficiency Review, Customer Touch Point Analysis, Financial Cash Flow or Capital Assessment, Supply Chain, IT Architecture or Systems Deployment Review. We can also work with you to find the best Solutions for the direction and goals you want to achieve. Unlike many consultants, we don’t have any association with solution providers. We are supplier agnostic. If you need a partner to stay with it, we will bring in the resources to implement the Solution designed to transform your business. We are continuously building and replenishing a Virtual Team, our bench of seasoned D Level and above managers from various industries, along with specific skills sets to bring value to your business. Globulus is not an outsource pool, nor are we aggregating a mass number of affiliated consultants. We are designing our Virtual Team to share experiences with one another and are compensating them to bring the right team member into the skills needed. This requires one on one attention to Team Members, which in turn means one on one attention for you, and your business.
If an Assessment/Solution/Implementation engagement is not what you are interested in, we can become virtual members of your team, sit besides a member of your team you are developing for a future leadership role. We can also be an external sounding board on directions of the business. If you want to set up an appointment to visit about how we might help you, we’re here. If you are a semi-retired D Level or above manager and want to become a Virtual Team member, we’re here. If you simply want to follow us and see what we are up to, or want to read future articles about business challenges, we’re here.
