On last week’s podcast, I interviewed Joern Lindstaedt, SVP of Global Customer Service at Rolls-Royce Power Systems about the service leader’s duty around the “silver tsunami.” Joern shared that he first heard this term last fall at the Service Council Symposium in Chicago and he’s working to determine how best to articulate the challenge within his organization to advocate for the appropriate change.
While the term “silver tsunami” may have been new to Joern, the concept behind it – and the massive challenge it presents for organizations – isn’t new. In fact, the talent gap is a challenge we’ve been discussing on Future of Field Service as far back as the second episode of the podcast (and for reference, we hit 300 last week!). That episode featured Roy Dockery, former service leader, author, and Director of Field Service Research at TSIA presenting a very valid point: we don’t actually have a talent gap, we have an experience gap. Meaning, field service organizations are accustomed to hiring based on previous experience – and while that’s becoming harder and harder to do, there isn’t a lack of talent if we’re willing to work differently.
So, if this is a conversation we’ve been having for at least six years, why aren’t we making more progress in solving the problem?
It’s a good question without a single, easy answer. And that’s because it’s a challenge without a simple, easy solution. Solving the talent gap will look a bit different for each organization but will require all to fundamentally and significantly change how they’ve been finding, hiring, training, managing, developing, and retaining talent. The solution must be multi-dimensional as well as cross-functional – meaning, you can’t make the necessary changes without working with colleagues in HR, training & development, and elsewhere across the business.
It sounds like a lot of hard work, doesn’t it?
It is. And for many service leaders, it probably feels like too much on top of the other fires they’re working hard to put out. And I think this leads us to a couple of the reasons we haven’t made the progress we need to:
- Service leaders are overwhelmed and don’t know where to start
- The changes needed require collaboration across the business that is hindered by organizational silos
- Some are wasting precious time hoping “what was” will return rather than getting to work navigating the what is (and what’s to come)
In our podcast discussion last week, Joern said it very well, “It’s time for service leaders to move beyond the victim mentality and fall in love with the problem.”
He’s right – it’s the only way we’re going to make the progress we need to; dig in and do the hard work. Leaders and organizations that do are going to be leaps and bounds ahead of their competition, because the talent landscape isn’t going back to what was – it’s only continuing to evolve, and service must too.
Exploring Aspects of Action
Good for you if you’ve taken the leap of “falling in love with the problem,” now let’s dig into some of the elements of change that are required. First, determine how to attract a new generation to field service. This starts by uncovering new sources of potential talent to tap and continues by understanding what it is that appeals to today’s talent (and if you/how you can offer that). If you’re interested in an open conversation about what younger talent is seeking in field service roles, have a listen to this podcast I did with Teresa Carneiro, Field Service Engineer at STEMCELL Technologies.
It also means it’s likely time to review your job descriptions, keeping in mind Roy’s wise words above – if you’re still requiring extensive experience, you’re limiting your talent pool detrimentally from the jump off. According to the Stand Out 50 Service Trends report we published last year, more than half (52%) of respondents seek demonstrable skills and capacity for learning but have no experience requirement or have created an apprenticeship/training program that allows them to bring in talent with no experience and guide them through the learning process.
Updating job descriptions with wording that’s free of hard-to-understand terminology and ensuring it reflects perks today’s talent is drawn to is also important. One of the biggest desires among younger talent is flexibility, which historically hasn’t been possible in field service. But with more remote service capabilities and/or some good old-fashioned creativity in how your teams work, it’s certainly possible and something I’d strongly urge you to consider how to incorporate. Daniel Trabel, Director of Field Service EMEA at Thermo Fisher Scientific, spoke with the Future of Field Service Live audience last year in Cologne, Germany about exactly how his organization has made significant yet attainable, and most importantly beneficial, changes to how – and who – they hire.
Attracting new talent is only one part of the equation, though. You also need to consider what must change to keep that talent. Gone are the days of field technicians happily working in one role for 10, 15, 20+ years, so you need to determine instead how you offer career development opportunities paired with career pathing that helps your company retain strong talent while you continue to bring new talent in. Ensuring you have a strong employee value proposition – not only on paper, but in reality – is critical, and this means strong leadership and a good culture.
It's imperative to consider the role technology plays in your overall talent gap strategy. First, if your field operations are inefficient, you are exacerbating your own problem. Having solutions in place that help you optimize scheduling and routing, improve utilization, reduce repeat visits, increase remote resolution, and equip technicians with the insights they need to be successful help to ensure that you’re getting the most value out of the workforce you have.
The role of technology is also crucial in knowledge management, an area of understandable concern for organizations who have high volumes of experienced, skilled employees soon retiring with years and years of knowledge held no where but in their brains.
Finally, with AI significantly changing how employees across every industry work, you need to be thinking about what areas of the service workflow can benefit most from automation and intelligence, while protecting the areas where your employees deliver that “something special”. And this means hiring and training in ways that are aligned to how AI will evolve the skills that equate to success.
Some businesses have had success leveraging the Gig economy, augmenting their full-time teams with independent contractors, which can be another lever to consider. I’ve also talked with some leaders who are considering what the future of talent strategy may look like in terms of the creation of alliances, pooled resources, or an ecosystem approach. While there are a lot of details to sort through in that sort of scenario, leaders who are thinking and looking ahead are forging that future instead of struggling to catch up.
These are just some of the aspects of action organizations can take to address the talent gap. While it can be helpful to get inspiration from others who are working to solve the same problem, the solution starts with – going back to Joern’s wise words – “falling in love” with the problem. It’s the service leaders’ role to translate the stories of what service needs to succeed into terms other functions of the business will understand, and it’s the service leaders’ responsibility to fight for the future. Kudos to all of you out there doing just that!
Do you have other aspects of action you’re taking to solve the talent gap? I’d love to hear what’s working! Reach out via email or on LinkedIn.