Let Your Employees Lead The Way

April 9th, 2009. Published under Leading in the New Economy. No Comments.

Has the prediction of the end of the post-industrial revolution come to pass? There has been an ongoing transformation of the U.S. economy away from industrial, manufacturing-based activity into a primarily service-based socio-economic structure. The decline of the manufacturing sector, the global distribution of capital, and the dominance of service-based employment characterized the end of the 20^th century, with explosive changes ignited by the Information Revolution. Transitions are often painful in the birthing process. The shift from an Agricultural economy to an Industrial economy took its toll on farmers and hunters as it expanded new economic sectors like steel, textiles, and construction.

“These shifts also created a new class of super-wealthy investors, financiers, and entrepreneurs, along with an underclass of impoverished and exploited laborers who had no alternatives but to work in low-wage, abysmal factory jobs… By the mid-1920s, a huge bubble economy was rapidly expanding, on the basis of exploding speculation in stocks and real estate. None of this was sustainable, however, because a vast proportion of the labor force was not able to enjoy these artificially inflated benefits. And when the great crash came, it was not simply a bursting of an overhyped stock market – which would have corrected itself in a short time – but the harsh, final throes of realignment in the ‘real’ economy.”[i]

Sound familiar? Economists, business reporters and the Obama administration have taken great pains to use words like “recession” and “recovery.” But at some point we have to face the fact that we may never “recover” the economic conditions that prevailed for most of the past few decades. And not everyone benefited in the post-industrial economy. A new underclass always emerges, this one based largely on race and region, and it persisted while relative prosperity spread to new segments of the population. It has now been acknowledged that virtually all of this industrial development was heavily dependent upon access to cheap sources of energy, principally coal and oil. The fundamental supports of this economy were, again, not sustainable.

So, for what future should we prepare? We can assume that spending patterns will change for the end user, the ultimate consumer of products. If we follow that chain all the way back through the businesses that support the creation, marketing and sale of these products we can begin to adjust expectations and redesign output. It is now all about the essentials and correctly identifying them. What will and can consumers afford? What are the critical necessities for a business to move forward? And your best resources for immediate input on the changing economic climate, shifting values, and new sustainable perspectives are, of course, your employees. What will it take to have your employees engaged in a process of continuous rethinking, refinement and alignment to the market? How do you create a workplace where everybody is engaged in understanding the essential needs of their customer’s, internal and external, and how they can be uniquely met? Managers must continually reinforce time and space for employees to think about the future and make it happen. Everyone should be asking the question, “What sector of an industry is going to survive and what sectors will be talked about in the Smithsonian?” It is easy to see the changes in media; like the transformation of distribution channels for CDs/DVDs, books and newspapers, but what else is coming? It will be a puzzle, a challenge, a landscape filled with opportunity, this journey toward a new sustainable economy.

[i] The End of the Post-Industrial Economy by dnta

Sat Feb 28, 2009 at 04:21:09 PM PST