Future projections show that if this loophole is not sealed by the year 2025, there will be a gap of about 1.8 million E&M engineers. Judging by the fact that the UK relies heavily on E&M as an economic pillar, such a shortage would spell doom. On average, the UK engineering sector contributes over a quarter of the GDP.

There are many forms of engineering in the UK – electrical, chemical, mechanical, civil, biological and software to name a very small number. If you stop reading this and look around, everything you see, and I do mean EVERTHING, was devised by some type of engineer, now isn’t that mind blowing?

They contribute approximately 1.2 trillion pounds of the UK turnover, this is about 27 percent of the GDP. In addition, engineering accounts for about half of the country’s exports and over 3.6 million jobs. In 2016 alone, more than 130 engineering firms featured in the London Stock Exchange’s 1,000 companies to inspire report. Concisely, Engineering & Manufacturing fits the title of “backbone of the British economy.”

This unfortunate occurrence is being blamed on the lack of preparedness in the education sector. According to Ann Watson, the head of SEMA, which is an employer-led skills non-profit organization, children should be introduced to engineering while in elementary school. This can be done by promoting Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects in their early stages. The problem, she adds, is that by the time they get introduced to the basics of engineering, their interest is already lost, or they have made up their minds regarding their careers.

Normally, the government curriculum introduces engineering concepts to students when they are between 16 and 18 years of age. This appears to be too late. The result is lack of encouragement and exposure to children who would have otherwise chosen to take up studies that favour engineering. Watson suggests that this process should be started earlier, such as when the students are still in primary school. If they have the concepts in advance, they are more likely to develop interest and eventually end up taking engineering courses.

The Institution of Mechanical Engineers, together with Tata, also blamed the education system for the shortage. In their findings, the two firms warned that the policy of the government to encourage industrial growth in the UK is likely to fail. This is because the education system is not producing enough professionals with the required skills. They further warned that if proper reforms are not urgently instituted, the shortage will rapidly intensify.

Brexit is bound to catalyse the shortage if it comes to pass (Nov 17th 2018 is when I wrote this). In the past, the shortage of engineers in the UK has been cushioned by importing the necessary manpower from the wider EU. However, with the country set to chart its course outside the EU umbrella, it needs major reforms if economic prosperity must be observed post-Brexit. This historical separation means the UK will withdraw from the European Single Market. As such, it will require home-grown engineers. Again, the area of free movement will be cut off. There is the threat of the country having to struggle severely in finding the required talent. In a nutshell, if the 2025 benchmark is anything to go by, it means the UK needs to find a way of training the 1.8 million technicians in under 7 years. Therefore, the 69,000 per year shortfall must be addressed by the end of 2018.

While most of the blame is thrown towards the education system, gender also plays a key role in the UK engineering shortage. The Engineering UK 2017 report shows that women are still reluctant to join the engineering sector. As at 2017, women held less than 13 percent of engineering jobs in the UK. They termed the results as “heart-breaking and underwhelming.” More effort needs to be implemented in dealing with stereotypes which may discourage women from partaking in STEM courses while largely encouraging their male counterparts.

For instance, if one happens to do a Google Image search for the word “Engineer”, the results will mostly feature tens of men clad in hard hats. The females will only dot a corner or two. In as much as Google cannot be perceived as a satiable research resource, it clearly announces the plight of women in the engineering field not only in the UK but worldwide. Still, schools, are the best [and obvious] places where the efforts to reverse such misconceptions should start. This will be done by restructuring the curriculums, career information, the way courses are chosen and how subjects are taught.

The other contributing issue to the shortage is seemingly the reputation of UK engineering. While the UK engineering universities are popular across the world, they mostly attract foreign students. Out of the total engineering graduates who join the labour market every year, only a staggering 25 percent are awarded postgraduate degrees in technology and engineering. From these statistics, it is evident that the reputation of engineering is poor amongst UK students. This is despite revelations that the number of engineering and technology degrees awarded from 2015 is higher compared to previous years.

UK students appear to rank engineering too low despite its attractive employment prospects and rewards. On average, a graduate engineer’s starting salary would be 26,000 pounds compared to other subjects’ 22,000. The poor reputation might, again, be as a result of misconceptions. For example, apprenticeship programs which are almost necessary in most engineering courses are viewed as “second-hand” education by most young people. Similarly, the increase in automation might be misunderstood for risking jobs as Artificial Intelligence takes over most low-skill opportunities.

This sector needs to change if a skills crisis has to be averted. If the target of 1.8 million engineers by 2025 remains, proper and urgent restructuring of the entire industry, down from the education at primary school is necessary. Efforts to attract more young people to take STEM subjects should be enhanced. Gender diversity should also be fostered because this is one area that could supply the much-needed numbers. If these changes are not made, with Brexit looming nearer and the existing workforce getting older, the precious skill will get scarcer and scarcer – and that is the last thing that any country needs!

Sources

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/stem-awards/energy/the-great-uk-engineering-shortage/

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/03/04/uk-firms-engineers-banks-struggle-fill-skills-shortage/

https://www.director.co.uk/uk-engineering-sector-faces-skills-shortage-22341-2/

https://www.theengineer.co.uk/engineering-skills-shortage-overcoming-the-fear-and-uncertainty/

https://edtechnology.co.uk/Article/uk-economy-and-productivity-threatened-by-lack-of-engineers

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/stem-skills-and-space-industry

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You first need to be aware of the type of job you’re doing or expect to be doing soon. This is one of the determinants of your remuneration. Basically, a chief manager and CEO are both c-suite level jobs but their salaries will vary. As such, once you know the task(s) ahead, try to find as much information about the salary as you can. Help can come from the internet since people post and hunt for jobs there every day. You can get a rough estimate of how much you should be worth.

Second, be aware that the market will pay what you are worth yourself. In short, your pay will be determined by what the employer offers for a particular set of experiences and skills as well as what you have to bring to the table. Therefore, find out all the skills that you have which are directly tied to your aspiring position and highlight them. You will use them to gauge your worth during the salary negotiation. If you have options, go for the employer willing to pay the most for your abilities.

It is very important that you identify the benefits and perks associated with the job you have or will have. Remember, we said that while the c-suite salaries might differ from one employer to the other, all other aspects are the same. In that case, find out all the basic compensation bouquets which include perquisites, benefits, base pay as well as long and short-term incentives. Some employers will not provide this information if you do not have it. If you end up with a not-so-straight employer, they might rob you of such compensation which you are entitled. In short, you will not be compensated for what you are worth.

Finally, and very important, realise that your worth as a c-suite employee does not stop at the money. You should be part and parcel of major organisational developments such as restructuring and/or mergers. These are moves that can lead to financial hardships and eventual layoffs of employees, you included! As such, put measures in place to protect your back in the event that one of such occurrences led to negative consequences. You can be insured (by the company or yourself) in the event that your job is terminated due to factors beyond you. Unlike average employees, c-suite workers find it hard adjusting to termination of work.

Now that you’re up there, be sure to take care of your golden parachute!

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As leadership evolves, new styles of management have been sprouting as old ones fade away. Power is being devolved to almost everyone in an organisation, replacing the system where one person takes all the credit for impressive work and blames everyone else for negative occurrences. It seems this encroaching system is pushing out CEOs, owing to the massive departures seen since 2011. Well over 1,200 CEOs of mega organisations have departed, paving way for devolution of management and responsibilities.

Leaderless organizations, or organizations without CEOS, are actually proving that a CEO is no longer necessary. For instance, the largest tomato processing industry in the world, Morning Star, did away with the CEO post. They apply a “contract-style” agreement with their employees where everyone is entitled to a form of expectation and responsibility. If they meet the agreement conditions, they’re rewarded accordingly. In this way, everyone is a CEO of their own.

Cost-effectiveness is another factor driving out the need for CEOs particularly with e-commerce going viral. E-commerce means automation of organizational activities. As anyone would know, automation means robots executing human roles such as marketing, processing sales and accepting payments. Millions of such activities happen every second of the day. In the light of this, since a CEO is all about managing workers, they have no one to oversee as robots (automation) rarely need supervision. Concisely, the finances previously reserved for them are saved or diverted to activities that support organizational growth.

To some extent, CEOs, especially in new organisation, have been perceived to cause poor performance. This is because a CEO who had been used to handing things in a routine at their previous organisation is likely to drag their old habits with them. When this residue finds its way into a new organisation, problems that are common with older organisations begin to grow. This is because the CEO, usually at the helm of business, influences every other aspect of an organisation.

On the contrary, if an organisation uses a collective approach of leadership from within, it avoids the issue of transferred complications and/or outdated business approaches. In a more realistic approach, if a CEO is fired after the poor performance or collapse of an organisation, what happens if they move to a new job, holding the same post? Chances are that the new organisation is very likely to suffer the fate of the previous organisation.

Collectively, these facts point to one conclusion: that the CEO system of leadership is wearing out fast. In the next two decades, CEOs might only exist in history books: rendered unnecessary by time.

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In as much as the roles of the Boards differ from one organisation to the other, there are some similarities that occasionally show up. For instance, there are problems that will be found in almost every organisation which the Board of Directors must solve.

The following are some of the top issues that the Board of Directors face today.

Performance problems
Since the Board is the problem-solving and decision-making body in the organisation, it takes the credit for performance. Therefore, if the performance is outstanding, the Board is appreciated. Similarly, if the performance is dismal, the same Board takes responsibility. In short, performance is itself a problem that the Board faces.

For example, issues such as bad chemistry, domination by the minority, communication breakdown and rivalries within the membership affect its performance. A dismembered Board will never lead an organisation to success.

Therefore, most of them will be struggling to ensure they speak a common language and unanimously work together to ensure they are effective.

Right balancing of power
The balancing of power between different board role-players is an issue that cannot be ignored. The board must be constituted such that appointments are made based on considerations such as probity, skills and experience. The problem is that some boards elect members based on factors such as favouritism.

When such criteria are used to constitute Boards, people without the relevant skills and/or expertise take up roles. The results include ineffective boards, lack of performance by massive enterprises, distraction from organisational goals and wrangles within the board.

To solve it, Board appointments should be made after every potential director presents their experience, tools, qualifications and skills. In this way, the right people will end up being matched with the appropriate powers.

Problems of reforms
In an ever-changing business environment, it is expected that organizational dynamics such as the top management must reform to align with the changes. Professional management is still a new concept that modern day Board Directors are struggling to adapt. This has led to issues such as role uncertainty as well as unclear management territories.

One too many times, such uncertainties have led to standoff, ineffectiveness of boards and wrong assignment of management roles.
Evidently, the Boards have to look beyond their job descriptions and aspects that satisfy their personal objectives. These are outdated scenarios. It is time to look at these problems which are emerging from the revolution of Board roles and outlook. Therefore, they must decide how they can solve the problems to make their contributions more consequential to their roles and organisations.

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Luckily, meditation has been proven time and again to be a very strong agent of restoring serenity. This is in comparison to other approaches such as relaxation, massage, recreation and even ping-pong. Summarily, there is a significant trend growing, where CEQs are taking to meditation in restoring mindful leadership.

Resilience

Multiple experiments and studies have proven that meditation is effective in decreasing anxiety. In this way, it can boost performance under stress and create resilience. Today’s market place is increasingly become a chaotic scene that has the potential to push one to the wall in the event they have no means of relaxing themselves. Meditation, if properly done, is a great tool in retaining composure before, during and after consuming events.

Leaders are the head of every organisation. Therefore, to remain mindful, they need an agent like meditation. If spread to the employees, then it forms the basis of a very calm organisation.

Creativity

More benefits of meditation are being discovered by the day. Creativity is one of the latest discoveries. It has been concluded that a person can attain their biggest breakthroughs and greatest insights when they are in relaxed states of mind. This defines meditation. One of the reasons why this is true is because in that state, we can think of multiple solutions to one problem. As such, we can relate why more organisational leaders are taking to meditation for better outcomes.

Creativity can be a tool for success in business such as solving problems, making decisions and creating competitive edges.

Focus

An interesting fact about human minds: they tend to wander about 50% of the time they’re awake! Assume you’re seated in your office trying to do some work. You have colleagues showing up, emails are streaming in, phone calls are constant, same as IMs and tons of other interruptions. All these are agents of distraction that can derail one from focusing on their work.

The beauty of meditation is that it can train the mind’s ability to stay focuses as well as boosting its memory. In short, one can learn to keep their minds on the most prioritised items while giving little interest to side distractions. This would be a useful tool to investors who need to distil large volumes of information to come out with very few but relevant insights.

Leaders as well as employees can employ meditation for this crucial benefit.

Meditation is something that no one should perceive as too hard to adopt. The beauty of it is that it can be done anywhere as long as distractions are minimal. The few quiet hours at the office desk or even 15 minutes in the relaxation room can do just fine!

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Therefore, it is absolutely necessary for the board to look at (evaluate) themselves. The importance of the self-evaluation is to purposefully reveal as well as surmount any barriers that might be affecting their effectiveness. This can send a signal to the entire organisation that the board is committed to doing its best.

There are multiple benefits that come with board evaluations. For one, good governance is easy to achieve. On the other hand, a proper evaluation can improve performance in different levels such as individual, board and organisation tiers.

Below is an outline of three important factors that a board should assess during its self-evaluation:

How it leads

In this section, the board leadership is evaluated on its effectiveness, including the committee chairs and lead independent directors. They are examined in the basis of how they were chosen, their skills and/or experiences as well as their leadership styles.

The individuals should be appointed according to their skill sets to determine their suitability. This prevents default appointment of board members (and leadership inadequacy).

How it manages

Under this section, the board evaluates the manner in which it conducts its meetings. In it, the meetings are scrutinised on whether they encourage the participation by all members, if there is honest exchange of ideas and if they are geared towards maximum productivity. Again, the evaluation must determine whether the meetings have clear solutions for the raised issues which affect the organisation.

In such evaluations, it is critical to find out if some board members are uncomfortable when expressing their opinions. Matters like these should be discussed since they are detrimental to decision-making processes.

How it contributes

The final aspect of the evaluation that the board should consider is the way that members interact. This includes the participation of the directors and how decisions are made. In the light of this, every member should be scrutinised on the expertise and knowledge they bring as well as their way of contributing to the board.

In matters of interaction, behaviour such as staying engaged, framing content constructively, building on others’ ideas and asking the right questions should be considered. Positive behaviour attracts the attention of all board members and management as well as demonstrates that the aim of every member is not to “win” and argument but to contribute to the well-being of the organization.

Board self-evaluations, if properly done, can unravel areas of weaknesses and strengths. This can lead organizations to make adjustments that impact positively in shareholder value and performance. It is the best way to influence good leadership and organizational success from the top.

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What these occurrences might be telling you is that your business model is outdated and might need revamping. Revamping means you revise it and make sure it aligns with the current market demands.

Revamping a business model ensure that a problem is tacked from the root and not trunk level. I mean, if, for instance, you tend to have problems with meeting your sale targets, don’t blame the marketers. Don’t go straight to inventing trainings. Do not attempt a different marketing approach. Rather, sit back and analyse the matter from a distance.

Maybe your products are outdated, that is, they are not what the customer needs at that time. For example, what do you expect if you market cold beverages in winter? No amount of marketing would ever convince a client to purchase a product at the wrong time. In short, revamp your business model to be flexible in terms of customer demands.

Here are some elements to keep in check while doing a revamping of business models. These will ensure a business steers clear of unfavourable conditions while maximising on the favourable ones.

Updated customer demands

A business must know and understand its customers. When you know what a customer wants and when they need it, it is easy to remain relevant in business. As such, factors like customer communication and feedback should be part of a business model.

You are there for the customer and the only way to stay relevant is to maintain customer relations and needs.

Shifting dynamics

One unavoidable fact about business dynamics is that they’re ever changing. Today, the most popular dynamic we have is IT integration into business. Online shops are as important as physical shops. Clients want a product they can review online before settling on purchasing it.

Today, no serious business entity exists without some form of IT integration into its system, be it online shopping, e-payments, e-deliveries and so on.

Specific time-bound goals

The reason most business models will become stale is because they focus on similar goals for too long. If this is the case, an organisation will literally bore its employees out by sticking to the same routine, day-in, day-out.

To prevent this occurrence, it is advisable to set short, time-bound goals. After they expire, the organization can set new ones, of course with fresh approaches!

A business model is the key determinant to the way an organisation delivers and how it succeeds. As such, it is mandatory to keep revisiting it and highlighting the needs that need revamping. This is the only sure way for an organisation to compete with the ever-emerging companies who take advantage of outdated models for business gain.

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If the risks can be managed, M&A can have the following transformational effects on the organisations:

Instant Growth

One of the leading reasons why organisations might go into M&A is to achieve rapid growth. Basically, two organisations of equal or almost similar sizes come together and create a much bigger organisation. This growth is critical in that it expands a business instantly and leapfrogs the rivals.

M&A can help shorten the multiple years and decades required in organically growing standalone organizations or businesses.

Synergies

Companies may also use mergers and acquisitions in taking advantage of synergies as well as economies of scale. A synergy occurs when two organizations with similar business ideas combine then consolidate or eliminate resources that are duplicated. These might include regional and branch offices, research projects and manufacturing facilities to mention but a few.

In the long run, more resources are saved and earnings per share can be boosted. This makes the M&A transaction “accretive.”

Tax Purposes

The third transformation that companies might pursue through M&A is restructuring of tax purposes. This motive might, however, be perceived as implicit rather than explicit. For example, an organization might decide that the US has the highest corporate tax rate worldwide. As such, they decide to merge or acquire smaller foreign competitors then move the tax entity of the merger overseas where the tax jurisdiction is lower.

In this way, businesses can reduce their tax bills.

Expanded Know-how

Before a merger or acquisition, two companies exist as individual entities with distinct operational strategies. As such, they might take different approaches in management, operations and marketing. They might even be competitors. However, after M&A, the two become a single entity and need to combine their tactics so as to work together. Therefore, company A presents its know-how, same as B.

By combining ideas, they elevate their business know-how and competitive advantage in the market place. If applied appropriately, combined know-how can significantly boost the performance of the two companies.

Competition

Finally, M&A can reduce the completion faced by both organizations. This happens if they happened to be in similar lines of business then decide to work together. On the other hand, mergers can pool their resources together and gain competitive advantage over their rivals. This is made possible by the bigger size, shared resources and more dominance created by the M&A.

Evidently, mergers and acquisitions have more transformational effects than meets the eye. Unlike traditional beliefs that they only occur when a shrinking organization requires another company to salvage it, M&A have benefits for both parties. In fact, companies with good performance can merge aiming to perform even better.

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In the simplest form, the talent strategy aims at attracting, identifying, developing, engaging, retaining and deploying the right individuals in the right places within an organisation. In this way, an organisation can easily create a high performance workforce and therefore contribute to overall growth and success.

A highly effective talent management strategy allows an organisation to:

• Identify essential skills in employees

This strategy enables the executives in the organisation to identify the best skills in individual employees. In this way, they can focus only on these essential skills and develop them. In the long run, the employees are able to focus and perform highly in key development areas.

In addition, by focusing only on the essential skills on employees, the organisation minimises training costs.

• Align corporate strategy with individual goals

One of the best elements of the talent strategy is that it aligns employees’ skills to the overall business needs and strategic plan of an organisation. This is a powerful tool in facilitating utmost performance and business success.

Basically, if an employee works in an area where they feel that they best fit in, their performance is most likely going to be satisfying. As such, the employees will work to improve themselves, and, in the process, work towards the growth of the company.

• Respond to urgent market demands

Talented workers are a valuable tool for a business when it comes to responding to urgent demands in the marketplace. This is because they will usually possess proactive insight which helps them respond to sudden demands immediately.

From time to time, organisations will find themselves faced with situations such as sudden industry shifts or changes in leadership. However, if the organisation is made up of proactive talent pools, it will adjust accordingly and capitalise on the new marketplace needs and ultimately gain a better competitive edge.

• Create pay-for-performance strategies

Finally, an effective talent strategy will seek to reward employees based on their actual performance. Concisely, an organisation will be able to create a culture where employees will be rewarded based on quantifiable [fair] decisions. In this way, improper compensation can be avoided.

On the brighter side, this approach will motivate the employees to attempt to attain their full potential. This is because they will put in their best shows so as to attain the required benchmarks of quality and quantity. Talent management helps in this context by positioning the workers in positions where their talents are not limited.

In the long run, there will be better employee retention, improved morale, better job satisfaction, and, ultimately, a highly successful business entity. This will be fuelled by a talented workforce that is committed, skilled and highly proactive towards the growth of the organisation.

If you require any more information or even advice please always feel free to speak to anyone within Charles Francis Cooper

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For a business to succeed and grow, the workforce must be aligned. Look at a business as a sports team. The coach understands that all the players must be on the same page for goals to be scored. Similarly, organization managers must ensure their workforces are aligned for the same goals.

Unfortunately, this alignment does not come easily or naturally; it requires planning, communication and hard work.

Organizational alignment helps a business in achieving:

• Employee Role Clarity
One of the most important factors of alignment in an organisation revolves around finding the right fit for existing positions. This is the most basic unit of an aligned workforce since every employee must understand their job functions. Hiring the right skills can boost an organisation’s success. Similarly, hiring the wrong persons can burn huge holes in the organisation’s pockets.

To achieve employee role clarity, the employer must identify the job fits while hiring. The candidates’ understanding of the positions as well as their skills must be tested beforehand.

• Organisational goal alignment
Humans are naturally driven by goals. However, this does not apply in business. As such, it is up to the management to make sure the workforce can accurately recognise the organisational goals. In this way, the employees will identify what is required of them towards achieving it. More importantly, they can devise ways of aligning their personal goals with those of the institution.

To achieve this, the management should make the setting of goals a process that is collaborative. They should help the employees to make SMART goals as this translates to top-down alignment with the overall company vision.

• Team engagement
After the employees identify with the organisational roles and goals, it is important to bring them together to create teams. Since each worker executes a different role towards the achievement of organisational visions, they should learn to work as a team.

In this case, the employee should understand what is expected of them by their workmates and supervisors. Once they are aware of the expectations, they can collaborate to create effective workflow.

To achieve team engagement, every employee must set goals that directly influence team objectives. This includes an understanding of both short-term and long-term visions. This concept is based on the fact that if a worker understands their role in the team’s goals, they become motivated.

• Strategy execution
The above factors combine mean the organisational strategy can be successfully executed. Since the executives, employees and teams know what they have to do towards the company visions, there are minimal chances of strategy failure. This is because every individual in the organisation has a role to play and there are no internal communication breakdowns.
If you require any more information or even advice please always feel free to speak to anyone within Charles Francis Cooper

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