President Obama is committed to a high-performance manufacturing sector, investing in American workers and improving America’s ability to compete.
“To make sure folks keep earning higher wages down the road, we have to do more to Americans upgrade their skills,” Obama said in this year’s State of the Union address. “America thrived in the 20th century because we made high school free, sent a generation of GIs to college, trained the best workforce in the world. We were ahead of the curve.
“But other countries caught on. And in the 21st century economy that rewards knowledge like never before, we need to up our game. We need to do more.”
The Ready to Work Initiative is a great start for investing in America’s manufacturing and innovation.
The initiative amounts to $450 million in TAACCCT (Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training) grants to nearly 270 community colleges across the country. Every one of those grantees are partnering with employers within growing industries to train workers for middle-class jobs that will help make sure we stay economically competitive into the 21st century. The lion’s share has gone to manufacturing jobs.
The Administration’s overarching goal however is much larger. Obama wants to “create a culture of excellence, build world-class management teams and close skill gaps” nationally.
We should take note. Ensuring people who want to work have the opportunity for training and skill upgrade is a start, but the overarching objective for the auto industry must be larger than just hiring workers.
Automotive industry leaders face unprecedented complexity, rapid change, hyper competition and continuously shifting dynamics. To meet the current auto-industry demands of differentiation, shifting from a vehicle focus to a customer focus and meeting the innovation demands of “infotainment” we will need everyone contributing to a high-performance culture of quality and care. New workers with jobs must be transformed to team members with careers.
This is a white-hot opportunity to engineer a high-performance culture: executives delivering on the promise of mission, managers creating a climate of innovation and frontline workers delivering quality workmanship.
Here are specific areas ripe for rapid acceleration:
- The vehicle is the starting point. Each OEM must create its own brand of customer experience, a shift from vehicle-focused service to consumer focus. Every point of customer contact is an experience, a “touchpoint.” TV commercials, the sales floor, every personal contact and every phone call creates a perception of your product, company and brand. Each interaction is a powerful moment of truth that informs customer decisions.
- Differentiation. Certainly differentiation is created through customer experience. But innovation or “infotainment” keeps you relevant and creates the attraction that draws customers to you in the first place. You cannot coast into innovation; you drive innovation. Leaders must cultivate an environment of innovation.
- Leadership. The “intangibles” are the “glue” that holds a high-performance culture together. Inputs like leadership, clarity and accountability deliver outcomes manifested in your teams. That includes increased execution and performance, elevated commitment, loyalty, retention, motivation and engagement. When all four wheels are engaged and everyone is driving the same direction you have manufactured a high performance culture.
Brian Braudis is an auto industry veteran and leadership expert who helps executives who want to increase clarity, confidence and control and deliver on greater performance, commitment and execution. Contact: [email protected]
