Without enough people available to do all the jobs, workers must be empowered to take whatever actions are necessary to accomplish work and service customers. With fewer people to accomplish the same or more work, employers must find new ways of doing things. Most people in charge of companies, or sections of companies, are more comfortable with management than they are with leadership. They must change. They must learn how to be leaders, while they are almost overwhelmed with the demands of work that must still be done every day.
Employers re-train managers to be leaders.
Examples of new behaviors must come from the top of the organization. Employers who manage this transformation well will have a competitive advantage in the years ahead. American industry has scoured the ends of the earth to ease the shortage of computer programmers, systems analysts and other high-technology workers. Women, who make up 46 percent of the work force, account for only about 28 percent of high-tech jobs, according to the National Science Foundation. Yet a recent consulting firm held out little hope for relief.