NCDMM

renewed interest from the younger generation not to go to a four-year college and get into debt, but to go to a trade school,” offers Fleegle. “Still, there’s a big gap between what we’ll call the grey beards and those young folks. How do you transition that tribal knowledge of how things work from those retirees?” When human capital is scarce, turning concerns into productive opportunities is a great business model, and that’s exactly the stance the NCDMM is taking vis-à-vis workforce development. “With the advent of the digital age, and these newer employees that are coming in who were born with an iPad or a smartphone in their hand, it seems they fit right in,” Fleegle says. “As we try to take advantage of Industry 4.0, or the Industrial Internet of Things, this new generation doesn’t have to overcome that hurdle. In fact, they embrace that hurdle. Whereas the old-school manufacturer can listen to the machine tool and say, ‘that doesn’t sound right, there’s too much chatter,’ the younger engineer is more apt to hook up that iPad and say, ‘I know exactly why that is.’ It’s kind of an exciting time. As these new technologies come out, they’re readily embraced by this new generation.” On that note, the NCDMM recently conducted a survey of its staff to measure both employee engagement and strategic alignment with the organization. “Coincidentally, about a third of our staff has been with us for over 10 years,” says Fleegle. “A third of our staff has been with us from 5-10 years, and nine of our staff has been with us 14 months or less. As we dive into another year with those somewhat divergent opinions of what we’ve been able to accomplish in the past, what we’ve done in the middle, and what we’ll be able to achieve in the future, trying to pull those together from a cultural standpoint is no easy feat. Every action we take and decision we make needs to reflect our belief in our mission statement: ‘for the benefit of the war fighter.’ Twenty-five percent of the people who work for us have been with us less than a year. How do you fold them into the mix while