Beat the Recession by Moving Up the Value Chain: Why It’s No Longer a Choice
This describes tools and techniques for beating the recession by moving up the value chain. Rather than waiting to get outsourced, it is possible to proactively acquire new skills. An important part of moving up the value chain is specializing in an area that is in demand.
Beat the recession by moving up the value chain: why it’s no longer a choice
By Stephen B. Morris
31 March 2009
Outline
Greater workplace complexity, global competition and recession are combining to make life harder for employees. By demanding ever-lower prices, we ourselves are helping to stoke the fires of global competition. One unexpected and paradoxical consequence of this is a narrower work context for employees and a consequent reduction in employee skill sets. There are all too many examples of this narrow context: on a simplistic level, how often do you hear the following: “That’s not my area, I’ll have to get a colleague to answer your question”?
The central theme of this article is that it is only by deliberate action that you can move up the value chain. As employees we can simply accept an increasingly narrow work context and the associated skill set diminution. However, the medium- to long-term picture is a little bleak. Organizations can now easily decide to outsource or offshore jobs that become low skilled. Indeed, some organizations are also outsourcing highly skilled jobs.
I think it’s a good idea for employees to step up to the mark and try to rapidly expand their skills and move up the value chain. Employees have little or no control over organizational policies and practices that tend to reduce skill sets. However, we can all choose to move up the value chain and in the vast majority of cases this option is there for the taking. This article introduces the topic and my eBook goes into much more detail: My eBook.
What is the value chain?
The value chain represents the way in which skills can expand over time. We spend our lives moving up a number of value chains. Depending on talent, education, and experience some people can move up faster than others.
Children move up the language value chain as they progress from a basic understanding to developing a sense of humor and irony. Parents move up the value chain as they acquire the skills they need to raise their children. Chess players move up the value chain as they begin to understand the importance of strategy and tactics. Musicians move up the value chain once they can play the basics and then start to infuse performances with emotional content. Did you ever notice when you start a new job, you initially feel out of your depth? Then, as you settle in, you find your feet – you move up the value chain.
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