Observations and notes on how to ensure a pipeline of water-sector workers in the most competitive workforce market in history

1. Building a 21st Century Water Workforce
Brian Gongol
DJ Gongol & Associates, Inc.
January 25, 2023
NWOD/LONM Snowball Conference
Kearney, Nebraska

2. The "South Park" conundrum, part 1
"South Park" debuted in 1997.
An 18-year-old today has
an approximate birth year of 2005.
Thus, the "South Park" characters were actually 8 years old
by the time today's youngest adults were born.

3. The "South Park" conundrum, part 2
"South Park" debuted in 1997.
The characters started the show about age 8,
for an approximate birth year of 1989.
The median age in the USA in 2021 was 38.8 years,
for an approximate birth year of 1982.
Real-life Kenny (or Stan or Kyle)
is closer to a mid-career change
than to just starting out.

4. Where are all the workers?

5. 1. Opportunities for growth and development

6. If you're standing still, you're falling behind

7. 2% improvement doubles quality in 35 years

8. 5% improvement doubles in 14 years

9. Continuous improvement really adds up
"Every significant advance
I or my company has ever made
has been evolutionary
rather than revolutionary:
small earned steps
-- not big lucky hits."
- Michael Bloomberg

10. Don't become Fred the Baker

11. Do you schedule development time weekly?

12. Do you have the tools for development?
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Books
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Laptop
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Kindle
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WiFi

Cutaways

13. Fluidity between public and private sectors

14. 2. Social status

15. Public water: Essential and irreplaceable

16. You're as critical as the Weather Service

17. Public water utility is generally a monopoly

18. Other monopolies: Power company

19. Other monopolies: Police

20. Other monopolies: Fire department

21. Public water is the front line in public health

22. Public-health protection commands respect

23. Is it really OK to be invisible?

24. Are "turd herder" jokes really OK?

25. Status is earned: Insert yourself in conversation

26. When water is in the news, share it

27. Words matter
Water isn't wasted, but it is unwell
You don't just treat it, you rehabilitate it
All water is recycled

28. Specificity can make a job sound better

29. Titles matter
Specialist
Director
Team Leader
Program Manager
Subject-Matter Expert
...all valid titles!

30. Look to parallel titles in the military
What's your rank? vs. What do you do?

31. And, by the way...
Thank you for your service, too

32. 3. Pride in branding

33. Branding has made taxi driving...cool?

34. The public is being conditioned to suspicion

35. Anything/anybody public-facing needs identity

36. Labeled vehicles

37. Embroidered shirts and uniforms
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Conveys
exclusivity
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Says "We value
your efforts"
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Signals
membership and
belonging

38. Nothing wrong with personalized choices
Most places charge a
one-time digitization fee
for embroidery, after which
each additional piece
is quite reasonable

39. Removable nametags vs embroidery

40. Participation in parades

41. Signs on property

42. If churches can have message signs, you can

43. Construction signage (Take credit!)

44. Are you the nicest monopoly in town?
"In the regulated
utility field [...]
Berkshire hopes to
be the 'buyer of
choice' of
regulators."
Warren Buffett
FY2008 Letter to
Shareholders

45. 4. Start young

46. Labor force demographics

47. US population pyramid

48. Nebraska population pyramid

49. Iowa population pyramid

50. Sample urban population pyramid (Lincoln)

51. Sample urban population pyramid (Iowa City)

52. Sample rural population pyramid (Grant Co.)

53. Sample rural population pyramid (Ringgold Co.)

54. Consider unemployment rates

55. Do you remember Y2K?

56. Your next hire may have been born after Y2K

57. What did you want to be when you grew up?

58. Do young people tour your plant?
So what if
it's not the
Vatican?

59. Do young people interact with you?

60. Do you wear your mission "on your sleeve"?

61. Which career is this for you? (Often it's #2/#3)

62. 5. Competitive working conditions

63. Is it clean?

64. Is it safe?

65. Is it sheltered?

66. Do you have the right tools?

67. Do the owners take pride in their assets?

68. Public facilities reflect community values

69. If it looks like an afterthought, it probably is
Pretty courthouse, right?

70. Afterthoughts stick out

71. 6. You don't marry a spouse, you marry a family

72. Everyone wants to please their parents

73. What would a new hire tell Mom and Dad?

74. Would you bring kids to the workplace?

75. Would a spouse like to visit the workplace?

76. If it's not good enough to show a spouse,
is it really good enough?

77. Get community leaders inside the plant

78. Entice them with lunch if you have to

79. 7. Good uptime beats bad downtime

80. 25% of your hours are spent at work

81. Does it look like something's getting done?

82. Can you automate mindless parts of the job?

83. Can you outsource low-value parts of the job?

84. Are you maximizing time on fulfilling work?

85. Does every day include problem-solving?

86. 8. Your competitive advantage as an employer

87. Probably isn't pay

88. Benefits aren't the only thing

89. Stability

90. Pride in community service

91. Status is an untapped human resource in water

92. It's not good enough to be invisible
Out of sight
is out of mind

93. Banish generic trucks & generic logos

94. Create an identity

95. Put the mission front and center
"Come fly the friendly skies"
"We bring good things to life"
"Better living through chemistry"

96. A slogans is free -- you just have to mean it
Delivering fire safety and
protecting public health
24/7/365

97. $6 a bottle and it doesn't even fight fire

98. 9. Safety first

99. Trained in first response

100. Advertise first aid skills

101. Put an AED on every truck

102. Are you a designated child "safe space"?

103. A safety mindset always starts at the top

104. Don't waste mental energy on stupid dangers

105. Railings and life preservers

106. Belt guards and lockouts

107. Toxic gas detection

108. Explosive hazards are no joke

109. Corrosion is ever-present

110. Would your 22-year-old kid be safe on the job?

111. 10. Don't be afraid to let go

112. Be a launching pad to great future jobs
Even if you're
not the
perfect
destination,
you can make
good use of
great talent
on the way up

113. People play D1 football to get to the pros

114. High-performance workers vs. managers
"[W]hen a company rewards
the role of manager more
than the act of creating value,
employees strive to become
managers (and increase the
number of people they manage),
even when leading people
isn't their strength."
- Charles Koch

115. Distinguish between seniority and expertise

116. Summary
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Not everyone wants into this industry
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Those who do deserve status
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Don't hesitate to make your workforce better
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Make sure the community knows why you matter
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Never pass up an opportunity to influence the young

117. Questions?
Thank you for your time
and attention!
This presentation is available
online at
gongol.net/presentations
Brian Gongol
DJ Gongol & Associates
515-223-4144
www.gongol.net
info@gongol.net
@djgongol on Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, and
LinkedIn

118. Credits
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All photographs are original work of Brian Gongol
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Median age in the United States:
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https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022/population-estimates-characteristics.html
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US population pyramid is public-domain work from the Census Bureau:
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https://www.census.gov/newsroom/blogs/random-samplings/2016/06/americas-age-profile-told-
through-population-pyramids.html
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Population pyramids for City of Lincoln and Grant County taken from CensusScope.org
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Used per published terms at http://www.censusscope.org/usepolicy.html
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Population pyramids for Johnson County and Ringgold County taken from IowaDataCenter.org (a state
government work product)
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http://www.iowadatacenter.org/county-quick-facts/county-quick
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Unemployment rate data and chart from the Federal Reserve bank of St. Louis:
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https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE
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Photo of Bill Clinton from Library of Congress (public domain work):
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http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/95509403/
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Copyright reserved; use by others of any images is forbidden without written permission