Source | www.forbes.com | Ryan Lahti
How can you reduce employee churn in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) organizations that costs billions of dollars? Consider leadership finesse. In my last article, I alluded to leadership finesse and how it helps create motivating work environments where STEM-skilled employees thrive and want to stay. In this follow-up article, I expand on STEM organizations and finesse.
A Profile Of STEM Organizations
At their core, STEM organizations are more data-driven and technical in what they do compared to other organizations. They exist at the enterprise level across STEM-related industries. Medical device, software, aerospace and insurance companies are examples. STEM organizations also exist at the functional level within companies. If you have collaborated with finance or information technology, you encountered this type of STEM organization.
At the enterprise and functional levels, these organizations are an integral part of a STEM continuum that spans school curricula, jobs/occupations and STEM-related economies. A lot of attention has focused on school curricula because it is critical for developing STEM skills. These skills and the continuum cannot flourish without STEM organizations, because they directly affect STEM jobs, occupations for people with STEM skills, and STEM-related economies.
The Foundation For Finesse
Over the last couple of decades, I have worked with a variety of STEM organizations across 20 industries, and I noticed a recurring pattern. Organizations performed well from a technical standpoint by analyzing data and using the resulting information to provide products and services. In producing these outcomes, however, many members of the organizations routinely mishandled interactions, such as getting others on board with objectives (or at least doing so without forcing it upon them) or preventing a difference in perspective from turning into a contentious test of wills.
