Let's Get Digital with Carrie Charles

Perhaps because much of the time, it’s actually less visible.We’re talking about the fiber network. And 5G and smart cities cannot exist without it.In the top 25 U.S. metro areas alone, 5G needs 1.4 million miles of fiber. An estimated $130B-$150B in U.S. fiber investment is needed over then next few years to support the network!Our guest this week is Lisa Youngers. She’s the President & CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association. The association is seeing growth of fiber across all applications…and we’re just at the beginning of the deployment.The limits to deployment come from two directions—the barriers to construction and the labor shortage. The Fiber Broadband Association works to tackle them both.In this episode, Lisa explains the common barriers to deployment. And she describes how the association works with policy makers to ease these burdens.But having permits without people to build out the plans doesn’t speed things up.Lisa says one of the association members is short 100 crews. Not people…crews. And other members have shortages as well, so they’re forced to turn down work.Listen now to hear the creative ways the Fiber Broadband Association and its members are working to overcome these shortages to propel fiber deployment forward.And be sure to subscribe to future episodes!Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here’s How »Join the 5G Talent Talk Community today:broadstaffglobal.comLinkedInTwitterFacebookYouTube

Episode 12: How NATE is tackling the 5G Labor ShortageGuest Todd Schlekeway, Executive Director of NATEIt’s a slow climb to train enough tower technicians. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr says the U.S. 5G rollout requires 20,000 of them. Unfortunately, that many technicians simply do not exist today. As a result, rollouts are stalling.This week’s guest, Todd Schlekeway, is well-acquainted with this problem. Todd is the Executive Director of the National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE). And he says not a week goes by without someone calling to ask where they can hire more workers.There are several hurdles to bringing climbers on board… the heights, the travel, and the competition from the other construction trades.But a wider reaching problem is the industry hasn’t done a good job of talking about career paths and progression.NATE aims to change this story.Todd describes its upcoming initiatives to:Tell a better industry story to new entrants to the workforce. Reach out to high schoolers who have grown up wireless-savvy to share the story. Work with community colleges and technical institutes to launch programs specifically for our industry. Keep supporting Warriors for Wireless as the organization begins to scale its training.Beyond workforce training, NATE has a busy 2020. The year marks its 25th anniversary, which will be celebrated at the NATE UNITE conference in Raleigh, NC, February 17th-20th.Todd shares details about the event, as well as what else is in store for NATE this year.Listen now and don’t forget to sign up for future episodes!Tweet – 262 characters with spaces/no links NATE’s been an industry leader for 25 years. Executive Director Todd Schlekeway talks about the hurdles to hiring enough climbers, the initiatives NATE’s working on to alleviate the strain, and what’s in store for NATE in 2020. Listen now to this week’s episode!

.The future of telecom is much more than an advance from 4G to 5G. The entire industry is being upgraded. It’s no longer just a vehicle for voice and data. There’s a new space for telecoms and businesses to collaborate and create solutions.This week’s guest is Steve Canepa. He’s IBM’s Global General Manager for the Communication Sector.He and his team help telecom providers think beyond spectrum and 5G’s benefits. They learn to develop an ecosystem where they can help their business customers create value for their own customers.In this episode, Steve explains:How the network is part of the business solution for customer experience.The emergence of the telco network as a hybrid cloud platform and the emergence of edge computing and why that’s important.The transition of telecom into a horizontal platform that is software/integration-based, rather than engineering-based.How this open architecture lowers CapEx, OpEx, and other costs.Examples of AI helping workers do their best work.The opportunities for lifelong learning and how collaborating with clients, customers and employees creates a virtuous cycle of benefits.Don’t miss hearing how the future of technology is changing the industry and the workforce landscape. Listen now and subscribe to future episodes.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here’s How »Join the 5G Talent Talk Community today:broadstaffglobal.comLinkedInTwitterFacebookYouTube

Culture, Diversity, and Workforce Development. They sound like corporate buzz-speak. And it’s true that some companies only pay them lip service. But for the workplaces that understand, embrace, and implement them, they form the foundation of a strong, stable, and successful company.Jay Brown, CEO of Crown Castle, talks about how Crown’s focus on each of these have made it a coveted place to work and do business.In this episode, Jay shares:The three pillars of Crown’s culture—be real, be accountable, and be an owner—that set employees up to thrive and improve; Why culture isn’t just a one-time implementation—it’s an on-going aspiration; What to consider when merging cultures during an acquisition; The way diversity of thought improves decision making; How removing implicit bias in hiring makes Crown more diverse; The challenges of fully sharing a culture with contract workers; And how focusing on general skills and abilities during hiring rather than specific, trainable, job tasks helps bridge the talent shortage.Don’t miss out on learning how industry leaders are building their teams and their companies. Listen now and be sure to subscribe to future episodes.

What does employee engagement really mean? Our guest this week, Rick Gallagos, CEO of Dale Carnegie Tampa Bay, describes it as “discretionary effort.” An engaged employee goes beyond the bare requirements of their job. Unfortunately for most companies, less than 1/3 of employees are engaged—that’s shockingly low!!!Which means around 70% of employees are on the disengaged spectrum. The merely disengaged do just their job, nothing more. The actively disengaged spread their dissatisfaction throughout your company. This costs you productivity and profits.Rick says the numbers are tough to move, but you CAN boost your employee engagement levels beyond the average of 30%.Here are just a few things we talked about:The 3 drivers of employee engagement (and the challenges leaders face implementing them); The 4 mistakes companies make when trying to boost engagement; The 1 simple thing leaders can start doing today; Behaviors leaders can look for to see if employees are disengaging; What employees can do if they feel disengagement creeping in; How large and small companies need to look at engagement differently; And the surprising age group that is typically the least engaged, and which can cost you the most.If you want to improve your employee engagement to retain your talent and boost your bottom line, you’ll want to listen to this episode as soon as possible. And be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode!

Have you heard that tower climbers will jump to a company for even the smallest increase in pay? It’s not necessarily true.What is true is companies are under a lot of pressure to get antennas installed. It’s also true that there’s a shortage of tower climbers to do the work. The industry is trying to fix the latter but, for the near future, the reality is not going to change.So, what can companies and climbers do? This week’s guest, Kathy Gill, Owner of Tower & Safety Instruction in Phoenix, AZ, has some insights. She trains directly with tower climbers and she knows what they care about and why they leave.In this episode, she shares:The biggest reason climbers change companies (it’s not for a tiny increase in pay). What makes a crew effective and what destroys it from within. The toll travel takes and what some climbers are doing about it. The small steps managers can take to help keep their crews intact. How management and climbers can work together to get their mindsets and goals aligned.Gill’s approach focuses on improving the reality that exists rather than feeling dissatisfied about the one that doesn’t. Listen now and be sure to subscribe to 5G Talent Talk. 

Do you have a talent shortfall? Open spots that you just can’t fill? The workforce shortage and its impact on the race to 5G is a regular discussion topic in the industry. If you’re feeling the pain of too much work and not enough workers, maybe you’re missing (or dismissing) a large segment of the American workforce. In the next few years, 35% of our workforce will be 50 or older. And 8% of them—about 13 million workers—will be 65 or older. This week’s guest is Miranda Allen. She’s a nationally recognized expert on generational diversity. And she sits on the FCC’s BDAC Job Skills Working Group. She says companies hurt themselves by not engaging with this experienced workforce. Listen and learn as Miranda… Corrects the negative stereotypes of older workers with facts. For example, workers over 50 aren’t less productive. They have the highest level of engagement in their workforce. (And engagement increases productivity… and productivity increases your bottom line.) Advises mature workers how to revise and tailor their resumes to get through automated recruiting filters. And she suggests what companies should look at in their screening processes if they can’t fill positions. Discusses why companies need to include age in their Diversity Programs. Discrimination against workers over 40 doesn’t only hamper your profit potential, it’s illegal. Listen now! Be sure to subscribe to get future episodes and hear past programs!

The fear that AI will take away a significant number of jobs is somewhat exaggerated, says Rana Gujral. Gujral is the CEO of Behavioral Signals and an expert on AI. Behavioral Signals creates software that introduces emotional intelligence into speech recognition technology. Gujral thinks of AI as comparable to major innovations from the past. They improved productivity and the overall economic ecosystem. They took what humans were doing and enhanced it. And, in many cases, they took on tasks humans didn’t really want to do. But, he agrees, some workers will be affected more than others—just as with earlier innovations. In this episode, Gujral explains the difference between AI and machine learning; shares his thoughts on the tasks AI will take on and what it’s already doing to help professionals; and discusses the responsibilities and mindsets people and companies can adopt to adjust to these coming technologies. Listen now for insights on AI and to hear what Behavioral Signals is doing to augment human-to-human interactions and improve human-to-machine interactions. Be sure to subscribe to future episodes.

Every company has a culture, but not every company has a winning culture. One that attracts and keeps talent. With a workforce shortage throughout the wireless industry, though, many companies are wondering what they can do to improve theirs. Every few weeks, 5G Talent Talk will feature a company that has figured it out. Our first culture champion is Tilson Technology Management with guests Josh Broder, CEO, and Adria Horn, VP of Workforce. Broder says Tilson isn’t a hard place to work, despite working on tough and challenging projects. Tilson’s culture is internally and externally focused, which makes it very purposeful. Broder and Horn explain how Tilson fosters its values, creates psychological safety and communication paths for its team, and how they’ve evolved their thinking about retention and success for their employees. They discuss why it’s less expensive to invest in seemingly costly benefits. And they share the importance of not just saying a company is inclusive but of actually being inclusive. Listen now to discover ideas for how to build or improve the culture in your own company. Be sure to subscribe to future episodes.

Robots and AI are poised to make life a lot easier for us. But that reality is causing a lot of people to lose sleep. Workers will be displaced, industries will be disrupted, and our workplaces will be changing. Guest Alexandra Levit doesn’t lose sleep over this. (But other questions keep her awake…) Levit is a futurist—she looks at marketplace trends to forecast what has the most potential to cause disruptions. She is also a consultant and author of “Humanity Works: Merging Technologies and People for the Workforce of the Future.” In this episode, Levit shares a forecast of what the next decade looks like for workplaces, workforces, and careers as technologies expand. And she talks about the critical roles humans will continue to play, the importance of learning agility, and how to start small.  Listen now to discover what we can expect by 2030 and what you can do now to prepare. Be sure to subscribe to future episodes.