I thought it was a good idea to to start a business blog to supplement the journal articles I write on change management.
(PDF Articles) I trust that some of the issues raised here may be of interest to you to pursue away from this blog of ideas and thoughts. The blogs run in date order with the most recent at the top of this page.
With some experience of specialist recruitment of staff and working with the generation born after 1980 - I am told constantly that "They have no work ethic" "They are selfish." "They express an entitlement attitude." "They are loyal only to themselves and their profession rather than any business" They don't have the commitment to invest their personal time in a business". They expect the fruits of success to flow to them immediately." "They don't fulfil the loyalty measured in time commitment to a business."
I am interested in looking behind these words at behaviours and what has shaped what I call Millennials born after 1980 but before the end of the 20thC.
Behaviours & Attitudes of Millennials
I see all these behaviours and attitudes in my own children and their friends who also fall in the category of being born between 1980 and 2000. We sometimes refer to this generation as the 'Net Generation; or 'Generation Y' (Why) - questioning and evaluating everything which does not fit within their values. The behaviour and attitudes of the 'Y' Generation is wildly opposed to the previous rebellious Generation X who fought against the inherent values of capitalism of the highly loyal and over- achieving Baby Boomers.
Core Issues
The key issues that need to be understood in order to attract, hire and retain this group of self focused, very efficient, technically orientated, task oriented, multitasking, technical wizardry can be quite complex. You see, we have to look at the life and times of these people when they were at their most formative in the development of their personal and social values. What was going on in the world, and how they responded to what was happening will be etched on their consciousness and matched in the formation and content of their personal values.
You Do What You Value
To help others understand the relationship between values, behaviour and actions I quote the phrase - "You do what you value and you value what you do". This is how to understand the drivers behind the Millennial generation.
Millennial Values
I believe Millennials are very different to people we have recruited in the past, and even more difficult to motivate and retain. In order for you to successfully attract, recruit and retain you need to find out what motivates them and where their pain and pleasures reside.
What are they and their personal motivations all about?
You may at first associate with Millennials the rebelliousness of Generation X. Gen X'ers, have probably experienced more instability and uncertainty than most as they were growing up. They will have witnessed and perhaps even been part of family break-ups, divorce, mothers who work full-time and cannot commit to the traditional maternal role. They are the latch key kids who turned up after school, opened the front door and fell in front of the TV. No previous generation ever absorbed as much TV and MTV as this group.
These were the post punks - and their post Goth behaviour enraged Heads of School and parents alike. They will have also publicly witnessed some pretty large corporate disasters, huge layoffs, massive change in some industries and possibly suffered some personal employment loss through changes in the marketplace.
Perhaps even their parents were the recipients of such disasters. This was the start of company pension funds going south (all started with the Robert Maxwell fiasco) and the response to Margaret Thatcher and her confrontations with various unions. This was when the class war was won and lost - both at the same time. This was not a time for trusting big Corporates or Government.
Now these X'ers occupy many middle and senior management positions in business. We can see how 'what they experienced as they grew up through their teenage years' and has shaped their personal values and behaviour which may now permeate the corporate culture of all sectors.
Maverick & Authentic Millennials
Some, have described the Millennial Generation as focused on 'self' rather than 'other'. They can be perceived as difficult to manage, even described as highly independent, displaying some maverick behaviours, lack trust in traditional corporates and focus on their careers and their employability as their key priority.
Millennials are very different to X'ers. The economic, social and political factors that created the sceptical, entitlement issues and self-centeredness of Gen X'ers changed significantly to produce a radically different type of person as potential employee.
Millennials Growing
If we look at social change - we find that as these Millennial children grew up they experienced a very social and child-focused upbringing with constant attention from parents and carers. They grew up in the time of self empowerment and belief……….. "You can be anybody you want to be" but at the same time "Smell the roses and have an easy life".
Nurturing Parents
These parents provided an environment of stimulation and learning in which Millennials could develop and mature at their pace. They were demanding and parents gave in too soon and too easily - wanting to give them the sort of childhood and teenage development that they would have chosen for themselves.
Parents organised sports from an early age, and provided their offspring with constant stimulation. Sleepovers and taking children's friends on holiday became popular in some circles. Everything was geared to the little Emperors and little Princesses.
The standard of living had never been better and technological toys were in easy reach for the average income. The purchase of the latest technology such as video games, laptops and mobile phones and exposure to the early Net all helped shape the Millennials.
Multi-Tasking
Because of both this organised structure in which Millennials grew and developed, and the options and choice that they had to develop their own unique skills and apply new technologies, Millennials have the ability to multitask and work well with others, at the same time having a high degree of technical wizardry. Their short attention span and constant craving for new innovations and 'I want it all and I want it now' culture has all contributed to the social demographics of today's business world.
Millennials have short attention spans, get bored easily with simple projects and demand to stretch their intellects. They like challenge and get bored by the proven way and the orthodox.
They expect equality and direct relationships between effort, performance and reward. Diversity is expected as the norm in how they 'transact' business, and equality of opportunity is something that is important to them and will be a key driver in their choosing to judge for whom they will work. They may not openly make demands but they evaluate the quality of management style and culture of prospective employers before they decide to accept a post.
Employment: End or Means
They view a job as a means to earn money to have fun in their free time. Time is currency, not to be wasted, and they demand a work-life balance and paid time-off with an environment for learning and development.
Earning their stripes for future promotions is not a critical trait that this generation uses to get ahead. They have grown up in a world where nothing is guaranteed. They have seen news reports of street murder, muggings, school shootings, terrorist attacks, war, and corporate ethical violations such as Enron. It is critical to understand the important events which shaped their world as they grew up. The TV footage of all these horrendous events only reinforces the fact that there people were going to inherit and have to live in a growing uncertain world - where you could take nothing for granted. You have to understand the values, traits and behaviour of these people if you want to be successful in growing your next generation of leaders.
How to Attract Millennials?
Generation X created the big issues and outcomes that Millennials will continue to pursue. The working environment and a humanistic corporate culture is central to them. They want to ensure that their personal values gel with the mission, vision and strategy of the business they decide to work within. Their 'head' is equally important as the 'heart' in making the decision where to work and what to do. Previously, with Baby Boomers and X'ers logic and thinking had determined previous their choices rather than values and emotions.
Millennials want to be treated as authentic. They are different. They distrust the typical structure of capitalism portrayed in the traditional big business.
Win the Heart through the Corporate Culture
You have to lead with corporate culture. Those in HR functions who attract Millennials to the business must ensure they really capture the ethos of the business in recruitment strategy and literature.
In the old days - companies employed Investor Relations people to hype up the company's contribution and profile to potential Investors - now we have to do the same to attract the right level and quality of staff.
This is as relevant to those who undertake the 'milk round' at Universities, to those in a more thorough HR selection role. Some HR people can actually repel potential recruits by sending the message of assessment and evaluation rather than the message of connection, teamwork, learning and development.
No - It's not Just a Nice Place to Work
Some companies wrongly focus on the social aspects of work to the detriments of the actual work Millennials' perform. Neglect Millennials' development and learning at your peril.
Focus on 'what's in it for them' and use Technology in as many ways as possible to convey the message of your business. Ensure formats for communication are in formats that are natural for our MP3, DVD, PDA loving Millennials.
Concentrate on what the business does for the community and the impact it has on the environment.
Green issues are paramount in the Millennial mind. Global warming, peace in the Middle East and accountability in public positions and Corporate responsibility are issues that need resolution and are at the forefront for this group.
Retaining the Millennial Generation?
This generation is centred on 'self' and the improvement of self, career progression and personal learning. They want to know that you care about their personal advancement and achievement.
This group has enjoyed receiving huge amounts of attention and care and has experienced immediate gratification from its parents. They expect feedback and honest assessment and appraisal from their managers and their colleagues.
Advancement is only valued if it is based on genuine contribution and performance rather than being the next in line for promotion (dead man's shoes)
Instant communication is what has fed this generation to grow. Accurate information is what they trust. They are authentic - they will not be fooled. They need accurate and precise information that will appeal to their authenticity and their immediate needs and gratifications.
Expectations
They need to know what is expected of them. They cannot waste time - their short attention span attracts them elsewhere if you are less than precise in terms of outlining their values and your expectations of them.
The best and highest calibre individuals will not waste their time with you if you are vague and foggy in providing direction - they will be off to pastures new. Forcing square pegs into round holes is not an option.
Professionalism: Lacking Business Etiquette
Millennials don't always display the best in terms of business etiquette. Because of their focus on 'social networking' 'U Tube' and growing up communicating with their peers using instant messaging, cell phones - their actual business etiquette may be somewhat limited - preferring the casual to the formal. Here there can be a clash of cultures between the established order and the new elite of Millennials which still has to be managed.
What is the worst thing a 'Baby Boomer' can do to a Millennial?
It might be worth spending some time answering this question because this is where the conflict of generations will arise depending on the demography of your business.
It's worth considering while 'baby boomers' may value control and responsibility, Millennials value innovation, being true to self (authenticity) and innovation.
This generation wants to feel both engaged and connected to the business and their colleagues. Performance related rewards need to reflect sufficient personal achievement and both the process of working in and across different functional teams. So its no longer just individual -but is based on networking and developing meaningful and rewarding relationships. This is not something that Boomers have always achieved, being focused more on individual achievement and competing in win-lose relationships.
Today, the reality is or should be that most organisations are based on Matrix Management principles so it only makes sense to build this into the corporate rewards, and the corporate development process.
Social Entrepreneurs
Teambuilding across boundaries and in social organisations that interact with the business are also important. Supporting social entrepreneurs, community involvement and learning including philanthropic causes, and social networking with team members and those in other sectors is critical to create an organisation that truly creates "good" for stakeholders in its immediate environment.
This generation is so radically different from others. To retain the best, high calibre people, you have to adopt cutting edge learning strategies. You have to realise that the payoffs for the business are enormous as these people will take you to the next level.
To operate in a radically changing Global economy - to use the best that social relationships, networking, and technology has to offer requires a different strategy which is simple, understand the psychology of Millennials and their hopes and aspirations for the future.
Customer Focus: Moments of Truth - How are your doing in Shaping Customer Satisfaction?
I have been always impressed with the early work of Jan Carlson, one time CEO of SAS airlines, and still think his book "Moments of Truth" is one of the best texts on Customer Focus.
If you have not read this - he used the 'Moments of Truth' concept to get 10,000 staff to recognise that all staff daily brushed and impacted the lives of others - their customers and potential customers.
He asked each one of his employees to consider the message that they personally conveyed 'consciously or unconsciously' when they interact daily with customers. The 'interaction' could be as simple as a passenger seeking directions to the coffee bar, requesting general flight information, or just passing the time of day.
The interactions range from very short lasting maybe 4- 7 seconds or less to verbal enquiries, non verbal gestures such as smiles and opening doors, carrying baggage for others, to much more detailed enquiry.
These 'moments of truth' are all opportunities to win the loyalty of existing and potential customers and should never be taken for granted.
Diagnostic : Moments of 'Delight or Despair'
I use a variant of this approach very extensively to help organisations take a good look in the mirror and see how they perform in the 'customer delight' stakes. Using techniques which we have developed based on 'Mystery Shopping' we expose the critical incidents in any customer service encounter and test these for our clients.
This looking in the mirror exercise, testing how we are doing is very powerful data for companies whichever sector they operate within.
After collecting data for a day or two we feed this back to the client revealing either Delight or Despair.
Preventative Action
Obviously, we prefer to be able to gather data that will prove the company is providing very positive moments of truth, but very often the opposite is the case. I look at this data as good because it enables a company to take action and resolve any negatives and build a customer focused culture - based on leveraging life time value for the customer. We want to help our clients prevent problems arising and build the culture to support this ideal.
How much energy time and effort does it take to win new customers and new accounts? Too many organisations just don't have this information, and make little or no attempt to benchmark themselves against their competitors.
What strategies do you have in place to retain existing customers, and how does this vary in market segments? Do all geographies or areas demonstrate the same trends? Probably not - because area managers may manage their accounts and customers very differently.
On investigation you may find that some fare better than others in terms of customer retention. And if this is the case, what are the higher retention managers doing that their colleagues are not, and how can you spread best practise in behaviour?
How much time does it take to convert interest from prospects to raving fans? How can you convert a 'one off' sale to a committed customer who will refer your services to others? What are the conditions that you have to shape that will allow this to happen and what managerial behaviours take you closer to this ideal?
What core competencies portrayed by your staff promote loyalty and life time value? Where is this in abundance in the organisation, and where it is sadly missing?
Who are the champions of customer service? Are their practices and behaviours valued and replicated throughout the business?
There are enough questions here to commence your own customer management revolution - but should you need a structure we'll be happy to support you in your drive.
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