Episode 2 - The Care and Feeding of Millenials

Transcript:

Lou Quinto: (00:15)
Hi, welcome to Q & A on Breakthrough Leadership. I'm Lou Quinto, and I'm Craig Anderson. Today, our topic that we're going to cover is what I like to refer to it as the care and feeding of millennials. Obviously, the millennial generation, or as I said in a previous video, the next generation of leaders is something that companies need to deal with. There are some different perspectives, and we're going to talk about those. And the three things that we're going to cover today is one, is everything you heard about millennials, true? And then also, to understand millennials, we need to understand their perspective. And then lastly, we're going to ask ourselves what changes can we make in our organization that will be able to help us with the care and feeding of millennials. So the first thing that we want to talk about is millennials fact and fiction.

Craig Anderson: (01:08)
Well, you know, I think we've heard a lot about millennials, and I think a big part of it is, you know, and I've talked to leaders about this, and we dealt with this in my organization is, you have this tendency, they are a very different generation. They are the first ones to grow up in a completely internet environment. They've had computers, their world that they grew up in is much different than the generation of leaders that we have today -- Those of us who are in gen X or boomers, right? And so it's a very different perspective. They want to work more collegially and they don't work competitively. They're very different group than we are. But that said, I don't think that means they're not great employees. Right? I mean, I think we also have this kind of fiction, but let's face it, millennials do get a bad rap. They do get a bad rap. You know, you would think they're all just showing up in shorts and a tee-shirt every day to work. If you believe the hype, and I haven't found that to be true. But I, you know, I do think there's differences, but there's also a lot of benefits. So I don't know about your take on it.

Lou Quinto: (02:07)
Yeah. The things I find in particular in my profession working with different companies and in the area of training is I noticed that, that when it comes to training as opposed to the baby boomers and the Gen Xers who sitting in the classroom and listening to an instructor lecture, they'd rather be on the computer. And I know that's something that that when an organization has training programs, it's really a big deal that have some of the younger generation of leaders sit through that type of training. I bet. They'd rather be on their computer, internet surfing and checking emails and constantly tied to that technology. And I think that's one of the things that a lot of companies and a lot of managers I've dealt with tell me about their millennials. It's like every time they look, they're on Facebook, or they're on, you know, on their phone and on Instagram or Snapchat or something like that. And one of the things I always tell people is maybe it's because they got done with a task a lot quicker, then maybe someone my generation or your generation would do it. And so it's keeping them active. In addition to the statistics show that this is one group that probably can multitask better than the previous two generations. Even though I know, psychologists say multitasking is not as efficient. It is for some reason they're able to multitask a lot better than we do. Well, that's great cause that leads kind of into our next topic is how do we better understand this millennial generation?

Lou Quinto: (03:47)
What are some of the other areas that can make you better understand them? Well, one of the things when it comes to any generations, you have to understand the perspective that they're coming from. And with the, I'm going to just refer to the next generation of leaders instead of millennials because bad name. But anyway you need to understand their perspective. And with this particular group, their perspective is one, as you, as you mentioned earlier, it's technology, right? I mean, they literally were born with an iPhone or a droid in their hand where they're constantly on their phone as opposed to me. My first computer was a dual floppy computer back in 1984, and I paid $2,000 for, and that one didn't have much memory. And so when we're looking at just the technology perspectives, I've had to learn technology.

Lou Quinto: (04:32)
As I joke with my kids, my computer training in college was IBM punch cards. And I mean, I'm sure some of you watching, don't even know what I'm talking about. Google it, and you'll find out what they were. But they were literally born with the tablet, with the phone in their hand. And they definitely, from that perspective, everything is on technology. So that's one perspective that we have to consider. The other perspective is that because of the technology; they've had a global connection that we never had early in our life. I mean, my global connection was the [inaudible] encyclopedia. So that's where I was able to learn about Africa and South American, you know, Europe in Asia now you'd get on the phone, and you can watch videos, you can talk to people, you can Instagram people all over the world.

Lou Quinto: (05:23)
And so with this particular group, but because of that global connection, diversity is, is much more widely accepted with the younger generation than perhaps with, with, with our generations. And so it's understanding where they're coming from to be able to put them into the right position or to be able to do, to manage them. And trust me, when it comes to millennials, millennials definitely they want someone to manage them. Because if you think about it, this particular generation was probably the most guarded when it comes to, we've heard about helicopter parents; now they're talking to us about bulldozer parents. I mean, the latest scandal with the college acceptance. I mean, that's bulldozing where I'm spending a whole bunch of money to make sure that my kid gets into the right school. When I went to college, my father said, fill out the application, send them in and see what comes back. Nowadays, it's like, I'm going to make sure that my child gets into that particular school. So it's that perspective and understanding the millennial generation that will help you to adapt to them.

Craig Anderson: (06:29)
Yeah, and I think, as you know, leading to leading it from inside, working with millennials, I think a lot of it is they, you know, and I don't think you contrast this as bad. I think contrast, this is different, but I think, you know, being very clear, they're very interested in why we're doing what we're doing. You know, I think our, my experience was you don't want just to say, do this. You know, I think it helps them to do the task if they understand kind of the larger scope around what it is they want to understand the reason why we're going through a project and what it means to us. And I think that's, in some ways I think that's really a great thing because they want to understand the whole business. They're not interested in just kind of their job and over time that's going to help us pull connections together.

Craig Anderson: (07:06)
Right? When you start seeing other things and as these guys become the next generation of leaders, you know, that kind of broader perspective that they bring may be very beneficial to all of us. But I also think, you know, we love to joke about the trophies, and I think one thing we can do to help us with the next lead generation is, you know, back off on the jokes about the trophies is, you know, but I do think they're looking to understand did they do this well, you know, they want feedback on the work that they do. And I think those of us in the older generations, you know, we're used to kind of this. Hey, look, man, you get feedback once a year. Right? Right, right. And it's painful, and it's never a good process.

Lou Quinto: (07:40)
Well, it wasn't a good process mainly because sometimes that once a year annual review, because the manager didn't plan it properly. Yeah. It's how did you perform the last six months, and then no manager was looking at an entire year. What was fresh in that manager's mind was what you did in the last six months. And if you were good in that last six months, you've got a good review. Oh absolutely. And I think it was great. It's great because then [inaudible]

Craig Anderson: (08:02)
You'd start getting into a pattern of giving more regular feedback. Right. And you know, bad news never age as well. And if you've got to give them bad news and you know, getting it done sooner as opposed to dropping a Scud in December about something someone did in March. Right. And so I think there's, there's some things we can do that I think are going to benefit that worked with that generation, but I think they are actually a broader benefit to the whole workforce. I think that's one of the ways I think we can kind of can work with that. So that kind of tees up, you know, talking about, you know, how do we adapt? Yeah.

Lou Quinto: (08:29)
What are some other things, I know that a couple of things here, Lou, what are, what are some other ways we can adapt to the millennial generation? Well, there's definitely, well, first of all, not what we can, what we have to do to adapt. I mean, that's, that's a good way of putting it because, by the year 20, 30, they say that the millennials will dominate 75% of our workforce. And so if we don't take the opportunity now to begin looking at how we're running our businesses, how we're managing people, we're going to set ourselves up for failure because you're going to get a lot of people that are going to be basically pushing at the Gates and you're keeping those Gates close. And so some of the things that that studies have shown is that millennials definitely want a more flexible schedule.

Lou Quinto: (09:11)
So that may mean that the eight to five schedules out the window, a lot of companies have gone toward virtual offices where maybe two or three times a week someone is from, is working from their home. That, according to studies, would be more appealing to someone in that next generation of leaders so that they can go ahead and work from home. They can be relaxed and do what they need to do, get their job done. But at the same time, it's a more flexible schedule. The other thing too is when it comes to a technology, make sure that they have the most up to date technology available. So if you're still using legacy systems, are IBM punch cards? They're, they're, they're not, they're not going to, they're not going to like that. The key is, and again, I'm going on research, is that if you can maintain a millennial for three years, then you have a better chance of keeping them for five to 10 years. Where if in that first three years,

Craig Anderson: (10:12)
The environment, the work environment is not meeting their needs; they'll depart to greener pastures.

Lou Quinto: (10:19)
Yeah. With the, you know the job market being the way it is and unemployment so low

Craig Anderson: (10:24)
Those opportunities are very available to them to get us. Sure. Yeah. It's a, you know, I think one of the things too, we talk about this, we're putting in the context of kind of professional staff. We also have a lot of kind of hourly employees who are also sitting in that. And in my last business, we had a, it was a call center environment, and there were a lot of people that join the millennial generation in that environment, and they want flexible work schedules and fitting that into a call center where you say, I need 40 hours of production a week is a very tricky thing to navigate. You know, ultimately, what we did is figured out, all right, let's build this in as incentive performance incentives gives you stuff to give me 40. We'll let you be a lot more flexible about how he'd give me 40.

Craig Anderson:

And so I think it's, you would have to kind of not just look at, you know, how we're bringing up this next level of professional staff. But this also trickles down into all layers of the organization. And we really need to think about how to adapt to that as well. So it's a, and it also, you know, when we do things like that, you're rewarded because you're getting better performance and it's a little bit to give for a lot to gain. Right? And I think, again, looking at this to say, Hey, I'm going to have to give a little, I'm going to have to change the way I lead and my expectations, but if the job's getting done, how much do we want to get ourselves hooked up on how it's getting done? And I think that's where we owe it to, to the future leaders, the next generation of leaders to give that flexibility up and kind of change our expectations.

Craig Anderson: (11:45)
Say, okay, how can I get the most out of this employee? Which I think is a leader. That's what you want to do. How can I get the most out of, instead of just driving up some, you know, biases, because all, you know, these kids got all the trophies. You're right. That's an easy way to dismiss. But I think really if we look at say, you know, Hey, I may have to change the way I do this, but the reward for it is I'm going to get a lot of productivity out of this person. And I think that's a great way to think about it then. Yeah.

Lou Quinto: (12:09)
Yeah. And the other thing too is when it comes to adapting is you definitely want to give more feedback. And so if your style is not giving feedback, you know, whereas Ken Blanchard said in one of his books, I think it was a one minute manager you know look for things that people are doing that are correct and we need to do more of that with that millennial generation. So if you're used to your organizations used to the semi-annual or the annual new or even the quarterly review, that's too long. I'm not saying you need to go daily, but when they do something right, acknowledge it and tell them you did this right. They, they're looking for that feedback to be able to do that. So cool. Well that's a good star Wars. Some of your key takeaways today and my key takeaways is there's a lot of, there's a lot of fact and a lot of fiction about millennials out there, but these are the next generation of leaders and they're not going away.

Lou Quinto: (13:02)
And so if you're trying to put the proverbial square peg in the round hole by keeping intact all of those policies and procedures, standard operating, you know procedures that you've gotten to place you need to go back and revisit those to figure out how to fit this next generation of leaders in there with the flexible work work schedule, with the better coaching to give that constant feedback. As you said, don't drop. You know what's bad? Things don't age well. That's right. Problems don't age well; deal with the problem immediately because that's what the millennials going to want. But then again, know what they're nowhere they're coming from though their perspective. If you can't get a lot out of this 15 minutes, research more on millennials and find out what their perspective is because their perspective is a lot different than even the gen Xs who bumps up against the millennials.

Craig Anderson: (13:55)
Yeah. I think my key takeaway is, you know, be willing to change your mindset, you know, understand that this is a different perspective. It doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad perspective, and if you can find a way to advantage it for your business and you know, adapt as a leader may need to think. You can find yourself getting a lot more out of this generation that people may be biased. Yeah.

Lou Quinto: (14:14)
One of the last key takeaways is 15 minutes is enough time to talk about millennials. We may have to [inaudible] to a double session later on, but anyway, we hope you enjoyed today's talk about the care and feeding of millennials. If you'd liked this video, please click the like button below, subscribe to Q, and a on breakthrough leadership so that you will be notified of future vlogs that are coming up. And again, I'm Luke Quinta. I'm Craig Anderson.

Craig Anderson: (14:39)
Thank you.