Meagan Johnson - Generational Speaker

Solve Your Challenges and Bridge the Gap between Generations at Your Multigenerational Workforce

Generational Challenges

The Generation X Management Style – What You Need to Know

Recently a reporter asked me about the Generation X management style – what type of managers are Gen Xers?

What is the Generation X Management Style?

I thought to myself: “Gen Xers as managers? What? No way! We’re too young to be managers! We can’t be managers! We’re still too new. We’re too young or we’re just getting our feet wet. You can’t put us in charge now?”

Gen Xers are managers. In fact, we’re in our working prime. In a survey, they found that over half of executives believe Gen Xers are the most engaged generation. We have a unique Generation X Management Style!

Gen X Managers

So what type of managers do we make?

Well, I think Gen Xers are in a really good position because they are open to change.

Especially when it comes to technology. We began using technology in school before we entered the workplace. Many baby boomers began using technology in the workplace after their careers were already established.

But Gen Xers? We started using technology before we began our careers. When Millennials approach us to try a new technology, we’re open to it.

I think about my own business in the past, when it came to running credit cards.

I would write down the credit card number while I was traveling. Then took the written credit card number back to my assistant. My millennial assistant would then enter it into the little box we were given by the bank and processed the credit cards. She approached me about this thing called ‘Square’ at the time. It reinvented the way that I handled credit cards. Many of you know and use square today.

Generation X Management Style

Gen X Leadership

Despite our unique Generation X management style, here’s where we might stumble.

We were ‘latchkey kids’. Came home from school and we had a list of chores on the kitchen counter. It was up to us to decide when we wanted to do the chores and how we did those chores. We just had to get them done before management, ‘aka mom and dad’, returned home.

As managers, sometimes we think we want to manage people the way we wanted to be managed.

When I first began my career, I wanted a manager who would listen to my input and then let me do my thing. You know? Give me what I need. Then tell me what you want to be done. Give me the tools and training to do it and then just leave me alone.

Gen X Engagement

However, with this new super engaged millennial generation that many of us are working with today as Gen X managers, we may need to step out of our comfort zone and engage with the Millennials with a little bit more frequency.

We may feel this as ‘hand-holding’, but I don’t perceive it that way. I perceive it as engaging the younger generation. Also, that engagement helps to transfer that knowledge between Gen Xers and Millennials. That is our Generation X Management Style!

I look forward to seeing you next week when we talk about the ever-changing generations in the workforce in the marketplace today.

Understanding Generations in the Workplace – the Point of No Return

Understanding Generations is not always an easy task! 

I was honored to be a keynote speaker for the facility management fusion conference in Chicago. While I was attending the conference, I was fortunate enough to see another speaker. Her name is Alexis Thompson and you can find her on her Facebook page titled ‘Trybal Performance’. She speaks about leadership and she said something that struck a chord with me. She said that to be a good leader we often have to let go of control. To allow others to grow around us.

How does letting go of control to let the others grow around us? How does that tie in with the generations?

Working with Generations in the Workplace

I thought that it really does apply. We often have to let go of the way we’ve done things in the past to allow the multiple generations around us to flourish.

Every generation is marked by what I call ‘points of no turning back’. The way we do business. How we communicate. The way we facilitate our day-to-day lives. Sometimes it changes so drastically that the way we were operating previously becomes almost obsolete.

There was a time when we thought a typewriter was high-tech. I mean if we have tools like these we could get our jobs done in no time whatsoever. Things changed and our expectations of how to do our jobs have changed.

Hence the importance of understanding generations. We had to let go of control of the old ways of doing things to embrace the new.

Understanding Generations

I was at a shopping mall directory that shows you an outline of the mall. A list of all the stores. Typically, there’s a red star that says ‘You Are Here’.

There was a three-year-old little boy.

Understanding Generations

He was standing in front of the directory. Took her little fingers and placed it on the side of the digital directory. He was moving her little finger across the side, tried to manipulate and change the images. When the sign didn’t move, he looked at his mother and said ’It’s broke and it bores me!’

Our expectations have changed because technology has changed. That little boy’s expectations have changed too. He has a different expectation of what customer service should be like. What the marketers should do to connect and communicate with him.

For all those vendors, customers service personnel and marketers – for them to be successful with him, they’re going to have to let go of control of doing things the old way and to embrace the new.

Understanding Generations does apply at our workplaces, as well as in our day to day lives.

Leading Generations at Work

That little boy, just like the multiple generations you encounter on a daily basis, has a different expectation. An expectation of what you’re going to do to connect and communicate successfully with him.

I encourage you to think about ways to let go of control of the old ways of doing things to let the new generations flourish around you.

I look forward to seeing you next week when we further discuss what we can do to communicate effectively across generational lines.

Baby Boomers and Technology

Baby Boomers and Technology… Raise your hand if you’re a baby boomer!

Not sure?

If you were born between 1946 and 1964, then the answer is yes, you are a baby boomer! Your generation is 77 million strong. We had never seen such a boom in the birth rate ‘till we got to the baby boom.

Let’s shine some light on the generational differences when it comes to baby boomers and technology, their relationship to technology, as well as the 2 things you can do to get them embrace technology.

Generations and Technology in the Workplace

It used to be all about the baby boomers. But, since the millennials have come on board, we seem to forget about the baby boomers. And that is a mistake.

When I ask Millennials what are they struggle with when they work with baby boomers, a common complaint or comment is – well, Baby Boomers and Technology! That baby boomers resist technology. In fact, one millennial recently told me that a baby boomer called him to tell him he sent an email and advised him to print that email.

Baby Boomers and Technology

Well, you know we give baby boomers a lot of grief about technology and it’s not really a hundred percent accurate. I would probably guess that most of the baby boomers watching this video use technology. So in reality, baby boomers and technology are not that far off.

In fact, I always point out to my audiences, especially if I have lots of Millennials, I tell them ‘You know, you might not know this little secret about baby boomers but baby boomers were the very first iPhone users!’ Yes, baby boomers had iPhones before anybody.

A Generational Difference When it Comes to Baby Boomers

Here it is:

Ask “How will this technology make my job or life easier?”

Don’t tell them you’re just getting new technology, because it has a better ringtone, but tell them how will this new technology make their job or life easier!

If you’re an early adapter and you’re introducing a new technology to your team, you may have people resisting. Ask yourself how are you going to answer that question above.

baby boomers and technology

Here Are 2 Things You Can Do to Connect Baby Boomers and Technology:

1. Train Technology One-on-One

We often use technology to train technology and that’s great for people who are early adapters to technology. But when you have somebody who is a slow adapter, you have to train one-on-one. When you tell someone ‘Go watch a YouTube video to learn how to use this new technology.’, that’s a frustrating experience. Frustrating because that new technology never works the way it does in that YouTube video. Train them one-on-one!

2. Check Back in with Them No More than Ten Days Later

Why? Because the technology most often doesn’t work like it should. There’s a frustration or a hiccup and that person using the new technology think you know that it’s not making their job or life easier. It’s making their job or life harder.

They are going to go back to their old ways of doing things. So, check back in with that person no more than ten days later and help them through that adaptation process.

Baby Boomers Relationship to Technology

Once that person learns how the technology will make their job or life easier, I think you will see them more eagerly embrace the new technology. They may never sing from the mountaintops how much they love that technology, but your goal is that they embrace the technology and use it to make their job and life easier. And it also makes your organization or association more successful!

I look forward to seeing you next week when we further discuss the ever-changing generations and the fun challenges they bring to our lives every day.

What You Need to Know About Generation X

Generation X… Raise your hand if you are a Gen X’er.

These are the people born between 1965 and 1980. I am a Gen X’er.

What You Need to Know About Generation X

Fun Facts About Generation X

In fact, when I first heard this term Generation X,  I liked it. I thought it sounded mysterious, strong. X marks the spot, but I came to find out that actually, the term Generation X has no meaning. In fact, it comes from Douglas Copeland’s book Generation X, describing an unhappy generation in the algebraic form of X. It has no value.

We were lucky to get a named Gen X’er. In fact, in the whole generational lineup, we’re the smallest generation. Only 13% of the entire population is Generation X. If this were the Brady Bunch, we’d be Jan! We’re the forgotten child nobody wants to go to prom with. We’re stuck between the cute millennial sister Cindy and the more popular sister Marsha.

So what does this mean to you?

Characteristics of Generation X

We were the first generation in large numbers to have both parents working outside the home. This term is called ‘latchkey kids’. When we came home from school, mom wasn’t there. Dad wasn’t there either. Nobody was there. I was a latchkey kid and I’ll tell you something about it – it was awesome.

Who thought this up?

Let’s let all the kids go home from school and hang out on their own. We’d get home whenever we wanted to. We let ourselves right in the front door because we had our own key! We kept our key on a string around our neck and when we go into the house, there, sitting on the kitchen counter, on a piece of paper was a list of tasks that have been left by management. Here are the rules. The task had to be completed on time before mom and dad, aka management, would arrive home at 6 o’clock.

So when did we start doing those tasks?

About 5:45 pm. It was up to us to decide. We decide when to start, when to stop and we decided if we wanted to take a break. When something went wrong, there was nobody there to help us. No way to solve the problem. We had to complete the task and move on.

Generation X

Generation X in the Workplace

Generation X has become our most independent generation.

They enter the workforce, they join you in your groups and your teams. Their attitude is ‘Hey, tell me what you want to be done, give me the tools or training and then just leave me alone!’

We cannot forget about our friends. Though the baby boomers are people born between 1946 and 1964, baby boomers are known as our teamwork generation. They like to have a meeting to talk about the next meeting.

Working with Generation X

When working with Generation X, keep in mind the independent streak they have. They hate to be micromanaged! They like to forge their own paths.

However, don’t forget that those tools and that experience that your workforce creates resonate with this gen X’er.

Next week, we will talk about the ever-changing generations entering the workforce today.

Engage Millennials with Personalization

Customization!

That was a big buzzword with baby boomers and Gen Xers. It was about making someone’s experience customized, but now it’s not so much about customization, but personalization. Especially when it comes to the millennial generation. Engage millennials with personalization!

Millennials, people born after 1980. They are currently the largest generational section of the workforce today.

What does ‘Personalization’ mean?

Hiring or managing millennials?

Make the engagement personal and customized.

When it comes to you and connecting with the Millennial Generation, well what was previously impossible or financially not doable. Through technology, it can be done and the Millennials have embraced this.

We don’t call them “the selfie generation” for nothing. They’re able to put their image, their thoughts and their feelings on anything. They personalize the cars they drive, the clothes they wear, the phones they carry.

The more that you engage this generation through personalization, the stronger your connection.

Engage millennials with personalization!

How to Personalized a Job Application to Millenials

There’s a clothing store in Saugatuck Michigan – it’s a terrific place.

I was lucky enough to meet the owner and he shared with me his job application. I thought we’ve all seen a job application. Most of us could fill one out in our sleep. But what David did with his job application, was something I have never seen!

The job application starts out like this:

“Howdy! Thank you for considering joining the talented and fun crew at land sharks. This is our fancy job application for every job opening. About fifty-five people who complete this quiz, have a less than 2% chance of becoming a shark.”

That’s what he calls the people that work at his store – sharks.

“We understand this may not be worth your time, but if you’re interested in meeting and working with some really fun and talented people, please answer the questions below. Preferably honestly!”

Engage Millennials with Personalization

Engage Millennials with Personalization

What’s so beautiful about this job application is that he has taken something so mundane, something so ordinary, and he’s personalized it. And not only does it represent the personality of his store, but it engages the millennial employee to bring their own personality to the interview process.

Here are a few of the questions on that job application:

  • How many of your friends are getting married this summer?
  • And how many weddings do anticipate standing in?

When I asked him about this question, he explained to me that people in their 20’s often have friends getting married. If they’re standing in the wedding, they want Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off. Those are his busiest times in business.

  • What is your favorite book and why?

I asked him about this question. He said, “well, for one thing, I’m a voracious reader. I’d like to know what other people are reading,” he said “but also I feel that people that read, tend to bring a different personality element to the store”

And like one of my favorite questions on the application:

  • Are you really good at anything? Please explain…either way.

I really like how he’s changed some of those mundane, standard questions that people get asked in the interview and he’s personalized it.

Learn from this example to engage millennials with personalization.

The Millennial Generation

They are the fastest-growing generation in the workforce and the marketplace today. The more we engage this generation with personalization, the more we connect and then we succeed.

I look forward to seeing you next week.

We will discuss this incredible millennial generation and what they bring to the workforce and how you can connect with them successfully.