Meagan Johnson - Generational Speaker

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

Generational Challenges

Managing Millennials in the Workplace

When it comes to managing millennials in the workplace, the leaders and managers of the organizations have a responsibility to engage as well.

According to a recent study, 60% of the millennial generation wants to be learning something new at work. Also, 64% of the millennials want to feel that their work is valued by their leader!

So, a leader or manager of your organization – what does this mean to you?

Managing Millennials in the Workplace

We all have a lot on our plate on a day to day basis, so what are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to manage the millennials best?

Just one 15-minutes monthly conversation with your millennial employee!

Managing Millennials in the Workplace

But wait… not just any kind of conversation. In this short meeting, you should discuss four questions:

Question Number One:

What is Something You Are Better at Now than You Were Last Month?

This question puts at the forefront of the Millennials mind what the organization has done to invest in their skills and development.

If the millennial can’t name something that they are better at now than they were last month, then there is something wrong with the training or development program they received…or the lack of.

Question Number Two:

What Would You Like to Get Better at this Month?

This puts goal-setting into place. Makes them think of something they’re going to work on and develop more skills in.

Question Number Three:

What is Your Plan Developing these Skills?

Let them tell you what their plans are and listen carefully what they are saying.

Question Number Four – This is my favorite question:

What resources Can I Help You with to Develop those Skills?

Millennials appreciate these conversations once a month for 15 minutes.

They’re collaborative and it also demonstrates to the Millennial that there’s somebody there for them. Somebody on board that’s invested in their development, their skill set, and their career.

And this is very important, as it helps tremendously with managing and motivating millennials.

Next week we will discuss the ever-changing generations in the workforce and what we can do differently to achieve success.

Managing and Motivating Millennials

What does Managing and Motivating Millennials look like in your workplace?

Millenials truly want to make a difference in the workplace and they want to challenge the old ways of thinking.

According to a recent survey, the Millenial generation is the largest generation in the workforce. They believe that innovations are being stifled by managements attitude.

What does that mean to you?

Managing and Motivating Millennials in the Workplace

What it means is that we need to allow this younger generation to have their moment in the sun. We need to step aside and let their ideas flourish. So, how do we do that? Especially if you are in the conservative industry? When we have younger employees that want to try something different, try something new, rather than saying no right off the bat, ask yourself these 4 questions.

Whatever they want to try or do, does it negatively impact:

  1. Cost
  2. Quality
  3. Safety
  4. Service

If the answer is NO, that is your little red flag to yourself to allow yourself to try this new idea, a new way of doing things.

Managing and Motivating Millennials

Bringing New Ideas to the Workforce

Recently, a client of mine in a financial institution had 2 millennial salespeople that were great. They approached the management to change the commission structure. One manager was all for it, but the upper management was committed to the old ways of doing things. They said no. They lost those two great salespeople as they went off and started their own business.

So clearly, we do have an issue with Millennial Employee Retention!

Can you image, if Steve Jobs was approached by his team about this new idea called an iPhone, and he would have said no? He would have liked the flip phone the way it was. He would not have seen the need for a new phone. A revolutionary phone. Where would the iPhone be?

Challenge the Old Way of Doing Things

If we just allow the millennial generation to challenge the old way of doing things, 2 things will happen.

  1. At worst, you will have no change.
  2. At best, you’ll have the equivalent of an iPhone in your industry!

So go ahead and ask yourself the 4 questions. Use that as a guideline for managing and motivating millennials that want to bring these new ideas into the workforce.

In the next videos sessions, we will further investigate the Millennial generation and what they are bringing to the workforce today!

 

 

 

 

Millennial Employee Retention

What does the Millennial Employee Retention mean and what is the strategy to achieve it?
What are Millennials looking for when they start their career paths?

I’m a professional speaker, generational expert, and generational humorist.

I speak to groups, associations, and corporations like yours about the ever-changing generational dynamic that is blowing through our workforce, our corporations and our offices today.

The Generational Signposts

Recently, I had a member of an audience that approached me before the presentation and she said to me “Is your presentation going to be all about generational stereotypes?”, she said. “I do not like stereotypes!”

I have to agree with her, I don’t like stereotypes either.

I like generational signposts. Generational signposts explain how events, technologies and economic forces shape various groups of people.

People born during a certain time period or a certain timeframe have experienced similar situations and can be differentiated from other generations. You can use this information when you are working with multiple generations.

Well, let’s take the Millennial Generation everybody’s talking about.

The Millennial Generation

These are people born after 1980. When I have lots of Millennials in my audience and I ask the Millennials “How old were you in 2002?” and I get ages from 12-17 years old. Basically in 2002, the Millennials of today being in their late teens, they have influenced three to four hundred billion dollars of the family spending! Over 80 percent of the family apparel choices, and over 50 percent of the family car choices – that’s before they could even drive!

Baby boomers – you have brought teamwork into the family and you encouraged to have conversations with your millennial children. You talked about where to go out to eat, what type of electronics to buy, and where should you go on vacation. Not only did you have these discussions with your children but their opinion mattered.

And that is one of the reasons many Millennials are strong collaborators.

Millennial Employee Retention

Millennial Employee Retention

74 percent of Millennials rank collaborative work environment as their number 1 or number 2 most important characteristic of a rewarding place to work.

So…What does that mean?

We need to offer Millennials multi-layered career paths!

Millennials really have turned away from that traditional corporate ladder. In fact, the corporate ladder has disintegrated and when we say things to Millennials like “You need to pay your dues before you climb the ladder” is a total disconnect.

Look for ways to be able to encourage your Millennials to have different experiences at your organizations.

Opportunities for Millennials to Grow and Experience

I recently spoke for the Association of Chiefs of Police in Colorado.

Here’s my own bias. I assumed that because these were law enforcement people, that they would be very rigid. Thinking, they’re not going to be very open to new ideas. I was wrong. See, that was my own stereotype.

In fact, one of the Chiefs said to me “You know, in the past, it used to be that someone wanted to be a detective forever. They became a detective and they were a detective. But that’s the old way of thinking and the new detectives that are entering the force today, a four to five-year stint, that’s about as long as they want to be a detective! So we’ve had to change and we move people out of the role of a detective after four or five years.”

Rules are like in burglary. They have even shorter stays – three to four months, the officer said. The drawback is that they’re losing a good person but the benefit is they have somebody new, with a fresh perspective coming on board.

They are offering these multi-layered career paths, different opportunities for Millennials to grow and experience.

Embrace and Intrigue the Millennials

An industry that can do this very well is the construction industry.

Ironically the construction industry is struggling to find millennial employees as the older employees age. An industry where you can have an apprenticeship or a craft training, this is an industry where you can learn.

You can hit the ground running and you begin your career with no student debt. It is opportunities like these that really embrace and intrigue the millennial.

In my next video, we will talk about the ever-changing generations in the workforce and what we can do to communicate and enhance our relationships.

How to Attract and Retain Millennial Employees

How to attract and retain Millennial Employees in your company or organization?

Let me show you how…

How to Attract and Retain Millennial Employees in the Industry that isn’t Sexy?

The insurance industry, medical coding, procurement, manufacturing, construction…

What do all these industries have in common?

All of them report attracting and retaining millennial employees difficult, challenging and almost impossible. Why? Because their industry is not considered sexy!

Now, I’m gonna sound like an ‘old person’ when I say this “…but when I graduated college”…

Seriously, when I graduated Arizona State University, a long time ago, my first job out of college was working for Quaker Oats – the oatmeal company. You know the guy with a great hat sells oatmeal, however, quicker oats is a big company.

I wasn’t in the oatmeal division. Oh no! This college grad ended up in the Chilean canned bean division.

I love canned beans just as much as anybody. After all, they are the musical fruit, however, I do not think of them as sexy.

I snapped up that job and I was happy to take it.

But…

Millennials are different.

Millennials will shop a job much like they will shop for a product or an item. 80% of job seekers will research an employer online before even deciding to apply for the job.

So what is the good news?

The good news is that traditional companies, traditional organizations and industries like construction, manufacturing, insurance, all of them serve a purpose. When organizations identify that purpose and promote that purpose as a lifestyle, the likelihood that they’re gonna connect with Millennials will increase. They will attract and retain millennial employees much easier.

Motivating Millennials – Is there a Secret Formula?

There’s an organization called Tuft and Needle. They’re a mattress company.

I’ve never thought about buying, selling or distributing mattresses as very flashy or exciting. However, Tuft and Needle are different!

Visit their website at https://www.tuftandneedle.com/

Attract and Retain Millennial Employees

This company was started by two Millennials. Two guys named JT and Daehee. Both of them had discouraging experiences when it came to buying their first adult purchase – a mattress. So they decided to disrupt the industry.

They have the very best company story videos I have ever seen! It is entertaining and informational. Also, it works really well as a connectivity tool both for potential employees and customers.

What really caught my eye, however, was their career page.

The career page reads like this: “Don’t just work here – Grow here!” They describe themselves as being much more than a mattress company.

How to Attract and Retain Millennials as Employees?

They are a team of creative minds. Minds that are disrupting the industry through purposeful design, continued learning, and meaningful connections.

Tuft and Needle have identified the purpose and the service they provide. They tied it into a lifestyle.

Traditional organizations and industries need to identify the purpose they serve. The service they provide their customers. And turn that into a proposition to Millennials! A lifestyle they can lead by working with these organizations. That’s when they will really begin to connect with the Millennial employee.

In the next video, we will discuss how to further connect, contain and capture all that talent that Millennials bring to the workplace today.

Generational Issues in the Workplace

Generational Issues are not uncommon – they happen often. We need to understand what happens, why it happens and what we can do to avoid it. 

Generational issues in the workplace
Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

As a professional speaker and generational humorist, I am lucky to hear and witness some incredible generational stories and anecdotes. I am allowed to be a bit of a voyeur…in a good way. Clients and audience members graciously share with me their generational “skeletons in the closet.”

The following is an example of a multi-generational situation that flummoxed everyone involved. I have summoned a multi-generational panel to examine and discuss this dispute.

The panel consists of three different generations with varying levels of professional and retail experience.

The panel members are Baby Boomer Bob, Gen X Geoff and Madison the Millennial. Following the situation, the panel members will chime in with their opinions and viewpoints.

The Generational Issue in the Workplace

Reegen & Mary: Millennial & Baby Boomer

Mary has worked at My Sole Belongs To You shoe store her entire adult life. She began working at the store over 40 years ago, shortly after the original owners opened their doors. Mary is always impeccably dressed and addresses everyone, co-workers, and customers, by “Sir,” or “Ma’am. Long-term clients love her. Mary has a strong, albeit aging, a consistent book of business. Rumor has it, Nordstrom department store has tried to poach her more times than she will admit. She remembers small details in people’s lives and never stops smiling.

The store Mary has called home is a small neighborhood shop that has seen many changes in the surrounding community. There is a new owner and it’s not a secret that the new owners’ goal is to build awareness of the store in the surrounding business sector and capture the attention of the younger, new families moving into the neighborhood. This is why Reegen, an enthusiastic new Store Manager, was hired from a popular catering company to manage the store and its marketing efforts.

Reegen announced during the first staff meeting that she wanted to transform My Sole Belongs To You into something “more twenty-first century – for the Internet generation.”

There is increasing tension between Reegen & Mary. Even though Reegen has more experience with social media and technology, Mary knows more about the customers, products and day-to-day retail operations.

There have been a couple occasions when Mary corrected Reegen and her product knowledge. Reegen seems intent on demonstrating her position at the store by being very direct and dismissive to Mary.  You recently witnessed Reegen bark at Mary that she was moving too slowly and she must stop doing what she was doing to address her issue ASAP.  Mary has responded to Reegen’s attitude by intentionally ignoring her comments and suggestions.

Their conflict is beginning to disrupt the morale of the entire staff.

The Panel Comments on the Generational Issues

Baby Boomer Bob

“WOW, this situation is really ‘Harshing my mellow.’ (Translation; making a situation go from enjoyable to uncomfortable.)

I feel the owners dropped the ball by not discussing their intent to drive the store in a new direction with the entire staff prior to hiring Reegan. The risk leadership runs when it treats people like mushrooms (Translation; Keeping people in the dark and not sharing pertinent information.) is employees like Mary retire on the job. They may come to work every day but they feel so displaced they lose their passion for the job and begin just going through the motions.

I will be the first to admit I was slow to jump on the Social Media bandwagon. Asking people to Friend You and Follow You seemed a bit creepy at first. However, I was fortunate enough to have a younger associate ask if I would like a one-on-one tutorial. I just wished I had asked sooner!

I believe that if Mary was given the same consideration she would discover that Social Media is not as daunting or intimidating as it first appears. She may learn that not only will she be able to enhance her product knowledge, something that seems important to her but also connects with her long-time customers on a new platform.

Perhaps the new owners did not realize what an institution they have in Mary but by not involving Mary in the hiring process of Reegan and the new store objectives from the beginning, they created a situation that was an uphill battle from day one…which is so uncool man. (Translation; nothing to do with temperature.)

Gen X Geoff

“I am going to be honest, it seems like everyone should take a step back and as Frankie Goes to Hollywood says ‘Just Relax!’ (Translation; Frankie Goes to Hollywood was a hit band from the 80s.) From my perspective, it appears you have two people trying to protect their turf.

My attitude with my team members has always been, ‘do your job, if there is a problem figure it out and when the day is over it is just business. We don’t have to like each other.’ I do not see any reason I need to be involved unless the store is burning down or someone has died.

I have, however, been accused of not being a team player. I was surprised to learn, several years ago, that my solitary approach did not always resonate with older employees who place a high value on teamwork or younger employees who thrive in a collaborative environment.

I would hope that in the situation with Reegan and Mary I would step out of my comfort zone and call a meeting with the two of them, preferably away from the store.

I would ask them to perform a SWOT analysis of the situation, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Employees would create their own SWOT analysis of the situation prior to the meeting. We would then examine the analysis and comment on each. Ideally, we would find common points in the analysis. Where one SWOT recognizes a weakness, another SWOT has a strength to combat the other’s weakness.

Hopefully, by participating in the SWOT analysis Reegan and Mary will develop a respect for each other’s skills and a plan for handling the conflict…. Which would be totally awesome! (Translation; extremely good.)

Madison the Millennial

“Sups Awk! (Translation; Super Awkward.) It is not always easy being the youngest person in the room, much less, being tasked with the challenge of asking someone old enough to be your mom or dad to change their behavior.

Early in my career, my insecurities often led me to behave like Reegan. I felt that if I got the upper hand first, nobody would question my authority. The reality was the more I tried to push my agenda down the throats of the people around me, the less interested they were in what I had to say.

It was an eye-opening moment when a mentor told me ‘you can’t captain an empty ship.’ Meaning, I needed everyone on board to keep the boat upright and sailing.

I will admit, it was hard in the beginning to take a breath and ask seasoned personnel how they would solve a problem when all I wanted to do was shout out, ‘Come on, let’s try something different!!’

Nothing makes me more Cray Cray (Translation; Crazy.) than hearing someone respond to a new idea or approach with the phrase, ‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ or ‘we tried that before and it didn’t work.’

Can you imagine if Steve Jobs thought to himself, why invent the iPhone? Flip phones work just fine.

I realize, however, that all the good ideas in the world are not going to do anyone any good if nobody wants to try them. When I began asking senior staff members how they did their jobs or their opinion on how to get things done, it was the beginning of them lessening their resistance to my new ideas.

Additionally, I learned that if my idea had been tried before, there was a reason it didn’t work. A reason of which I would never have been aware of if I had not taken the time to ask questions before taking action.

I believe the panel has given some interesting insights into the situation with Mary and Reegan. As the generations continue to evolve, we must change with them if we desire multi-generational success. I have listened and watched some generational challenges that appear insurmountable only to be surprised by people’s ability to look beyond their own generational perceptions and walk in another generations’ shoes. (Pun intended.)