Meagan Johnson - Generational Speaker

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

Understanding Generations in the Workplace

Millennials and Slash Careers – The Slash Generation

Slash Careers and Millennials – what do they have in common?

I talk about generational signposts and those are events or phenomenon that are specific to one generation. The beauty of generational signposts is that they help explain how and why clusters of people born during a certain timeframe respond to different situations.

After I finished a recent presentation, a millennial approached me and asked me what I thought of ‘slash careers’.
I’m a Gen Xer and when I heard her say ‘slash’,  I assumed she was speaking about Guns & Roses guitarist Slash.

I answered: “Well, you know their music really wasn’t my thing back in the 80’s. A little too hard rock for me. I’m not really sure what his career is right now, but I bet he’s got a Facebook page we could probably find him on and see what he’s up to.”

She was not talking about Guns & Roses Slash. She meant ‘slash careers’ and went on explaining
to me exactly what a slash career meant.

slash careers

Slash Careers – What They Can Bring to an Organization

I went online and I found the book titled ‘One Person Multiple Careers – The original guide to slash careers.’

If you’ve been lucky enough to read it, it’s a wonderful explanation about slash careers and what they can bring to an organization.

I spoke to my resident millennial – my dog walker named Paxton.
I asked her how would she describe what she did for a living as she has multiple careers. She said that she is a vet tech, dance instructor, social media coordinator and a dog walker. A perfect example of slash careers!

These careers are identified mostly with creative people. For example, if you’re a photographer you might also be a director. If you’re a writer, you may also be a producer.

Slash Careers and Millennials

The Millennials have brought slash careers into the mainstream.

How different, compared to when I was in my 20’s!
When I graduated college, I told my mom I’ve had several things I wanted to look at when I pursued my career. I wanted to pursue real estate but didn’t want to give up my job working at the mall, because I loved being around clothes and talking to the customers. Also, I wanted to continue my work at the Athletic Club –  I wanted to try to keep them all!

My mother suggested to just choose one thing and focus on that. Maybe my mom knew my limitations. But Millennials have taken the slash careers and really made them their own!

Slash Generation

So why can Millennials do that?

Technology has allowed the Millennials to have multiple careers at one time.
Some organizations are hesitant to hire someone who has a slash career. They feel that if they’ve had these multiple things going on, they won’t be committed to the organization or to the job.

That really is not true.

Someone that has a slash career has several things going for them.

One – their skillset is well-rounded, so for example if you’re developing writing skills in one of your careers, your speaking skills improve in your other career!

Two – they’re not bored moving between multiple slash careers and it leaves Millennials feeling energized and reduces burnout.

Slash Careers and What They Provide

Most importantly, slash careers provide greater work-life fulfillment.

We hear a lot about work-life balance being important to the Millennials. I like to think of it as work-life fulfillment because it’s about finding fulfillment in the work-life balance.

This gives Millennials multiple areas to find jobs and work satisfaction and you eliminate someone sitting at your company thinking ‘Gosh, what if I could only just get out of this place and find a job at the X company, then I’d be happy!’

Understanding What Millennials Want from Employers

For the first time in history, Millennials, the younger generation knows more about something we need to know. So, what millennials want from employers is not always clear or visible to us. At least not on the surface!

What does this mean to you, as an employer or a boss?

Most baby boomers learned to use computers at work.
Gen X’ers – we learn to use computers at school.

But Millennials?
As many of you know, they grew up with technology. We call them ‘native digital’s’ because it almost seems like technology comes naturally to them.

Understanding what Millennials Do in the Workplace

As a business owner, I love this because it means that my Millennials can assist me in the world of technology. I’m always one step behind when it comes to technology – apps, social media, etc, so I depend on my Millennials to guide me through.

I had a Millennial say to me recently that her boss does not understand the complexity of her job. Not understanding what she had to do, her boss underestimates the effort she had to put forth. She felt undervalued.

This was an eye-opener for me because sometimes I don’t really express my gratitude enough to my millennial employees.

I know with their help we’ve sidestepped some website and web-based disasters.

What Millennials Want from Employers

What Millennials Want from Employers

So first off, be aware that your Millennials are doing things that might be just a little bit more effort than you give them credit for or that you really think they’re putting forth.

And secondly, just ask them how time-consuming is the thing that you are asking them to do.

Sometimes these little steps really help strengthen our relationships with our millennial employees and co-workers.

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.

Mentoring Millennials – What Does Mentoring Mean to Millennials

Mentoring Millennials should be a part of every organization, especially if you want to retain your millennial employees!

Here is why:

According to Deloitte study, 64% of millennials plan to see their current job in their ‘rearview mirror’ by the year 2020.

What does that mean? It means that in less than two years 64% of millennials plan on leaving their current job.

The average millennial stays in their job less than three years. However, that same Deloitte study discovered that Millennials who are at their current job or organization for longer than five years are two times more likely to have a mentor.

According to Price Waterhouse Cooper, 98% of millennials feel that working with strong mentors is very important. 

What does Mentoring Mean to Millennials?

I recently interviewed a millennial and he said to me that a mentor-mentee relationship is extremely important. He shared, however, that many mentors feel that being a mentor means telling them how they did something. He said: ”A mentor to me means challenging me to think differently!”

Mentoring Millennials

Mentoring Millennials in the Workplace

There really are 3 stages of the mentor-mentee relationship:

  1. The 1st stage is Coaching: Coaching is a very task-oriented relationship.

The coach is really there to help the millennial get their feet wet. Maybe they are new to the organization or new to the position. A coach is a great way to teach the Millennial about the corporate culture or maybe work on a soft skill.

I know that when I was in my 20’s and I had my first job out of college, I would’ve loved to have a coach to help me with writing skills. So, coaches are a terrific way to help the Millennial ease into the corporate culture of the new organization.

2. The 2nd stage is a Mentorship Relationship: The mentor relationship is based more on the relationship itself.

In fact, Millennials may have many mentors.

There is something called micro-mentoring and those are groups that connect via social media. There’s also reverse mentoring. A reverse mentor is when the millennial mentors a more senior person, typically about something technology related.

Reverse mentoring is a great way to open the door between millennial and someone who’s been around the organization for a long time. Most importantly, the mentor in the mentor-mentee relationship holds the mentee accountable for meeting their goals.

3. The 3rd stage is the Sponsorship: This is intriguing because this takes the mentor-mentee relationship up a level.

This is truly a one-on-one relationship. It is a higher level of mentoring and the sponsor typically has a high status with the company. The sponsor’s responsibility or goal is to help that millennial reach their next level. To get that promotion or that raise. That sponsor also acts as an advocate for the Millennial within the organization. He/she helps the millennial identify skills and talents they need to develop to find that new promotion or raise.

Mentoring Millennials

Mentoring millennials is not an easy task – however, it can be a rewarding one for both parties involved.

A baby boomer I recently interviewed said to me:

“It is our responsibility to mentor the young people in our lives, however mentoring is not just about handing them a book. It’s also about telling them what they have done right.”

So there you have it – the Mentoring Millennials segment.

I look forward to seeing you next week when we further dig into this topic about the multi-generations in the workplace.

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.