ThinkTank

Builders, Boomers, GenX-ers and NeXters. Many work environments now have four generations within them, something that has never occurred in modern years. If your company or business unit is one of them, I know you’ve likely got your hands full with the chaos created by the conflict and poor communications that may exist as a result of this.

It’s a hot topic in the workplace today and the thought of how to manage the issues can be staggering to a business owner or manager when he or she discovers that many people are not ready or willing to embrace the changes needed to overcome generational diversity.

This clash of cultures is less serious in organizations where leadership is described by workers as collaborative and open, rather than dictatorial and rigid.  Ask yourself these questions:  Are people in your company able to learn from their peers? Their (older or younger) manager? Do those differences get in the way of company growth, profitability or change? Do you understand what you need to know about other generations to communicate effectively and be your most productive?

If you don’t like your answers, well – you’re not alone.  It’s time to take stock of what makes each generation tick.  Here’s some key characteristics:

• Builders (aka Veterans) – envision the 8-12 hour workday as a standard work ethic, no matter when the goal will be reached.
• Boomers (aka Baby Boomers) – prefer team situations and often attempt to position themselves for the rewards and recognition of team success.
• GenXers (aka Xers) – highly results-oriented; seeks ways to accomplish more in less time.  Chooses not to work any longer than it takes to meet objectives.
• NexTers (aka Y generation or Millennials) – this youngest generation is interested in understanding how their work contributes to the overall success and business objectives of the organization.  They want to be clear about their part in the outcomes.

Ron Zemke wrote a book which contains some further insights into reducing, if not eliminating the generational frictions in the workplace.  He coined the acronym ACORN.

• Accommodate employee differences.

- Generational differences, when properly acknowledged and managed provide creativity

• Create workplace choices.

- Instead of sticking with outdated cultural models, create an environment where the workplace can shape and flow around serving clients and the folks who do the work.

• Operate from a sophisticated management style

- Leaders should set goals and specific measurements that holds people accountable.  Feedback, feed-forward and reward create a positive and productive environment.

• Respect competence and initiative

- People either exceed, meet or don’t meet expectations.  Leaders who expect more from their teams, provide the tools and support, and encourage initiative will get higher productivity, more creative thinking and effective problem solving.

• Nourish retention

- The costs of unplanned turnover are really staggering.  Start by hiring the right people for the job . . . and your culture.  Update your company people policies and make them generational friendly.

So you’re probably thinking, ‘this is just common sense’.  Well, I have coaching clients  and prospects who are so caught up in the day-to-day business operations, that they don’t even have time to concern themselves with these issues, until they realize that their turnover is costing them 10%, 15%, or as high as 50% of their profits!  That’s usually when I get a telephone call.

As if business owners, managers and supervisors didn’t have enough on their plates already, here’s another recent issue that some of my clients are facing, and it’s causing them deep concern. It’s satisfaction stagnation, and there’s likely a bit of it embedded in your organization and rapidly growing.

We Americans, as a group, are a pretty impatient bunch, and growing more so with each new generation. That’s good news to some businesses, because they can market their products or services to folks who wish to be instantly (or very quickly) gratified.

Recent surveys seem to show that we are behaving more and more like that in the workplace – even more than in the 1980’s or the 1990’s. We’re impatient to wait for our next promotion, developmental opportunity, or new challenge. We want it sooner, rather than later. Is it just merely a function of society? Probably not.

Younger generations watched their baby boomer parents struggle with layoffs, more stress, less control of their time and money, and on the surface it appears they’ve learned something from what seems to be our mistakes.

So what’s really going on?  Lack of team communications is one of the leading pitfalls to high productivity.  Retaining and developing top talent is listed as the top “pain point” of more than 76% of America’s larger corporations.  More than 40 percent of employed workers plan to begin job searches during the next 12 months, according to a survey of 1,000 U.S. workers by Yahoo/HotJobs. That’s up from 21% a year ago.  Nearly one-quarter already are actively looking around for better opportunities outside your company. 

Pick five people in your company – one of them is engaged in a full-blown job search.  Oh, you don’t have five people in your company.  Well, if you only have one employee, other than yourself, it’s highly likely that their job search is somewhere between a simmer and a full boil right now!

Compensation continues to be a strong motivator in the increase in job change: 96 percent cite a desire for better pay and/or benefits. Other factors: 44 percent believe their current jobs offer “no potential for career growth,” while 18 percent want a better commute and 29 percent yearn for a workplace with “higher morale.” The good news for companies: Only one in four feel underappreciated as “valued employees.”  Is that good enough for you?

You may already have read about my feelings on those numbers, though.  I tend to disagree with them and prefer to qualify those responses by finding out how many actually, left or want to leave “because of my [toxic] manager”, which is a staggering figure. 

But that’s something not to debate here, and I already have written another article on that very topic.  The truth is job satisfaction is declining.  Folks are getting downright tired of doing the same, repetitive things over and over.  They get BORED!  And if the survey is remotely accurate, they’ll start looking elsewhere.  The “grass is always greener” syndrome comes into play here.

So you say, “Okay, Coach.  What can I do about it?  I need people to make, sell, deliver and service our widgets.  I spend a lot of money finding and training the right people, and I need them to do the jobs I hired them for.” 

Have you ever thought about asking them?  You could ask them how they want to develop themselves and where their development will have a positive impact on your organization.  You could ask them why they stay. You could ask them what would cause them to leave – oddly, those answers are different, and they are probably different than you think.  Or is it that you are fearful of the answers you might get?  My guess it’s the latter.

Over 42% of workers are coping with feelings of burnout.  38% believe they are in a dead-end job and 9% say that they don’t have adequate training to effectively conduct their current job.  And chances are your company is reflected in some, if not all, of those statistics.

Showing how courageous you are as a business person and leader is directly proportional to the motivation you will instill in others.

I recently attended a web seminar and I’d like to share some of the things I took away from it. The speaker, a human resource consultant and former HR executive in the high tech industry, pointed out that countless successful corporate leaders understand innovation is the key to a company’s survival. He suggested that effective talent management was ultimate ductwork bringing innovation into organizations, big, medium and small, because innovation is created by people.  And gossip.

He also revealed that certain companies in the high tech industry must innovate at extremely high levels or they may be ill-fated within the upcoming twelve months.

“How can that be?”, you say.  Well, let’s take the high tech industry leader Intel for example.  We all know that millions of computers are running Intel chips “on the inside”, so why is innovation key to their survival?  Here’s what Craig Barrett, Intel’s CEO has said about innovation:

“Just to give you a simple example of my company, and what innovation means to us.  If you look at our revenue in January of any year, and then look at the revenue in December of that year, about 90 percent of December revenue comes from products which were not there in January.  That sort of innovation which is a total turnover of our revenue every year is indicative of what innovation means to us.  You miss a cycle of innovation, your revenue disappears”.

While your business may not be as susceptible to a lack of innovation as Intel, is your company facing a potential innovation deficit?  Are you taking steps to encourage more innovation?  

Because businesses that think they have built a competitive advantage by being:

1. The lost cost provider
2. A rapid copier of products or services
3. Protected through copyright or patents
4. An acquirer of competing companies
5. An incredibly strong product brander or,
6. geographically close to customers or resources,

can no longer count on those to keep competitors at bay.

Jack Welch, the famed and fabled former leader of General Electric said, “If the rate of change inside an organization . . . is less than the rate of change outside . . . their end is in sight!”

So the only real answer is to become a continuous innovator which enables a company to constantly get unique, well branded products to market — first!

Since innovation is mostly about “people,” this competitive advantage is initiated through persistent attraction and development of people and processes that make your employees the most innovative in the world.

This will bring higher margins and profits, lower advertising costs (more viral/word of mouth), increased retention, less recruiting, attraction of the best suppliers, distraction of your competitors, better customer service, and process improvement.

Here’s some proof that innovative firms get dramatically more productivity. 

The revenue-per-employee (RPE) for the computer industry averages $160,000.  IBM almost doubles the average at $300,000.  HP is more than three times better at $500,000

However, both are amateurs compared Cisco at $700,000 and Dell at $1,000,000.  Wow . . . a company at which each employee brings in $1 million!  And Dell is in an incredibly price sensitive, nearly commodity-level PC business.

So here are some tools for building a culture of innovation.

1. Find your way out of ‘the comfort zone’
2. Hire more innovators, not ‘inside the box’ thinkers
3. Reward innovation
4. Measure innovation
5. Promote and retain innovators
6. Get innovation ideas from external sources
7. Eliminate barriers to innovation

“You cannot create a high return on investment doing what others are already doing . . . innovation is the sole way to survive”.  — Henri Termeer, CEO, Genzyme, a leading biotechnology firm.

I know that by putting these “tools” out there for you won’t make you an instant innovator.  It takes hard work and commitment. It’s a mindset and a process that begins with bringing the right people on board.