Author Archive
It’s tough enough getting people to collaborate effectively within/across teams because of this little sticking point called “people behaviors” that’s oftentimes overlooked, but now we’re facing yet another collaboration challenge playing out before us ~ the Baby Boomer, Gen X and Millennial “Great Divide”. And let’s not kid ourselves into thinking that the Great Divide doesn’t exist because the facts and anecdotal data prove otherwise.
If you’re a Baby Boomer (born 1946-1964), just take 10 minutes and have a heart-to-heart talk with a Gen X’er (born 1965-1979) or Millennial (born 1980-1999) who you have a trusted relationship with, and REALLY LISTEN to what they have to say. Based on my work with clients as we’re proactively tackling the Great Divide…
Gen X’ers are irritated that Baby Boomers are blocking their way to advancement. Baby Boomers aren’t retiring for a variety of reasons. They’re maintaining their key leadership position stronghold. To further exacerbate the situation, a portion of the Baby Boomers in key leadership positions are behaving as “lame ducks”, to put it bluntly. That bad behavior would aggravate any top performer regardless of when he/she was born.
Millennials on the other hand, are irritated with Baby Boomers because they’re not effectively engaging Millennials in key areas:
- Connecting on a human-to-human basis
- Understanding what motivates Millennials
- Providing 1×1 value-add, real-time mentoring, coaching and feedback
- Working with Millennials to create career paths
- Communicating with Millennials using engaging technologies (e.g., social networks, IM, Twitter, Smart Phones)
- Supporting Millennials’ work/life balance needs
- Creating sustainable virtual teams (which, by the way, save companies HUGE quantifiable dollars plus increase productivity if thoughtfully planned and implemented)
And what do Gen X’ers and Millennials have in common? First, both groups are loyal to people but not to organizations, which means…Baby Boomers, you must genuinely connect with both groups in order to engage and optimize their potential AND retain them! Second, both groups are turned off by Baby Boomers who place monetary-driven (greed-driven) personal, company and shareholder agendas before “the good of humanity.” Baby Boomers, you’re still holding key leadership positions and you’re highly influential, so you can start setting a different tone within your organizations and teams by actively weaving in meaningful opportunities that support “the greater good”.
So what’s the business case that would compel organizations and teams to address the Great Divide? First, some statistics. Although estimates vary by source, roughly 70 million and 48 million comprise the Millennial and Gen X U.S. workforces respectively, or 118 million collectively, compared to 70+ million Baby Boomers. It’s official ~ Baby Boomers, you’re in the cultural minority. It’s no longer about “you”. I can say this because I too, am a Baby Boomer. But reasons to tackle the Great Divide go beyond that:
- Baby Boomers owe it to the next generation of leaders and to society to position Gen X’ers and Millennials for success. That’s what genuine leaders do. They take action based on the big picture and the greater good.
- For every Millennial that quits, and they will quit if their key needs are not being met, expect turnover costs to soar. For a company that employs 5,000 with a $50K average annual salary and annual turnover rate of 10% and cost of 50% (turnover costs can range from 50%-150%), reducing turnover by just 3% can save the company $3.75 million annually ($8.75 million vs. $12.5 million).
- For every Millennial and Gen X’er that doesn’t feel engaged, the person is operating at some percent less than 100%. Using the previous example and assuming 2,080 planned annual hours per employee, if 20% of the workforce is operating at 80%, the productivity drain is roughly 416K hours or $10+ million annually, which means that 200 FTE’s (full time equivalents) are showing up for work, are on your payroll and contributing a BIG ZERO to the bottom line. And let’s not forget that unproductive employees slow down productive employees, so the productivity drain will grow vs. shrink if ignored.
One last tip – don’t refer to a Gen X’er or Millennial by these two or other common generational names. Although Baby Boomers aren’t typically offended by their generational title, the same is not true for those generations that follow. Another cultural difference!
How are you tackling the Great Divide? Please share your comments with us!
Thank goodness that many of us have Achievers in our organizations! Achievers get things done! Why? Achievers, as defined by StrengthsFinder 2.0 “…feel as if every day starts at zero. By the end of the day, Achievers must achieve something tangible in order to feel good about themselves. And…’every day’ to an Achiever means every single day ~ workdays, weekends, vacations. No matter how much Achievers feel they deserve a day of rest, if the day passes without some form of achievement, no matter how small, Achievers feel dissatisfied.”
That’s great, right? Well, not so fast. Those same Achievers oftentimes (unintentionally) overlook or underestimate how their need to work in hyperdrive doesn’t necessarily align/integrate with their organization’s change culture, change capacity and change appetite. I know this because I used to be one of those Achiever people who built Achiever Teams who could “take any hill” at 150 mph, not realizing that the rest of the organization wasn’t ready for our stealth capabilities! But one day the light dawned and I “got religion.” I realized that I could still be an Achiever and build Achiever Teams, but instead of taking one hill at 150 mph, we could successfully take several hills at a reduced speed if we implemented “right fitted” Organizational Change Management (OCM) Plans for each of our major initiatives. And the cool thing ~ even though more upfront thought was required to build and more energy investment was required to implement OCM Plans, when properly executed, OCM Plan results saved us time and money, increased our outcome success rate, and created client and organization goodwill!
My advice to all Achievers ~ including those Leader Achievers that I’m currently coaching ~ keep achieving, but before starting that next big initiative (or even small or medium size initiative), analyze your culture, its capacity and its appetite relative to Organizational Change and build a realistic OCM Plan that meets your company’s needs. And if you have any time left over, being the Achiever that you are, look for other creative and subtle ways to move your organization forward so you fulfill your needs without driving change too hard and too fast ~ which will frustrate both you and your company if your change adoptation rate isn’t realistically calibrated with your organization’s change adoption rate.
More to follow with Part II as we explore “Learn How to Successfully Approach Cultural/Organizational Change”!
Find Your Mojo!
Posted by: |Mojo: How to Get It, How to Keep It, How to Get It Back if You Lose It is a book that you should place at the very top of your reading list. The author, Marshall Goldsmith, has written almost 30 books dealing in his field of expertise, executive coaching. Mojo is the latest and well worth a read.
I was attracted to this book because my clients are always complimenting me on my “loving what I do and showing it” spirit. They find this state of mind to be incredibly contagious and are encouraged (and encourage each other) to strive to achieve the impossible.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book for many reasons. First, Goldsmith does a great job of defining what Mojo is, and what it is not, or Nojo. Then, he completely explores the four key elements that you need to achieve great Mojo. Next, he supports his ideas with real-life stories and examples of Mojo and Nojo. Finally, he offers practical next-steps with take-away tools that can be used by the reader immediately.
I have recommended this book to all of the senior/c-level leaders that I am coaching. I have also created a presentation titled “In the Zone” surrounding the book. I have given this presentation, pro bono, to job seekers in my area in hopes that the lessons I have learned from the book will assist them in their current endeavors. (Please see our previous blog post, TechEdge Gives Back, for information about one of these presentations.) I have also tied concepts from Mojo into TechEdge’s flagship workshop, “Collaboration in Action”. Optimizing your people potential is the focus of this workshop, and the themes from the book play directly into this idea.
Please share your comments with us!
