Archive for Emotional Connection
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!
Empathy: A Lost Art?
Posted by: |A few days ago, I received a call from a telemarketer representing a national, charitable organization dedicated to eliminating a particular life-threatening disease. As soon as I said “hello”, the 20-something year old voice on the other end of the phone immediately launched into his “Wow, I’ve reached a live person, so I have 60 seconds to make my pitch without letting the other person get a word in edgewise” script. As best as I can recall, he said something like — “Hi…I’m from XYZ Organization and we need you to send out 15 donation cards…” — and I honestly can’t recollect what messaging immediately followed given his hyper-drive delivery style. But I vividly recall how the rest of the conversation unfolded. As he said “Can I send you our packet in the mail today?” – I deliberately took a deep breath, lowered my voice, and in a soft, gentle and polite tone replied “I was just told that my mother, who is in Stage 4 Alzheimer’s, doesn’t have long to live.”
Why would I decide to share such a private, painful slice of my life with a complete stranger at that particular moment in time? Because I thought that by offering a glimpse into my world to a person affiliated with a worthy charity would be a respectful, considerate, thoughtful and patient way to help him understand that now was not the time to engage me in a “Can I 100% count on you to volunteer?” discussion. Admittedly, what occurred next was completely unexpected.
Without skipping a beat, the young man retorted “Well that’s why we give you 30 days to send out the donation cards!” Did I actually just hear him say that? Did he really just say “OK, I hear that your mom is dying, but with the 30-day clock running, you should still have some time after that to send out our postcards?” As I quickly replayed the tape in my head, I immediately concluded that he inadvertently didn’t hear the part about my mother. So I reiterated “My mother’s health is failing. Now is not a good time for me.” Being quick on the uptake yet again, my phone partner leapt to his Call to Action: Plan B script — “OK — you can always request our postcards at a future date by calling us at 877-###-####. “
Thought Provoker: Wikipedia describes “lost art” as “original pieces of art that credible sources indicate once existed, but cannot be accounted for in museums, private collections or are known to have been destroyed or neglected through ignorance and lack of connoisseurship.” Have some of us lost the art of empathy – the art of being sensitive to another person’s experiences and feelings? We know that it once existed, but are we finding that we can’t account for it in our day-to-day interactions with others? Has our ability to empathize been destroyed or neglected through ignorance and lack of connoisseurship? Is revitalizing our empathetic spirit one more opportunity to rekindle our emotional connection with those we come in contact with on a daily basis (Emotional Connection: A Universal Motivator & Change Accelerator)?
Please share your comments with us!
Several weeks ago I stumbled upon yet another “aha” moment. I was at a client site interviewing front-line employees of a highly successful, several thousand-strong organization that is renown for its high customer retention rate plus great customer service experience — and has the stats plus “word on the street” reputation to back it up. This was the second set of interviews that I was conducting, and in each case, I heard the same consistent message:
“I love my employer because…they care about us, they’ve been great to us, I’m not just a number, we’re family.”
“I’m…angry, resentful, hurt, empty, frustrated and ambivalent about my job. I used to love coming to work, but now I’m just here to collect my paycheck.”
How can a cross-section of people shower their employer with the most genuine of compliments in one breath then choose words that scream “morale has tanked” in the next? Then I met an insightful employee who I’ll call “Joe”. He was a very considerate, thoughtful and soft spoken person who helped me sort through what was really happening when he offered these words of wisdom — “We must honor the past.”
For years and well before Six Sigma, lean automation, instant messaging, social media and you-name-it-technologies took hold, this particular employer counted on each employee to go the extra mile every day – and each employee did so because they knew that they made a difference. If they had an idea that seemed reasonable, they ran with it. If they saw a decision that needed to be made, they acted upon it. If they saw a change that needed to be introduced, they implemented it. If they saw a problem that needed to be corrected, they fixed it. And with this, the business grew, the owners/employees prospered, the employer/employee relationship thrived and the customers kept coming back for more – and life was good.
Enter…a changing marketplace…process and automation…and new managers experienced in and excited about implementing large-scale safety, efficiency and cost reduction solutions. What happened next? The employees reported to new managers that they didn’t really know. There was no history. There was no trust. There was no emotional connection. The managers, looking forward to making a positive difference, introduced new ideas, rendered decisions, initiated wide-sweeping changes and resolved pesky problems – but in a perceived vacuum. And then there were the communication issues. As ideas, changes and new technologies were introduced, the first unintended message heard by the employees was “We, the new managers, are here to fix all of the mistakes of the past – the past that you, the employees, created and totally messed up.” As change pushback occurred, the next unintended message heard was “You, the employees, are being resistant to change. Just do it!” Meanwhile the employees were thinking “We helped the company grow to where it is today. We made the company successful. We consistently went the extra mile. Why are these changes being made? Why aren’t you asking us for our ideas and recommendations? Why are you minimizing and de-valuing us?” The employees’ attitudes drastically changed from being highly engaged to significantly detached. In their words, they were “brushed to the curb.” From the employee’s perspective, their ideas were no longer solicited or valued and they no longer shared a voice in decisions, changes and problem solutions. Their enthusiasm for tackling the most difficult of situations – their passion for getting things done — their strong sense of ownership — the very essence of who they once were – had been unintentionally diminished.
What caused the great manager/employee divide? Let’s refer back to Joe’s comment “We must honor the past.” As a proponent of Active Listening, what does that phrase really tell me? What’s the “not so obvious” meaning? My conclusion — before we can collectively move forward, we must intentionally stop and recognize our people and their significant contributions that successfully paved the way for the next wave of work and accomplishments that lie ahead. We must genuinely connect with our people on an emotional level – where we can respectfully acknowledge who they are and express our gratitude to them for having created a positive imprint. We must openly discuss how the great foundation that our people have laid has become the perfect launch point for the next step in our organizational evolution. We must be compassionate in our messaging as we discuss “the why’s” behind doing things differently and encourage rich dialogue. But our responsibilities don’t stop there. We must actively engage all of our people as we plan, execute and celebrate organizational achievements. We must continue to nurture the emotional connection because the very essence of who we are as human beings and whether or not we’re appreciated by others directly influences our attitudes, beliefs and actions. How can we draw upon our people’s inner strength or self motivation that is so pivotal to accelerating organizational change when our people don’t feel genuinely appreciated by and/or emotionally connected with those introducing, directing or championing the change?
Thought Provoker: Do you see emotional connectedness as a universal motivator and change accelerator? Please share your comments with us!
