Do you find your organization in a similar situation? Do your older and younger employees’ communication styles contradict each other? If so, how is it affecting the tenured business relationships that you have with your customers?

There are probably several factors influencing this particular situation. Yes, some of it is about the difference in ages between veteran sales reps and younger engineers. To this we should add the level of engagement these young professionals have in their jobs. We also need to consider that these engineers are working with individuals for whom technical expertise may not be a strong suit. Finally, we have to be careful not to simply accept one version of what’s going on. As there are a lot of factors to consider in my friends’ situation, there are also many things which influence the dynamics of business relationships in general. What does a sandwich manager do to help young employees establish the type of business relationship that you have with your veteran clients?

Begin with education. Spend more time helping your young professionals better understand how to communicate with your customers. After all, it’s not just about technical skills; part of their job is to maintain the relationship. Next, I would check with the customers directly, but discreetly. You don’t want your reps to think you’re checking on them. But at the same time, you need to get a clear understanding of any concerns your customers may have.Thirdly, I would conduct some training on the differences in attitudes between the generations. It’s probably safe to assume that both groups are leaping to mistaken assumptions about the other. Finally, I might ask the reps to bring the engineers along earlier in the relationship. This will allow them to get to know each other better. It will also allow both of them to see the other in action in front of the customer. But remember, these relationships take time.

The bottom  line  is  this: Building  and maintaining  relationships  is  important to any business. If you notice that your younger employees don’t value this aspect of the process, show them why it’s crucial, but more importantly, teach them how to maintain relationships with those who are much older than them.

Every summer, a colleague hires a large number of college students to work construction jobs in her firm. Over the past several years, she’s seen a noticeable decline in motivation. Her seasonal employees won’t work over time. They are consistently late, and fun seems more important than money to many of them. Is it her, or is this a national trend? Either way, what should she do about it?

It’s not her. Even in a slow economy we hear from employers around the country that the drive to earn summer money does not have the urgency for some that it once did. We can attribute this to a number of factors including larger allowances from older, more affluent Boomer parents. We might add to this the heavily-scheduled lives that teenagers lead. If you’re competing with sports and social activities, you’ll lose a good deal of the time. Finally, some students have simply budgeted for what they need. When they’ve earned that money, the life-balance argument wins out.

We’ve all found ourselves in similar situations. Perhaps you’re preparing right now to hire employees for this summer. In recruiting for seasonal positions, you’ll need to consider several factors:

• Your target market. What kind of students do you attract? Ivy League or community college? That’s not to say one is better than the other, but they certainly have different agendas. Where you advertise, and the job description you use, will have a direct impact on the applicants who knock on your door.

• Your selection practices. What questions do you ask? What methods do you use to determine attitudes about work and work ethic? Taking the time to put applicants “thru their paces” is just as important for part-timers as it is for full-timers.

• Your engagement efforts. What do you do to engage these young workers? Help them to understand the valuable work they contribute to the job. If you show you care, they will show that they care.

• Your retention efforts. Do you make a practice of recruiting students for multiple summers? What’s in it for them? Do you stay in touch during the year? Can they pick up work during spring and winter vacations? Maintaining the relationship is the key to retaining them over time.

This is the bottom line: Approach your seasonal hiring with the same care that you would approach the hiring for your full-time positions. If your attitude is that you need “warm bodies,” then you’ll get nothing short of that. In both your recruitment and retention efforts, target young applicants who are not only out to fill their coffers, but also who are looking either for consecutive summer employment or for a transition out of college and into a career.

1. Cured cancer.
2. Brought peace to the Middle East.
3. Joined the 1%.
4. Married a Kardashian.

But your own accomplishments are whatever you say they are. Case in point, how about the sweeping magnitude of this item from my own list:

16. Took my medicine daily.

Sounds pretty trivial, huh? Plus, taking medicine is something I “should” do, right? OK, but you know plenty of people don’t take what’s prescribed to them, don’t you? It’s ultimately a choice for health, wellness and self-care, and it’s a choice I’m conscious of making every day since I was treated for thyroid cancer in 2008.

I’m proud of this accomplishment, as small as it may seem in comparison to having your own TV reality show.

Yep, when I look at my list, I realize just how productive I’ve been this year, creating several new programs and earning more income than ever before.

Ever.

Now, there’s an accomplishment that feels really good.

All my accomplishments feel good, to tell you the truth, once I put them on paper and honored them.

My list of 25 Accomplishments – overachiever that I am, turned out to be 28 items – gave me a launching point to look at how my accomplishments line up with my key values. Know your own values? Think about the things that light you up, the things that are vitally important, the things you can’t live without. For me, it’s:
Taking care of my financial, spiritual and emotional health
Being a good enough parent
Leading
Learning
Being the nerdy geek girl that I am, I actually tabulated how many of my accomplishments related to one or more of my values, using teeny-tiny hash marks. And guess what? That information is already pointing me to what I want to do more of in 2012.

Sweet.

And useful. Practical. And really productive.

Want to give it a shot yourself? Hey, if you need some help figuring it all out, download the Personal Planning Tool for 2012 – available at my website as my gift to you. You can use the Tool to review 2011, identify your accomplishments, and get your thoughts together for what you’d like to get done next year. And if you want, you can take it to a whole other level by making another list – let’s call it The Gratitude List. Can you list 25 people or things you’re grateful for?

I can. Again, the overachiever in me found twenty-six items to list, but let me tell you about:

10. The kindness of strangers.

And,

11. People who help me when I ask.

Kinda linked, yet kinda not. But I’ll tell you, I could never have had as many accomplishments in 2011 if it hadn’t been for #10 and #11. If it hadn’t been for you. Because you are on my Gratitude List. You readers and clients, family and friends. Oh, you’re on my List. Right up there at the top. Right where you belong.

Veteran workers in general seem to be intrinsically motivated to work hard. They often show up early, stay until the work is done, and need little supervision. A lot of this has to do with experience, but the motivation to work appears to come from within.

Sometimes supreme confidence and charisma can mask an unwillingness to truly get the work done in a timely and efficient manner. People in their late teens and twenties generally seem to have no sense of loyalty to the job, or as some would call it, a lack of work ethic. If there is something more interesting to do, they casually call in sick. When one challenges their sense of responsibility, they say things like, “My girlfriend’s car broke down and she needed a ride to the mall, so I took the day off.” Working a job is something they do to fill their down time. A colleague mentioned to me that a 20-year-old new hire asked him why it was so important to be there everyday. “There’s always going to be somebody to do the work,” he said. How does a sandwich manager instill a sense of responsibility and hard work in their young employees?

There is no simple answer. Over the past 50 years we have been blessed with a workforce full of people who came of age at a time when hard work was the only kind of work. With the age of technology upon us, youngsters see the world focusing on convenience at every whim. They think, “If my parents can benefit from this, why not me?”

Begin by taking a look at your hiring practices. Don’t assume that new workers possess the same loyalty as your long-timers. Test them. Observe them in action. Hold them to a higher standard than “upright, warm, and breathing.” Recognize that young people are no longer simply thankful to have the job. They have no expectation that they will remain more than a couple of years anyway. You have to educate them about the vital role they play within your organization and what’s in it for them. Otherwise, it simply becomes another throwaway job.

Finally, you must stay in touch with those you hire. Employee motivation is far different from what it was even ten years ago. Younger workers need constant feedback and reassurance. In much the same way your veteran employees derive satisfaction knowing that they put in a good day’s work, younger workers generally respond to praises and public recognition for a job well done.

Remember that people used to go to work for organizations, but leave managers. Now they work for managers, and leave organizations. People used to go to work for organizations, but leave managers. Now they work for managers, and leave organizations.

Here is the bottom line: While work ethic is a relative term, motivation isn’t. When you can identify your employees’ sources of motivation–external or internal–and use those to reward productive behavior, you’ll hardly notice any differences in “work ethic” between your older and younger charges. For more on this topic, please visit our website and read about work ethic on our F.A.Q page.

Justin is a project manager with 30 years of public service. The “twenty-something” he hired several months ago graduated from college with a 3.95 GPA, but he just can’t get used to her blasé attitude about work. Although he has tried to set a good example by keeping her in the loop on every project and praising what she does, she just smiles and says, “I know.” It’s become increasingly apparent to him that she’s building experience in his agency for the expressed purpose of taking it into the private sector as soon as possible. How should Justin both motivate an employee like her and keep her for the long term?

I advised that Justin begin by reflecting on whether the employee is truly meeting the goals and expectations he set months ago (assuming that he did set clear expectations). Sometimes supreme confidence and charisma can mask an unwillingness to truly get the work done in a timely and efficient manner. There is no need here for him to be charitable. He should judge her dispassionately.

Once he had been assured that she is in fact performing to expected standards, I advised that Justin consider approaching her about his concerns with regard to her “resume building.” He should be careful to focus on behaviors rather than flippant comments. He should ask about her long-term motivation and career desires. If she denies that she has an ulterior motive, he might summarize by saying, “I’m glad to hear that you’re planning to make this agency a long-term commitment. Let’s meet again to discuss how you might take advantage of its opportunities.” If her motives are not pure, she will be forced to recant or live with the fact that she is misleading her manager.

In conjunction with all this, however, the project manager should remember to put himself in his employee’s shoes and examine the true opportunities she has to mature within the agency. If she really is a promising performer, it’s probably to going to take more than compliments and keeping her in the loop to get her invested long-term. One can’t blame a truly talented young employee for the desire to gain the experiences that will propel her career. If Justin’s organization has career advancement opportunities, he should make them known and reward behaviors that show long-term commitment.

For the entry level contributor, no one really sits down and says “This is what your work looks like.” In some cases, the individual has learned some of this through an internship, but that is still not very common. Most young people graduate from a four-year school, community college or trade school and show up on the first day. They are surrounded by people doing what they do everyday. No one really stops to show them how to fit it and what the given expectations are about the environment. Even their supervisor is probably shoe-horning them into an already busy schedule.

Yes, human resources has an orientation and someone probably sits them down and gives them the rules and regs. But in professional environments especially, there are not a set of didactic instructions like they might have received in hourly positions flipping burgers. One week they’re students, and the next week they’re professionals. It’s enough to make their heads spin.

Now some will argue that there are millions of bright, hardworking young adults out there who don’t deserve to be saddled with this gross generalization. They are absolutely right. At the same time, we cannot equate book smarts with the native knowledge it takes to successfully integrate into a new job. Sure these young people know what to do, theoretically, but will they do it ably and with confidence? After all, it’s one thing to have a degree in business, for instance. It is another to know how to behave on the job as a professional. So what to do?

Begin by screening for situational awareness and everyday critical thinking. Most interviews have become so routine that both sides know what the other is going to say. Put applicants in motion. Walk them around the facility. Observe how they interact with the environment. See how they greet people. Watch their eyes for signs that they feel comfortable and confident. For more on this, read our free article “Interviewing by Walking Around.”

Consider the questions they ask. Do these questions demonstrate that they’ve done their homework on your organization? Do they demonstrate a knowledge of the business? Can they discuss nuanced issues related to what you do?

Finally, put them to work. Place them in real and simulated situations and watch how they behave when the task or solution is not all that clear. Watching them perform will provide you with insights into how they deal with those “common sense” situations that most experienced contributors take for granted.

Provide a practical orientation. Show every new young Millennial how the business operates. How does it make money? Be specific with examples. Provide them with a list of typical scenarios they might encounter on the job and how to resolve them. Do this up front rather than waiting for them to ask. This helps them overcome the anxiety of looking “dumb” from the get-go because they don’t know how to resolve seemingly simple problems.

Create a buddy system for the first 30 days. Identify those you consider both competent and approachable. Ask them if they would be willing to shepherd a new young employee or two for about a month or so. Nothing complicated, they just serve as a resource to answer questions, provide a bit of encouragement, and help them work through minor day-today issues. Without you asking, these individuals will probably observe their charges’ strengths and weaknesses and pass along any concerns they might have. That way you can get a jump on how this person will perform and their approach to problem-solving.

Provide lots of feedback. Much has been written about Millennials’ desire for regular and specific feedback. Regardless of how you as a manager feel about this, do it and reap the rewards of more productive young contributors.

To sum up, ask yourself:

• Are we screening for situational awareness and everyday critical thinking?
• Are we providing a practical orientation so Millennial employees will clearly understand how the business operates along with how they fit into the big picture?
• Have we created a buddy system for all new employees, especially the Millennials?
• Are we making a practice of providing regular and specific feedback to our Millennial employees?

That’s a real shift from the days of the unwritten employment contract that whispered, as long as you show up and do your job, you’ll have a job until you retire. In those days Americans didn’t need community in the workplace, they found it in the community. They felt relatively safe and secure. They joined clubs, attended churches, volunteered services, and enjoyed neighborhood socials.

The era of gold watch employment ended when mergers and acquisitions began. Safety and security was something you bought in the hardware store.  Two career families were the order of the day and multi tasking meant you worked more than one job. There wasn’t time to do anything but job #1 and that meant keeping your job.

Fewer people socialized for the camaraderie, for the sport, for the good of it. (For more on this, check out Bowling Alone, The Collapse and Revival of American Community, by Robert D. Putnam, Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University.  Dr. Putnam was in Greensboro in November and spoke with community leaders about research that describes 30 years of declining interest and trust in networks and communities, and the impact that has on education, crime, and the economy.)

Today, employees have jobs that last from pay check to pay check with no guarantees attached. Accordingly, they have responded with their own unwritten agreement: I’ll stay as long as you provide what I need and if someone else can provide more of it, I’ll go with them.

Employees say, in record numbers, that they are stressed by the uncertainty they experience in the workplace. What they want at the end of the day is to go home and cocoon until they have to venture out again. They don’t have the energy to socialize, at least not like they used to.

If workplace stress erodes social capital, individuals are less effective. Those catchy phrases, “Keep your head down”; “watch your back”; “trust no one”; collide with a basic human need to connect to places and people where and with whom they spend more time and energy than anywhere else.

Many people see socializing as a need more than a want. For them it’s about synergy and the whole being greater than the sum of its parts; that people feel more in balance and productive when they interact with others in venues where they find mutual value, importance, and respect.

The good news is that savvy business leaders are reading the polls, watching the surveys, and counting the numbers of employees who leave and don’t return.  They’re getting it and responding in ways that are working.

For the last five years Fortune Magazine has published its list of 100 Best Companies to Work for In America. The summary data, based on questionnaires completed by company employees, describe many of the “best” companies valuing what’s important to the people who work for them. They highlight companies that donate time and money to community causes; that train, develop, and educate their employees.

They focus on leader/managers who communicate, non stop, the vision and values of the company; what’s important, why, and how each employee can contribute individually and as a team, to making it happen. They say that the best companies do the right things for the right reasons and encourage their employees to do the same.

* * * *

Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com

Although I get next to no good information about what my first grader does in school every day (I don’t remember,mom!) I have some memory of grade school learning,from the exciting and experiential to the tedious but somehow satisfying rote memorization of multiplication tables.  I didn’t spend a lot of time in those days wondering why I was learning or how I’d apply it.  I didn’t secretly think I could have learned what I needed more quickly and less painfully by just googling it.

Adults have prior life experience,belief systems,and assumptions – and they bring them to the discussion.  If you want to engage a room, make sure there are opportunities for participants to share and discuss their own experiences,beliefs,and prior knowledge.  The quickest way to lose a room,and enrage an audience,is to act as though participants don’t know anything.

• Make sure your examples are relevant to the people in the room.
• Put people in small groups around a problem to solve
• Learn something about your audience before you begin – whether formally by making some advance calls or informally by wandering around asking questions.  Integrate that information into your training.

Adults learn better when their role is active. The same could be said of humans of all ages,but adults can fool you,because sometimes they act as though they’d like to absorb information passively.  Don’t let it happen!

Ask them to share basic information about themselves and their organization

• Break up into small group discussions.  NOTE:  rooms of adults will often resist breaking up into small groups.  They’ll say things like:  “but I don’t want to miss anything that anyone says!  Why don’t we discuss this as a full group instead?!”   Breaking into small groups is almost always the right thing to do.
• Give them a problem,ask for suggestions
• Invite them to share an experience or reflection

Adults learn in different ways. Again,because adults often act as though they can all learn well by listening doesn’t mean that they can.  We’ve just been well-trained to sit quietly in our seats.

• Vary your methods.  Use visuals.  Offer handouts. Move them around. Give them something to write on.  Ask them to draw.  Ask them to talk to a partner.
• Whenever doing flipchart or listing exercises,encourage people to draw as well as write.
• Offer resources for continued learning after the session.

• Stop periodically and ask people to share an insight with a partner or in a small group.
• Ask participants to complete this sentence “now that I know this,I will…..”
• Use a structured exercise to invite closing reflections.  One that I like involves a square (what squares with what you already knew?),a triangle (new angles you picked up),and a circle (what’s still circling around in your head).  Cheesy?  Yes.  But effective.

****

Jessica Bearman works with philanthropic and other mission-based organizations,helping them to have greater impact and more fun.  Her work focuses on facilitation,organization development,strategic planning,and project research &development. Jessica is the former deputy director of New Ventures in Philanthropy,a national initiative of the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers to promote philanthropic giving,particularly among populations historically alienated from mainstream philanthropy. Prior to her work in philanthropy,Jessica spent nine years doing program development and fundraising for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation,an environmental nonprofit based in Maryland.  She has an undergraduate degree from Brown University and a Masters in Organization Development from American University/National Training Laboratory.  She lives in the wilds of Idaho with her family.

“Momma loved to get into her car and drive wide open. Only problem was she’d fall asleep at the wheel. She’d sleep anywhere she’d put herself and she was more apt to put herself at the wheel than anywhere else.”

Momma had narcolepsy and Sally was the designated child to keep her alive. Sally was the fourth of four, didn’t have a daddy, and was the one most likely to do anything she and her momma set their minds to doing. She was, hands down, her mother’s favorite.

Little wonder that when momma had just about enough of the round eyed “huh-us? “ of her three other children, she’d take off to the garage and back out the old Plymouth. Grinding gears and dialing up the radio, she’d start yelling for Sally to jump in quick.

Sally learned to run real fast when she’d hear the screen door slam and momma halloo to her. Momma wanted to get out in the cool night air, driving 80 miles an hour on country roads and hairpin curves, before she’d fall asleep again.

“Saaaallllllyyyyyy!!!” she’d be hollering. “Keep your blessed mother awake. Talk to me child, talk to me loud!”

Sally would bounce on her haunches, ears set up high like a terrier’s, talking and laughing and singing at the top of her lungs. She was having another electric evening with momma, keeping her awake at the wheel while they’d fly into the night. While they’d fly by the stars.

That was a long time ago. Now, Sally’s the grown up vice president of sales and marketing for a large consumer goods manufacturer, and the acknowledged right hand to a smart as a whip entrepreneur who doubles as a president and change agent.

He values Sally’s ability to know what he wants before he wants it, her ability to take risk and maintain a sense of balance amidst the chaos and ambivalence that risk creates. Above all, he values her ability to inhale his frenetic energy and exhale calm and confidence. Their combination is unbeatable.

For years recruiters have plied her with opportunities to lead companies; they implore her to “just talk with the search committee. Listen to what they’re telling you, Sally. You can do this! The sky’s the limit for you.”

She’ll have none of it. She knows who she is and what she does best. She’s not about to jump, untethered, into a career abyss. She knows what she brings to the table and is well compensated for it. Her career has taken off like her mother’s Plymouth and she’s not about to crash into Old Man Peabody’s store.

Mr. Peabody ran the general store at Cooper’s Crossing.  He was an ornery old coot and there wasn’t a soul in town who wanted to get around him. He probably never slept ‘cause you could see him, day or night, leaning on the counter next to the cash register, staring at nothing in particular. That was until the night momma flew into his store. Or crashed into it; depending on your perspective.

Sally and momma had taken off on one of their hair-raising rides through the countryside. Momma seemed different that night; she was calmer and drove like most other folks. The radio was turned down low, and somebody was singing something soft and sweet. Lulled by the near gentleness of the ride, Sally took her eyes off momma, and off the road ahead, and fell asleep.

It was then, or a second later, that they landed smack on top of the general store. Lucky for Mr. Peabody, he glimpsed momma and me and the car coming. That was just before it came to rest on the other side of the cash register.

He took a liking to momma, who took a liking to him, which kept her out of trouble, and Sally got to finish growing up. Years would pass before she’d realize how profound the experience was and how large a part it played in how she lived her life.

Sally’s willing to take the necessary risks when the goal feels right and the people wanting it are worth the challenge. What she learned from growing up with her mother was to anticipate: anything can take you off course.

She’s learned to evaluate, on the fly when necessary, that sometimes you have to take control away from those people who can destroy more than what looks like a summer night’s drive to the moon.

That’s what Sally does, and her boss trusts her to do it well.

* * * *

Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.

Life is all about the cupcakes.

I want you to maximize your potential.

You’re always at your best when you center in your strengths and focus on your true priorities.

When you know your values and serve them daily.

When you accept who you are and get to the place of self-respect and self-love.

When you live the life you were meant to live.

I want you to be able to make your career work for you, rather than the other way around.

You can be yourself and succeed.

There are no “shoulds”, only choices.

You are the best expert on you – not your boss, not your co-workers, not anyone else. You.

Stress can be a motivator, but too much of it saps your energy and makes you sick.  Workplace drama masquerading as “stress” is pointless.

You have the capacity to design a life that’s right for you.  On all counts.

I want you to be supremely clear.

So you can make the best possible decisions for yourself.

Without getting stuck.

Or hung up.

Because good decisions beget more good decisions. And I want more good in your life.

But most of all, I want you to be happy.  I want you to wake up ready to engage with the day.  To have that energetic kind of enthusiasm that makes work feel effortless.  To enjoy what you’re doing so much that you lose track of time. To go to bed feeling fulfilled, connected and satisfied.  To have fun.

I want all of this for you.

And that’s why I do what I do.

Thanks for letting me.

***

Michele Woodward (www.lifeframeworks.com) is a Master Certified Coach, author, speaker and teacher, who helps people get clear about who they are and what they want to do – and develop a workable action plan to get where they want to go. She is the author of Lose Weight, Find Love, De-Clutter & Save Money: Essays on Happier Living, available at Amazon.com and is the founder of Career Invention Coach Training (www.careerinvention.com) – focused on training coaches to understand the new rules of work –  and Kick Ass Mentoring (www.kickassmentoring.com) – a marketing training program for coaches. She’s thrived in a number of high-level, high-pressure positions – at The White House, in corporate America – and has served as an advisor to entrepreneurs.  Michele is a sought-after speaker, leads a number of workshops and classes, teaches in Martha Beck’s well regarded coach training program, and writes a popular blog.