Category: Performance Management

I’ve heard millennials called many things. Lazy. Entitled. Spoiled.

Then I came across an article on Today.com that reminded me millennials aren’t the first generation to be labeled negatively. Writer Tom Wolfe dubbed the Baby Boomers as the “Me Decade” in his article The “Me” Decade and the Third Great Awakening. Paul Begala referred to Boomers in Esquire magazine as “the most self-centered, self-seeking, self-interested, self-absorbed, self-indulgent, self-aggrandizing generation in American history.”

Gen Xers were also the targets of such negative monikers. I still have a letter to the editor that graced my local paper my senior year of high school from a “concerned citizen” that dubbed my generation as “functional illiterates”. And yet many of us Gen Xers are successful. We are well respected leaders. We are innovators in our fields.

So, I asked myself if what is said about millennials is really true and I did a little research.

A 2014 study by Forbes Magazine showed that of the 80% of millennials who owned a smartphone, 87% checked their work email after hours on a regular basis and 37% always did. That same study showed that while only 13% aspire to climb the corporate ladder, 67% hope to start their own company.

That doesn’t sound lazy to me. It sounds like dedication, and it sounds like they have goals. Those goals are just different than those of the generations before them.

Unlike the generations before them, they are not content to work the nine to five, put in a day’s work, and leave it at the door when the whistle blows. They don’t believe in a work-life balance, they believe in a work-life integration. And achieving that work-life integration means having to think outside of the box. Sometimes, way outside of the box!

The Forbes article called millennials the True Entrepreneur generation. But while 67% aspire to start their own business, a 2014 report by the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy shows that only two percent of millennials, compared to 7.6 percent of Gen Xers, and 8.3 percent of Boomers have actually started their own companies. Why? In part due to their lack of experience in the workforce and lack of business acumen. But also in part due to those pesky student loans that followed them out of college, and those loans often keep them from being able to gain the startup capital needed to get a business off the ground.

The plight of the millennial generation is something companies should take advantage of and view as a potential asset. There is an entire group of young, eager to learn individuals out there just waiting to find the right opportunity. They are an often-untapped recruiting market for organizations. Yes, their ultimate goal now might be to own their own company down the road. But goals change. I know mine did. If you can get them in the door, give them a great opportunity, you might just show them the benefits your organization can offer them long-term.

They want to be a part of an organization where they can truly make a difference, be a part of the bigger picture, and soak up as much knowledge as quickly as they can.

If organizations can harness the energy that millennials have it can be a win-win. Remember that millennials are driven by purpose and want social connection. I found it interesting that according to an article on Time.com, 51% of millennials still want face-to-face interaction over other forms of communication. But they want that interaction to be meaningful, not just wasted time.

Find a way for your organization to benefit from the entrepreneurial spirit of millennials and you may find them to be some of the greatest contributors to your organization.

What is your organization doing to tap into the millennial market and harness their entrepreneurial spirit?

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1 in 4 people say their jobs are the most stressful part of their lives. What is creating stress in the workplace and how can it be resolved?

Rajeev Behera, CEO of Reflektive, says that a fear-based work culture where nothing is ever good enough is a main cause of stress in the workplace. This occurs when managers use intimidation tactics, putting more value on the employees that put in the most hours, instead of those who are team players.

Rajeev saw this first-hand in his work life before founding Reflektive, a performance management and talent development software company, where he is CEO.   In a fear-based environment, he said, “Managers task managed instead of people managed.  A focus was always placed on the past judged by the metric of what tasks were completed or not completed.”  As result of this mindset, Rajeev saw a culture of intimidation taking over the workplace.

This resulted in the wrong things being measured and rewarded, leading to nothing ever being good enough.  For example, Rajeev points to time spent at work as one thing that was measured, instead of results.  “Time”, he says, “is subjective. How much is enough?  And you can never give enough of it.”

So how do you change it?  Rajeev emphasizes several key points in helping managers move a fear based culture where nothing is ever good enough to one that is employee and future focused:

1.  Set goals:  Instead of measuring things like time that are subjective, set goals with employees and monitor and measure performance based on the progress of these goals. Empower the employee to take the first pass to set their goals each quarter and collaborate to agree on realistic outcomes.
2.  Be collaborative and agile in your future focus: Rajeev encourages leaders to, “talk about it (goals and projects) while they are being worked on so employee and manager can partner together.  Because things can change quickly, the goals can be adjusted when needed. This is contrasted with the manager just saying ‘go, do and don’t bother me till it’s done and perfect.’ This fear-based approach leads the manager to become judge and evaluator instead of collaborator and coach.”

Rajeev says that one of their most popular products is Agile Goal Management, because it makes sure that goal setting is a “Collaborative process- not just one-sided- so both manager and employee agree.  And if expectations change, they can edit it together, document, and focus on what to do to move the business forward.”

“So how do you get managers to become coaches instead of evaluators?” I asked Rajeev.

He offered these practical steps:

1.   “Discuss the why, not just the “what” to do.”  The why comes back to achieving business success by treating people as partners instead of task completers.
2.   Diagnose the current culture.  Rajeev said you can do this by paying attention to “How the employees and managers talk. For example, in meetings, when there is a problem or process that is not up to par, how is the leader phrasing an action item? A fear-based approach will phrase it as something that isn’t done, placing it in the red, or when it should be done or already have been done, and saying things like ‘why didn’t we already have that done?’  This demonstrates a culture of negative reinforcement where nothing is ever good enough.”

In contrast, leaders with a future oriented approach ask questions about what can and should take place to accomplish a goal and help employees plan from there.

3. Mandatory weekly one-on-ones and quarterly check-ins. Future oriented cultures, focus on employees and managers having regular, one-on-one checks, but as Rajeev says, “it up to you (the manager) to decide on what’s  important to focus on and as a leader, manage your schedule and flow of these meetings accordingly.”  People managers actually meet with people, so the one-on-ones provide a time for relationship building, giving clear instructions up front, setting goals and talking about career development as it relates to organizational and personal goals and priorities. Quarterly check-ins provide the opportunity to step back and discuss progress, readjust objectives, and plan for how the manager can help the employee achieve their goals over the next quarter.

This approach allows you to “talk about it while you’re working on it so we can partner together, instead of the go do and don’t bother me till it’s done and perfect,” says Rajeev.

4.  Focus on career development.  “Coaches instead of fear-based managers,” Rajeev says, “figure out what employees want to do with their career and where they want to go, and then they give them projects to help reach those goals. Many people leave a company because they see a lack of opportunities.”

While we can learn from the past, a focus on the future is what drives performance management today. Equipping organizations with the tools to look forward, instead of backward, inadvertently leads us to think about the possibilities of how great we can be instead of thinking nothing is ever good enough.