Working Across Generations

Over the last few years I have had MANY discussions with employers and their staff about challenges working with the “young people of today”. (Now for those of you reading who are those young people – don’t worry I will not be ranting on as you expect!)

In fact there were so many discussions and so much passion in the discussion that it became obvious that I had to learn more about the so called Generation Y, or Millenials or Echo Boomers. How interesting that journey has been and continues to be!

Lets set the scene, I have a business owner, a department head, a team leader, all making negative comments about their GenY employees. The sort of things I heard included they were impatient, lazy, want to be nurtured (constant feedback, immediate recognition) at work, demand workplace flexibility. They are unresponsive to motivational tactics, are motivated not only by money, but also fun and their social life, they are easily bored, have no job or brand loyalty, they focus on their life rather than work (work to live).

They are slack in their appearance, from a workforce perspective: they are difficult to attract, harder to manage and are proving near impossible to retain. They are image conscious, wont automatically give respect, are materialist and demand the rationale behind any request of them (Gen WHY).

So have you ever thought about why they are this way? What about this as an idea:

They have no job or company loyalty because they watched their parents work for years for an employer, working long hours, giving up family time, only to be made redundant in the down turn in the 1990’s.

They are not only motivated by money, but also fun and their social life, because they have been told by their parents (people like you and me) to get out and have a good time – don’t spend all your time at work, get some balance!

They are impatient because their parents always worked hard to give them things that we didn’t get. We didn’t want them to wait to save, they learned about credit cards. We have microwave ovens (that seem to take forever!) and digital cameras that don’t have film that needs to be taken completely or need to go to be developed.

They want constant recognition at work because they are used to it at home. How good am I – ‘you are fabulous darling!’

There is so much discussed about the negatives, but not a lot of us taking responsibility for the wonders we have created.

But what about the other side? There are some positive aspects of this generation that need to be highlighted, to decrease these generational barriers and create a more cohesive workforce with more satisfied employers and employees. And there are plenty of positives about these individuals.

Furthermore, times are changing. Generation Y is here to stay and will be a major part of the Australian workforce. And they can be beneficial to any organisation, bringing youthful idealism and energy, a fresh view to the industry, new qualifications and a 21st century perspective to life. So really, it is time for us Baby Boomers and Gen X’s to change our paradigm and get over it!

Improving Employee Communication

Internal communications includes all communication within a business. It could be oral or written, face to face or virtual, one-on-one or in groups. Today there are a plethora of techniques and technologies used to communicate, both up/down and side-to-side within an organization.

Whereas the ‘top-down’, employer-driven communication is great for setting a communication agenda or discussion point, it is the peer-to-peer employee communications that often determines the tone of the business. As you may have experienced in the past, employees are given a message and then informally discuss with each other their views and opinions, out of earshot of ‘the boss’. Smart organizations recognise that employees will always talk with each other, so it is better to set the agenda and informal discussion points than have them dictated by uninformed staff.

A large number of studies by both management groups and communications bodies consistently finds that ‘communicating with employees’ is a useful and powerful way of engendering greater ‘engagement’ – the propensity of the employee to want to come to work and want to contribute to the success of the company.

Some employee consultants argue that engagement is at a lower level now than 20 years ago (mostly due to the changes in job security, the shifting demographics of the workforce and the more fluid requirements of businesses to be able to change to meet the demands of their rapidly changing marketplaces).

Smart businesses realize that in environments where employees are able to move from one employer to another with relative ease, it is in the company’s best interests to retain the smarter and more productive employees; doing all they can to communicate with them, inform them, influence them and enter into some sort of psychological contract with them is a wise move. Implementing these key principles can assist in this.

Equally, in environments where employees have less chance to move, smart employers recognise that an unhappy and trapped employee is a potential liability. The University of South Australia’s Centre for Human Resource Management has found that 31 per cent of organisational leavers are poached away. But of even greater concern is the finding that just under half of all employees who left their employer did so because of a bad experience, such as being passed over for promotion or because of ongoing unresolved issues.

Managing Performance at Your Place

We are just starting a brand new (financial year) in one of the most challenging times ever. Many of us have had to change the structure of our business, lay off staff and rethink our priorities.
We have people in our organisations that we are trusting with the vision for our business and we are working hard to maintain productivity levels and customer satisfaction results.
What can we do to make sure we keep our people fired up and excited?
My previous newsletters have talked about many of the environmental and cultural things you can do in your workplace. But key to the business success is an effective performance management process.

So what should it include? I have 15 questions for you to consider how your business could benefit from improved performance and productivity from your people.

· Do you have a documented performance review process;
· Does the system apply to everyone;
· Is everyone trained in the use of the system;
· Are reviews undertaken regularly - 30 mins every 3 months;
· Does your system promote for continuous informal feedback;
· Are your position descriptions used as the basis for the review;
· Is the tool clear and simple to understand;
· Does it have objective measures, set down during the probation period and agreed by the employee;
· Are there qualitative and quantitative measures;
· Are poor performers easily identified;
· Are they managed swiftly – to improve or leave;
· Are there action plans for all under performers;
· Do you address managers with poor management skills;
· Are employees with poor communication and people skills never promoted to management roles?

It is good business practice to set up an effective performance management system; it helps improve the performance and productivity of individuals and teams. And that can only be good for the profit at your place!

Creating Raving Fans

We all know that our Customers are the heart of our business, and it is critical that they are happy with the products or services we provide. I’d like to introduce you to a new concept to help you provide service beyond their expectations, to create life-long customers and improve your business’ performance.

“Raving Fans” is a book written by Ken Blanchard, released in 1993. The concept behind creating Raving Fan customers is simply to figure out what the vision for your business is, check your vision against that of your customer, and then deliver against that vision plus 1%.

Read more about Raving Fans

Simply put, as the owner of a business, you have the power to either turn people toward your business or turn them away.

When your vision is in place for how you want to interact with customers—deliver against that plus 1% improvement every day. The great thing about vision is that it changes with time, customer needs, market needs, and personal or professional needs. Adjust it as you need to, but continue to deliver the core of what you started when you realigned yourself to create true “Raving Fans” customers.

Raving Fan customers won’t even think about going anywhere but to you, and they will tell everyone about how great your offer is.

I’d like to add another element to this. If you create Raving Fan Staff, just imagine how many more sales people you have out there talking about your business! And then imagine the experience your customers are having when they work with your business!

So what are you doing to inspire and excite your people? Think about the environment they are in; the work they do; where they want to be.

Empower, listen, praise, support, guide, and help your people win at work and personally. Lead at a higher level. Lead your people to greatness as you create a high performing business that makes life better for everyone.

To survive in business —you need Raving Fan customers. And to get them, you need Raving Fan Staff!

Inspire Success: Inspiring Success - a focus on wages costs

Inspire Success: Inspiring Success - a focus on wages costs

Your Competitive Edge - Your People

Get ahead of the rest!

What a challenge we have at the moment to keep working away in our businesses, providing excellent service to our customers; to be spending some strategic time looking at our product or service and determining what customers in this changing economy are looking to buy; AND trying to differentiate ourselves from other people in our market.

I think if you focus on the unique experience you provide for your people, they will do the rest for you. By building on employee confidence, they will become your raving fans, and sell to existing and potential customers. People coming to your business will feel the attitude and passion for your business and want to spend more time around you and your people. All of this equates to more dollars spent and more profit for your business.

Have you heard about the the approach that Woolworths Chief Michael Luscombe is taking? He has said that Woolworths’ view is “don’t believe in a recession and try your darndest to keep going. Now is the time to be positive. We’ve made a decision to stick to our guns and follow through with our strategy.” This gives the Woolies staff evidence that he is in control and that he has a plan for the future.

So what can you do to maximise your people as your competitive edge?

1. Provide a unique experience
× How are you different from all the other employers? Do you provide a different environment or philosophy? Maybe you have a unique approach to your people management?
× EVP – the employee value proposition is what they are interested in – what’s in it for them?
× Do you offer flexible work practices; can they start later or finish earlier to allow them to do the other things that are important to them?
× Are you involved in the local community, or do you have a charity-giving program? Do you only use green products or have a carbon neutral scheme? Generation Y employees especially see this as a real positive.

2. Forget your old paradigms!
× One of the hallmarks of a creative company is a willingness to listen to everyone within the business and pay close attention to their ideas and suggestions.
× Be flexible and open to new ways of thinking or doing things, your staff or customers can have the best way of doing things in this new environment. It might be a new product or service – keep your options open.
× Respect is not automatic. Gen Y staff wont give you the credit just because you are the boss – you have to earn their respect. Treat them as you want to be treated, enjoy them for who they are. (Oh – and get over it! They will soon be the majority of the workforce and it is you who must change the way you think for your business to benefit.)

3. Be open and honest!
× Front line employees in customer service, delivery, purchasing, operations, and sales often have powerful money saving or customer building ideas at their fingertips. Give them the forum to share them.
× One on one review’s should happen for 30minutes every 3 months. Your daily informal catch ups should not stop, but save some focused time for each of your people where you listen and tell them how much they mean to the success of the business.
× Make your staff and customer experience as good as it can be. Don’t just satisfy them – make them raving fans!
× Commit to a development plan, not just professional but also personal or fitness or spiritual – whatever is important to each of your people.
× If you need to reduce costs in your business, tell your people in advance. Consider some of the many options available before you reduce your head count. Don’t let this be a surprise, respect and support is borne from honesty.
× Lasting relationships are built in hard times – this is true for your staff and your customers.

Don’t underestimate the value of your people being your competitive edge. As always, your customers experience of your product or service is your best advertisement. Your people will be remembered long after the experience of buying your product or service.

Inspiring Success - a focus on wages costs

Are you working harder right now? Is your biggest expense your staff? Are you thinking about laying one (or some) off? Did you know you can implement some innovative cost saving ideas before you do that? Businesses preparing to thrive recognise that losing staff now means they lose their competitive edge in the future. There are simple things you can do now that really make a difference to your bottom line.

Here are 3 things businesses are implementing NOW to reduce their people costs:

1. Review your staffing mix.

Do you need to have everyone set up as permanent? Why not consider a mixture of casual, part time, full time, limit term contracts and trainees? You could save 20% of your wages cost by changing your 5 day workers to 4 days!

2. Reduce your liability.

Lower salaries – there are legal issues here, but in this environment, staff are often prepared to negotiate. Limit salary increases and paid overtime. Defer or reduce bonus payments. Keep annual and long service leave accruals to the allowable minimums.

3. Focus on Retention.

What is unique about your workplace? Why should your team stay and help you succeed? Offer work practices that are flexible for both of you. Rework superannuation salary sacrifice arrangements to assist with their cash flow. You will reduce your wages cost by 10% if you work on 9 day fortnights for a fixed period!

Make it easy for your people to get on with work in this economy. Talk to them more than you ever have before. Lasting relationships are built in hard times – this is true for your staff, your suppliers and your customers!

I challenge you to look from a different perspective and implement one or some of these strategies to prepare your business and team for great times to come. No one wants to let staff go, give these ideas a try before you get to that point.