Susan Scott's Blog, page 79

Fierce Resources: What Companies Are Getting Wrong About Every Generation

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published on FastCompany.com and was written by Stephen R. Fussell.

What Companies Are Getting Wrong About Every Generation addresses the idea of multiple generations that make up today’s organizations. Over the past year we’ve seen a fifth generation enter the workforce and now more than ever companies are challenged with how to manage this diverse workforce.  Instead of thinking about each generation as different, change the way you look at generations by asking yourself- what makes us the same? Have a conversation, you may be surprised what you find.

What commonalities do you share with those in your workplace?

“But in the actual workforce, the picture is more nuanced, and honestly, more important than one single workforce generation. Successful companies are woven from individuals working together in teams whose makeup spans the generations. They don’t revolve around one employee subgroup, despite what the headlines suggest.”

To read the full article, click here. 

The post Fierce Resources: What Companies Are Getting Wrong About Every Generation appeared first on Fierce Leadership Blog.

Fierce Resources: What Companies Are Getting Wrong About Every Generations

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published on FastCompany.com and was written by Stephen R. Fussell.

What Companies Are Getting Wrong About Every Generation addresses the idea of multiple generations that make up today’s organizations. Over the past year we’ve seen a fifth generation enter the workforce and now more than ever companies are challenged with how to manage this diverse workforce.  Instead of thinking about each generation as different, change the way you look at generations by asking yourself- what makes us the same? Have a conversation, you may be surprised what you find.

What commonalities do you share with those in your workplace?

“But in the actual workforce, the picture is more nuanced, and honestly, more important than one single workforce generation. Successful companies are woven from individuals working together in teams whose makeup spans the generations. They don’t revolve around one employee subgroup, despite what the headlines suggest.”

To read the full article, click here. 

The post Fierce Resources: What Companies Are Getting Wrong About Every Generations appeared first on Fierce Leadership Blog.

3 Tips to Motivate a Multigenerational Workforce

 

A common question that leaders have to wrestle with is: What motivates my employees? What moves them to action? What gets their fire going?

The challenge is that even when you figure out what inspires one group of people, that very same thing may not work for another. This is never truer than across the generations.

Leaders today have the unique experience of having up to four generations working together. This trend is very likely to become the norm. Given that, as a leader, you need to motivate many generations simultaneously.

How do you do this successfully? Below are three tips to help leaders learn how to motivate a multigenerational workforce and leverage the opportunity.

Tip #1: Realize that we’re more alike than different.

In Fierce Generations, we explore the characteristics of each generation, from Traditionalists to Gen Y. Then we ask the participants to choose which of those characteristics best describe them. The answers are usually surprising. As I wrote earlier this week, I picked many characteristics commonly attributed to my grandparents’ generation. More likely than not, your workforce has more in common than they think they do. As a leader, you can boost collaboration and motivate your group as whole by highlighting these similarities.

Tip #2: Look Backwards.

When leading individuals of different generations, you have to look backwards. In order to uncover what will motivate your employees in the future, you have to examine their experiences of the past. For example, going through the Great Depression, and then WWII, heavily shaped how the Traditionalist generation views business. Now, sixty plus years later, even though the world has changed, what motivates Traditionalists is still rooted in those experiences in the past. Spending some time understanding each generation’s history helps you as a leader to better recruit, train, and retain.

Tip #3: Go to your team.

If there is discord among your workforce due to the generation gap, take a step back and make sure that one generation isn’t dominating the conversation. If one generation is dominating who is in leadership positions, ask yourself: What generational perspective is being heard most often?

The answer isn’t to promote employees into leadership roles just because of their age. Instead leaders need to create a collaborative environment by harnessing the different generation’s perspectives. In our Team Model, we encourage leaders to look at their workforce like a beach ball. Each stripe of color represents a different viewpoint. When creating policies that will incentivize or motivate employees, don’t create them in a vacuum. Instead go straight to the source and open the conversation up to those you are trying to motivate.

As a leader, how do you motivate your multigenerational workforce?

A version of this blog was originally published on October 31, 2012.

The post 3 Tips to Motivate a Multigenerational Workforce appeared first on Fierce Leadership Blog.

Fierce Tip of the Week: Bust Generation Stereotypes

 

The media is buzzing every day with news of the latest epidemic of generational conflict. Over the past few months, the millennials are flipping things completely upside down while the boomers stand sternly, clenching status quo.

Well, how much is this really happening?

Over the last few months I’ve traveled to several conferences and corporate events, and during that time, I had several conversations about generations in the workforce. Most people say the generational gap is a real one, but admitted to knowing people who don’t fall into their generations’ stereotypes.

So I ask you: When have you defied your generation’s stereotypes? When have others around you? 

I am an “older” millennial, yet I hold some very “boomer” values and tendencies. In our Fierce Generations workshop, we do a values exercise in which participants choose values most important to them. The beauty is that most people walk away from the training acknowledging that they have values from all the different generations. There are more similarities than differences.

This week’s tip is to get curious and not make assumptions about different generations around you. Don’t assume the millennial would want to use technology over a face-to-face interaction. Don’t assume the boomer would want the face-to-face. Just ask.

Stay curious. We have so many things to accomplish together – we need all the perspectives we can get.

Fierce Resources: Friends at Work Make For Happier Employees- and a Better Bottom Line

This week’s Fierce resource comes from TLNT.com and was written by Ed Frauenheim.

Friends at Work Make For Happier Employees- and a Better Bottom Line reflects on the importance of developing connections with colleagues in your workplace. Since most of us spend at least 30-40 hours a week at work, having colleagues we consider friends is an important piece of the work-life balance puzzle.

What stops you from developing relationships in your workplace? Sometimes just starting a conversation is all it takes.

“Among the Fortune 100 Best Places to Work, employee survey scores for the statements “this is a friendly place to work” and “there is a ‘family’ or ‘team’ feeling here” have both risen from 1998 to 2014. And the positive score for “people care about each other here” has jumped 9 percentage points during that time, to 90 percent.”

To read the full article, click here.

Holding Back? 3 Tips to Foster More Feedback

Feedback. We all want it, and we rarely get enough of it.

Feedback taps into our emotional desire to be seen. We crave it.

When I feel like I am not giving or receiving enough feedback, I check in. Sometimes I am scared – about what the end result will be. However, I know if I don’t hear or say what I need to – I am missing an opportunity.

And sometimes it truly surprises me. During one of my regular one-on-one meetings with a team member, I asked for feedback. She immediately responded with, “I want more feedback.” My response, “Perfect – let’s talk about that.” We then had a conversation about what feedback meant and looked like for each of us.Sometimes it is that easy to take the first step.

Here are three tips to create more feedback around you:

1.  You never know until you ask.

Like I shared, the old adage is true here. Ask for feedback. Don’t assume that it will magically appear on your office desk or your kitchen table for that matter. It is nice when it does, but hoping is never a strategy.

Ask the people most important to you for feedback – the good, the bad, the ugly. It is all a gift. It does start with you here.

2.  Don’t judge a book by its cover.

Get curious about what feedback means to people around you. Ask about people’s preferences.

In meetings with team members, ask them specifically how they prefer to receive feedback. Some may want group critique – some private. Some may want verbal – some written. Make sure to listen and deliver it the way they prefer.

3.  Affirm me, please.

Positive feedback is often overlooked. Don’t hold it in. Go there.

Give your team members positive feedback and make it specific. In our Fierce Feedback model, we emphasize the importance of giving concrete, specific examples of what is done well. Instead of saying “You did a great job at that meeting” – be pointed and say “The way you handled the concern about our delivery time was very thoughtful and showed you did your research. Great work.” See the difference? 

There is a lot to gain when we have more feedback conversations – both personally and company-wide. In fact, research by Gallup shows that companies who implement regular employee feedback have turnover rates that are 14.9% lower than for employees who receive no feedback.

How are you going to start?

Fierce Tip of the Week: Tap Into Your Inner Child

He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed. – Albert Einstein

Being around children has a way of reminding you that the world is pretty amazing. Whether discovering a new bug or tying shoes for the first time, children oftentimes are in awe of how great it feels to be alive.

Along the way, we adults, start to take it for granted.

We love leaders and people who bring out our inner child. They unlock joy for us.

Who in your life reminds you that you can do the ”impossible”? Who helps you cultivate your creativity?

This week’s tip is to take a moment to be in awe of someone or something around you. Practice the art of living in the moment.

Fierce Resources: 12 Quiet Rituals of Enormously Successful Humans

This week’s Fierce resource comes from Marc and Angel Hack Life and was written by Angel Chernoff. 

12 Quiet Rituals of Enormously Successful Humans shares habits of those who have reached great success in their lives; self-made leaders like Bill Gates, Oprah, and J.K. Rowling. While it’s often impossible to complete multiple rituals in a day, there are certainly habits, practices, and actions that are in fact our own personalized rituals. Even the cup of coffee you have each morning when you arrive to your office.

So, what rituals do you practice that are healthy and productive? How about unhealthy rituals that you can change today?

“The result of enormous success is often pretty noisy – lots of people talking, writing and sharing stories about it.  The actual process of achieving enormous success, on the other hand, is far more discreet.  But it’s this process that happens quietly, behind-the-scenes, that makes all the difference in the world.”

To read the full article, click here.

The C-Level’s Recipe for Work-Life Balance

Fierce CEO, Halley Bock, was interviewed in this Business 2 Community article by Megan Ingenbrandt. It was originally posted here.

Add a dash of relaxation, and a pinch of hard work, and that should be the perfect recipe for balancing work and home, right? Wrong! With a growing family, a social life, and a full-time job, it can be hard for anyone to find the perfect balance between work and home.

But when you’re running the business, it can be even tougher. C-levels and entrepreneurs need breaks too, but how do they find the time? Do they let the two worlds cross over, or leave them separate? Is there a perfect recipe to balancing work and home life?

eZanga’s owners, Rich and Beth Kahn, try to keep the business out of their home, while others take a quite different approach – they turn the business into a family affair!

Add a Heavy Spoonful of Family…

Andrew Thompson of Peak Performance says he enjoys having his family mere feet from his office door:

“Because I travel often, I do spend time away from home, however, when I return I get to experience the joy of being a husband and a father, and being included in family activities. My kids are on the company pay roll as independent contractors, so they empty the trash, help me shred documents, clean windows and help Mommy prepare meals in the executive lounge (the kitchen).”

“I’m teaching our boys about my business and how to run a business. Both have expressed interest in wanting to run their own businesses someday and they are getting a daily education that you wouldn’t be able to get anyplace else.”

Halley Bock, of Fierce, Inc., has found that it’s not at all about keeping the realms of home and work separate, but successful delegation of tasks to manage time and de-stress. “A simple, yet, powerful way for leaders to unshed some of the burden and find some peace of mind is successful delegation. Effectively delegating tasks allows leaders to relax and get away from any unnecessary burdens, while freeing up valuable time for what is really important. It also helps others acquire new skills and responsibilities.”

Then Stir in a Dash of Love.

When it all comes down to it, you have to love what you’re doing to be a CEO or entrepreneur. Nima Noori, of TorontoVaporizer.ca, says, “Ultimately, the balance should come from within. If you have to completely drop your work life to enjoy your personal life, you’re not happy with your job and it’s probably more important to focus on how to fix that, rather than make amazing weekend plans that will soon pass and leave you right back where you started. You spend one-third of your life at work, if not more, so why are we trying so hard to separate work and play to gain sanity, when if you combined the two, you’d be so much happier and more accomplished?”

Now Separate Your Ingredients…

It’s no secret that eZanga is a family-run business – Our CEO and CFO are married, after all! While Rich and Beth can’t stand to be out of the office for too long, they know the importance of shutting it off for a few hours of family time. CFO Beth Kahn puts it best: “There’s no separation of the business, but leave the business at the office, and never, EVER take it in the bedroom.”

And Mix in a Dose of Relaxation!

They say it’s important to take time to relax and be with your family. Our CEO, Rich Kahn, says. “I can actually break down how I wind down and relax into four sections: daily, monthly, quarterly, and yearly.” Here’s how he does it:

Daily: “To help me sleep every night, I need to watch one to two hours of TV to shut my brain off. It has to be something that doesn’t require too much thinking on my end, something that I can just sit back, relax, and enjoy. If I don’t do this, I can get pretty irritable.”
Monthly: “Every month, I get a couple’s massage with my wife. It something that we can do together and both disconnect from the business, but only for an hour or two.”
Quarterly: “Every three months or so, I’ll take a long weekend with my wife to recharge our batteries. We’ve found that this works best for us because we get to feel like we’re taking a lot of time away from the business without actually doing that.”
Yearly: “Something that has been much easier to do recently has been for us to take our annual cruise. It’s a time where we’re out in the ocean with our family and we can completely disconnect from the business. I will always, of course, check my email and respond to phone calls – but I get to be far enough away that I can’t let it get to me as much. And it helps that I have such a great management team to watch over things when I’m away.”

So there you have it, all CEOs and entrepreneurs balance their lives differently. So really it’s all about finding the balance that works best for you. So, what’s your recipe to maintain that balance? Let us know in the comments below!

Fierce Tip of the Week: Ask Your Team

“Unity is strength . . . when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.” –Mattie Stepanek

Think about a time that a leader in your organization has made a decision without consulting the people it affected. How was the decision received? Was there resistance?

Most of the time, when there is an issue with a decision, it is because people’s opinions and concerns were not addressed in the first place. People ultimately want to know that their perspectives matter. The engagement piece is more important than the final outcome.

At Fierce, we have a culture committee – composed of cross department members — that is focused on bringing our core values to life. They explore and recommend opportunities from recognition programs to mentorship to coordinating our company-wide fantasy draft team.

Why do we have this group? Because it is critical for our team members to help steer how the company operates.

The conversations matter.

This week’s tip is to ask your team what matters to them when making an important decision. Invite people you normally wouldn’t.

It may surprise you where it leads…