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When the Shoe is on the Other Foot: 3 TIPS FOR GETTING THE MOST OUT OF MILLENNIALS

4/11/2019

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And the sign said "Long-haired freaky people need not apply"
So I tucked my hair up under my hat and I went in to ask him why
He said "You look like a fine upstanding young man, I think you'll do"
So I took off my hat, I said "Imagine that. Huh! Me workin' for you!"

  • Les Emmerson (1970). Signs, Five Man Electrical Band
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In 1970, Les Emmerson of the Canadian rock group Five Man Electrical Band penned a classic tune that struck a chord with a generation of fans we would come to know as the Baby Boomers. The song was a hit and reached #3 on the Billboard Top 100 chart.
The song was described as an anti-establishment anthem and began with lyrics that made it clear the young man asking about the job was not about to be told what he should look like or, by extension, what his values ought to be.
Fast forward almost 50 years and that young man finds himself on the other side of the conversation. He’s the establishment. He’s the one concerned with the work habits, the values, and the motivation of his younger colleagues.

Everywhere you look you find signs that today’s managers are frustrated by their seeming inability to understand and connect with younger generations of workers. Many of these managers were equally frustrated by their managers.

In fact, many of the managers most concerned about the inability of younger generations to take their jobs seriously were part of the biggest social revolution the world has ever known – the 1960s.

In many respects, what today’s managers are experiencing is a crisis of understanding. And it’s not the first time managers have wondered how to work with “the younger generation.” Each generation doesn't seem to understand the one before it and often it's because they look at the members of that generation through the only lens they know ... their own.

It may be that managers are so comfortable with “tried and true” means of working with people that they don’t take the time in their over-the-top, always-on-the-go busy days to find out whether their methods are working – especially with Millennials.
​

Learning to effectively work with Millennials is critical for today’s managers. Gostick and Elton in their bestselling 2018 book, The Best Team Wins, note that by next year, Millennials will be more than half of the working adults worldwide. ​
3 tips for getting the most out of Millennials
Here are three tips for getting the most out of Millennials – or anyone, for that matter.
  1. Find out what works for them. Ask direct, pointed questions in a curious manner. Don’t assume what worked for you will work for them.
  2. Do assume that they want their work to be meaningful, contribute to the long-term health of the organization and achieve its mission – they just may have different ideas about how to make that come to pass.
  3. Appreciate their efforts – in ways that are meaningful to them (see #1). Research tells us that a lack of appreciation at work is the number one reason people leave their jobs. This is particularly important to remember with respect to Millennials because they identify having an impact as their number one motivator at work.
Oh. And by the way. If you’re interested in reliving four minutes of classic rock, here’s a link to Signs by the Five Man Electrical Band.
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Click here to learn more on how you can create a Magnetic Workplace.
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3 ways LEADERS can find time for SELF-REFLECTION

4/6/2019

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Do you spend most of your days running around, putting out fires, dealing with crises, attending meetings that are a waste of your time, making decisions others could have made?

If you are like most leaders, you are running around mindlessly instead of mindfully.

In this session, you will learn 3 ways you can find time to pause and put the brakes on at work more often so you can more mindfully get out of crisis management and move into proactive leadership.
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Watch this video on YouTube here
Here’s the thing, this kind of frantic pace is NOT going to get you where you want to go as an individual or an organization.

If you want to know how to do it differently, you need to slow down in order to speed up. 

When you make time to pause, you:
  • Create space for yourself to make important and strategic decisions
  • Can be intentional about growing yourself
  • Are able to reflect on how you can mentor your team

How - Pausing to Become Curious
Where do you find the time to pause?
  1. Schedule it in
  2. Create a routine
  3. Use existing times
1) Schedule it in
Book an appointment with yourself. Seriously, make reflection as important as meetings, phone calls and email.
​Schedule it in and don't let someone book you for that time.
2) Create a routine
Reflection should not be a one-off thing. Make a habit of doing it, just like you would any other reoccurring appointment. For example:
  • Daily at 3 pm.
  • Every Wednesday morning. 
3) Use existing times
Instead of grabbing your phone and checking email for the 20th time, use time like waiting in line or the few mins before a meeting starts to reflect.
Use commuting time to reflect in silence instead of filling the quiet with the radio, a podcast or catching up on phone calls. 
For more help on finding time to pause, read this article from Kathy as she explains how to use pauses to access your inner wisdom. It's that inner wisdom that helps you lead more powerfully. 
Awaken Your Inner Wisdom: Schedule PAUSES
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take time to slow down to speed up

4/1/2019

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Far too busy managing with transactive speed, we rarely step back to lead with transformative significance.

​​Kevin Cashman, 
The Pause Principle
Sometimes a quote catches your eye and it makes so much sense you can’t help but think, “Well that’s obvious ... isn’t it?”

And yet, at least in this case, it’s not. It’s not obvious because if it was, you would see people slowing down so that they could make choices that shape the future rather than conform to the present.
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Never before in the history of humankind have so many been asked to do so much in such a short period of time. Managers are faced with countless decisions that must be made everyday just so they can stay afloat. They regularly make decisions that are “good enough” to move on and they have little time to make the decisions that could be true game changers.

So often they are faced with a myriad of important decisions that all seemingly have to be made at the same time – or do they? Do managers really need to make every decision that is brought to them?

Managers are used to making decisions and so people bring decisions to them to make. Leaders, on the other hand, groom and mentor others to make decisions. These leaders are able to do so because they take the time to slow down and make mindful choices about what requires their input and what does not. They know that by taking the time they are contributing to two important elements of growth.
  • First, they are helping those who report to them to make their own decisions which in turn prepares them to be the leaders of not only tomorrow, but today. 
  • Second, they are creating space for themselves – space that can be used to focus on matters of leadership and that are of strategic importance to the organization.

It’s the antithesis of what most managers were taught to believe, it’s paradoxical, and it just sounds plain wrong. But we need to take time to slow down so that we can speed up. We need to be able to take the time to make the right decisions, not just a decision.

Another benefit of empowering others to take responsibility and be accountable for decisions is that they become more engaged and involved in the work of the organization. They become inexorably drawn to their teammates, their customers and the broader mission.

If we take the time, we’ll find that we’re given the time – the time to lead, rather than manage.
Kevin Cashman’s proposition is timely advice – not just today, but always.

For more: Checkout www.magneticworkplace.com
Far too busy managing with transactive speed, we rarely step back to lead with transformative significance.
​​​Kevin Cashman, 
The Pause Principle
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    Articles by Bill Scott & Kathy Archer

    Sometimes the articles are written collaboratively. Other times, it's just one of us putting fingers to keyboard. We'll try to remember to tell you.

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