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An office of coworkers sitting around a conference table, engaged in a meeting. An office of coworkers sitting around a conference table, engaged in a meeting.

Leading Across Generations

Written by Mark Miller on . Posted in Communication, Culture, Organization. No Comments on Leading Across Generations

I had the privilege of spending a day with Tammy Erickson. Tammy has been recognized as one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world. It was a real treat to be with her! Although her expertise is deep and wide, we spent the day talking about the generations.

Spending a full day with someone of Tammy’s expertise created a learning frenzy. I took pages and pages of notes! I’ll recap here a few of the characteristics of each generational cohort…

Traditionalist (1928 – 1945)

  • Respect authority
  • Loyal to institutions
  • Joiners – join the church, organization, or the club
  • Money as a metric of success

“If you can find a good company to join, you’ll be set for life.”

—

Boomers (1946 – 1960)

  • Idealists
  • Grew up with a scarcity mentality
  • Hard-working
  • Competitive
  • Anti-authoritarian

“I’ll get mine even if you don’t get yours.”

—

Gen X (1961 – 1979)

  • Mistrust institutions
  • Self-reliant
  • Tribal
  • Extremely loyal to friends
  • Less identification with organizations/institutions

 “I’ll take care of myself.”

—

Gen Y – Millennials (1980 – 1995)

  • Tolerant
  • Digital natives
  • Live in the moment
  • Family-centric
  • Optimistic and upbeat
  • Coordinators, not planners

“Text me… I don’t use email.”

—

Gen Z (1996 – 2012)

  • Work, shop, date, and make friends online
  • Tech savvy
  • Trusting of social media and social influencers
  • Always on the go
  • Entrepreneurial
  • Innovative
  • Open-minded

“We’re more radically and ethically diverse than other generations.”

 

So, the question for us as leaders is: How do we lead in the face of these differences?

It will require our best effort! Here’s an example of the challenge:

  • When a Boomer hears the term feedback, it most often generates a negative connotation.
  • When a member of Gen X hears the word feedback, they assume this will provide a clue to what the organization expects of them.
  • When Gen Y or Gen Z hears the term feedback, they are encouraged by the opportunity to get coaching and tips on how to improve. This cohort generally wants all the feedback they can get – it’s not negative at all, they expect it… DAILY!

Yes, it’s complicated when even simple language carries such diverse connotations! It is truly a cross-cultural challenge.

Here’s Tammy’s recommendation for leading multiple generations:

  • Appreciate the differences between the generations.
  • Acknowledge diverse perspectives on issues.
  • Arbitrate when you find yourself working across generational lines.
  • Adapt your style as needed to accomplish the goals of the organizations.

The bottom line:

Generational differences are logical and legitimate.

Understand them, embrace them and leverage them for the good of your team and your organization.

You can learn more about Tammy and her work at TammyErickson.com

 

 

a man standing before his coworkers leading a meeting with a screen presentation behind him

Create the Target Before You Shoot the Arrow

Written by Mark Miller on . Posted in Communication, Teams, Vision. No Comments on Create the Target Before You Shoot the Arrow

Do you have a target for what you are trying to accomplish?

I saw a cartoon years ago in which Charlie Brown shot an arrow at a fence and then proceeded to draw a circle around the arrow. At some level, he found this satisfying. This is not how great leaders think.

During my tenure at Chick-fil-A, I had the privilege of planning our annual meeting. The team and I spent months preparing for this event, and we always took the time to draw the target before we shot the arrow. And I am thankful we did. Here’s the leadership lesson that comes to mind as I reflect on these events: One of the reasons these events were a success—not the only reason, but one of them—is that we decided what we were trying to accomplish before we created the event. We drew the target BEFORE we shot the arrow.

There are many things leaders CANNOT do for their people. However, clarity regarding intent should never be in short supply. People must always know what they are trying to accomplish.

“The greatest gift leaders can give their people is clarity.”

The power of clarity transcends targets, goals, and objectives – it includes vision, values, and strategic intent, as well as other tactical issues. But what we are trying to accomplish cannot get lost in the process.

When you identify the target with crystal clarity, I think you may be amazed at how often your team will hit the mark.

 

a set of train tracks that split as they go off in the distance a set of train tracks that split as they go off in the distance

Got Problems?

Written by Mark Miller on . Posted in Communication, Creative Thinking, Teams. No Comments on Got Problems?

Every team has problems – even if things are going well, your new problem is how to sustain the gains and go to the next level. Teams, when working well, are GREAT at solving problems. They harness the experience, wisdom, and creativity of the entire group. Together, the team is smarter than any of the individual team members. Does this sound like your team? Tragically, many teams never realize their full problem-solving potential. One way to help your team in this arena is to provide a clear process for problem solving.

Here are six steps that my friend and consultant, Jennifer Howard, taught me more than 20 years ago. It still works! You may want to experiment with it the next time your team faces a significant or complex problem.

Step 1: Identify the Problem. This is perhaps the most obvious of the steps, but you could argue that it is the most critical. There’s an old saying I love, “A problem well-defined is half solved.”

Step 2: Review the data. This serves several purposes. It may help you refine your problem statement. The data may give you clues regarding the root cause of the problem or perhaps the solution itself.

Step 3: Brainstorm Potential Causes. Now that your team has reviewed the data, it is essential that they agree on the most probable cause(s) of the problem. The outcome of this step will be the focus of step 4.

Step 4: Brainstorm Potential Solutions. This is where many teams BEGIN their problem solving. However, without the pre-work of steps 1 – 3, this is often misplaced energy.

Step 5: Create Your Action Plan. Based on the work of step 4, select the solutions you believe will have the greatest impact; decide who will do what by when and begin to deploy your solution.

Step 6: Monitor Your Progress. This is essential. Did your intervention work? Did your action plan solve the problem? If not, you’ll need to retrace your steps and repeat steps 3 – 6.

Using a process for solving problems is like providing tracks for a locomotive. Without them, the train can’t move. If you provide the tracks for your team, they will amaze you with their ability to solve even the most difficult problems.

What problem, if solved, would accelerate your team’s success?