How to Attract and Retain Talented Tech Employees

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(Today we’re sharing a guest post from our friends over at Career Karma. Attracting and retaining talented employees is the name of the game for any business, but especially in the rapidly-changing technology sector. To help you compete and stay ahead of the competition, here are three ideas you can implement to help you hold onto your most talented employees.)

The American workforce is going through a period of disruption, the likes of which have never been seen before. Advancing technology was always going to merge with the workforce, that much was clear. However, the recent Covid-19 pandemic accelerated this change via the widespread integration of remote work at companies. Rather than first getting their feet wet with technology, many companies were forced to take the plunge.

Not surprisingly, traditional jobs have begun to decline more than they already were, as more and more companies see the importance of tech jobs. Online business is the way of the future, and securing tech employees who can propel your company above the competition should be the number one priority of any human resources division. The question, however, revolves around where to find this talent and how to attract them to your company. Fortunately, both aspects of that question have prominent solutions.

Source From Different Educational Backgrounds

Far too often, companies focus solely on going to universities and colleges around the country in an attempt to hire recent graduates who have no experience. However, one of the best ways to attract top tech talent is to show that you are willing to source employees from different educational backgrounds.

An alternative to the traditional four-year path, that has been rising in popularity, is attending an intensive trade school that prepares students for specific fields. In fact, CNBC discussed how the premium that comes with a college degree is declining while trade school attendees are able to become skilled workers and already have some industry experience.

Popular options such as General Assemblyoffer multiple courses in pressing tech fields such as web development and engineering immersion. An added benefit of attracting potential employees from trade schools is that they graduate far quicker than their college counterparts. When it comes to finding talented tech employees, the specialized training received from trade schools makes this a great option.

Offer Jobs With a Wider Variability of Tasks

In the past, employees with traditional jobs typically had one daily task that they excelled in. Tech students and employees are different than these traditional workers, though, and provide more freedom and variability in their work. Harvard Business Review discusses how employees of today want to feel as if they are performing meaningful work.

To that end, offering numerous tech jobs at your company can attract new types of tech talent. One such dynamic tech field is data science which is growing at an exponential rate. The day-to-day tasks of a job such as this change daily and can provide a great source of dynamic work to any talented employee.

As a company, numerous tech jobs need to be offered to employees to keep them interested in applying to your company. The best way to stay up to date on this is by modernizing your company and ensuring you are adapting to the times as they change.

Competitive Benefits

When it comes to actually retaining your employees, it is incredibly important to offer competitive benefits. Keep in mind that the different generations of your employees will require different things to retain them. Millennials typically prefer benefits that are structured to give them more freedom and paid time off.

Consistently offer feedback options amongst your employees and ensure that none of the criticisms that arise line up with some of the common reasons for leaving a job. This can help you to keep your company as an attractive place to work for tech talent. The most important key to retaining talented tech employees is to understand what they desire and to be knowledgeable about their specific demographics.

In the end, one of the best benefits of a job is undoubtedly the salary. It is also important to make sure that you are offering comparative salaries to your employees and not giving them less than they are owed.

When it comes to attracting and retaining talented tech employees, it’s important to think outside the box. The workforce is changing and so are the employees who make it up. Benefits and perks that attracted workers from past years are no longer relevant. Millennials and Gen Z are the future of the workforce and benefits that appeal to them do not appeal to older employees. Understanding the demographic of your company and where you are hiring your employees is important to take the steps needed to retain your talented workforce.

Employee Development in the Virtual Workplace Matters Now More Than Ever

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Employee development really matters. It always has. But now look at this: we’re all working remotely, interacting virtually, and dealing with uncertainty, stress, and anxiety surrounding the pandemic. It’s never been more important to invest in employee development, especially for the younger generations, Millennials and Gen Zs. They want to matter in the workplace and want a career plan. We all did. How do we know all this? Easy, we just asked them! They’re human beings, too.

In Deloitte’s recent Global Millennial Survey, they found that 41% of Millennials and 43% of Gen Zs expressed concern over their longer-term financial future. Similarly, 40% of Millennials and 46% of Gen Zs worried about their job or career prospects. From start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, in diving deeper, they discovered that respondents felt less confident that they possessed all of the skills and knowledge necessary for future success.

Guess what employers – you have to be the guide! As an employer, it’s your job to make sure your people get what they need from your organization. And organizations that provide that support outperform their counterparts. It does not just happen and how you do training and mentoring matters. Good news, while the Deloitte survey found that companies are doing a better job of this (with 65% of Millennials and 68% of Gen Zs saying their employers are providing enough support in this area) we need to be doing more to win. Investing in your people is one of the key ways to make sure your organization not only survives this pandemic but thrives in the world that comes after.

At launchbox, here is how we help. We know each client is different and they need customized products and solutions to reach their goals. Increase your employee development offerings in the months ahead with these 3 simple ways to give your people what they need and want to achieve success:

 

Virtual Workshops

In this disconnected world, help your team pull together to solve the disconnect because we can’t afford for our people to be anything other than highly engaged in the workplace. We need them to bring their best selves to work every day. Offer a transformative system that will help your team find, build, and share connection. Then empower them through simple and unique tools and strategies to own their growth and get to that next level.

 

On-Demand Training

We’ve worked with thousands of young Millennials and Gen Zs and if there’s one thing we know about them, it’s this: they want things on their own terms. And that includes access to employee development training. MEET THEM WHERE THEY ARE. Try a system for coaching and mentoring that is sustainable over time. We use virtual training systems that employees can access anywhere on-demand called Hooga, however, just make sure they can access people when they need help. Help your people figure out how to work from the inside out, to discover who they are, and the value they have to contribute to the world. Then show them how to use their learnings about their own Strengths & Story to connect with others and build better relationships. Ask us how you can try Hooga for free today!

 

Individual One-on-One Coaching

For the employee, manager, or executive who desires to take their development to the next level, we believe in direct individual or group high-performance coaching that is tailored to the needs of the individual. Make sure you place an emphasis on creating a connection to self first, so they can then build the tools to win with others. Through one-on-one coaching you will help them discover, develop, and articulate their own impact: we call it Strengths & Story. Once you help them become self-reliant and create the work competency of knowing who they are, you can believe they will better connect to coworkers, team, boss, clients, etc. to deliver value and create greater impact for them and you.

 

The world as we knew it has changed. It’s time for us to step up and invest in developing next-generation leaders within our own organizations. We are here to help! If you’re not sure how to start, click here to reach out and book a free call with us.

How Millennials and Gen Zs Are Navigating the Pandemic: Stress and Resilience Revisited for the Young

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Each year, Deloitte releases their annual survey about the youngest generations in the workforce, Millennials and Gen Zs. I look forward to their report because it’s full of valuable research and statistics we use to inform much of the work we do here at launchbox by bridging the gaps with our clients.

Conducting a study of this size and magnitude is a serious undertaking that takes months and months of work. So what do you do when a global pandemic arrives and changes the world as we know it almost overnight? If you’re Deloitte, you take your original research and back it up with a pulse survey to see how some of the original respondents are faring amidst extreme change. Then, you use that data to publish a survey that offers one of the most informative and well-researched pictures of how young people are doing at work and at home even as they face an uncertain future.

Hint: they’re doing better than a lot of us would have thought. And the younger they are, the better they’re doing with uncertainty.

Below, we break down some of the key findings in the 2020 Deloitte survey and what this means for employers who are struggling to connect their remote employees to each other and their teams.

 

Key Finding #1: Millennials and Gen Zs Are Less Stressed Now Than They Were and That Means No More Business as Usual

Deloitte’s original survey was conducted between November 2019 and the early weeks of 2020. In that survey, 48% of Gen Z respondents and 44% of Millennial respondents reported that they were “stressed all or most of the time.” But in the pulse survey Deloitte conducted in April and May of 2020, they discovered an 8% decrease in stress for both generations. This is despite the fact that about 25-30% of respondents actually lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic. Pretty crazy what a huge reset will do to a generation or two.

What does this mean for employers? It means that many of your younger employees aren’t going to want to go back to business as the old usual. For some, the pandemic has had measurable benefits and they’re going to want to keep them. Things like the ability to work remote, flexible schedules, a reduction in calendar obligations, and more. 69% of Millennials and 64% of Gen Zs reported that they believe having the option to work from home in the future would relieve stress. After the pandemic is over, 64% of Millennials and 60% of Gen Zs said they would like the option to work from a remote location from frequently. So as an employer, ask your people what they want from you and their workplace. What parts of life pre-pandemic do they miss? And what do they hope stays in the past? We know they miss connection – look at the bars! However, do they need work connection 24/7 like we thought? No. They want to be trusted and also have more control and freedom about how and where they live and work. Pandora’s box is open.

 

Key Finding #2: Job Loyalty is Increasing Amongst the Younger Generations

A common complaint I hear from the older generations is that Millennials and Gen Zs “aren’t loyal.” They job hop a lot and when something’s not working for them, they are quick to seek alternative employment rather than stick it out to see if it improves. It’s one thing I love about the youth – they refuse to settle for anything less than what they think they deserve.

Yet in Deloitte’s primary survey, and contrary to popular belief, “more millennials said they’d like to stay with their employers for at least five years than would prefer to leave within two years.” In fact, just 31% of Millennials respondents to the primary survey shared that they intend to leave their current employment within the next two years, down from 49% in 2019! Interesting because we are seeing this with our clients too. They really want more safety and belonging. If you trust them and grow them, they will want to stay. Imagine that.

Deloitte hypothesized that the increase in job loyalty amongst the younger generations is due to their employers doing a better job addressing their needs, creating a diverse and inclusive working environment, and supporting their development through training and mentorship, among other factors. Across both generations, 71% of respondents felt that their employers were doing a fairly good job at creating a working environment that is inclusive and diverse. And roughly 70% of Millennial and Gen Z respondents felt their employer was making a positive impact on the local community. As an employer, pay close attention to these findings. We know that some of the things young people want from their employers include opportunities to learn and grow, transparency, real-deal authentic communication, and purpose and contribution. Make sure you have a system in place that gives your people what they want. Need help? Reach out to us – we have actionable tips and hacks that will help you create that system inside your business.

 

Key Finding #3: The Pandemic Has Increased Individual Responsibility and Empathy

If there’s one thing we can all agree on about the pandemic, it’s that we’ve all been affected in one way or another. Some of us dramatically, others marginally. Yet the coronavirus pandemic has emerged as one of the defining moments in living history, uniting us against a common enemy. For our young people, it’s had the positive effects of increasing their empathy for others and encouraging them to get more involved in supporting their local community. In Deloitte’s pulse survey, 75% of respondents across both generations reported, “once restrictions are lifted, they will take actions that have a positive impact on their communities. Seven in ten said they already have done so.” Three-quarters of respondents also mentioned that the pandemic had made them more aware of and sympathetic towards the needs of different people around the world.

What does this mean for employers? It means your younger generations, who were already pre-disposed to wanting to make a difference by doing work that matters, have had their innate generational desire towards purpose and contribution reinforced by recent events. Which means you really have to get this right with them! You need to connect them to their purpose, help them see that the work they’re doing matters, and give them the tools to create impact for others. It’s a tall order, but we think you’re up to the challenge. And we recently launched a new virtual product, Strengths & Story, to help. Your employees will learn how to identify their strengths and connect to their story so they can create an impact that matters. Contact us to learn more about getting access to this product for your team.

 

Click Here to Read the Full 2020 Survey From Deloitte

 

Did any of these key findings surprise you? Are their areas you know you need help in? We’re here for you. We’ve helped companies from start-up to Fortune 500 bridge the gap in their workplaces and solve for success. Reach out to us to claim your complimentary call and learn what we can do to help you succeed!

5 Tips to Help You “Do the Work” to Be More Successful in the Multigenerational Workplace in 2020

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WOW! The new decade is here! And boy is there pressure to make resolutions and improve. Our tips are simple and they endure, not relative to the new year or decade but just plain and simple tips that if you “Do the Work,” you win! So, in order to help you crush performance and be more successful at work this year, we’ve compiled our simple 5 best tips that you can put into practice today. Our tips are real, actionable, and highly impactful – try them for yourself and see!

Tip #1: Relax and Smile

Most people want to like you and want you to succeed! They’re actually rooting for you.  So, it should be simple to make a connection.  Right?  Well, wrong.  The root to connection is simply smiling and being open, however, most of us (technical term here) suck at that. Myself included.  And, if you’re stern, preoccupied, or just not present you tend not to smile. Not smiling makes you seem cold and unfriendly which means people are not going to be able to connect with you. However, a super simple easy way to connect is just to smile.  Try it. I talk about this with executives and Millennials alike. Smiling more is so simple, yet tough to implement,  

If we really want to be a productive worker of the future we need to create connection through trust. Smiling communicates to someone that you’re positive, approachable, and possibly someone they can trust (and we know how important trust is). So if smiling doesn’t come naturally, make sure you practice! That means you should smile so much that your face hurts. Even though we know smiling creates more serotonin and improves our mood we still believe we’ll look dumb or awkward.  Just try this simple tool for a few days and coach yourself to smile.  You will notice the difference and that difference will help you immediately relax in the workplace or in a client meeting. That relaxation will in turn allow your intent and impact to naturally shine through.

Tip #2: Positivity – Yes And

People love people who are positive. And while us humans generally are predisposed to thinking negatively, it’s all about your mindset which you can shift. You have to choose to be positive, think positive, and create positive experiences for those around you. As a matter of fact, science shows it takes 4x the positive statements to counteract the negative ones! According to a recent article from the Wall Street Journal, “a negative event or emotion usually has at least three times the impact of a comparable positive one.” So, this year, make a point to intentionally practice positivity! While that’s a very general statement, one tip we have is to read The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz and live by them.

Tip #3: Better Not Best

Best can be seen as an artificial barrier, mostly because best is arbitrary and always a moving target. Therefore, doing and being your best isn’t realistic because it’s based on the events surrounding it. An author we met through Heroic Public Speaking showed us that the alternative, “better” is something we can achieve everyday. We can be just a bit better than we were yesterday or last week. We can always strive to improve our performance incrementally. If our mindset is growth-based like Carol Dweck teaches in her book Growth Mindset, we can always be focused on trying harder and measuring ourselves to a higher standard each time. Better every day and in every moment will move the needle much further for you on a daily basis.

Tip #4: WIFTHEM – Audience

As humans we’re built in survival mode, which is mostly self-focused.  That results in every person shaping all inputs as: “how will this affect me?” People only care about themselves. And while you might want to argue about the nuances and certain relationships in the workplace, it’s fundamentally true. We are wired for SELF-preservation. Which means we’re constantly looking out for ourselves, no matter how altruistic we might want to be. Everyone is me focused or lives by the WIFM method – what’s in it for me?  Our twist is to focus on the audience and make it about them. We know that in order to succeed we need to understand and provide empathy to the other person so we put WIFM on its head to create instant connection.  Voila. WIFThem – what’s in it for them?

So, whether you’re providing a service, doing a sales call, trying to get a promotion, or persuading your partner or friend to do something, make sure you’re showing the person you’re sitting across from what’s in it for them! It’s not about you, it’s about them and what you can do to help them get what they want. If you know WIFThem and practice it, the world will be yours.  For more tips on how to do that using our communication tools, click here to download our free worksheet with our GPS conversation strategy.

Tip #5: Story – Currency

Your story, your identity, who you are and what you’re here to do, is your connection currency.  It’s what will bind you to others instantly.  But we suck at it. Personally and professionally we don’t have the skills to connect instantaneously.  From the executive boardroom to our next generation workers, we are horrible about sharing our stories. And it is so critical.  Critical to combine our personal why with our corporate purpose and value so we can transact great business.  Whether a Millennial, Gen Z or a Boomer, knowing your story and articulating it in a way that serves others is the only way to connect and build relationships. It’s what you trade with others to build stronger and better relationships, which is the #1 most important skill in the world!  Learn how to tell your story with a free copy of our book – click here to get it!

Over the next few weeks we will deliver real coaching stories so you can see these tips in action. Stay tuned!

Want more tips like these? Need help implementing these in your own life so you can be successful at work? Schedule your free coaching call today to ensure this year is the best one yet! Click here to book your call.

The Workplace of the Future is NOW – Do You Have a Plan to Solve Employee Disengagement and Anxiety?

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Our clients tell us they can’t keep up because the world is changing so rapidly. The word “change” actually seems insufficient to describe the rapid transformation affecting all our businesses. And yet we’re more connected than ever.  One misstatement, misstep, miscalculation of impact and a disgruntled person’s tweet can go viral at a moment’s notice. We’ve never felt more vulnerable to the opinions of others and it’s affecting our businesses.

Not a stretch for any of us or our businesses, just look at what happened to Peloton recently. When its holiday commercial failed to strike the right note with its customers, the company’s stock dropped more than 10% after a storm of criticism helped its infamous commercial go viral for all the wrong reasons.

But it’s not just our customers that are challenging. Our employees live in this world and they are challenged by the change too. They’re also confused. Hence, most businesses are facing a two-headed crisis with their employees: (1) disengagement and (2) anxiety. Just when we need our teams to pull together, crush performance, and be stronger than ever, actually the opposite is happening. Our employees are instead disconnected from each other or with their bosses. Rampant anxiety is hurting their individual performance. And high turnover is costing us serious money.

At launchbox, we’re all about finding solutions to help you solve disengagement and anxiety to ignite your team and company’s performance.  We’ve developed a 3-hack strategy you can use to ensure your company is meeting the demands of the changing workplace. Follow along as we show you how we’re helping three clients solve their own unique organizational problems:

Asking Questions to Solve for Disengagement

One of the clients we work with had a modern challenge that needed solving: many of their employees worked in the field at customer sites while others remained behind at the company’s main office. Not surprisingly, they were struggling to keep their remote employees engaged.

When they came to us for help, we coached them to start by conducting an assessment of all their employees to help them figure out what the specific problems were. Turns out the employees that spent a lot of time in the field were having trouble remaining connected to their peers, the company’s mission, their contribution, and ultimately their own career path.

With this information in hand, we were able to help the leadership design and implement specific engagement strategies through coaching individuals and the team to create increased engagement. The solution? Double down on understanding the employees needs and then solve them at the individual and group level.  Model behavior, downstream techniques, and stand for the employee. The result? Greater engagement and increased retention across the entire company.

Helping Employees Find Meaningful Work

Another of our clients, a respected financial advisory firm, sent one of their talented young employees to get coached by us. This young man was struggling to find real meaning, purpose and contribution in his work. The company’s mission of protecting their clients’ assets and growing wealth just wasn’t cutting it for him. He was looking for something deeper, more meaningful, something to feel he was a part of and that would allow him to make a difference.

In working with us, he learned about himself, his own why, and the impact he wanted to have. It was critically important for him to have belief around his impact and tangibly see the results of his work (in the form of seeing his clients’ wealth grow) in order to feel connected to what he was doing. We talked about how he could better communicate that to his bosses in order to get some help to create bigger results for all of his accounts.  He was predisposed as many millennials are to create impact.  We tied his ambition and work to philanthropy that was created by the growth of wealth. Once he became aware of this meaning, he could articulate it as his value and extend it to his clients.

Can you guess what happened next? He got the help he needed from his supervisors to recast his own meaning and impact in order to contribute to the team. This in turn helped his clients AND his company’s bottom-line.

He also discovered how to live his own values and find greater purpose and contribution by seeing the positive things his clients were able to do for both their families and for others as a result of their increased wealth. How’s that for a win?

Reskilling Emotional Intelligence

Management at one high-end health club came to us because they were frustrated with the performance of their younger employees. They felt that many of them didn’t display the warmth and friendliness they wanted to see in such customer-centric positions.

After instituting hacks 1 and 2 above, we dug deeper to create a system of skills to help employees connect more readily to the company’s mission. We helped the employer bridge the generation gap by showing them how to reskill their young employees on the basics of customer service, making it about teaching, learning and growing. We encouraged them to train and coach young employees on connection. This gave their young people skills they could see they would use forever. It also made them feel that they had power over their own future, that they were creating their own path to success. Finally, we encouraged management to illustrate how their role was absolutely vital to the entire customer experience and that how they showed up as individuals made the ultimate difference.

The culture at the health club became one that was focused on others and giving value. As a result their young people began to flourish. They learned new skills and changed the way they communicated with clients and their peers. And ultimately, they took ownership of their own self-development and growth in order to provide the best possible experience for the customers they saw every day.

 

As we enter the next decade, one thing is for sure: the workplace will continue to rapidly evolve even faster. In order to keep up and achieve even greater success in the years to come, make sure you’re solving problems for both your customers and your employees. If your company could use a little support in igniting growth like these three clients, book a free call with one of our coaches today!

5 Steps to Keep the Multi-Generational Workplace Human

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With the increased digitization of our businesses, it’s easy for employees to start feeling isolated and forgotten, like they just don’t matter. Where we previously had to pick up the phone or walk across the office if we wanted to talk to one another, now we can communicate with just a couple keystrokes. Where co-workers previously spent all day sitting in adjacent cubicles, now team members can be spread across the city, country, or even the world.

While technology has allowed us to work faster and more efficiently, it’s also contributed to higher levels of stress and anxiety among workers. Because as technology has changed the way we work, we’ve kind of forgotten the most important element: the people.

So if you care about keeping your humans happy (and you should because happier employees are more productive and successful at work) make sure you’re taking these five steps to keep your multi-generational workplace human:  

Communicate Like a Human

We have the power of speech for a reason: to communicate! So instead of texting your employees, actually pick up the phone and call them (yes, even your Millennial and Gen Z employees). Or better yet, drop by their desk and have a real conversation complete with facial cues and body language. Yes, it’s inefficient and yes, it might not be the most productive use of time, but real human communication is essential to forming better relationships and bridging the gap in the multi-generational workforce. Which brings me to my next point:

Face Time Not FaceTime

You’ve got to encourage your people to have meaningful face-to-face interactions. That means coming out from behind the computer screen and planning regular in-person meetings, going to lunch, or grabbing coffee together. As a boss or manager, one of the most valuable things you can do is plan one-on-one meetings with each of your employees. And when you’ve met with them all, go back and start over again.

Provide Individualized Mentoring for Career Success

One thing we hear over and over again from the young Millennial and Gen Z employees we coach and train is that they want personalized mentorship from their bosses and managers. They don’t want to feel like just another cog in the machine. They want individualized support to help them learn, grow, and achieve their career goals. As we previously discussed, mentoring and coaching is the new leadership development training. So make sure you’re giving all your employees the right support and not just a one-size-fits-all solution.

Encourage Work-Life Balance

Work is a big part of our lives. But it’s not our whole life. So encourage your employees to achieve a healthy work-life balance. Don’t give them grief if they ask to leave early to catch their kid in a school play or need to come in late because their dog got sick. If they’re not feeling well, tell them to stay home and rest even if you’re in the middle of a big project. Tell them to have a great vacation and actually mean it. Respect your employees enough to trust that the work will still get done.

Show You Care

Our #1 tip for keeping the multi-generational workplace human? Show your employees you care. Take an interest in their lives. Ask how their weekend was, how their spouse is doing, what their kids are up to. And then actually listen to the answers. Say “Thank You” and “Good Job!” Get to know them as people and demonstrate that you really care.

 

 

 

Keeping the workplace human in the age of technology isn’t hard. It just takes conscious effort and systems that are designed to encourage it. If you’re struggling to provide a human workplace that keeps your employees engaged, reach out to us. We’ve developed systems and frameworks you can implement in your multi-generational organization to make sure you’re meeting the needs of your people. Click here to schedule a discovery call with one of our high-performance coaches!

Coaching and Mentoring is the New Leadership Development Training, But How Do You Create That System?

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In our launchbox laboratory, we’ve had the pleasure of training and coaching more than 12,000 millennial and Gen Z employees – the workers of the future. And one thing we’ve noticed from working with this group? They want mentoring and coaching on-demand. Not old school leadership development training and conferences. They are hungry to learn, but they want it on their terms.  And they want you to really show them all the rules and systems.

As a business owner or manager, it’s your job to turn your organization upside down, listen to what your people want, and then give it to them. Start now and understand that if coaching and mentoring is the new leadership development training (and we think it is!) how do you give your employees more of what they want and less of what they don’t want?  And, under terms they will understand and be able to adopt with the new training?

Allow Them to Seek Out Their Own Mentors

You may have your own coach or training program that resonates with you. Which is great. But don’t expect that what works for you will work for everyone on your team. Yes you should send them to conferences and workshops you believe will benefit them. But if your employee comes to you about an event they’d like to attend, let them. Trust me, your people are smarter than you probably give them credit for. If they’re self-motivated enough to find a mentor they like and want to learn from, the best thing you can do is have their back. Give them what they think they need to crush performance for you. And then get out of the friggin’ way!

Embrace On-the Spot Coaching in the Workplace

Do you keep a mental checklist of all the things you want to talk to your employees about at their next performance review? Here’s a radical idea: instead of saving your feedback for a formal review, embrace on-the-spot coaching. If one of your people does something wrong or something you don’t like, correct them right there and then. Don’t wait for an arbitrary date on the calendar. And if they do something you DO like, make sure you tell them about it! Don’t keep it a secret!

Make Space for Personal Development During the Work Day

Did you know that the average worker only has only 24 minutes per week to learn something new? That’s a new skill, new technology, or new tools for their own development. So as a boss, help them out. Rather than leaving it up to them to get the mentoring and coaching they need outside of work, allow space for it during the workday. If they need to leave a little early to go to their networking group or if they can only do calls with their coach at 1pm on Wednesdays, let them. Don’t just tell them you care about them and have their back, show them!

Develop a Practice of Open and Transparent Communication

You owe it to your people to be honest with them not only about their current job performance, but about their career goals too. If you know that one of your employees eventually wants a management position or that they’d like to move to a new team or department, be transparent with them about what it’s going to take to get there and help them if you can. Yes, even if that means they may eventually leave you. When you demonstrate that you care and you show up for people in the way that they need, they’re going to want to give you their best for as long as they’re with you.

 

Want help providing coaching and mentoring opportunities for your employees? Reach out to us – we can help! And if you’re local in San Diego, send your team to one of our upcoming Strengths & Story workshops.

3 Hacks to Guarantee Success in the Multi – Generational & Diverse Workplace

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What does it take to really bridge the gap in the multi-generational workplace? To transcend age, culture, diversity, and experience? To overcome everything that pulls us apart in order to pull teams together and crush it in the workplace?

We’ve spent the last four years exploring those questions. Along the way we’ve had the privilege of training more than 20,000 millennials and their employers. We’ve talked to audiences around the world in all different kinds of industries.

And what we realized is this: there is a system that can GUARANTEE multi –generational workplace success!

The best part? It’s pretty dang simple.

Hack  1: Turn Your Workplace Upside Down

You need to lead by providing value to others. And in order to provide value to others, you’ve got to listen, learn about what matters to them, and find a way to connect and serve them.

So when it comes to your employees, you’ve got to turn your workplace upside down. Instead of applying a top-down approach to your people, giving orders, and guessing what will make them happy, you’ve got to start at the bottom and friggin’ talk to them! Ask them about what they want from you, their manager, and their job. And then find a way to give it to them.  Make them matter and feel safe.  In case you haven’t realized it, you really work for them anyway.

Hack 2: Create Meaningful Work

No matter what industry you’re in, you’ve got to make sure your employees have meaningful work. Because in order to be engaged they have to connect themselves to the meaning of their work.  It doesn’t matter whether you’re saving lives or selling widgets. You’ve got to give your employees work that means something to them! And if they can’t see that meaning for themselves, it’s up to you to show it to them. Paint the picture of why it matters. Show them that their task, no matter how boring, tedious, or insignificant it seems, makes a difference and has an impact. And let them in on the wins!

P.S. the biggest way you can win is to train, grow, coach, and mentor them to get better to create more impact.  Self-growth allows them to draw a connection to the work that created it – and makes their work meaningful!

Hack 3:  Reskill Your People from the Inside/Out (on Emotional Intelligence)

As a boss, as a manager, it’s up to you to coach your people to be their very best. And one of the best ways to help them is to reskill them on emotional intelligence. We call it connection currency.  According to a recent study from the World Economic Forum, emotional intelligence is one of the top ten most in-demand skills listed by employers. And with good reason! As our workplace increasingly becomes dominated by technology, people matter more than ever. So make sure your employees have the skills to successfully connect with their bosses, their coworkers, and your customers.

Want to learn more about our 3-hack system and how it can work for you?  Shout  out to us – we can help you bridge the gap with your employees to CRUSH performance in the workplace today and in the future!

Young Lawyers are Leading Change in the Law Practice, Like it or Not

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Change is coming one way or another. That was the conclusion of a recent report from Major, Lindsey, and Africa, a leading attorney search firm, in which they detailed their findings after surveying over 1,200 millennial attorneys. And while their survey was exclusively focused on law firms and the people they employ, we’ve noticed similarities about our clients inside law as well as those we work with across all kinds of industries.

There are three things we’ve deduced from the survey as being absolutely critical for employers to understand: 1) Work-Life Balance Rules 2) Lack of Authenticity and Transparency is a Non-Starter 3) Career Pathing is Your Duty

Just look at these results:

-Less than 30% of respondents described their firms as being very transparent about an associate’s career path.  Yet more than 80% of respondents still described transparency surrounding their individual career paths as being important to crucial to them.

-Only 20% of respondents classified themselves as being highly loyal to their firms. And of those, 54% still said they were not open to new job opportunities. It seems these things go hand in hand!

-When evaluating prospective employers, respondents cited these three factors as being most important in their decision: the employer’s commitment to fostering work-life balance, compensation, and professional development.

-If a respondent was open to new job opportunities, it’s usually because they were seeking better compensation, looking for a change in management or company culture, or wanted more work-life balance.

-More than 60% of respondents said informal mentorship has had a significant or crucial effect on their career. And almost 30% indicated that formal mentorship was irrelevant.

(Click here to read the full survey)

Did any of those results surprise you? They surprised ME and I do this for a living!

Like it or not, change is coming to your organization. So the question is: are you ready?

We’re going to break down how you can prepare your company to meet the needs of the worker of the future so that your organization can survive and thrive. After all, a company is only as good as its people. And if you can’t figure out how to give your best people what they want, they’ll find someone else who can – like your competition!

WORK-LIFE BALANCE RULES

We’ve been fighting to achieve work-life balance SINCE THE BEGINNING OF WORK.

Can we actually achieve work life balance or is it a myth?  And what the heck does work-life balance even mean? Because it’s different for every single employee.

One hack is to turn your organization upside down and ask each employee what work-life balance means to them. Understanding what your audience wants, a novel concept. Does it mean coming in early so they can leave early? Does it mean working from home a few days a week? Or does it mean not working a weekend, ever. Whatever it is, you’ve got to figure out what your employees need from you and then figure out how you can deliver it in a way that still serves your business goals.

There, now you have a system to find a way to help your employees achieve the work-life balance they crave. Remember, it goes both ways. You can give employees the better balance they want, in a way that meets your expectations.

LACK OF AUTHENTICITY AND TRANSPARENCY IS A NON-STARTER

Ah, transparency. Seems everybody and their brother wants the people, the government and the companies in their lives to be more transparent.  Science and data demonstrate people want the truth, as in can you be trusted.

So, you need to figure out how to be really real with your employees. And not just raw and authentic when it suits you – it needs to be baked into your company culture.  So entwined with the day-to-day operations that it is embedded in your culture.

How do you get there?

Friggin connect with your employees. Learn their story, find out what they want out of their job and their life, and understand what really matters to them. If you can achieve that you will create Trust.  Having a culture of trust and transparency and communication is what creates results.  See The Speed of Trust by Stephen M. R. Covey:  (Strategy x Execution) Trust  =RESULTS . And not just any results, exponential results!

CAREER PATHING IS YOUR DUTY

In a world of on-demand learning, is it really any surprise that formal and forced mentorship is on the decline? We all want to learn at our own pace, on our own schedule, and with who we trust – which just doesn’t gel with a rigid mentorship structure.

Which isn’t to say that formal mentors themselves are out. We just want advice delivered in a more informal, of-the-moment way. So rather than formally defining our relationships with our employees in the workplace or relegating their career development to some far-off date on your calendar, practice delivering real-deal, authentic feedback. That means correcting the behavior when it happens, not during their annual review. It means taking time out of your busy schedule to commend an employee on a job well done – even when you’re so busy you can’t think straight.

We have to find a way to build more mentorship and professional development into the day-to-day culture of the workplace. And while you may be rolling your eyes and thinking, “Sure Dan, I’ll be sure to add that to my never-ending to-do list” the truth is, it’s critical you get this right. Employees who are listened to, supported in their role, given the tools to succeed, and encouraged to bring new ideas to the table do better work and STAY! It’s that simple.

Here’s the bottom line: if you want to survive in the years to come, you’ve got to figure out how to create and deliver:

1.  Work Life Balance

2.  Authenticity and Transparency

3. Career Pathing

It’s the only way.

Need help figuring out how to give your employees what they want in a way that still serves your company? Reach out to us for coaching – we’ll equip you with the tools you need to succeed! Click here to sign up for your free coaching session.

Become the Leader of the Future By Doing These 6 Things

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In our last blog we looked at how the worker of the future will need to grow and adapt to succeed in the new world of work. But what about their leaders? Doesn’t it make sense that their managers will need to grow and adapt right along with them and become leaders?

Yet in my experience managers, who all should be leaders of one sort or another, are often the slowest to respond to changes in employee behavior and culture! That’s why so much of my work is focused on helping the generations connect in the workplace – because many of the older generations still don’t “get” their millennial and Gen Z coworkers and employees!

But the younger generation isn’t going away and taking their new ideas about work with them – in fact, more than 35% and even closer to 50% of Americans in the workplace are millennials! So if you are a manager or boss with millennial and Gen Z employees, it is critical that you get this right with your team! You must master the following new leadership traits and immediately start putting them into practice so you can continue to crush the competition in the years to come:

 

Create Trust and Eradicate Mistrust

Bill Simmons, formerly of ESPN, famously remarked, “Leaders thrive when they feel creatively empowered, when they trust the people around them, when their confidence is swelling. Leaders make mistakes when they lose that same confidence, when they’re fretting about their power base, when they’re reacting instead of acting.” And while Simmons was talking about basketball, the point remains: great teams are built on trust. Period.

While trust is a two-way street, as a manager and leader it’s up to you to set the tone in the company. You need to consciously work to create trust so you can build authentic relationships with your people. If they don’t trust you, you’re going to have a hard time connecting. And if you can’t connect with them, you’re going to have a hard time trusting them in turn!

Employees, and especially younger employees, want to work where they feel valued and where they can trust the leadership of the people in charge. And leaders in turn want to feel like they have a solid team backing them up. Just as Bill Simmons has a great team of writers backing him up at the Bill Simmons Media Group, including many who followed him from ESPN.

Are you unknowingly breeding a culture of mistrust among your direct reports? Check out this list of The 25 Behaviors That Contribute to Mistrust and eradicate any that you’re guilty of. TODAY.

 

Give Real-Time, Real Deal Feedback

Your employees want to know you care. So ditch the annual review and make time to invest in them right in the moment and give them the feedback they crave. They want to know they’re doing a good job, but they also want to know if something needs to change.

Just be cautious of putting too much emphasis on the negative. Instead take a page from Tony Nicely, former CEO of Geico’s book: focus on your employee’s strengths and help build them up. In a 1992 article about Nicely, William Snyder, then the chairman and chief executive of Geico Corp, commented that, “He has a marvelous talent for dealing with people…he’s empathetic and he builds on people’s strengths rather than picking out their weaknesses.”

Always assume positive intent (API) when interacting with your people and help them be the best they can be! They have all have a story to share and they all want to connect, they just need you to show them how – remember there’s no school for becoming the worker of the future! And if you do need to have a tough conversation with them, use these tips:

  • Identify the problem
  • Attack the problem, not each other
  • Listen to, and acknowledge, others’ points of view
  • Focus on organizational goals and objectives
  • Listen as an ally to strategize for success

Focus on the Right Things

In the old world of work, an employee would be at their desk at 8:30am and stay until it was time to go home at 5pm. It didn’t matter if they finished all their work in an hour or it took them all day to do it. It also didn’t matter if the employee did their best work after 3pm. The work day was the work day and employees were expecting to be at their desk and “working”.

But as technology has evolved and allowed us to be increasingly connected, the idea that employees need to sit at their desk for a specified period of time has become less and less practical. So as managers, we need to shift our thinking to focus on the right things. Instead of worry about “how” things get done, we need to be looking at “what” is getting done. After all, an employee can sit down at their desk at 8:30am, turn in a mediocre report, and spend the rest of the day playing solitaire. Or they can spend all day doing the things they’re passionate about and turn in a rockstar report at 11pm when their creativity is at its peak.

In a memo to his team at Slack shortly before the preview release of the product, Stewart Butterfield said, “Life is too short to do mediocre work and it is definitely too short to build shitty things.” Don’t allow your employees and your company to fall into mediocrity by focusing on the wrong things. Make sure that what you’re measuring actually MATTERS!

 

Foster Open and Transparent Communication

Indra Nooyi, the former CEO of PepsiCo, has often talked about the importance of communication in the workplace. She believes you “cannot over-invest in communication skills.” And of her own communication style, she had said, “I’m brutally honest. I always look at things from their point of view as well as mine.” But Nooyi’s not all talk: during her twelve-year tenure at Pepsi, the company’s sales grew by 80%!

The worker of the future needs you to communicate with them openly and authentically. To be brutally honest! The days of org charts and companies saying one thing to their customers and another thing to their employees is over. We are now too connected to ever treat our employees with anything other than radical honesty and to force them to follow a hierarchical structure of communication. And with our increased access to knowledge and learning through the Internet, we are ALL capable of coming up with and presenting new ideas that can change the direction of the company for the better.

 

Encourage Learning and Experimentation

Which brings me to my next point: as a manager in the new world of work you need to encourage your employees to learn and experiment and actually lead. ABL: Always Be Learning! With as much access as we have to information, if you as a manager rely only on your individual knowledge to make decisions for the team and company, you will be crushed by your competition.

You need to encourage your employees to learn and grow so that they can bring their ideas back to the company. We’ve previously written about Google, but it bears repeating again: Google has famously allowed its employees to devote 20% of their work time to passion projects related to the company. Whether or not 20% time is still practiced is up for debate, but what can’t be ignored is that 20% time brought two of Google’s best-loved products to life: Gmail and Adsense.

You must encourage your employees to learn and grow. With the world changing as fast as it is, to not allow space for new ideas to develop and emerge is a mistake. The fact is, your employees are often spending more face time with your customers than you are! They know exactly what your clients want so it’s time you listened to them!

 

Stop Trying to Control Everything and Everyone

Most managers love control. They want to control the company, its projects, and its people. They believe that if they can manage to hang onto everything, they will win in the long run.

But that just isn’t true. One, it’s incredibly exhausting. Two, it’s one of the behaviors that fosters mistrust in a team. And three, it doesn’t do the company any favors to have everything flow through such a narrow channel.

Instead, invest the time to train your people well and then trust them to do the job you’ve hired them to do. Yes, they’ll make mistakes and fall flat on their face occasionally. But you are not perfect either!

Just take a look at this story about Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors. In a previous leadership role in the Human Resources department, she dramatically scaled-down the dress code policy to just two words: Dress Appropriately. When she got pushback from a manager, she suggested he talk with his team to work out a solution. And wouldn’t you know it, but the team came up with a great solution that didn’t involve needing to expand the dress code policy.

Trust your people. You hired them, you trained them, now go let them do their job!

 

If you’re struggling with any of the managerial behaviors on this list, please reach out to us at launchbox. Your company needs you to grow and adapt. So invest in yourself and become the manager of the future!