Fistful of Talent

Dude, You've Got a Culture Issue, Not a Gen Y Problem!!!

So, put yourself in my shoes as I was asked this question last week:

"The culture at my company doesn't really work for Gen Y kids. When we give feedback, most times it's direct and to the point. We tell you what's wrong or what needs to change, and then people go and change. Now we have younger employees who want more when you give them feedback, and they ask, 'How do I improve or change? What do I need to do differently if I'm not doing it right?' And we don't know how to respond. We've never had to dig that deep. We've always just been critical and then moved on. Why is Gen Y so demanding?" 

Sigh. And, to boot, it was an HR pro who asked me the question. To be fair, at least he asked, right? And it was in a safe setting where we were all learning - he asked in a roomful of other HR pros as I was presenting at an onboarding seminar for IQPC where I was specifically presenting on strategies for onboarding Gen Y. 

Back to the question though - how would you have answered that? Before he could even finish, I wanted to scream, "Dude! You've got a culture problem on your hands! The issue isn't with Gen Y!" Yet, I smiled, and nodded as he finished up his question. But before I could even open my mouth, a fellow Gen Y HR pro attending the seminar spoke up and asked how else is he, as a Gen Y person, supposed to become better at his job if he's not provided specific guidance? He said that he and all the Gen Y peeps he knows are really open to change and want to improve and become better at their craft - because after all, we're goal-oriented suckers. And we're not foolish enough to think we can just do it on our own or find the answer on Wikipedia.

A boomer HR pro at another table jumped in immediately thereafter. She asked the man who raised the question whether he had kids. He said yes. And she asked him to think about it from a parenting perspective... if you told your kid, who just started playing basketball a year ago, that he needed to work on his layup - would you just leave it at that? Or would you help him practice? Would you give him hints and tips and advice on how he could get better? 

Ladies and gentleman... two lessons from this little anecdote of mine:

1. The issues a lot of folks peg onto Gen Y - they aren't necessarily just unique or specific Gen Y issues. You may think we're needy, demanding, or that we have high expectations... but some of this boils down to creating a culture around performance, and good, solid management skills. Really. 

2. The wisdom of the crowds, it's a beautiful thing and our collective knowledge is amazing. Sometimes Often when presenting, I find that turning it over to the audience is as effective, if not more effective, than me just "lecturing." Say what you need to, teach the lessons you feel are important, but know when you need to move from behind the podium and into the crowd to become a facilitator. 

The deck I presented from is below for your enjoyment. Holler with questions if you've got 'em.

 

PS: One of the joys and benefits of blogging is brand building - and that brand, it would be you. Or me. Thanks to my blogging here at Fistful of Talent, the kind folks at IQPC found me and asked me to present at a seminar focused on onboarding. What a great professional development exercise for me, but also an opportunity to share with my fellow HR cronies about my views on the world. The power of social media and the blogosphere is well and alive, folks.

Fixing the Annual Performance Review - I Recommend More Work for HR Folks

While HR may not be the one doing all the work each year, traditionally they are the "cops" that track and manage it.  The "it" I'm referring to is the annual performance appraisal.  While the individual manager is typically responsible for their team's individual reviews, the HR folks are the ones checking their list twice to make sure every employee gets their appraisal and their salary review on their anniversary date or, in some companies, at the same time each year for all employees within a group.  But, if you want to be seen as a strategic partner - I think you need to redefine the performance review and be the policy "decider" not the policy "defender."  And here's one thought on where you can start.

Use Multiple Time Lines

Charles Green at the Trust Matters blog had a discussion a while back on the process universities go through to determine tenure for its professors and teachers.  The question Mr. Green discussed was ...is tenure an outmoded concept?  From the post ...

"Is academic tenure an outdated haven for non-performing professors stuck in narrow, irrelevant silos, crying out for the clear air of market discipline?

Or does the onslaught of 'pay for performance' in academia just encourage 'teach to test' and degrade intellectual curiosity?

Not much of a choice, is it? And have you stopped beating your wife?"

The post was discussing the fact that annual reviews of professors (the antithesis of tenure) would...in Mr. Green's words...

  "suborn short-term politicking, brown-nosing, teaching-to-test, and self-promoting schemes for 'customer' satisfaction ('customers' here meaning students and administration). Integration and holistic views take a back seat to self-preservation.

Wow.  Let's turn that thought onto our employees... we don't want self-promoting schemes and we do want them thinking about the enterprise as a whole and what they can do to move the whole forward. 

When I read it, I immediately thought of the process most companies go through with their annual employee reviews.  Does the annual review suborn more "me" thinking and less "we" thinking?  Add to that the ongoing concophany of voices saying today's Generation Y workforce needs more, faster performance information.  Does that just exacerbate the "me" thinking?  Will constant performance reviews create an even bigger challenge for employers wanting to retain top performers?

Hello rock - meet hard place.

It's not about today - and it's not about last year

I think we need to redefine performance reviews and create a two-tier performance metric - one that is short-term, and one that is long-term.  We can debate the length of short and long - but the concept is... 

If our audience wants more feedback, more often - then let's institutionalize it, and make it part of the plan.  But, if the real goal is to develop longer-term relationships with our top performers, we also need a longer-term metric that adequately presents the individual's total performance.  We need both short and long-term measures.

So, from an HR perspective we should lobby for quick, up-to-date, performance "check-ins' that can be juxtaposed with long-term (annual and bi-annual?) metrics in order to create a more rounded view of the employee.

I don't know about you, but I'd hate to think that my 20+ year relationship with my wife was based on last week's inability to remember to pick up milk - nor would I expect that all the years of doing the right thing should overshadow a huge recent indiscretion on either of our parts (purely hypothetical folks!)

As a close for this post, I leave you with another excerpt from Mr. Green's discussion:

"As to motivation, the annual threat of unemployment is like hammering a nail with a sledgehammer. It works so well it smashes the nail.

The great thing about tenure is it permits a team-based, integrated view of things because it lasts more than a year. There's a limit to how short you can make a meaningful relationship and still call it a relationship. It’s ironic that “modern” business insists on applying a single ancient pagan harvest-based unit of time to all things temporal. Why not change tenure to 6.43 years?"

If we want long-term, quality individuals who perform at their best each day, we should be looking at both measures.  I know it might seem like more work - but hey - that's why they pay us.

And The Quickest Way for Gen Y to Alienate an Employer Is...

So, by now, you know everything you need to know about Gen Y in the workplace.  Their likes, their dislikes, how they're different from you and me, how they like hot butter on their breakfast toast...

Whoops.. Wrong generation... Seriously, you know it all about Gen Y.  That means bloggers like me shouldn't do 1,500 word manifestos on how to manage them.  It's been done, we really have nothing to add at a macro level.  The micro level?  Still plenty to explore, like ways that Gen Y can pontificate about themselves and alienate every old person (and a lot of Gen Y's as well) in the room

The quickest way for Gen Y to alienate an employer?  Claim they can get it done in less time than anyone else because they're Gen Y.  That's a bridge to nowhere.

That's why Jim Durbin is sick of Gen Y cheerleading by those who can't/don't want to put in a full day of work.  More from the STL Recruiter (aka the Social Media Headhunter):

"Take this Cheezhead writer who just finished his third RockStar.  He prattles on about being challenged and claims that Gen Y can get a full day's work done in four hours.  1) - The actual useful work they knock out is about 30 minutes, as their inability to pay attention prevents them from actually, you know, working.

And there's another problem. Children who think an 8 hour job can be done in 4 hours usually don't understand the job.

It's nonsense.  Gen Y doctors and engineers and teachers and factory workers and loggers and burger flippers aren't getting work done any faster.  A small subset of white, college degree urban rich kids with marketing, PR, and other service jobs are chafing that they aren't respected.  Of course, those professions are also the ones where lack of experience leads to lack of results.  Show me a 23 year old  marketing consultant who can effectively manage an email marketing campaign for a national car dealer and I'll eat my MacBook.  Those industries are under heavy spending pressure, and thankfully, this nonsense will go away as they are laid off and have to take jobs that aren't challenging but at least pay the rent. 

If you don't like your job, quit and start your own business.  The workload will make you too busy and tired to whine, but at least you'll find out if you really have what it takes."

Wow.  Jim nailed that one. The only thing missing was a clip of Dennis Miller at the lead saying, "I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but...".  Full disclosure - there are a lot of hard working, talented Gen Y people, who don't display the behavior outlined by Jim.  Additionally, Gen Y, talking about how they like to be managed, how they like to work?  That's all still fair game and interesting in my eyes.

But, the ones who like to talk smack that the work is easy?  Jim's right about them, and the ones who like to wax poetic about how easy the work is, have always struck me as doing a huge disservice to the other 99% of Gen Ys in the workplace.  Kind of like radical religious sects in certain parts of the world hijacking the faith and reputations of the other 99.9%, who are solid citizens. 

The .1%?  They're the ones with the videocams.. or the blogs...   

Why Evil HR Types Block All Social Media at Your Company....

Why do evil HR types get the heebie jeebies when it comes to allowing access to social media? 

All you need to know is the Twitter message below... More comments after the jump, once this one soaks in a bit...

Now, the guy who twittered this is probably a great employee.  Sure, stuff like this can happen via email, but it generally doesn't anymore - we're all coached up about email to a greater extent.  Social Media just has a casual feel at this point.  You riff a little twitter message for a ha/ha, and the next thing you know you are the lead article at Valleywag....

Social media is casual, and casual comments = liability.  That's why most grown-up HR and Legal departments kill it like the roach scurrying across the floorboards.

Of course, creativity and community also equal innovation and revenue.  The white-paper is still under construction for that argument, however.  Companies know what liability costs... So guess what wins?

I don't agree with killing it, but....I'm just sayin.....

Social Media to Replace Recruiters? Right, Just Like Robots Are Doing All the Work Today....

I love it when lame studies project the elimination of an entire industries.  Ever see the movie 2001?  Weren't we all supposed to be chilling at this point, allowing the computers and robots to do all the work, while we moved toward the plane called self-actualization? 

Right.. I know... We're still doing the work. That sucks, but hey, it's job security.

Here's another bold prediction.  Some experts see the downfall of recruiting agencies, which you and I know as "headhunters".  It seems this set of experts sees the rise of social networks, combines it with how the younger generations like to connect, and concludes that soon we won't need headhunters.  The social networks of the younger generations will do the work, and the employee referral will rise as the preferred alternative to headhunters. 

Read more on the study from the publication known as Talent Management:

"Direct employee relationships are threatening the supremacy of recruitment agencies, according to the first global “Digital Generation Survey.” The survey has been created by workplace experts Career Innovation (Ci) in partnership with AIESEC, a student-run organization.

“The survey reveals the astonishing effectiveness of personal referrals in recruitment,” commented Jonathan Winter of Career Innovation. “When we asked young workers from 83 countries, 45 percent said someone has joined their organization as a result of their recommendation. If that’s proving so effective, why should employers pay headhunters a huge commission to source candidates? Their own staff have better contacts.”

The researchers acknowledge that personal networks have always been an effective way of recruiting, especially in small organizations. But they cite the growth in social networking as a catalyst that could move this from an invisible, informal activity to a mainstream priority for employers.“Business has always been about relationships, conversations and networks,” commented Winter. “Now at last we are seeing the rise of software that reflects this reality.”

The move away from traditional headhunters will be driven by the next generation of workers. The “Digital Generation Survey” consulted students around the world about their motivation and behavior using new technologies. Contrary to the popular image of social networks as a time-wasting device, the survey revealed their rapid adoption for serious work-related purposes, including recruitment."

I'm not an industry recruiter (I'm a HR pro), and employee referrals are my favorite source of hires.  Still, the call that the recruiter will fade as younger generations rise into the professional class is a lame, academic prediction that's intellectually lazy. 

Why? Because being connected, taking the time to nourish your network, and using that network to recruit is HARD WORK.  Can those with large networks be effective in recruiting and gaining referrals?  Absolutely...

Will the managers of the next generation have time to connect, nourish and recruit in addition to their primary roles within your organization?  **** no, and that's why good recruiters will always have a job.

Here's how you replace external recruiters.  Coordinate the efforts of the managers in your company, and get them involved in social media, including LinkedIn, industry and function-specific social networks.  Make being involved externally part of their job, and coordinate their activities through an internal recruiting guru or progressive HR pro.  Set them up so when you need referrals, they have to do minimal work.

Of course, that's hard to do, and that's why we still need competent recruiters today.  Those young folks?  Once they get the responsibility and experience necessary to really deliver on their networks, they're going to be BUSY.  Without the coordination/process I'm describing above, they'll have more important things to do.

Advantage - the recruiter.  I believe the reported death is a little premature.   

When a Poop Scooping Gig In College Means Something Cool....

Last week, I spoke to a communications class focused on the art of interviewing at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).  Good times, and I threw up some slides that talked about all the places interviewing skills will come into play in their careers - the obvious places (getting a job and interviewing as a candidate) as well as the not so obvious places (the interviewing skills they'll need as a manager to hire, get maximum performance out of their people, coach and even investigate when things go bad).

One question you knew was going to come up - "What do you look for on a resume from a college student?". 

Well, that obviously depends, so we talked briefly about customizing your resume and cover letter for each job you apply for - bringing the cool stuff you can point to up to the top and trying to show the value in an early-career experience set.

Another great idea for these early career folks?  Start a business with a digital side (that'll help me to see it on the web) from your dorm room or apartment.  I don't care how much money you made, I'd rather hear about what you learned about marketing, distribution, etc. from your efforts.  More on a competition among dorm-based business at StartupNation.com from MSN Money:

While many students hunt for jobs at the college bookstore or local restaurants, a select few start and run their own businesses. Entrepreneurs at their core, they become CEOs before exiting college instead of waiting for a corporate job after graduation.

At StartupNation.com, we saw this phenomenon illustrated as never before when entries to our first Dorm-Based 20 competition piled up. We chose winners who represent a cross section of these collegiate impresarios and divided them into three categories:

• The "huge upside potential" group, whose current businesses have meteoric growth prospects.

• The "very talented" group, whose personal talents are at the core of the businesses they've created.

• The "blocking and tackling" group, whose capacity to tough it out with basic entrepreneurial grit, focus and business fundamentals bodes extremely well for their futures as successful entrepreneurs.

Take Jon Wood, who leads the "blocking and tackling" group and who runs a dog-poop-scooping business. You wouldn't think of his business as one that utilizes technology. But he designed his Web site and conducts Internet marketing campaigns to drive business his way.

The same could be said of Jared Sherlock, a professional magician who leads the "very talented" group. He places a huge emphasis on online marketing; you can watch parts of his act on YouTube.

So, if you're a student in June Mack's communication class or elsewhere thinking about how to gain an advantage in your upcoming entry into the job market, don't forget the opportunity to start your own business.  Just make sure you promote it and even take orders on the web, because you'll want to leave that site up as you're looking for your first corporate job.  I'd like to see it, and it adds depth to your claims of running a small business.

Even poop scooping can give you a huge competitive advantage, as long as you've got a digital presence...

Is One on One Mentoring Obsolete? Enter the PBOD...

Have you ever noticed how much HR people talk about taking a seat at "the table"?  I know we have a lot of non-HR folks who read FOT, so hit me in the comments and tell me how sick you are of hearing that phrase.  A little sick?  Or "I just drank that garbage bag full of green Kool-Aid with a fifth of Everclear in it" kind of sick?

HR pros are classically under-networked as a general rule.  That point became apparent to me based on the response to a new column I did over at Workforce about what an HR pro's personal board of directors (PBOD for short) wants from HR.   The biggest trend in the responses to me?  That HR pros don't talk shop with the marketing and finance folks.

Sigh....

The concept of a personal board of directors is something a lot of us have developed over time in our careers (note - I first saw the term in Fast Company a few years back).  It underscores the fact that if we are strong professionals, we're going to grow a network of folks that we can learn from, and that same group can provide feedback to you to make you a stronger professional, regardless of what business you are in.

It also underscores the fact that one-on-one mentoring may be dead.  It takes a freaking village these days to give you what you need.  Kathy Kram echos these thoughts over at the Wall Street Journal:

"Consider this: How can one teacher know enough to help you keep up with rapidly changing technology, as well as navigate the challenges of globalization, a multicultural work force and team-based decision making? Even people who have served as mentors often need help staying abreast of all these changes.

A better approach is to create and cultivate a developmental network -- a small group of people to whom you can turn for regular mentoring support and who have a genuine interest in your learning and development. Think of it as your personal board of directors.

The composition of the group depends on where you are in your career and what you're looking for. If you're just getting started, you could certainly turn to your boss or assigned mentor for help. But you should also look further, seeking out peers to get feedback on areas where you need to improve, such as public speaking or working in teams."

Who's on your personal board of directors?  I'm making my list now and have identified holes in my lineup in the following areas - emerging technology, use of video and pilates stretching/flexibility.

Fill out your lineup card today and establish your PBOD...

Talent Reality Check - Mandarin is the New Spanish for Your Kids...

Quick - if you could pick right now, what second language would you have your kids learn to enhance their economic prospects over the next 50 years?

If you said, "Spanish", congratulations.  That's a nice choice, and you're towing the company line.  My guess is that 95% of American's would give that answer.  After all, Spanish is rapidly becoming the language of choice, or strong second option, in many American communities. 

Spanish is certainly a solid choice for your kids.  Learning Spanish will help them navigate through the increasing diversity they'll find in the states over the next 50 years.  If they're managing a call center or expanding a retail presence stateside, they'll need Spanish to make sure they're getting their fair share of the labor pool for the businesses they support.

Here's the dirty little secret.  Spanish will help them maintain the lifestyle you've established in your killer career.  It won't allow them, however, to have economic prospects that are better than yours.

To transcend what you've done economically, your kids are going to have to think outside the box, and look westward across the Pacific.

Your kids need to learn Mandarin.

Before you tell me that I'm simply drinking the Olympic kool-aid, I'm not.  I'm thinking raw economics.  Depending on who you believe, the Chinese economy will pass the US economy somewhere between 2015 and 2050.  Regardless of when that event happens, the Chinese economy will have an increasingly stronger pull on the US.

Two concepts come into focus with this recommendation - global trade and the concept of a Billion...

It's a global world, and China's going to be the rising partner in what your kids are involved with globally.  Want them to go to Harvard?  Great!!  To put the degree pedigree to work, they'll be taking the shuttle to Beijing or Shanghai every month. 

Why?  Because China has a BILLION people, most (regardless of what the Chinese government told us during the Olympics) without iPods, two pairs of jeans or even (GASP!) a pair of Nikes.  It's a blank slate of a market, and your kids are going to have to crack it to hit the numbers needed for the annual bonus.

Or maybe they'll work for a Chinese multi-national with operations stateside...

Here's hoping the Olympics planted the seed of capitalism/global markets within the little guy in China - or at least made him want to have a Coke and a big screen TV.  For now, do like Dr. Evil and start thinking "Billions", not "Millions".

And find a Mandarin tutor near you...

Why Moms Think Your Employment Brand is Weak...

I talk about being a mom sometimes (like transitional labor even), so if that bugs you, cover your ears. See, the thing is, I talk about moms because I am one and guess what? So is like over <insert your stat here> percent of the workforce. And people are talking about it. But not in the ways you might think.

I'm talking about those companies that boast that they're the best for moms and families. We've all seen  the brightly colored banners with a very perky new mom, holding alert and happy baby up for the world to see. But how do they really compare?

For most moms, it's a joke. All the lists that make the working mom mags, all the rankings don't come close to affecting the jobs they hold, so who cares?

If there were a labor pool that could potentially fill in the blank between "gimme my freedom" Gen X and the "ready to retire" boomers that we're facing in 5 years, I'd want to accommodate 'em. Particularly if they were:

1) educated
2) smart
3) great multi taskers
4) keeping their skills fresh in the meanwhile

So what gives? How come "working mothers" lists have become a PR commodity, rather than an employer branding tool.  Let's not forget that the "truth police Millennials" will catch us if we overpromise and under-deliver.

What can your company do?

- Prove it's a benefit. There is a big fat hole in our workforce. Find out how to make SAHMs (stay-at-home moms) and WAHMs (work-at-home moms) fill it and you're looking at a metric even the COO will like.

- Implement what they want. Among the top picks: part time hours, telecommuting options and a lactating room that's not a supply closet.

- Get serious about REAL value. Yes, it's so great if you provide on-site daycare, but is it any good? Moms talk, you know, especially when it comes to their kids. Are you charging an arm and a leg? Then it ain't a benefit. Re: the lactating room? If she can't get in without getting looked up and down by Larry the maintenance guy, it's not mom-friendly. K?

Take back the title. PR needs to hand over the keys to the "Best for the Working Mom" title. That release belongs to Recruiting and HR, period.  But taking it back means you own it. So get it off the pages of some glossy mag that most moms don't have TIME to read anyway, and into the hands of talent pros who will use it to create an actual pipeline.

Editor's Note - Maren Hogan is a millennial living the dream in Omaha, Nebraska.  When she's not plotting the downfall of Gen Xer's like me, she's doing marketing and development for an IT recruiting and outsourcing firm called HCI.  Maren's a mother of three based out of Omaha, where she writes by the light of a laptop once her house is finally....quiet...

If You Can't Recruit from a "Van Down By The River", You're Not A Real Recruiter...

I'm going to RecruitFest in September and like I always do, I began researching ways to make it cheaper, faster etc. While I was calling people I had never met and cashing in miles, a friend asked me, "Why are you doing all that? You can afford this."

Bam. I was taken aback. She was right. I could. I can. So, what's with all the string pulling? The miserly penny pinching?

HERE'S WHAT. I work doggone hard for the money I make. For every big money hire I get, there's a tiny voice in my head that remembers the late nights, the long searches, the endless networking (in heels). So, when you do the math, it works out to a completely fair living.

Second, I was 20 when Jeremy and I got married. We were poor, I mean dirt poor, paying off college loans for two, plus two babies in as many years. Poor. You get it. But I wanted a beautiful home. So, I painted and upholstered and ripped up carpet and bought stuff at thrift stores. . . Until someone came into my home where not a single stick of brand new furniture existed and offered me a job at an interior design firm.

That's when it clicked. If you can't do it with rudimentary tools, you can't do it at all. I have very little respect for people who HAVE to have this ATS or that Widget or this Search Software to make their jobs easier. I'm all about free, which is a great quality for a search firm. It exposes me to great tools like this job portal and this tracking software and great, FREE networking events like BarCamps and TweetUps and PR tools like HARO and this.

So, I harumphed at my friend and went back to looking for someone to room with and checking on the very lowest prices, because it's about being the best, doing the very most with the very least. It's about showing up when no one thought you could. And I think, the second I lose that edge and start to posture like I deserve those big fat fees? Clients will see straight through me. They won't see a fantastic recruiter with a natural gift for search. They'll see a bloated machine propped up by expensive systems and fancy tools.

If you can be a great recruiter with a phone and a smile, do it. Because all the rest of the "stuff" will just make you even better.

(Special dedication to all the cranky pants who were fussing because their gmail was down. Pick up the phone! Do your job!)

Editor's Note - Maren Hogan is a millennial living the dream in Omaha, Nebraska.  When she's not plotting the downfall of Gen Xer's like me, she's doing marketing and development for an IT recruiting and outsourcing firm called HCI.  As a part of this tag, Maren would like to remind you that she doesn't live in a van, she actually lives in Omaha, which was recently named the 3rd Best City to Live/Work/Play by Kiplingers... Take that Seattle, DC and...err...Birmingham....