New management style required for post-recession business world
There is no question that all age groups within the work force have been affected since the recession. Mature employees that were released are more sceptical of corporate promises, middle manager layers that were removed now force employees to redefine their desired career paths, and younger employees now realize that there is more competition for job openings and that fast tracking might not be as realistic as first thought.
So moving forward how do companies retain talent, rebuild corporate culture and achieve high productivity? For the focus of this blog I have decided to target the suggested process for employees who are approximately around the age of 30. This is probably the best age for companies to use as a guide for maximum return in re-establishing post recession employee strategies.
Four management ingredients to re-evaluate when working with this age group:
Communication. Managers need to be as transparent as possible and not to overpromise when it comes to timelines or promotions. The younger generation more than ever wants to be able to continually add new responsibilities to their resume. It makes them feel productive and allow them to pad their resume with experience that they believe will better position themselves in the coming years. The key to this is adding items to a job description that will not affect one’s ability to do the current work load but will be stretch the employee into different areas to round out their skill set. Examples of this can be cross functional department projects, special assignments or researching the viability of a new business channel for the company. Time has shown that when this strategy is used, employee productivity increases as well as the confidence of the employee and their feelings towards their organization. It is no longer acceptable to tell employees that they need to log a certain amount of years in a role before being considering for a promotion. That is not motivating or productive so leave that strategy for the unions. Focus on helping the employee become better and more marketable.
Focus on getting the tasks and mandates completed rather than concentrating on punching clocks. This might be a battle against corporate culture but isn’t the goal to get the job done? Productivity has proven to be higher when employees are allowed to control their schedule. There is a reason that some of the large slow moving companies are losing ground to younger more aggressive companies and a lot of it starts with culture. Most employees will end up working full days anyway, but there is a carrot there for the employee in case they do complete their assignments ahead of time. When employees believe there is an opportunity for a desired outcome, productivity will increase. There is also an alarming amount of evidence that suggests clock punching environments have higher rates of employee disengagement which result in employees abusing company time.
Empower your employees. There is a false perception that generation Y can’t take direction and require constant communication. If you give them the ability to do their jobs and show confidence in them, they are more likely to produce because their name is on the work. It has been proven that when managers consistently request status updates on details and other individual project steps, that employees become disengaged and they feel that they are only delivering execution functions to the job and not top level thinking.
There is also another false perception that the younger generation thinks that they know everything. In fact, this generation more than ever is looking for mentoring managers. If you have employees that are looking for industry guidance and coaching, this is a good thing. The employee that wants to improve and be considered for more responsibilities in the future is a great employee so use this passion to your advantage. A passionate employee is a more productive employee. In order to avoid schedule disruptions, set aside certain times for mentoring on a weekly basis for a phone call or a live meeting. Managers that do this tell us that not only do they see employee productivity increase, but it is often a very rewarding experience for them as well as it allows them to look at their own business from a different vantage point.
Farewell,
Mike