Selling Effectiveness - Buyer trends and multigenerational issues
Posted on February 18, 2010
Filed Under Managing Multiple Generations, Selling to Multiple Generations | Leave a Comment
I recently uploaded several of my recent webinars to SlideShare.net. One of the most popular is entitled “Selling Effectiveness - Buyer trends and multigenerational issues.”
This presentation focuses on increasing selling effectiveness with multigenerational buyers and customers. I have included a great deal of my research on generational buyer trends and preferences and implications for organizations.
Check out all of my presentations here! Feel free to send feedback and let me know what other types of managerial or generational issues you want to hear more about. I am updating frequently, so check back often.
Why Skeptics Make Great Leaders
Posted on February 18, 2010
Filed Under Leadership Training, Management Styles | Leave a Comment
I have been talking a lot on this blog about what makes a great manager and a great leader, especially in this time of unprecedented generational shift in the workforce. Steve Tobak recently posted a great piece on why skeptics - not the perpetual optimists - make great leaders.
His points are well made and relevant, especially in this challenging economy. His arguments are also very challenging to typical corporate cultures!
Every company’s got them: cynics, skeptics, naysayers, negatrons, pessimists, doubting Thomases, call them what you want, I’m sure you’ve got one in your group. To them, consensus is a four-letter word. Instead of going along with the pack, they just bring everyone else down by turning meetings into nightmares.
Who needs them, right?
Well, let’s see. Um, you do. Your company does. Don’t get it? Okay, let me explain by turning this around a bit and asking you a question:
What value do you assign folks who 1) are so politically correct that they have to make everything sound nice so as not to offend anyone, 2) dumb everything down to the least common denominator, 3) sugarcoat the cold, hard truth, 4) are yes-men or women, 5) tell you what they think you want to hear, 6) go along with the pack so meetings don’t go on forever, or 7) do things a certain way because that’s the way they’ve always been done?
If you want to be a successful manager or leader, your answer should either be “not much” or “that’s a trick question: fire their butts.” That’s right, because there’s no place for folks who fit that description in a company that expects to deliver the next great product, support highly demanding customers, take market share from tough competitors, and deliver increasing shareholder value.
Read the entire article here. In a related article, Tobak also highlighted the top twenty ways to screw up your management career, which points back to a lot of issues we have discussed here. He focuses quite a bit on communication, which is also incredibly important for managers of multiple generations.
20 Ways to Screw Up Your Management Career:
1. Stop asking questions.
2. Take it personally.
3. Micromanage.
4. Distance yourself from employees.
5. Distance yourself from customers.
6. Play it safe.
7.Test moral, ethical, or legal limits.
8. Hire yes-men (or women) you can control.
9. Overpromise and under-deliver.
10. Engage your mouth before your brain.
11. Stick to your guns.
12. Work beneath your capability.
13. Ignore what the market is telling you.
14. Ignore your gut instincts.
15. Fight too many battles on too many fronts.
16. Coast.
17. Focus solely on your own little world.
18. Become big and bloated.
19. Lose your sense of humor and humility.
20. Let your inner child reign.
Read the full article here. And, for more management tips, download my recent webinar “4 Sales Tactics Sales Managers Must Know to Successfully Coach: 3 Generations of B2B Buyers”.
More soon! Dave
Ten Tips for Dealing with Management Conflict
Posted on January 27, 2010
Filed Under Office Conflict | 1 Comment
No matter what the organization or the generational makeup, every company is going to have some kind of conflict, often between managers and their employees or teams. There are lots of articles out there giving employees advice about how to deal with bosses who are jerks, giving tips about how communicate their issues to management, clearly state their goals and achieve desired outcomes.
But for as many jerk bosses as there are in the world, there are just as many unreasonable or conflict driven employees. Many seem set on turning their grievances into WWIII, making as much noise and drawing as much attention as possible. Though you shouldn’t leave your grievances unvoiced, there is a balance between simply suffering through the problem and blowing it out of proportion to make a statement. BNet author Steve Tobak attacks the issue of employee/manager conflict from this perspective and provides great tips for managing conflict professionally and effectively:
We hear loads about bosses who are jerks, but what about employees who are jerks? What about public displays of vehement disagreement bordering on insubordination? I mean, when and how is it okay to disagree with the boss? Is it always okay to speak your mind?
To answer these and other thorny questions, I’ve come up with a set of rules. If you’re angry at your boss or disagree with management and feel the need to speak up, ignore this list at your peril:
Tobak’s 10 Rules of Management Conflict
1. Stay calm. Never react in anger or blow your stack. If you’re so POd that you can’t trust yourself to be calm, then go away and come back when you can. The workplace is no place for that kind of behavior, period.
2. Attack the problem, not the person. When you criticize or attack someone personally, you risk burning a bridge. Focus on the real issues at hand. You know, what the company actually pays you to do.
3. Be open and honest. The second you grit your teeth, cross your arms, and close your mind, you give in to stubborn childish behavior. But if you remain open and keep your wits about you, you’ll manage to do the right thing in a tough situation.
4. Don’t lose perspective. Try to remember that you’re being paid to do a job, not to fight a war. The workplace is about business. You know, customers, products, that sort of thing. It’s not about you … or him.
5. Try to be empathetic. Put yourself in her shoes and try to understand her perspective. If you can’t or you’re not sure what it is, then ask; you’re assumptions may be wrong. If she does the same, next thing you know, you have detente.
6. Take the high road. That doesn’t mean be quiet when something needs to be said. It means say it at a time and place and in a manner that’s reasonable and respectful of all present. If you kick yourself afterwards, then you probably didn’t do it right.
7. Have faith in yourself. The workplace is no place for yes-men. You were hired for a reason, and it’s not to blindly march along with the pack. If that’s what management wants, you work for a crappy company.
8. Don’t go at it in public. If you do, be prepared to apologize in public and, worst case, be fired for insubordination. Accomplished managers and executives really do not like to be publicly eviscerated. Would you?
9.Then let them have it. As long as you follow the preceding eight rules, then it’s okay to go for it. Just try to be civilized.
10. Disagree and commit. This comes from Andy Grove’s Intel. Keeping your mouth shut when you disagree isn’t being a good soldier. But disagreeing, losing the fight, and committing to help the winning plan succeed, now that’s being a good soldier.
What Really Motivates Workers
Posted on January 27, 2010
Filed Under employee motivation | Leave a Comment
Great new video from CBS Money Watch: “What Really Motivates Workers”
Author Daniel Pink draws on decades of scientific research to identify what makes us truly happy at work. Hint: It’s not all about the money.
Generational Impact News: HR Consulting Industry Has Shrunk by a Fifth in Recession
Posted on January 12, 2010
Filed Under Generational Management Stlyes, HR consulting | Leave a Comment
Here is an interesting effect of the workforce generational shift: According to PeopleManagement.com.uk, the HR consulting industry has shrunk by 20 per cent in the past year.
Part of this decline is an effect of reduced demand caused by the global economic recession, but there is also a generational factor at play according to recent research:
The report by specialists sourceforconsulting.com, which included a survey of the largest buyers of consultancy services, concluded that there is still significant demand for HR consulting but it was increasingly focused on elements that offer a measurable financial return. The majority of organisations in the study (84 per cent) had reduced their expenditure on consultants in the past year and half had reduced it by more than 20 per cent.
Consulting on organisational design and change management are in particular decline but performance management is a growth area, found the research, entitled What is the future for HR consulting?
Fiona Czerniawska, joint managing director of sourceforconsulting.com and author of the report, said the trend is leading to consolidation in the consulting sector.
“Our research points to a ‘generational shift’ in HR consulting, away from traditional areas to focusing more on performance management,” said Czerniawska. “The future of HR consulting will see traditional firms collaborating, even merging, with smaller, more innovative specialists in order to survive. The merger of Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt and the recent acquisition by PricewaterhouseCoopers of performance management consulting firm Paragon is evidence of this evolving trend.”
In another generational twist, another report today asserts that job satisfaction in the U.S. is at its lowest level in two decades (read article here). Managers need to be aware of this trend as the economy begins to rebound, or they will be facing an even larger talent and knowledge gap than the one being caused by the shifting generational makeup of the workforce.
“While one in 10 Americans is now unemployed, their working compatriots of all ages and incomes continue to grow increasingly unhappy,” says Lynn Franco, director of the Consumer Research Center of The Conference Board. “Through both economic boom and bust during the past two decades, our job satisfaction numbers have shown a consistent downward trend.”
Fewer Americans are satisfied with all aspects of their employment, and no age or income group is immune. In fact, the youngest cohort of employees (those currently under age 25) expresses the highest level of dissatisfaction ever recorded by the survey for that age group.
“The downward trend in job satisfaction could spell trouble for the overall engagement of U.S. employees and ultimately employee productivity,” adds Franco.
“These numbers do not bode well given the multi-generational dynamics of the labor force,” says Linda Barrington, managing director, Human Capital, The Conference Board. “The newest federal statistics show that baby boomers will compose a quarter of the U.S. workforce in eight years, and since 1987 we’ve watched them increasingly losing faith in the workplace.” Twenty years ago, some 60 percent of that generation was satisfied with their jobs. Today, that figure is roughly 46 percent. Barrington adds: “The growing dissatisfaction across and between generations is important to address because it can directly impact the quality of multi-generational knowledge transfer–which is increasingly critical to effective workplace functioning.”
If you aren’t considering the effects of the generational shift on your organization, now is the time! Don’t be caught in a situation in which knowledge is lost, talent is not developed, and employee satisfaction and productivity are low! Businesses, now more than ever need to be focused on the generational issues at play in the economy and in their organization, and plan for the future by investing in talent development and knowledge transfer management. Although, as the first story indicates, businesses are increasingly cutting consulting budgets to save costs, this will not be a solid strategy for many organizations in the long term.
Top 50 Companies for Gen Y
Posted on January 4, 2010
Filed Under Managing Multiple Generations, Top Gen Y Companies | Leave a Comment
Who is getting it right for Gen Y?
With all of the focus on Gen Y and multi-generational management, it’s interesting to see (from Gen Y’s perspective) which companies are getting it right and what management styles are working best for the younger generations joining the workforce.
Brazen Careerist, a networking and career building community for Gen Y’s, has just released their list of the top 50 Gen Y companies. For managers navigating the new challenges of a rapidly changing, generationally diverse workforce, check out these companies for case studies and examples in multi-generational management.
Here are the top ten companies who are getting it right for Gen Y according to Gen Y!
1
NBC Universal, Inc.
Media
2
PepsiCo Inc.
Food
3
Nestlé USA, Inc.
Food
4
Google, Inc.
Information Technology
5
Citigroup, Inc.
Banking
6
Procter & Gamble Co.
Consumer Goods
7
Johnson & Johnson
Consumer Goods
8
Grant Thornton LLP
Consulting and Accounting
9
AECOM Corporation
Engineering and Construction
10
Merrill Lynch & Co, Inc.
Finance
Managing Generational Communication
Posted on December 15, 2009
Filed Under Managing Multiple Generations | Leave a Comment
One of the many tasks for today’s managers is managing the communication preferences of the four generations in the workforce. Communication breakdown can not only affect internal collaboration and team effectiveness, but also client and prospect communications and ultimately your bottom line. This is an interesting video that explains how Cisco is developing collaboration by harnessing Web 2.0 communication strategies:
Micromanagers Miss the Mark
Posted on December 10, 2009
Filed Under Management Styles | Leave a Comment
I was reading in the Wall Street Journal Leadership section today (a great collection of articles and videos interviewing top CEOs about day-to-day management issues) and saw a great article entitled “Micromanagers Miss Bull’s-Eye.” Many managers are tempted, especially in a down economy when every dollar counts, to become over-involved with minutia of day-to-day operations instead of focusing on strategic direction and growth. For some, it’s just a control issue. For others, fear of the next economic turn and obsession with costs drives them to try to stay vested in every process and activity going on in the office. Whatever the motivation, micromanaging squelches creativity and motivation in employees and communicates to them that you do not trust them to make decisions on their own.
As the article puts it:
“Leadership experts say micromanagers — from small-business owners to managers in large organizations — share an unwillingness to trust subordinates; still, many can be successful, to a point.”
“The best managers help employees learn to work independently by giving them meaningful responsibilities, organizational coach Diane Foster says. “Who wants to be in a company where you are not allowed to think?”
“Frontline workers often are best suited to identify problems and suggest creative solutions, says Ira Bryck, director of University of Massachusetts’s Family Business Center in Hadley, Mass. But when conditioned to rely on a heavy-handed manager for guidance, employees become complacent, he says.
Managers should give employees goals and leave them to work out the details, Mr. Bryck says. They should resist the temptation to take control when subordinates make minor mistakes.”
The article also gives these tips for micromanagers who need to learn new habits:
- Clearly articulate expectations
- Focus on hiring and placement of subordinates
- Give employees decision-making power
- Encourage questions and suggestions
- Offer constructive feedback
- Don’t grab the reins at the first sign of trouble
Sources: Debra Nunes, executive leadership global practice head, Hay Group; Diane Foster, president, Diane Foster & Associates
For more reading, check out my latest post on dealing with the “unretired” here.
What’s Your GenerationalIQ?
Posted on May 12, 2009
Filed Under Generational DNA, Generational IQ, Managing Multiple Generations | Leave a Comment
What generation are you? It’s more than the year you were born. Your GENerationalDNA is based on shared experiences that drive your beliefs, values, interests, motivations, and behaviors.
Your GenerationalDNA can affect every aspect of your professional life:
- How well can you manage other generations?
- How do other generations see you as a manager or leader?
- Do you communicate well with members of other generations?
- Do you understand what motivates members of other generations in your workplace? Your target markets? Your client pool?
- Do you build strong intergenerational teams?
- Are you harnessing the strengths of multiple generations in your workforce?
The list goes on and on. Generational differences can lead to communication breakdowns, weak teams and ineffective management, affecting a company’s bottom line and long term stability. This is especially true as the Baby Boomers retire in mass leaving a growing knowledge gap within their organizations.
Failure to understand generational differences can also dilute the effectiveness of sales, pricing and marketing strategies as well as numerous internal operations including hiring, talent development, benefits mangement, working environments and arrangements, and management structure.
Take this quick assessment to find out your dominant generational style: GenerationalIQ Test.
Founded by Dave Brookmire, Generational DNA will be providing research, articles and consulting services that help companies unlock their company’s multigenerational potential, strengthen management and collaboration across generations, build strong teams and communication across generations, and develop the talent management and business continuity strategies they need to overcome the current generational shift and resulting knowledge gap.
Multi-Generational Challenges Facing Management
Posted on April 7, 2009
Filed Under Managing Multiple Generations | 1 Comment
I have recently been focusing most of my attention on launching a second consulting business which will focus on helping organizations to identify and navigate issues in collaboration and communication that arise in multi-generational workforces. The Baby Boomers are retiring in mass, taking with them the bulk of the experience and expertise that companies have built their business on. They are being replaced by the younger Generations X and Y that have different communication and learning styles as well as different work ethics, goals and motivations. Additionally, a generation that used technology as a tool to make their jobs easier is being replaced by generations who use technology as a part of life and, in many ways, let technology define a great deal of their personalities.
I am launching GenerationalDNA over the next couple of weeks and will be providing articles, tools and services specifically designed to address these issues. However, I wanted to go ahead and start talking about some of these issues and point out some of the coverage that is starting to surface in one form or another. This first article deals with one of the primary issues created in multi-generational workforces: management challenges. With differing communication styles, how do managers effectively lead multi-generational departments? Build strong, cohesive teams? Establish hierarchy without stifling creativity or talent? The rules are changing for Bs, Xs and Ys.
The article “Three Forces Disrupting Management“ from the Wall Street Journal column “Gary Hamel’s Management 2.0″ does a fantastic job outlining the traditional management models, largely developed in industrial and manufacturing situations, although foundationally strong, do not have the flexibility to address today’s management issues or cater to changing working environments and styles. Just as the Industrial Revolution spurred the need for new management and efficiency models, the current generational shift is sending us in a similar direction:
“But now, for the first time since the early 20th century, we may be on the verge of another management revolution, and it may turn out to be just as unsettling as the one that spawned the industrial age. There are three forces at work that make such a metamorphosis likely; three discontinuities that may end management as we know it.
“The first of these is a bundle of dramatic changes that have made the business environment substantially less forgiving. Companies around the world are struggling to cope with a wildly accelerating pace of change, an onslaught of new, ultra-low-cost competitors, the commoditization of knowledge, rapidly increasing customer power, and an ever-lengthening menu of social demands. Traditional management models that emphasize optimization over innovation and continuity over change simply can’t cope with these unprecedented challenges.
“The second driver is the invention of new, Web-based collaboration tools. For the first time in centuries, human beings have a new way of organizing themselves, via online, distributed networks. Markets and hierarchies, heretofore the two principle technologies for coordinating human effort, finally have a robust new competitor. In the coming decades, we can expect the Web to transform organizational life every bit as dramatically as it has already transformed life outside the workplace.
“The third driver is the mash-up of new expectations that Generation Facebook will bring to work in the years ahead. If you’re part of the first generation in history to have grown up on the Web, you don’t think of the Internet as something “out there”—a tool you employ to reserve a hotel room, buy a book, or send a note to grandma. Rather, the Web is something you’re perpetually in—as ubiquitous and transparent as water is to fish. As a child of the digital age, the Web is the operating system for your life, the indispensable and unremarkable means by which you learn, play, share, flirt, and connect.”
These issues are intrinsically tied to generational shifts. The generational makeup (Generational DNA) of the global workforce has changed significantly in the last 10 years. Today, more generations work together in single workplaces, and they have greater disparities than ever before, and the workforce generational DNA will continue to have dramatic shifts in age over the next 5-10 years.
Generation Y is entering the workforce and joining Generation X, while the experienced Baby Boomer Generation is leaving to pursue retirement and other employment that suits their lifestyles. This transition is rapidly producing knowledge gaps within organizations, many of which are losing experience faster than they can replace it, and simultaneously forcing organizations to deal with the different working, learning and communication styles of multiple generations within their workforce.
More to come!
keep looking »-
Dave Brookmire - CPS President
David Brookmire, president of Corporate Performance Strategies, is a seasoned executive advisor and recognized authority on organization and leadership effectiveness. He and his expert staff contribute business strategies and insights on this blog for senior executives and business leaders.
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