February 2009
I recently wrote about the opportunity for leaders to encourage and enable leadership from members of their teams – Leadership from Any Chair – added leverage for these unique times.
Accountability, of course, is another way to motivate achievement; driving it can be tricky. I’ve had two recent experiences to help me understand a powerful way to drive accountability – and to transcend top-down metrics and measurement in the process.
I was recently in a family theater production of The Music Man (in the wacky Barbershop Quartet ¬– The River City School Board). You might think a play is just a collection of individual performances; it’s actually the ultimate group project – each line must be executed to set up the next line and create a seamless and convincing scene. One person not coming through can create a total train wreck.
Of course, Community Theater does offer conventional metrics for success - there is an audience to satisfy and the kids involved need a good developmental experience. However, you can be sure that being the one that drops a line or misses a cue is a brutal feeling – the fear of letting down the other performers is a most powerful motivator.
This experience reminds me of another team and my “role” in membership development for the Forum for Corporate Directors (FCD), a premier group of Orange County business leaders. It may be odd to compare a committee like this with a theater production, but the team experience is really very similar.
Each FCD membership team member shares a common goal: attracting and retaining great people and companies to enhance the strength of the organization. Every individual has monthly action items to execute, and each person consistently comes through in a timely fashion. Yes, each person is committed to organizational growth, but another major motivator is not being the flake on the team that fails to pull his or her weight.
Our own businesses might benefit by creating more team experiences like a play and an FCD committee. To start with, think about whether top-down company objectives are effective motivators for your people. How do they translate into behavioral expectations for individuals?
And we all know that people generally enjoy working on teams. Along with the job satisfaction and loyalty that teaming generates, maybe we could create a culture where team members are the primary accountability motivator for each other? Maybe company objectives could be effectively broken down into team goals, and the teams can be empowered to manage their own accountability?
I personally find it a lot easier to flake out on myself than to let others down – I’m sure you know what I mean. Like you, I have a lot of responsibility, and when pushed for time, I know I try to prioritize commitments to others over my own projects. It seems that we respond better to challenges when we’re being counted on.
You never know, an approach like this might just put us out of the micromanagement business! From my own recent experiences, I see how it can work awfully well. I wish all of you as leaders the best toward more fulfilled and productive teams.
Thanks for sharing time with me. As always, I welcome your feedback and observations, and feel free to forward this along to others who you believe may benefit.
Links:
Stagelight Family Productions: http://www.stagelightproductions.com/
Forum for Corporate Directors (FCD), Orange County - http://www.fcdoc.org/
Sincerely,
Jeff Black
Managing Principal Consultant, McDermott & Bull Executive Search
Cell: (714) 356-1949 Office: (949) 753-1700 ext. 310
2 Venture, Suite 100 Irvine, CA 92618
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
A Relationship Story - Leadership from Any Chair, Especially Now
December 2008
I’ve written about leadership a few times before, and it is clear that this subject receives the largest and most passionate responses from you. It seems that everyone relates.
While many people are currently gripped with uncertainty and fear, as we are obviously in a unique state of “now”, I believe we all are presented with a great opportunity to prosper in tough times through creativity, positive energy, and good relationships. As leaders, these times present us all with an especially important responsibility – to elicit effective “leadership” behavior from everyone on our respective teams.
The origin of this idea for me was when, a couple of years after I had left my own corporate life and the position power associated with being a VP/GM, the concept of “leading from any chair” was pointed out to me by leadership coach Vance Caesar as described in the The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander.
Vance was trying to help me see that I continue to be a “leader” in a variety of ways after leaving my traditional line-leadership executive role; I try to remind myself of my responsibility to lead by sharing ideas and connecting people in every facet of my life, not only in my professional role providing consultative support to my clients by helping them build their teams.
This expanded definition of leadership, especially in consideration of our current economic climate, offers a new perspective on how companies and organizations can be more effective.
For leaders of organizations or groups, times like these make it increasingly important that we empower our teams to serve as an extension of the mission and values of the enterprise. With people being asked to do more with less, it’s increasingly important that everyone think of themselves as a leader and act on that responsibility, as opposed to just feeling and acting like a cog in the wheel.
However, this kind of empowerment can be a tough challenge for some leaders. It means we must be like the “Level 5 Leader” described in Good to Great by Jim Collins. Collins suggested that great companies (those that significantly outperform the competition in their respective markets) are led by unique leaders who, while highly ambitious and driven, are not in it for their own glory but are truly in it for the collective success of the enterprise. Through their ability to keep their ego subordinated, Level 5 leaders create the kind of empowerment that enables people to contribute to the utmost.
I believe that most of us, including all those great people on your teams, have a desire to make a difference in generating outcomes and in improving the lives of others. Ask yourself what you are doing to ensure that your organization and your customers are getting the most powerful leadership contributions your people have to offer. If they naturally want to do greater things … it is up to their leaders to enable them to do so.
While so many around us are bemoaning their sad fate as victims of the times, the time is right for the creative and positive among us to strike. However, now more than ever, we must involve everyone on our teams to bring forward the best we collectively have to offer. Now is the time to truly lead, to encourage leadership from any chair throughout our teams.
Thanks for sharing time with me, and as always, please let me know if there is any way I can be of service to you.
Sincerely,
Jeff Black
Managing Principal Consultant, McDermott & Bull Executive Search
Cell: (714) 356-1949 Office: (949) 753-1700 ext. 310
2 Venture, Suite 100 Irvine, CA 92618
I’ve written about leadership a few times before, and it is clear that this subject receives the largest and most passionate responses from you. It seems that everyone relates.
While many people are currently gripped with uncertainty and fear, as we are obviously in a unique state of “now”, I believe we all are presented with a great opportunity to prosper in tough times through creativity, positive energy, and good relationships. As leaders, these times present us all with an especially important responsibility – to elicit effective “leadership” behavior from everyone on our respective teams.
The origin of this idea for me was when, a couple of years after I had left my own corporate life and the position power associated with being a VP/GM, the concept of “leading from any chair” was pointed out to me by leadership coach Vance Caesar as described in the The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander.
Vance was trying to help me see that I continue to be a “leader” in a variety of ways after leaving my traditional line-leadership executive role; I try to remind myself of my responsibility to lead by sharing ideas and connecting people in every facet of my life, not only in my professional role providing consultative support to my clients by helping them build their teams.
This expanded definition of leadership, especially in consideration of our current economic climate, offers a new perspective on how companies and organizations can be more effective.
For leaders of organizations or groups, times like these make it increasingly important that we empower our teams to serve as an extension of the mission and values of the enterprise. With people being asked to do more with less, it’s increasingly important that everyone think of themselves as a leader and act on that responsibility, as opposed to just feeling and acting like a cog in the wheel.
However, this kind of empowerment can be a tough challenge for some leaders. It means we must be like the “Level 5 Leader” described in Good to Great by Jim Collins. Collins suggested that great companies (those that significantly outperform the competition in their respective markets) are led by unique leaders who, while highly ambitious and driven, are not in it for their own glory but are truly in it for the collective success of the enterprise. Through their ability to keep their ego subordinated, Level 5 leaders create the kind of empowerment that enables people to contribute to the utmost.
I believe that most of us, including all those great people on your teams, have a desire to make a difference in generating outcomes and in improving the lives of others. Ask yourself what you are doing to ensure that your organization and your customers are getting the most powerful leadership contributions your people have to offer. If they naturally want to do greater things … it is up to their leaders to enable them to do so.
While so many around us are bemoaning their sad fate as victims of the times, the time is right for the creative and positive among us to strike. However, now more than ever, we must involve everyone on our teams to bring forward the best we collectively have to offer. Now is the time to truly lead, to encourage leadership from any chair throughout our teams.
Thanks for sharing time with me, and as always, please let me know if there is any way I can be of service to you.
Sincerely,
Jeff Black
Managing Principal Consultant, McDermott & Bull Executive Search
Cell: (714) 356-1949 Office: (949) 753-1700 ext. 310
2 Venture, Suite 100 Irvine, CA 92618
Friday, November 28, 2008
A Relationship Story - We All Fish
A Relationship Story - We All Fish
October 2008
My friend Donn Rohrs and his son Matt have an extraordinary passion – they both love to, and live to fish. The fisherman seems to enjoy a sort of peace, a patience – fishing seems almost like an existential experience more than a pastime. I remember how much my Dad loved fishing too – however, he could never “hook” me. Really, I have never felt a lot like a fisherman.
Then I remember 6 years ago when I got started as an executive search consultant with McDermott & Bull – one of the key images offered up as a truism of building a successful consulting practice was the need to plant a lot of seeds. If you don’t plant a lot, then not enough will grow. This made sense, and it also applies to everyone in one way or another – most of us are trying to build new relationships, our networks, and our spheres of influence – in consulting, in our jobs, and throughout our lives.
But really, I don’t feel a lot like a farmer. I have found the image of planting seeds to be unfulfilling. Yes, planting them and watering them will yield growth, but there has always been a missing dynamic about this that has nagged me.
Recently, I have come to believe something new about fishing and farming. You see, I have discovered a more powerful image for building a network in consulting or any other world – instead of planting more seeds, I believe the objective needs to be putting more baited hooks in the water. It seems to me that planting seeds is just too linear – every outcome is a direct outcome of just one seed.
The “missing dynamic” in farming is the absence of the network effect. As I see it, by putting more and more baited hooks in the water, we can create an opportunity for both direct outcomes (a fish bites) and indirect outcomes that results from the inevitable interaction and network effect of all of our individual baited hooks being in the same pool.
In the case of my business, those baited hooks include both relationships and tools. The most powerful of these are relationships - the interaction among all the people who are touched can create unexpected opportunities. As our firm’s business coach Vance Caesar says, what’s most important is who knows you and also tells positive stories about you.
For me, such relationships include current and potential retained-search clients, other companies that come to understand me and our firm and could be referral sources, service providers of all kinds who know potential clients for our services, people who I get to know volunteering in the non-profit world, candidates in search projects who (hopefully) have a good experience working with me and our firm, and other people who I get to know in the interest of assisting them in building their careers.
Writing these stories and distributing them to a broad cross-section of the business community is an example of the tools side of this concept, just as is bringing people together and making connections for people who may get network-effect value from knowing each other.
Now think about yourself – I believe that most of us are trying to build new relationships, our networks, and our spheres of influence – whether it’s in consulting, in our jobs, or in many other aspects of our lives. The image of a pool full of appropriately and consistently baited hooks can also be a path for you to reach your goals.
I believe that we all fish, even if we don’t realize it. Maybe the passion of Donn and Matt is something that I actually do share, and maybe even a little of the peace and patience can rub off too. That’s a nice thought. I hope it is for you as well.
As a bit of a postscript, when I asked Donn about using his story as my example, he reminded me of a key fisherman’s adage – “You need to fish where the fish are”. Another good thing to remember. As always, please let me know if there is any way I can be of assistance to you.
Sincerely,
Jeff Black
Principal Consultant, McDermott & Bull Executive Search
Cell: (714) 356-1949 Office: (949) 753-1700 ext. 310
2 Venture, Suite 100 Irvine, CA 92618
black@mbsearch.net www.mbsearch.net http://www.jeffblackmcdermottbull.blogspot.com/
October 2008
My friend Donn Rohrs and his son Matt have an extraordinary passion – they both love to, and live to fish. The fisherman seems to enjoy a sort of peace, a patience – fishing seems almost like an existential experience more than a pastime. I remember how much my Dad loved fishing too – however, he could never “hook” me. Really, I have never felt a lot like a fisherman.
Then I remember 6 years ago when I got started as an executive search consultant with McDermott & Bull – one of the key images offered up as a truism of building a successful consulting practice was the need to plant a lot of seeds. If you don’t plant a lot, then not enough will grow. This made sense, and it also applies to everyone in one way or another – most of us are trying to build new relationships, our networks, and our spheres of influence – in consulting, in our jobs, and throughout our lives.
But really, I don’t feel a lot like a farmer. I have found the image of planting seeds to be unfulfilling. Yes, planting them and watering them will yield growth, but there has always been a missing dynamic about this that has nagged me.
Recently, I have come to believe something new about fishing and farming. You see, I have discovered a more powerful image for building a network in consulting or any other world – instead of planting more seeds, I believe the objective needs to be putting more baited hooks in the water. It seems to me that planting seeds is just too linear – every outcome is a direct outcome of just one seed.
The “missing dynamic” in farming is the absence of the network effect. As I see it, by putting more and more baited hooks in the water, we can create an opportunity for both direct outcomes (a fish bites) and indirect outcomes that results from the inevitable interaction and network effect of all of our individual baited hooks being in the same pool.
In the case of my business, those baited hooks include both relationships and tools. The most powerful of these are relationships - the interaction among all the people who are touched can create unexpected opportunities. As our firm’s business coach Vance Caesar says, what’s most important is who knows you and also tells positive stories about you.
For me, such relationships include current and potential retained-search clients, other companies that come to understand me and our firm and could be referral sources, service providers of all kinds who know potential clients for our services, people who I get to know volunteering in the non-profit world, candidates in search projects who (hopefully) have a good experience working with me and our firm, and other people who I get to know in the interest of assisting them in building their careers.
Writing these stories and distributing them to a broad cross-section of the business community is an example of the tools side of this concept, just as is bringing people together and making connections for people who may get network-effect value from knowing each other.
Now think about yourself – I believe that most of us are trying to build new relationships, our networks, and our spheres of influence – whether it’s in consulting, in our jobs, or in many other aspects of our lives. The image of a pool full of appropriately and consistently baited hooks can also be a path for you to reach your goals.
I believe that we all fish, even if we don’t realize it. Maybe the passion of Donn and Matt is something that I actually do share, and maybe even a little of the peace and patience can rub off too. That’s a nice thought. I hope it is for you as well.
As a bit of a postscript, when I asked Donn about using his story as my example, he reminded me of a key fisherman’s adage – “You need to fish where the fish are”. Another good thing to remember. As always, please let me know if there is any way I can be of assistance to you.
Sincerely,
Jeff Black
Principal Consultant, McDermott & Bull Executive Search
Cell: (714) 356-1949 Office: (949) 753-1700 ext. 310
2 Venture, Suite 100 Irvine, CA 92618
black@mbsearch.net www.mbsearch.net http://www.jeffblackmcdermottbull.blogspot.com/
Sunday, July 20, 2008
A Relationship Story - Great Services Relationships
A Relationship Story - Great Services Relationships (Including Survey Results)
June 2008
Everyone is either a user or a provider of services, if not both. I have thought about the keys to success in these relationships for the entire 5½ years I have been an executive search consultant with McDermott & Bull. I also knew there were a lot of answers to this question out there in the wonderful community of clients, colleagues, community leaders, and friends who have become part of my life over these years – so I thought I’d ask.
A month ago, I asked you a question about Services Relationships. I can say with pride that I have received over 500 responses (I thank you all), and I’m sure this extensive data represents a statistically significant sample. I wanted to share the powerfully enlightening learnings that have resulted – this project has been a very cool experience.
The Question:
Think about the keys to successful relationships in receiving or providing services. I’ve listed 8 factors in successful services relationships.
A. They do good work (quality of product/service)
B. They are fast (speed of execution)
C. They are cheap (cost competitiveness)
D. I believe in them (trustworthiness/honesty)
E. They are professional (impressiveness)
F. I can count on them (consistency/dependability)
G. I get extra things (collateral benefits like learning, other resources, perks)
H. I like working with them (enjoyable relationship)
Please just send me a quick email choosing 3 (and only 3) of these that you consider the most important (please just 3, although we all know “they’re all important”). Also, please identify yourself as primarily a “user” or a “provider” of services. I want to compare the two groups.
The Results:
Admittedly, the “3 and only 3” requirement caused many important things to be left out, but the idea was to force people to identify their idea of the most critical elements in these relationships. The total number of responses was 563; they were very balanced and included 302 users and 261 providers.
There were three clear-cut choices – Quality, included by 86% of respondents; Reliability by 76%; Trust by 62%. In fact, a full 1/3 of all responses reflected these as their choices. None of the other choices were even close – Speed (13%), Cost (14%), Professionalism (18%), Extras (2%), Likeability (29%)
In addition to these summary results that answer the obvious curiosity we all shared, I also wanted to observe the user/provider differences, and to learn specifically about corporate professional services relationships similar to my business. I identified Corporate Top Executives (67 of them) and other Corporate Managers (144 of them), as I felt these were the most likely buyers of professional services, and I also identified Service Providers like myself (113 of them) as differentiated from others who also responded as “providers”.
There were some very powerful observations that jump from the data as follows:
• Service Providers tend to have skewed perceptions of the following versus Corporate Managers:
o They underestimate the irreplaceability of excellence (Quality) – 82% vs. 90%
o They underestimate the need for quickness (Speed) – 10% vs. 17%
o They underestimate the priority on affordability (Cost) – 10% vs. 17%
o They underestimate the power of being counted on (Dependability) – 68% vs. 82%
o They severely overestimate the importance of being liked (Likeability) – 40% vs. 21%
• In addition, Corporate Managers included Trust in their responses far less often (54%) than Service Providers did (68%); and they gave absolutely no weight to “Extras”.
One area I feel warrants further investigation is the surprisingly low rating among Corporate Managers in the area of Trust (54.2%). It seems that they just can’t always believe in their providers. I’ll bet they would be happy if this rating could be higher; this seems like a big opportunity for trustworthy providers. I look forward to developing a future communication piece on the key elements of building trust, and I welcome your thoughts and suggestions on this subject.
Closing observation – I had wondered about the success keys to these relationships … well I now have my answer. What will I (and all of us) do with this learning? Of course, all of the factors are critical to success, but after seeing these results, how can the focus of our efforts not start with ensuring the excellence of our performance and finish with never letting our clients down? I know I’m going to try never to forget.
Thanks for sharing time with me, and once again, thanks to so many of you for your interest and participation.
Sincerely,
Jeff Black
Principal Consultant, McDermott & Bull Executive Search
Cell: (714) 356-1949 Office: (949) 753-1700 ext. 310
2 Venture, Suite 100 Irvine, CA 92618
black@mbsearch.net www.mbsearch.net http://www.jeffblackmcdermottbull.blogspot.com/
June 2008
Everyone is either a user or a provider of services, if not both. I have thought about the keys to success in these relationships for the entire 5½ years I have been an executive search consultant with McDermott & Bull. I also knew there were a lot of answers to this question out there in the wonderful community of clients, colleagues, community leaders, and friends who have become part of my life over these years – so I thought I’d ask.
A month ago, I asked you a question about Services Relationships. I can say with pride that I have received over 500 responses (I thank you all), and I’m sure this extensive data represents a statistically significant sample. I wanted to share the powerfully enlightening learnings that have resulted – this project has been a very cool experience.
The Question:
Think about the keys to successful relationships in receiving or providing services. I’ve listed 8 factors in successful services relationships.
A. They do good work (quality of product/service)
B. They are fast (speed of execution)
C. They are cheap (cost competitiveness)
D. I believe in them (trustworthiness/honesty)
E. They are professional (impressiveness)
F. I can count on them (consistency/dependability)
G. I get extra things (collateral benefits like learning, other resources, perks)
H. I like working with them (enjoyable relationship)
Please just send me a quick email choosing 3 (and only 3) of these that you consider the most important (please just 3, although we all know “they’re all important”). Also, please identify yourself as primarily a “user” or a “provider” of services. I want to compare the two groups.
The Results:
Admittedly, the “3 and only 3” requirement caused many important things to be left out, but the idea was to force people to identify their idea of the most critical elements in these relationships. The total number of responses was 563; they were very balanced and included 302 users and 261 providers.
There were three clear-cut choices – Quality, included by 86% of respondents; Reliability by 76%; Trust by 62%. In fact, a full 1/3 of all responses reflected these as their choices. None of the other choices were even close – Speed (13%), Cost (14%), Professionalism (18%), Extras (2%), Likeability (29%)
In addition to these summary results that answer the obvious curiosity we all shared, I also wanted to observe the user/provider differences, and to learn specifically about corporate professional services relationships similar to my business. I identified Corporate Top Executives (67 of them) and other Corporate Managers (144 of them), as I felt these were the most likely buyers of professional services, and I also identified Service Providers like myself (113 of them) as differentiated from others who also responded as “providers”.
There were some very powerful observations that jump from the data as follows:
• Service Providers tend to have skewed perceptions of the following versus Corporate Managers:
o They underestimate the irreplaceability of excellence (Quality) – 82% vs. 90%
o They underestimate the need for quickness (Speed) – 10% vs. 17%
o They underestimate the priority on affordability (Cost) – 10% vs. 17%
o They underestimate the power of being counted on (Dependability) – 68% vs. 82%
o They severely overestimate the importance of being liked (Likeability) – 40% vs. 21%
• In addition, Corporate Managers included Trust in their responses far less often (54%) than Service Providers did (68%); and they gave absolutely no weight to “Extras”.
One area I feel warrants further investigation is the surprisingly low rating among Corporate Managers in the area of Trust (54.2%). It seems that they just can’t always believe in their providers. I’ll bet they would be happy if this rating could be higher; this seems like a big opportunity for trustworthy providers. I look forward to developing a future communication piece on the key elements of building trust, and I welcome your thoughts and suggestions on this subject.
Closing observation – I had wondered about the success keys to these relationships … well I now have my answer. What will I (and all of us) do with this learning? Of course, all of the factors are critical to success, but after seeing these results, how can the focus of our efforts not start with ensuring the excellence of our performance and finish with never letting our clients down? I know I’m going to try never to forget.
Thanks for sharing time with me, and once again, thanks to so many of you for your interest and participation.
Sincerely,
Jeff Black
Principal Consultant, McDermott & Bull Executive Search
Cell: (714) 356-1949 Office: (949) 753-1700 ext. 310
2 Venture, Suite 100 Irvine, CA 92618
black@mbsearch.net www.mbsearch.net http://www.jeffblackmcdermottbull.blogspot.com/
Sunday, June 01, 2008
A Relationship Story - Leading Tomorrow’s Leaders
I recently attended an excellent panel discussion on “Managing Across Generations” hosted by the Business School at Vanguard University (I serve on the Advisory Council for them). The focus of the talk was on managing the Millennial Generation (maybe you know it as Gen Y) - people born between 1978 and 1998.
Why is this group so important? Considering the pace of retirements out of the baby-boom generation, who are still leading many of our institutions today, the importance of the Millennials will expand exponentially as new college classes keep graduating. In addition, you may agree that uncertainty looms around the next corner we are approaching, and the Millennials will be a huge factor in success or failure through that turning.
One of the panelists, Chip Espinoza, is a Vanguard Professor and EVP of LeadershipTraQ (www.leadershiptraq.com). He shared research about Millennials as expressed by a large population of managers who lead these individuals:
1. They want a trophy just for showing up.
2. They need constant affirmation.
3. They want to have a say from day one.
4. They think they work smarter and faster than the rest of us.
5. They want to know what I am going to do to help them get promoted.
6. They don’t give themselves to projects that they don’t find interesting.
7. They don’t seem interested in what I know.
8. They think any excuse will make being late okay.
9. They seem to have a short attention span.
Intriguing, eh? There is a tendency to think something is particularly unique about this generation versus others, and there may very well be big differences in the life-circumstances that form the perspective of this group – there may be some expectations and “entitlement” issues that are distinctive. However, I wondered whether the things that motivate them are really that different from everyone else.
After my last story on “The Pursuit of Reason” my friend Joe Bonaker sent me a classic article on motivating employees from the 1968 Harvard Business Review written by the leadership guru Fredrick Herzberg. It addressed the key factors influencing motivation. The following is a listing of the 6 factors that led to extreme job satisfaction:
Achievement, Recognition, the Work Itself, Responsibility, Advancement, and Growth
When I consider these fundamental building blocks of motivation, and then I compare them with the 9 characteristics of Millennials, I see an extraordinary parallel. In my estimation, what Herzberg’s research described as the keys to motivating employees 40 years ago are the same things that motivate Millennials today, especially being recognized, enjoying the work itself, being given responsibility, and moving forward in their careers.
Admittedly, there are some behavioral tendencies that differentiate young people today – extreme self confidence, an expectation of recognition and encouragement, and tendencies to be cavalier and sometimes undisciplined – but I’d argue that these things were also true for me when I was a “twenty something”.
I believe that Millennials are a resource we must fully endorse and support (beginning right now) if we hope to keep our businesses moving forward. It seems to me that it’s easy to fall into a trap and assume they are hard to manage and “not our problem”, but we let this happen at our extreme peril. It seems wise to me that we recognize that these youthful greats need the same things we did when we were their age (and that we still do now), and we should consider motivating them to be among our greatest opportunities.
Thanks for sharing time with me; I welcome your thoughts and feedback, and please feel free to share this with others.
A quick business update – I have successfully completed over 10 search projects in the past quarter for a wide variety of clients across a similar variety of positions. After 5½ years with McDermott & Bull I continue to be proud of the relationships I build with my clients. Most companies use retained search, and they tend to “go-to” who they already know for this trust-based service. I welcome your introductions to companies (or to the right people in your company) who may value knowing me and considering McDermott & Bull as a trusted provider.
Why is this group so important? Considering the pace of retirements out of the baby-boom generation, who are still leading many of our institutions today, the importance of the Millennials will expand exponentially as new college classes keep graduating. In addition, you may agree that uncertainty looms around the next corner we are approaching, and the Millennials will be a huge factor in success or failure through that turning.
One of the panelists, Chip Espinoza, is a Vanguard Professor and EVP of LeadershipTraQ (www.leadershiptraq.com). He shared research about Millennials as expressed by a large population of managers who lead these individuals:
1. They want a trophy just for showing up.
2. They need constant affirmation.
3. They want to have a say from day one.
4. They think they work smarter and faster than the rest of us.
5. They want to know what I am going to do to help them get promoted.
6. They don’t give themselves to projects that they don’t find interesting.
7. They don’t seem interested in what I know.
8. They think any excuse will make being late okay.
9. They seem to have a short attention span.
Intriguing, eh? There is a tendency to think something is particularly unique about this generation versus others, and there may very well be big differences in the life-circumstances that form the perspective of this group – there may be some expectations and “entitlement” issues that are distinctive. However, I wondered whether the things that motivate them are really that different from everyone else.
After my last story on “The Pursuit of Reason” my friend Joe Bonaker sent me a classic article on motivating employees from the 1968 Harvard Business Review written by the leadership guru Fredrick Herzberg. It addressed the key factors influencing motivation. The following is a listing of the 6 factors that led to extreme job satisfaction:
Achievement, Recognition, the Work Itself, Responsibility, Advancement, and Growth
When I consider these fundamental building blocks of motivation, and then I compare them with the 9 characteristics of Millennials, I see an extraordinary parallel. In my estimation, what Herzberg’s research described as the keys to motivating employees 40 years ago are the same things that motivate Millennials today, especially being recognized, enjoying the work itself, being given responsibility, and moving forward in their careers.
Admittedly, there are some behavioral tendencies that differentiate young people today – extreme self confidence, an expectation of recognition and encouragement, and tendencies to be cavalier and sometimes undisciplined – but I’d argue that these things were also true for me when I was a “twenty something”.
I believe that Millennials are a resource we must fully endorse and support (beginning right now) if we hope to keep our businesses moving forward. It seems to me that it’s easy to fall into a trap and assume they are hard to manage and “not our problem”, but we let this happen at our extreme peril. It seems wise to me that we recognize that these youthful greats need the same things we did when we were their age (and that we still do now), and we should consider motivating them to be among our greatest opportunities.
Thanks for sharing time with me; I welcome your thoughts and feedback, and please feel free to share this with others.
A quick business update – I have successfully completed over 10 search projects in the past quarter for a wide variety of clients across a similar variety of positions. After 5½ years with McDermott & Bull I continue to be proud of the relationships I build with my clients. Most companies use retained search, and they tend to “go-to” who they already know for this trust-based service. I welcome your introductions to companies (or to the right people in your company) who may value knowing me and considering McDermott & Bull as a trusted provider.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
