Motivating Millennials

Happy New Year to all!  I hope you set some goals for yourself (personally and professionally) and are ready to get after it!  I know I am!

I Just finished a good book on “Motivating Millennials.”  As we know, they are coming and…they are different!  By 2030, this group will make up 75% of the workforce and will fill most of your Organization’s leadership roles.  Unfortunately, 63% of this group believe their “leadership skills are not being fully developed” according to a 2016 Deloitte Millennial Survey. 

What are you doing to develop this group?  Here were some things in the book that resonated with me:

• As we know, this group needs regular feedback.  As such, we can’t wait for the annual performance review to be the time we talk to them about what they did well…or not so well.  More frequent coaching sessions, specificity on their performance, and honesty in our communication with them (“Millennials are really good at cutting through the crap….”).
• Millennials may not always value the chain of command.  “If…Millennials think (they) have a good idea and want to make sure it’s heard by those who can actually make it happen (no matter what their rank), (they) think it’s perfectly okay to share it.”  What forums do you have to hear their ideas?
• Millennials thrive on consistently being challenged and want to learn new skills.  Keep looking for ways to expand their horizons and take on new projects.
• Millennials truly value a sense of purpose.  What are you doing to communicate the purpose of your organization and ensuring these people understand how their role connects?  They can be immensely helpful in spreading the good news (think of them as brand ambassadors)…once they feel it personally.  They value “Cause” over “Compensation” in many areas of their lives.

Lots of interesting topics here.  Think about what you might do to address some of these issues as you look ahead to 2018.  How are you integrating some of these concepts into your Strategic Plans?  These people, many of them new to your team, are the future.  How you “Lead” them, may be your personal legacy!

Let me know how we can help.  We look at motivation of all employees, to include Millennials, as a key component of all of our leadership programs.  If you see opportunities for growing your leaders, aligning your team, and helping your organization go from GOOD to GREAT, we are ready to help!  You can see our full schedule for Open Enrollment “Boot Camps” in SoCal on our website.  Contact me directly if you want to look at an “in-house” program with your team!

Happy New Year and…Lead the Way!

Tom Magness

lbihank@msn.com

Friends,

I don’t know about you, but I am FIRED UP for 2017!!  I have spent the last week or so doing goal setting and strategic thinking for the year ahead.  On the advice of one audio blog, I spent some time listing everything I’d do if I could.  No judgment, no fear.  Just make the list.  Some are crazy and pretty much unlikely.  But, the exercise of just putting stuff on paper was highly impactful.  Some…just might make the cut as I continue to refine and make plans for the year ahead.

Whatever you do, be deliberate.  Whether for yourself or your organization, don’t just think about it.  Put it in writing.  Make plans.  Get everyone on the same page – focused, aligned, and prioritized.  As General Eisenhower once famously suggested:  “Plans are nothing.  Planning is everything!” 

On the professional / organizational side, I ask you these basic questions: 

1.      Does your team have a written, basic plan to guide your strategic direction for this next year?

2.       Do you have a handful of basic goals that focus time/energy on the answers to this basic question – Who are our primary customers and what do they want from us?

3.       Do you have a plan to review progress against those goals?  Remember, what the leader in-spects, the people will re-spect.  What is the frequency of these progress reviews and how will you hold people accountable?

4.       How are you communicating those goals to your internal and external stakeholders?

5.       Does your plan address these 5 common challenges that we find with most organizational goals (Own it if you can’t give unqualified ANSWERS!!!) 

a.      Do your goals focus INWARD and on yourself versus on your CUSTOMERS and those you serve?

b.      Do your goals further reinforce stovepipe behavior (i.e. accomplishment of the goals – by design – causes people or teams to focus on themselves and not corporate/team success)?

c.      Do your goals fail to inspire? (For example, are they written to challenge and stretch people or will they happen on their own?  Yawn!)  Do you have AT LEAST one BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal) for the year ahead?

d.     Do you confuse mission for goals?  (Mission is what you are told to do, whereas true goals are determined by you in areas where you will do what you do…better, cheaper, safer, faster, and in specific ways that address the needs of your customers)

e.      Are your goals just “To Do” lists?  (Do this by June 30^th, i.e. written as on/off switches versus written in ways that can be measured regularly and you can see the needle move; most “To Do” list items are not truly goals but they are the “HOW” you will get to your goals)  Make sure you are not taking your eye off the ball and focusing on the HOW versus the clearly defined WHAT! 

If your answer to any of these questions was, “Uh…,” then let’s talk.  This is a major point of emphasis for our team this year.  We want to help  others develop fundamentally sound strategic plans, with a governance structure and communication strategies to gain consensus and alignment within the team and among key groups whose help is needed to make the plan happen.  Let’s do this! 

I hope each of you enjoyed your holidays and you are ready to get after it in 2017!  Let me know how I can help!  Lead the Way!  That's Leader Business!

P.S.  See our full schedule of "Open Enrollment" leadership "Boot Camps" in Southern California -- here!

It Ain't the Money!

Dear Friends,

I've been sharing the Dan Pink video above with my Academy Leadership clients.  It dove-tails nicely with this McKinsey article on motivation.

So, watch this short video and read the article.  Then decide what you are going to do in 2014 to get the most from your team.  Spoiler alert:  It ain't the money!!!

If you want to know more about what your people really want from you in 2014, here is a good start!

Happy 2014 to each and every one of you.  I'm starting my year with a commitment to write more, to learn more, and to listen more.  I hope to finish Book #2 this year.  Correction...I WILL finish Book #2 this year!!  Stay tuned.

For those who might be interested (especially for those of you in Southern California -- or who want to escape to SoCal during the winter!), here is my winter/early spring Academy Leadership workshop schedule:

27-29 January    Los Angeles

11-13 February  San Diego

18-20 March       Orange County

15-17 April          Los Angeles

If any of these dates fit your schedule, and you are looking to stretch a little, check it out.  To learn more, here is the website. 

God bless and have a great 2014!!

Hooah!

The "Buzz" About Leadership

At a recent presentation I made in Orange County, a woman asked about the importance of charisma in leadership.  She thought I had sort of an automatic advantage because of my height and size (6'4" and 240 lbs).  To some extent, she's onto something.  Research suggests that when it comes to communication, words only account for 7% of the conveyed message, while 38% is manner, tone, and voice, and the remaining 55% are the accompanying non-verbals, body language, etc. 

So yes, we inspire and motivate people to action through the power of ideas, i.e. what we say, but apparently even more so with how we say it and how we connect with others.  What can we take away from this? 

1.  If email is your preferred communication style, then be sure that much of the message can be / will be lost.  Even if you use ALL CAPS for voice and tone, the lack of non-verbals makes it difficult to ensure that the message is received the way you intended.  Face to face is always best.

2.  If you have a strong message and are frustrated with why it doesn't seem to resonate with others, perhaps you need to work on the other 93%!  Take a communication class or join a group like Toastmasters to improve how you say what you say.

3.  Consistency matters.  To me, charisma is not just smooth talk, but rather alignment between what you say, what you do, and how you say it.  In other words, try saying a positive message, with strong tone and voice, but your hands in your pockets and head down, staring at your shoes.  The message will still be lost.  Charisma is gained by those who can leverage words, tone, and body language together.  Charisma in leadership is leveraged by those whose actions align with their words, compelling people to action.  You want a positive, inspirational message?  Be positive and inspirational!  You want people to be motivated to bold, aggressive action?  Be motivated, bold, and aggressive!  In other words, make sure people see your words...in action.

So now, an insider secret.  Take a look at the little blue guy at the top of this article, inspiring and rallying his troops.  He is leveraging a scientific formula that I read about this month.  It seems that the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business found that there was something we (okay...mostly men) can do to appear more dominant, confident and masculine -- as well as appear 4 years older, 1 inch taller, and 13% stronger.  All good things.  What is it?



Yep.  Just like the blue guy!  A shaved head apparently communicates the non-verbal communication of confidence.  You see, I'm really only 5'9" and 160 pounds.  I just look bigger now that I have given up fighting my cursed genetics.  Thanks Mom!  Interestingly, the same study also found that men with shaved heads were thought to be considerably less attractive.  I choose to ignore that part and attribute it to bad data.  Haha!

Okay, so this particular technique may only help half our readership here!  But for all of us, the importance of aligning what we say with how we say it and how we live it is absolutely vital.  If we want those we lead to have confidence in us, we need to have confidence in ourselves.  Speak with passion.  Look people in the eye.  Be strong.  Apparently it is not the fancy words that inspire people to follow.  It's conviction about purpose and communicating that from every pore!  It's just that for some of us, like the bald blue man...those pores are a little less...encumbered!

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Communication with purpose is one of the elements of the "Leadership Excellence Course & Executive Coaching" programs that I lead through Academy Leadership.  These programs in Southern California are highly impactful, action-oriented, small-group sessions targeting leaders and project managers.  PMPs receive 36 PDUs for completion.

Upcoming sessions in Southern California for 2013 include:

12-14 March        San Diego
2-4 April              Orange County (Irvine)
7-9 May               Los Angeles
11-13 June           San Diego
25-27 June           Orange County (Irvine)
9-11 September    Los Angeles
7-9 October          San Diego
4-6 November      San Diego
9-11 December    Orange County (Irvine)

To get a brochure for this program, go here.  Contact me for any questions, group rates, or discount codes!  I'd love to see you in these programs.

I'll bring the clippers!

That's Leader Business!

Honoring the Wizard of Westwood

We lost a great one last night. UCLA Men's basketball coach John Wooden passed away at the age of 99 from natural causes. One of the greatest competitors and motivators, in sports and perhaps in any field, the "Wizard of Westwood," (UCLA is in the Westwood area of Los Angeles) is now gone.

Coach Wooden put together a record of excellence that may never be surpassed:

-- 10 National Championships including a stretch of 7 in a row.

-- 88 consecutive victories.

-- Coach of some of the games greatest names: Alcindor, Walton, Goodrich, Wilkes, Wicks, and others.

He was a sweet man who cared deeply about his UCLA Bruins and about the game of basketball. But he also put things in perspective and knew that basketball was just a game. His "Pyramid of Success" has application to much more than what happens on the court. Life had deeper meaning and his emphasis on excellence, seen in quotes like those below, has application to us all:

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."

"Never mistake activity for achievement."

"Adversity is the state in which man mostly easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then."

"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are."

"Be prepared and be honest."

"You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one."

"You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you."

"What you are as a person is far more important that what you are as a basketball player."

"Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character."

"A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment."

"I'd rather have a lot of talent and a little experience than a lot of experience and a little talent."

"If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?"

"If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes."

"It isn't what you do, but how you do it."

"Ability is a poor man's wealth."

"Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be."

"Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before your own rights."

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."

"Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability."

"It's not so important who starts the game but who finishes it."

"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts."

"It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen."

"Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful."

"The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team."

"Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."

"Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts."

Which one is your favorite and why? No doubt you have seen some of these motivational and inspirational quotes before. Now you know their source. Unfortunately, that source is now gone. We definitely lost a great one. Farewell, Coach Wooden. That's Leader Business.

Quotes taken from espn.com...which borrowed them from coachwooden.com.