Transcript I’ll Take the Corner Office Prepared for PRSA International Conference November 10, 2009 Presented by Deborah A.

I’ll Take the Corner Office
Prepared for
PRSA International Conference
November 10, 2009
Presented by
Deborah A. Myers, EVP, CRT/tanaka
Ellen LaNicca Albanese, EVP, CRT/tanaka
Kim Blake, SAE, CRT/tanaka
What caused our agency to focus on
this topic?
The Generations
Baby Boomers – Background
• Born between 1946-1964
(Ages 45-63 – “The Boss”)
• 73 million
• Parents of Millennials
• Currently highest household
incomes of any generation
in history
• Staying in the workforce longer
Baby Boomers – Influences
• Economic prosperity
• Drugs, sex and rock n’ roll
• Civil rights movement
• JFK/MLK/RFK assassinations
• Vietnam
• Watergate
• Women knocking on the glass
ceiling
Baby Boomers – What other
generations say about them
Gen Xers
• “They’re self-righteous”
• “They’re workaholics”
• “They do a good job of talking the talk, but they don’t
walk the walk”
• “Get outta my face”
• “What’s the management fad this week?”
• “Lighten up; it’s only a job”
Millennials
• “They’re cool - they’re up to date on the music we like”
• “They work too much”
Zemke, et al., Generations at Work
Generation X – Background
• Born between 1965-1977
(Ages 32-44 – “Middle Manager”)
• 49 million; smallest generation
of the century
• Sometimes known as the Lost
Generation
Generation X – Influences
• Reaganomics
• AIDS
• Iran Contra
• First latchkey kids
• Divorced parents
• Beginning of Internet
• Baby Boomers limiting job
openings; irritated by Millennials
Generation X – What other
generations say about them
Baby Boomers
• “They’re slackers”
• “They’re always doing things their own way instead of the
prescribed way (our way)”
• “They spend too much time on the Internet and E-mail”
Millennials
 “Cheer up!”
Zemke, et al., Generations at Work
Millennials – Background
• Born between 1978-1995
(Ages 14-31 – “Junior Employees”)
• Also known as Generation Y
• 80 million
• Children of Boomers
• Next “Hero” generation
Millennials – Influences
• End of Cold War
• Wholesome family shows
• MTV and Reality TV
• Internet
• Instant messaging
• Helicopter parents
• Programmed and structured lives
• 9/11
• Columbine
Millennials – What other
generations say about them
Baby Boomers
• “They’re cute”
• “They need to learn to pay their dues”
• “They need too much attention”
• “Can they do my Web page for me?”
Gen Xers
• “Neo Boomers”
• “Here we go again…another self-absorbed generation
of spoiled brats”
• “What do you mean, ‘What’s an album’”
Zemke, et al., Generations at Work
Why should we care
about Millennials?
Millennials are the largest and
the fastest growing group of
workers in the U.S.
Challenging Millennial characteristics
HIGH EXPECTATIONS
• Equal footing with senior management
• Not willing to “pay their dues”
• Immediate gratification
Challenging Millennial characteristics
HIGH EXPECTATIONS: WHY?
• Child-centric culture
• Grew up doing things that used to be considered “adult
privileges”
• Parents focused on self-esteem and instilled a “you can
do anything” attitude
Challenging Millennial characteristics
HIGH RISK
• Quick to leave for other opportunities
• Loyalty is defined by what’s interesting and challenging,
rather than job security
Challenging Millennial characteristics
HIGH RISK: WHY?
• Focused on an accelerated path to success
• Saw their parents fall victim to layoffs, down-sizing and
right-sizing
Impact of the recession
CRT/tanaka-Lumin Collaborative 2009 Survey
• 66% of Millennials say they have lowered their expectations
of being promoted vs. 51% of other workers (55% of Gen-X,
48% of Boomers)
• More than half of Millennials (55%) have experienced a layoff
or loss of work in their family within the past year, and nearly
three-fourths (72%) feel threatened by a possible layoff
or loss of work in the coming months
Challenging Millennial characteristics
HIGH MAINTENENCE
• Expect reward and recognition on a regular basis
• Believe that they are all “above average”
Challenging Millennial characteristics
HIGH MAINTENANCE: WHY?
• Every child on the team received a trophy – whether
or not they were the MVP
• Respect their parents and care about what they think
• Over-inflate their contributions
• Expect instant feedback
Challenging Millennial characteristics
HIGH MAINTENENCE
• Define their workday differently and want flexibility
• Adopted adult “extra-curricular activities”
Challenging Millennial characteristics
HIGH MAINTENANCE: WHY?
• Grew up with multi-tasking with a variety of after-school
activities
• Highly civic generation
Speaking the right lingo
Who’s the audience? Pick the
phrase that works.
Motivation:
“Do it your way”
“Get together with your team and work
to develop a solution”
“We’re counting on you to help turn this
around”
Who’s the audience? Pick the
phrase that works.
Criticism:
“We need to do a better job of tracking
our results on this initiative”
“Because you did not track results, this
program could be in jeopardy”
“You did a great job organizing this
initiative, but in the future it’s essential
to track results so that we can justify
the program”
5 Communications Strategies
to Help Bridge the Generational Gap
Between Managers and Millennials
1. Set clear directions
• Millennials don’t like making mistakes – tell them
what it will take to succeed
• Give them clear instructions and make it
comfortable for them to ask questions. Millennials
will try to figure it out themselves, rather than look
like they don’t know something
2. Give frequent feedback
• Millennials need a dose of praise with constructive criticism
• “You’re almost there. Here’s where you’re falling short.”
• Define frequency up front. It will be more often than you
think is needed
• Feedback should be honest, short and to the point.
Millennials don’t like anything that is long and drawn out
3. Set short deadlines
• Millennials are smart and work fast, but have a harder
time looking beyond a month and can easily become bored
• Break down large projects so that there are multiple
deadlines and opportunities for feedback
• Lots of short deadlines help create a feeling of
accomplishment with the completion of each task and
provides a sense of instant gratification
4. Foster teamwork
• Millennials are social beings and work well in teams
• Communicate team objectives and tie individual
performance to them
• Allow them to engage in volunteer and social responsibility
programs
5. Use new tools, but keep
face-to-face
• Provide them with the ability to communicate quickly
• Recognize you may only have partial attention – you are
competing with cell phones, social networking sites, email
and other distractions
• Set ground rules through a Social Media Code of
Participation
New tools not a substitute for face-to-face
CRT/tanaka-Lumin Collaborative 2009 survey
3 Key Conversations Between
Managers and Millennials
1. Discussing Salary
• Millennials are savvy about evaluating their
opportunities, they’ve done the research
• Expect Millennials to discuss salary openly, with
their boss and their peers
• Needs to be competitive, but it is just one factor
• Emphasize the full compensation package
• Salary ranked #4 in a survey about priorities for
the next job
2. Discussing Raises and Promotions
• If Millennials are asking for more, they are really
saying, “What do I need to do to earn more?”
• Conversation strategies to keep top performers
–
Offer performance-based compensation
–
Consider flexible scheduling and flexible
locations
–
Give access to decision makers
–
Implement ongoing training
Job attributes that matter to Millennials
CRT/tanaka-Lumin Collaborative 2009 Survey
3. Paying your dues
• Hit the ground running and make an impact
• Millennials want to identify problems that
nobody else has identified, solve problems that
nobody else has solved, make existing things
better, and invent new things
• Tips for assigning “grunt work”:
–
Give personal credit for results achieved
–
Define a clear area of responsibility
–
Give the chance for creative expression
Contact Information
Debbie Myers
Executive Vice President
CRT/tanaka
757-640-1982
[email protected]
Thank You!