And, the modern professional workforce is largely comprised of…children. Children, in the sense that many college-educated young adults feel somewhat entitled, underappreciated, and are often quite agitated (when not just generally distracted). Business has to be conducted in ways that make sense to contemporary audiences.
Yep. The 24 year-old worker can type with one hand, operate a mouse with the other, navigate between a half-dozen open applications, talk on the phone, listen to music, theoretically optimize your processes, and socialize at the same time. But, they are usually taken lightly within formal top-down hierarchies.
These are the workers whom often perform the critical grunt work to keep an organization in business. When managers can get away with it, these workers can be treated unkind and paid thriftily because they are seen as interchangeable, green, or without power.
These are also the workers who often perform the critical grunt work to keep an organization in business. These are the folks who present your front line brand to clients, partners, and those served. Interchangeable? Perhaps, but the rest of the ants are quite similar. They are smarter than the 20-year seasoned corporate star was at a comparable age. They are outwardly apprehensive of programs and initiatives that obviously will not work and try to warn upward – usually to no avail because middle management is cynical, protective, and frightened.
A laptop and a cell-phone does not a competent business warrior make. Companies send the young, unattached, flexible workers into the field to conduct critical business on behalf of the organization. They are generally under-prepared in traditional ways. They act a part instead of effectively executing the business at hand.
The young workers know it all, though. Seriously. They know the vulnerabilities. They know the gossip. They know what will work and what won’t and what is working and what isn’t. They share, compare, expand, and adjust this information constantly. IM, blog, email, and telephone are in constant use.
Questions for a CEO:
What do you expect from your workforce?Yes, corporations are beholden to shareholders. Sure, the board of directors needs to see growth. Of course the executive management team has a strategy. Line management is desperately trying to meet this year’s numbers. Oh, and somebody is trying to do work.
What do you want for your workforce?
What is your biggest employee relation problem?
What is the source of your data on your workforce?
What are your blind spots? What are the mysteries?
How do you expect to really impact your workforce?
Who are the stars that you will build this business upon?
A Freebie:
- Dump the BlackBerry® devices, they're distracting as hell to your senior and middle management, especially. There is absolutely no value in constantly reading email. You just look stupid.
- Use the time that you were spending with your BlackBerry® devices to listen to your children. Because the children are the future.
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