As a gardener, one of the biggest mistakes people make when they plant a new shrub or plant is to either flood it or forget about it. Over time, the plant slowly withers and then dies. Plants are like people. Before we even buy a new gem for the garden we need to learn more about it to make sure that it can thrive under our care and in our yard conditions. You need to know it's mature size, sun or shade requirements, and how much moisture it needs. You can't plop a cactus in the shade and water it generously. You know what will happen!
Leaders need to take the same approach with our young and upcoming leaders. Finding the right talent doesn't end once you hire them and throw them into orientation expecting them to thrive. Today's millennials need guidance, open dialog, and crave your leadership.
If millennials still remain a mystery and you are truly committed to mentoring and empowering tomorrrows leaders, you should pick up a copy of Chasing Relevance by Dan Negroni. Dan will lead you through a journey that explains how our younger people crave our leadership and guidance and really do want to make a difference.
I'm please to share a guest post from Dan Negroni that will help you navigate the path to growing our leaders of tomorrow.
Don’t Chase
Relevance – Find It!
I am
stoked about the debut of Chasing
Relevance. It took two years of writing, research, content development,
speaking, coaching, and training more than 5,000 amazing people by me and my
colleagues at launchbox. But our systems, curriculum, and book are ready –
ready to bridge the gap between non-millennial and millennial generations in
the workplace and marketplace to help your business achieve real, BOLD results.
Here is
what we learned: Houston, we have a HUGE problem.
- Thirty percent of organizations lose 15% or
more of their millennial workforce annually.
- It costs companies $15,000 to $25,000 to
replace each millennial.
- 71% percent of organizations report that the
loss of millennial employees increased the workload and stress of current
employees.
- Workload and stress combine with disconnection
to breed disengagement: Seven of ten employees report being “disengaged”
or “actively disengaged” at work.
- The estimated cost of this disengagement is
$450 billion.
Yes, millennials are a
HUGE problem. They have taken over as the largest generation, and they don’t
just want the power – they are the power.
They will decide what businesses succeed and
which ones will be left behind. Those that want any chance of succeeding need
to figure out how to win with millennials.
Yet only 22.9% of organizations have a
plan in place to engage millennials and future generations.
REAL PROBLEM? Oh yes. But it isn’t a problem that needs
to be solved. It’s a problem that needs to be embraced. Yes, I said it… we need
to be bold and generous and embrace millennials.
Because the way most managers are dealing with it now – mainly complaining – is
not working.
What I
find most curious is how put-off and deeply frustrated many leaders from
previous generations are by millennials. They paint a completely negative
picture of “them,” as if millennials are a monolithic group of apathetic,
disrespectful, unmanageable brats. They whine that millennials are spoiled,
entitled, lazy, disloyal—all they want is power and all they think about is
themselves.
Of
course, complaining about the next generation is nothing new. But the way this
millennial generation grew up? That is
new. They had helicopter parents, got trophies for showing up, had days filled
with activities, were encouraged to question, had a seat at the table for
making decisions, were told they could be anything they wanted to be, and are
used to being connected to everyone, everywhere, every minute of the day.
And the
world is different too. Think of where
we’ve been and the changes that have occurred in the last 30 years. We’ve gone
from information in encyclopedias and microfiche to a crazy ass digital world
where we can get any information, whenever and wherever we want. Millennials
grew up “wired” and “wireless” and have never known a world in which technology
did not impact, consistently change, and
repeatedly shorten timelines of
obsolescence. They know no other way.
Millennials
came out of the #womb. And when they did, they disrupted all of the traditional
timelines.
SO WHAT DO WE DO?
We
follow the patterns of previous generations and complain or throw up our hands
in frustration and do nothing. As a result, all we do is chase relevance with
them, often never finding it.
My book
and our business have a better way and our
solutions will change your life, their lives, and your businesses. Guaranteed.
And here
is how you start:
STOP
... AND SHIFT
Stop
doing what you are doing and realize that the place where youth and experience
meet is the best place on earth.
The
combination of raw, unbridled enthusiasm, curiosity, questioning and unlimited
perspective is pure MAGIC when combined the right way with knowledge, time
served, learned failure, and history.
Chasing Relevance answers the question we get asked
all the time: You really think we can
connect with the next generation with the huge differences? ABSOLUTELY.
We all
need to shift our mindset and trust ourselves.
When we shift our focus to connecting and delivering value to others, we
win with our clients, employees, spouses, partners, kids ... we become guides
and mentors of the next generation and ourselves.
We have
a choice: Embrace the opportunity millennials offer by pushing ourselves to be
better leaders and coaches, or continue to ignore and dismiss the generational
divide. The answer is clear: embrace opportunity.
That’s
what our book, our business, and this blog will help you do.
*****
"Need help understanding, engaging, and
retaining your millennial workforce? Dan Negroni, Author, Speaker,
Attorney, Kick butt business consultant, coach, and proud Dad of a few
Millennials delivers actionable solutions. Different from all other
millennial experts, Dan's empowering business approach at launchbox, creates quick value
and seamless connections with millennials and management each on
their own terms. Using unique content and delivery methods that
audiences respond to immediately he leverages results from the inside out.
Allow millennials to be your secret weapon and maximize
your commitment to them to innovate, create a culture of
engagement and grow your businesses today. To start click
here to grab your copy of Chasing Relevance: 6 Steps to Understand, Engage and
Maximize Next Generation Leaders in the Workplace or call them at 858.314.9687 for
a free Coaching Assessment"
