Modern workers…

Modern workers; aka younger workers; aka millennials; aka scary!  How would you manage a team of those today?  Maybe you already know.  Please share your leading practices with the rest of us, OK? 

I try my best to stay abreast of day-to-day business matters, especially in the technology sales field.  I wonder how anyone manages a young, technology sales team today. 

In Triggers ©, Marshall Goldsmith offers guidance: 

Situational Leadership 

Hersey and Blanchard's premise was that leaders need to adapt their style to fit the performance readiness of their followers.  Readiness not only varies by person it also varies by task.  Followers have different levels of motivation and ability for different tasks. 

Leaders and managers adapting their style to direct reports’ tasks; is that how it's done?  I suspect when a leader does adapt, their people have a better situation to succeed.  Yet, I doubt most leaders approach it that way.  You don’t think so either?  If not, why do you suppose not? 

Much has been written about the behavior of modern workers; their lack of company loyalty; today's era of "quiet quitting"; work-life balance; etc.  Truthfully as a member of the Baby Boomer generation, I'm not sure our younger workers are that much different than I was at their age.  Of course, my generation didn’t get as much publicity back in the “Dark Ages”.  Thank you social media, HaHa! 

Daniel Pink wrote in Drive © another perspective: 

So perhaps it's time to switch the focus of some of our workplace policies and use them to unshackle the hardworking majority rather than inhibit the less noble minority.  If you think people in your organization are predisposed to rip you off, maybe the solution isn't to build a tighter, more punitive set of rules.  Maybe the answer is to hire new people. 

You might be thinking… Gary, it's easy to say "hire new people"; that's hard to do in today's tight labor market.  I agree. 

If we’re going to retain our modern workers, I believe now more than ever training needs for managers and leaders is paramount.  (I feel management training is an event at most companies vs. a commitment to continuous people-management improvement, right Elon Musk?) 

What do you think of the approach articulated by none other than that legendary management consultant Peter Drucker: 

We spend a lot of time teaching leaders what to do.  We don’t spend enough time teaching leaders what to stop.  Half the leaders I have met don’t need to learn what to do.  They need to learn what to stop. 

Do you think this tug-of-war between modern workers and their companies results in a lose-lose proposition for both?  What do you think leaders should "stop" to help things to go? 

Seth Godin weighed in on “responsible stewardship”: 

Do you have to abandon the old ways today?  Of course not.  But responsible stewardship requires that you find and empower heretics and give them the flexibility to build something new instead of trying to force the Internet to act like direct mail with free stamps. 

I imagine empowering today's "heretics" is a bit scary for managers and leaders; it certainly would be for me.  Before I retired, however, I had the opportunity to work with and alongside modern workers at my company.  They quickly erased my stereotypical fears.  

Today's modern workers may approach things differently, but...  

                 they          are          awesome!  

Managers and leaders might do well to stop trying to stop them.

                                                            GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.