Managing and Motivating Millennials in the Work Force

Many millions of words have been written about Millennials—or that generational cohort born roughly between 1981 and 2000. They are called Millennials because the first groups of the cohort “came of age” around the turn of the 21st Century.

Why is this demographic group of such great interest to employers and the society in general? Three reasons we believe:

• There are currently 80 million Millennials in the US and they represent a large portion of the workforce. They are rapidly becoming the workforce.
• They are often described as the Net Generation because they have never known life without the internet. Hence they are highly connected, technology savvy and are accustomed to quick action and rapid access to information. They seemingly adapt early, quickly and easily to technology change—not kicking and screaming like some members of past generations. This may be threating to some.
• As a group, they are believed to be different from the generations that came before because Millennials supposedly lack motivation and drive, and will be more difficult to manage than employees of 10 years ago. Is the old motivational “playbook” obsolete?

Earlier this year, I conducted a sales force compensation and motivation seminar at the University of Wisconsin for sales managers. We have done this, and other similar sales-based seminars for over 20 years. This year, we were asked to prepare a new section in our presentation to address the growth of Millennials in the workforce, and discuss changes companies and employers should consider to more effectively pay and motivate the generational trend. Clearly, this an area of great interest.

As a first step, I did research regarding Millennials from published and available sources regarding generational traits and characteristics that likely can impact employer motivational and management decisions. There seems to be no single authority on the subject, but there surely are plenty of opinions. Here are some credible findings or opinions shared with seminar participants:

• Millennials are optimistic, in spite of a tough economic back drop;
• 75% say that wealth is very important to them (this is 30% higher than the Baby-Boomer generation);
• They are impatient with traditional (company) structure, slow pace and limited flexibility;
• They have high expectations as consumers of any product, service or organization; and
• They require a clear mission combined with freedom from rigid structures to achieve that mission and their (own) goals.

So what does the above mean to managing and paying a Millennial? Or in the case of our seminar, managing and paying a Millennial sales force? While preparing our seminar materials, four recurring motivation and management practices became clear:

• Tell your employee how you will be defining both theirs and the company’s success. Give them that mission that they both seek and require.
• Provide frequent feedback regarding their performance and make it clear that there is (demonstrated) promotional opportunity within the organization. Tell them often they are successful in fulfilling that mission.
• Match company processes and customer outreach with their fast-paced and digital orientation. They are used to “fast.” So make your company move fast(er). Ultimately, this can only make everyone more productive. And, what a great opportunity this presents to upgrade the entire staff.
• Give them an opportunity to earn increasing income through bonuses and incentives—push the upside. Switch to higher bonuses with lower base salaries, if it is practical and fits their individual risk-profile. They are living through a tough economic environment, so provide an opportunity for them to break out—based on their own energy and hard work.

Many of the participants in our session had Millennials on their sales teams and a long discussion ensued regarding both motivators and impediments to the success of these employees.

Two conclusions emerged: First, the four practices I shared above are the right things to do for employees of any generation—Millennial, Baby Boomer or somewhere in between. Second, it became clearer that there was no secret to success or “decoder ring” for motivating Millennials—the tried and true models of human behavior will work fine with this current generation—just like they have done with earlier generations for 3-4 decades. I was a bit surprised based on all of the literature on the subject, but convinced.

So, do not be put off by all of the experts waxing eloquent on the subject of Millennials. Odds are that they are (and will surely prove to be as a group) motivated and productive employees. And, the motivational tools and practices you have used in the past will be just as successful with this group as they have been in the past. As a bonus, they will bring greater technology skills to the workplace than most employers have ever seen—do not waste the opportunity.

The real issue with the Millennial generation may be more about them managing you than you managing them. And, you know how hard that can be!

Is my company as productive as it can be?

The answer to that question is probably “no.”

Are you currently perplexed by lower profitability, or a perceived high cost of service delivery, or are you just striving to be as good as you can be? If so, step back for a moment and measure your organizational productivity and apply those results to improvement.

Now you might say in response—that is a wonderful idea, but how do I measure organizational productivity?

In our experience, there are a number of metrics that can be used to measure or monitor the productivity of an organization. Six common examples are shown below:

• Size of the total workforce when compared to sales volume or profit contribution;
• The ratio of direct (sales, direct-client contact or line plant-manufacturing staff) to support and/or overhead employees;
• Various direct or support departmental expenses as a % of sales or profit;
• The throughput of your “manufacturing” facility—e.g. tonnage processed per unit of labor or lines of programming code produced per programmer;
• The support cost to produce and process a sales transaction or order; or
• The average size (revenue and “lines”) of customer orders or shipments.

While there surely may be other metrics on the tip of your tongue, these are representative of how productivity can be measured—and a good place to start an investigation.

With these metrics or other metrics more specific to your organization selected, we suggest that you embark on a simple 3-step research and analysis plan.

1. Measure your performance metrics. Look at the current performance of each selected metric and go back at least three years to seek any trends (good or bad) that may exist. Some metrics may be hard to get at or discern from company reports or systems, but the extra effort will be worth the cost. Accept no “too-hard to find” excuses if you are serious about this. Trust me, unless you measure this stuff already, the outcome of this 1st step will be very revealing.
2. Find comparative or industry survey benchmarks, if they exist. If you can find some industry or other credible comparative benchmarks, measure your results (for select metrics) versus survey data for similar organizations. Where you rank against other organizations is always a great (and unassailable) way to see how productive you are.
   
   That being said, finding this type of survey data is easier said than done. A good place to look for these types of surveys are trade associations or industry publications. You may also be able to find some information in governmental publications. If you are a public institution—like a municipal government or park district—more comparative information may be available because of wider (and required) budgetary reporting and the lack of survey-participant caution based upon competitive advantage or factors. Getting comparative data is a real plus, but by no means necessary. [You can also do your own survey if you want, but it is no small enterprise to undertake.]
   
3. Establish internal productivity improvement goals based upon the metrics and results gathered in Step #1 whether you can find industry benchmarks or not. Yes, just say we can do better—and you probably can. For example, establish an annual goal this year to increase organization productivity by +5% by year’s end. Assign achievement of the expectation to the appropriate senior officer, and measure progress each month. In response, someone in your organization is likely to say something like: “We should apply 6 Sigma.” Well you can go about applying all that stuff (fish bone diagrams & the lot), but we believe the +5% improvement demand will get you to the same result in the end through hard work and institutional knowledge. And do not forget, you will need another improvement goal for next year.

Some might say you can skip right from Step #1 to Step #3, and we would agree—in fact, Step #3 is designed that way. But external data is always valuable to establishing improvement goals and truly defining excellence.

Do you want to benchmark and improve the productivity of your organization? Follow our simple 3-step plan.

And, as an added benefit, you might just drop another point or three to your bottom line in the process. Now have I got your attention?

Do it, and tell us what you find.

Is your strategy plan really strategic?

The word “strategy” is a most overused and misunderstood term.

Most organizations have a strategy or a strategic plan, but it is often just a collection of projects or actions that may or may not have an impact on the future direction of the firm or organization. Do you have a strategy or just a bunch of projects or actions strung together on a piece of paper marked "strategy?"

How do you know the difference? Try by asking the following questions about your strategy:

• Is your strategy transformational? Will the actions included in your strategic plan bring you to a new level of future success or make you something that you must become in the future to either compete or survive? Or basically, will it make you something you are not today but wish you could be? For example:
• Will you be # 2 in your industry?
• Will you become the most customer-centric company in the market place?
  or
• Will you be the most cost-effective public institution in the state?
• Is there a clear and overarching theme that binds each and all “strategic” initiatives, actions or projects together? Or on a more basic level, does everyone in the organization know why they are working on these projects—often taking valuable time away from their day-to-day operating responsibilities? If manager and employees just see work associated with strategic plans projects as a “flavor of the day” priority, it probably is just that—and not strategic at all.
• How will you know you have won? That is a simple question, but one not often asked nor included in a strategic plan.

I often tell clients that they should start their strategic planning process by writing A Statement of Strategy. Such a statement is a concisely written document that outlines the definition of "transformational" for your company and the overarching theme that will bind all future actions of your strategic plan together. If you are at Point A today, what is Point B and why are you going there?  I also caution that it is important to write your strategic plan without relying on financial data—in short write it without any numbers. This is done to avoid having strategic planning become nothing but a budgeting exercise.

Of course, there is only one “number” that we will allow. That is a clear definition (or benchmark) that will describe how the company will know it has succeeded in fulfilling or implementing its strategy. Use your imagination as to what such a benchmark may be for your organization. It may be simple performance data like: sales or profits or comparative market statistics, customer opinions or outcomes, or a major event like a completed competitor acquisition. How will you know you have won?

Is your strategic plan “strategic”? Ask the above questions, and see if you can answer all three in the affirmative. If so, you likely have an effective structure for a strategic plan—ready to be implemented. If not, have the management reset, sit down and write a (your) Statement of Strategy. Then proceed with creating a strategic plan.

Wilkening & Company has worked with clients in the creation and implementation of successful enterprise strategic plans. Our approach is unique and focuses upon matching and linking strategic objectives to the strengths of the organization. To learn more about our approach search for prior articles we have published on the subject. Type in “strategic planning” on the Corner Office E-Notes tab at www.wilkeningco.com. We can also be reached at (847) 823-5090.