This past weekend I was reading an article in our local paper about an issue about this year\u2019s high school graduating seniors in our community.\u00a0 It seems that four years ago the school board made some changes in the requirements for graduating high school.\u00a0 Instead of implementing them immediately, they gave fair warning to the incoming freshman class that this would apply to their graduation four years later.\u00a0 It is now four years later and many are upset because they are going to fall short of the requirements and they won\u2019t get to walk down the aisle with their fellow seniors.\u00a0 They want the rules changed to allow them to at least walk down the aisle.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, this is typical for the millennial generation, which I tend to call the T-Ball Generation.\u00a0 Many of them have grown up all their lives being given as many tries as it takes to hit the ball, never being called \u201cout.\u201d\u00a0 The games they grew up on had only winners and no losers.\u00a0 The best won awards, and so did the worst.\u00a0 You didn\u2019t finish a school project; well, that\u2019s ok, because we\u2019ll still give you credit for trying.\u00a0 As they become young adults they show up late for interviews, and even take cell phone calls in the middle of their interviews.\u00a0 Some even show up with their parents in tow (or is that the other way around?).<\/p>\n
Of course, this isn\u2019t the real world.\u00a0 100 people compete for a job, and only one person wins it.\u00a0 You are often only given one shot to succeed, and if you don\u2019t then you don\u2019t get a second try.\u00a0 Some businesses are successful, and others go bankrupt.\u00a0 And if you don\u2019t finish a project on time then there will be consequences, such as losing a client or even being sued for breach of contract.\u00a0 Real life isn\u2019t at all like they were brought up.<\/p>\n
It isn\u2019t their fault, of course.\u00a0 It was the adults in their lives that created the rules for the games that they played, and lobbied the school boards for the policies that teachers taught by.\u00a0 The same people who now complain about the lack of work ethic in the millennial generation are the same ones who created it.\u00a0 They are the ones who encouraged mediocrity so that things were fair for everyone.<\/p>\n
But as I shared in a previous article (see Faith in the Future<\/a>), not all members of the T-Ball Generation are this way.\u00a0 There are a lot who are exceptional in their own right.\u00a0 They hold down jobs while attending high school and\/or college and perform well at both.\u00a0 They take on personal responsibility and relish it.\u00a0 They get involved in their communities and abroad to make their world a better place.\u00a0 And these young people are looking for a great place to work.\u00a0 A place where they feel connected and appreciated.<\/p>\n There is a lot of talk in management and HR circles about how to adapt your organization to deal with this new generation of employees.\u00a0 This is fine if you are looking for the typical, mediocre employee.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t a good practice if you are looking for those few millennials who are above average and are exceptional. If you are an exceptional organization, or are striving to be one, then you already have or are putting into place practices that will unleash the potential in any employee, no matter their age group.<\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t matter how old an employee is, all exceptional employees want some key things.\u00a0 They want a good work environment that is safe and provides fair compensation for their work; these are the basics.\u00a0 They also want to feel trusted.\u00a0 They want to know that their work is important.\u00a0 They want to be able to do a good job and have recognition for a job well done.\u00a0 And they want to be able to have some control over their work.\u00a0 These four things are the things that engage employees of all ages.<\/p>\n If you create this kind of work environment, then you will attract the best employees, no matter what age they are.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to do something special for a younger generation, and you don\u2019t have to settle for the mediocrity of the masses.\u00a0 Instead of looking at a whole lot of 5\u2019s and 6\u2019s on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best, you should be seeking out 8\u2019s, 9\u2019s and 10\u2019s.\u00a0 These are the kinds of people who will fit best into your organization.\u00a0 Keep in mind that if you are an exceptional organization, then when you look at the distribution of your employees\u2019 performance that you will not have a normal bell curve that is smoothly flowing with a huge grouping around 4, 5, and 6.\u00a0 The more your organization is above normal the more your distribution curve shifts to the right, with very, very few people, if any, who will be falling in the 1 through 4 range.<\/p>\n In fact, that part of the curve should be skewed to the point that it is very small.\u00a0 After all, exceptional organizations only have about 7% of their employees in the 1 through 4 range; 26% of their employees in the 5 to 7 range; and the remainder, 67%, falling in the 8 to 10 range.\u00a0 This puts the average employee in your exceptional organization being somewhere around an 8, not a 5, like the average, mediocre organization.<\/p>\n Yes, finding these exceptional employees are a challenge, and remains so no matter what the economy is, or how high or low the unemployment rate is.\u00a0 But keep in mind that if you provide the kind of environment where employees can be exceptional; you provide the training so that they can become masters at what they do; place trust in them and don\u2019t violate that trust, yourself; then you might be surprised at just how quickly some of your mediocre employees become engaged and become exceptional employees.\u00a0 The more you expect of employees, not because you are a miser and want to get every last penny out of them, but because you truly have faith and believe in their capability because you trust them, then the more they will tend to deliver for you.<\/p>\n Make a Great Day!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This past weekend I was reading an article in our local paper about an issue about this year\u2019s high school graduating seniors in our community.\u00a0 It seems that four years ago the school board made some changes in the requirements … Continue reading