Time to take action

I recently spoke to a TEC group of next gen leaders. The topic of our conversation was the attraction and retention of the emerging workforce.

As part of our wrap-up, one of the leaders in the room said, “What was most interesting to me is zeroing in on the theme of leadership. When it comes right down to it, these emerging professionals are looking for good leadership.”

Yes. Among other things.

It has been an interesting couple of months in that we are seeing an uptick in the number of our clients reaching out for support for their young professionals. In fact, they are reflecting on some of our leadership development work and asking us to repackage it to be relevant for the emerging young professionals, whom we might look at as informal leaders or as “leaders in grooming.”

This is promising! Over the past several years, you’ve likely come across research that tells us organizations know they need to be reinventing, yet only 25 percent of organizations in the U.S. are taking action related to the need to reinvent.

The requests from our clients, shown below, feel like action. And keep in mind, some of these are tactical, event-based requests. Others are part of a broader strategic initiative.   

• Will you present your six-step process for having a difficult conversation for our young professional group?
• Will you facilitate your “Lead Upward” presentation for our emerging professionals?
• Can you speak to a group of both our leaders and our emerging leaders about tackling uncomfortable issues in a respectful, candid way? We would like all of these individuals to be equipped with this skill.
• Are you able to repackage your leadership workshops so they are relevant to our employees? We need them to be equipped with these skills, as well.
• Can you help us create a young professionals program?

With this uptick, it inspired me to jump online to take an ancillary look at the blogs and articles that have been posted most recently. I was intrigued by the number of authors touting their secrets, tips and ways. I thought, for your benefit, I’d do some sharing.

Five ways to develop and retain young professionals, by Zak Wolpert on Construction Executive

1. Encourage involvement in after-hours organizations, events and industry boards.
2. Generate dialogue outside of the typical office setting.
3. Embrace technology to strengthen faster collaboration responses and completion efforts.
4. Offer feedback about how younger employees fit into the company’s current and long-range plan.
5. Be a coach and mentor and help to instill best practices for time management, productivity and relationship building.

Six ways to attract and retain a dynamic millennial team, by Peter Voogd on Entrepreneur

1. Create a dynamic millennial culture, one that is in tune with millennial wants, needs and behavioral patterns.
2. Encourage internal innovation and provide a streamlined and easy-to-follow path to get ideas approved.
3. Freedom and flexibility focus, creating systems that allow them to work remotely and travel often, if deserving.
4. Integrity and congruence from the leaders, ensuring that what you promote in your marketing material matches the actual opportunity. Millennials have acute “BS meters.” Inauthenticity does not sit well with them.
5. Community and networking opportunities to support growth, contribution and feelings of empowerment.
6. Make your business about something, as millennials are just as driven by the “why” as they are by the “what.”

The top 7 ways to attract and retain millennial employees, by Dylan Kaufman on The Ladders

1. Have fun at the workplace.
2. Create a professional community. According to one poll, 75 percent of millennials seek mentors and advice to succeed professionally.
3. Ease their social transition, particularly when millennials come into a new city. It is important for them to create a satisfying home and social support system.
4. Deliver experiences over assets, since millennials tend to value experiences and access more than things.
5. Give them opportunities to learn. Eighty percent of this generation is eager to improve its professional arsenal of skills.
6. Communicate with transparency to foster connectivity and create shared motivation and goals.
7. Give them responsibility that requires creativity. Eighty percent of millennials desire a role where their creativity is valued, and they’d rather be unemployed than hold a job they do not like.

This is not challenging research, obviously. These writers typically tap into research or do their own polling. Who, in your organization, is your researcher? How are you gathering these ideas and determining your action?

-Aleta Norris is a co-founding partner of Brookfield-based Living As A Leader, a leadership training, coaching and consulting firm. You may send questions to her at anorris@livingasaleader.com. To read all of her columns, visit the knowledge portal at www.livingasaleader.com.