Generation Evolutional Fit: Insight III

1           Social Interaction

Companies need to have a presence both in social media and in community welfare.  Industry leaders are gaining notability through an expression of their expertise at no cost through newsletters, blogs, and social media platforms.  This concept seems counterintuitive to some however it is an exercise executed by many of the largest companies that successfully employ and retain business from the growing Millennial pool.  Is it merely a function of the populous wanting free advice and services or is it a cultural manifestation in the makeup of an important demographic?  I suggest it is the latter.     

Millennials grew up utilizing and creating free services in protest of the established system.  It was their peaceful protest done on a platform that leveled playing fields.  Many of these services eventually established a sustainable business model where they provide value above and beyond the free services they continually give away.  Pew Research discovered that Millennials are a substantial charitable group with greater than half regularly donating money and time.  Corporate social responsibility has become a greater focal necessity over the past decade as this generational group entered adulthood and began demanding behaviors from those they patron. 

I suggest businesses treat social interaction and responsibility as a business practice as necessary as bookkeeping.  You want a part of that Millennial pool as customers and employees and therefore should know what makes them tick.  Set the narrative and expand your customer base and company culture by putting your industry prowess to written form and community charity.  Opinions, beliefs, and behaviors will grow stronger with younger generations and the aging Millennial group.  Don’t be the last to market.      

Generation Evolutional Fit:Insight II

             Leveraging Technology

The Millennial Generation sees through your antiquated system and is annoyed by it.  They want to be a part of modern speed and capabilities which defined their adolescent reality and have little interest in preserving systems because “that is the way we have always done it.”  Again think recruiting and retention of this work force.  You will not win new employees or keep existing ones if you promote your 1980s technology by which their jobs will be more difficult. 

Secondly consider the interaction with the Millennial customer base who interprets value through ease of use.  Ease of use is part of the overall customer experience and can be capitalized on for business development within your marketing efforts.  At the very least your technology platforms, or lack there-of, should not detract or interfere with the customer experience; they are only good if they add.  Interface navigation to Millennials is as natural as you being able to drive a friend’s car; it is different than yours yet same in principal.  However, when you have to start the car from second gear because the clutch won’t allow you to go into first, your opinion of your friend’s car diminishes.  In fact, you are less likely to ask to borrow it in the future…but that could also be due to the bumper sticker reading “The 70s Were My Heyday!” 

Where updating software and hardware systems can be a costly capital project, start by incorporating free to inexpensive aps and updates where applicable for in house efficiency.  Simple is better than malfunctioning; clean is better than cluttered on your website; and systems that don’t integrate with one another are not worth investing. Companies should be up on market capabilities and what that could add to the bottom line through increased efficiency and competitive advantage. 

Part 1: Generation Evolutional Fit

GENERATION EVOLUTIONAL FIT

Part 1

With Census Bureau data, Pew Research had determined that the Millennial generation, ages 18-34 in 2015, had become the majority workforce by mid-2015.  First generation controlled organizations and companies built their success on conducting business with an understanding of their own generations motivations and tendencies.  Technology evolved so rapidly over the past 20 years during the youth of the Millennial generation that the generation was arguably wedged between ways of the past and present.  Companies that don’t contemplate these generational differences and curtail their modes of operations are missing opportunities to cohabitate and benefit from the Millennial generation as a workforce and customer pool. 

This is a multi-stage mini check your Generation Evolutional Fit.

1)      Flexibility in Operations meets Employee Satisfaction

The Millennial Generation grew up in a system where society and high school guidance counselors pushed college at all costs.  Millennials were taught that the path to a good life is through college and in offices and not through skilled trades.  Where studies support this mantra via earnings potential created by a college degree, there is a potential suppression of environmental fit for many Millennials fitting into the office and screen mold.  Combine this with the plague of limited jobs effecting this generation and companies will be challenged with motivation and performance. 

Rather it is being outdoors some of the time, fixing or creating something with one’s hands, or spatially interacting with the end product versus applying theoretical components, companies should understand where their flexibility in operations can broaden a work environment and the benefits that can reap.  Over a span of 225 academic studies, researchers Lyubomirsky, King, and Diener performed a meta-analysis that found life satisfaction and successful business outcomes have a considerable directional causality (https://hbr.org/2012/01/positive-intelligence).  

Look for operational flexibility to work outside of normal business hours, field versus office time, and cross training.  Create a program of it with quantifiable metrics and allow it to be an option for employees.  Think of the possibilities in recruiting, retention, and successful business outcomes.  If flexibility is not possible, then ensure your hiring process screens for your absolutes and that you are not fitting square pegs into round holes.

Anchor, Shawn. Positive Intelligence. Harvard Business Review, January-February 2012. 22 March 2016. <https://hbr.org/2012/01/positive-intelligence>

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