A Gift: Leading Across Generations
by Cynthia Clay
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We have a gift for all of our current NetSpeed Leadership® clients. We can't wait to get it into your hands! But first, here's some background.
In the year 2015, it is anticipated that the millennial generation (born after 1991) will dominate the workplace. There is a lot we don't know about how this latest generation will work, play, and contribute as adults. We do know that they are the most technologically savvy generation yet!
Leading Across Generations, the 24th NetSpeed Leadership® course, will be released in August 2009. This latest skill development course stresses that generational diversity is a great strength for organizations. We also acknowledge that within each generation, there is incredible diversity. Effective leaders must be able to bridge four generations at work: In-Betweeners (1930 - 1945), Baby Boomers (1946 - 1964), Gen X (1965 - 1976) and Gen Y (1977 - 1990). And the Millennials are coming!
Through shared information and interviews that cross generations, course participants learn to appreciate the different social and cultural environments in which each generation came of age and entered the workface. Communication preferences, conflict resolution approaches, and expectations of the organization's leaders vary by generation. The theme of one generation might be "an honest day's pay for an honest day's work;" the theme of another group might be "it's a free agent nation." One generation may exhibit a "sink or swim" approach to getting the job done; another may require frequent feedback to stay motivated.
These generational preferences are neither good nor bad. But the skilled leader is able to adapt his or her leadership approach to bridge their differences.
- Do you know which generation prefers leaders who are personable and solve problems?
- Do you understand the generation that wants their leaders to ask for and value their ideas, and give them opportunities for growth?
- Are you aware of the generation that wants take charge leaders who also listen?
- Can you recognize the generation that expects leaders to ask for and consider input before making decisions?
Leading Across Generations develops the knowledge and behaviors to help a leader of any generation meet the diverse needs of their employees. If you are one of our current NetSpeed Leadership clients, we will be contacting you shortly to give you this new module to add to your program library.
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Speed Read Recommendation
A-Ha! Performance: Building and Managing a Self-Motivated Work Force
Douglas Walker with Stephen Sorkin
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Many people are great at what they do, but when they become managers they aren't given basic human motivation and management tools. Successfully building and managing a self-motivated work force requires an awareness and a skill set far different from the expertise managers had in their specialty. Attracting and retaining top talent and continually improving performance requires a strong focus on the vested interests of employees. Managers who understand the eight Intrinsic Motivation Points that drive human performance outlined in this book have an edge over managers who don't.
This recommendation comes from the Leadership Book Club by Frumi Barr, a certified NetSpeed Learning Solutions consultant based in Newport Beach, CA.
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Trainer Tip:
Lessons learned - how a training mishap led to a wonderful learning opportunity |
This month's tips come from Jackie Galleano, a Certified Consultant and Trainer for NetSpeed Learning Solutions based in Arkansas City, KS.
It was one of my favorite "experiential games." I'd used it dozens of times. You know the kind where you use diagrams, building components (in this case K'Nex), a challenging mission, and a critically short timeframe. The learning points were 1) teamwork and 2) process improvement. As we finished our parts inventory and the teams were eager to get started, we discovered that one team was missing a particular set of parts, yet they had excess of another type. What to do, I thought. I could break them up and distribute each player to another team as an observer. But this team had already clicked, and they were convinced that they could configure a "flight-worthy" aircraft in spite of this minor setback. My first instinct was that they would fail if I didn't put them on other teams, but their insistence set me in another direction.
So, we let it play out. The results -- this team actually built an aircraft that used all parts, looked quite flight-worthy and did it in the allotted time. The de-brief was quite interesting. They had done great planning, they had assigned roles in a very effective way, and they had figured out how to actually improve a process that was fraught with challenges even I hadn't planned. I learned as much as my other teams in the debrief. We learned how this team assessed the challenge, did all the right things and figured out essentially "how to build a better mousetrap." What was most insightful was that this team was made up of a younger generation of participants. They were more confident, more challenging, and in many ways more creative than our traditional teams. Some of the veterans of this business were impressed by, even complimentary towards, these young "whipper snappers," who often can be regarded by older employees as too young and inexperienced to bring anything new and meaningful to an industry that had "been there and already done that."
It was an excellent experience all the way around. What I learned was 1) recount those parts when you reorder them and make sure they match your pictures, 2) don't force a group to fit a particular set of rules, especially when they're eager to try something new, and 3) be prepared to achieve learning experiences that you had not anticipated, in this case a whole lesson on appreciating the ways different generations approach the same problem.
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| What's New |
New: Virtual Facilitator Trainer Courses
Looking for a deep-dive certification course? Want to lead powerful, interactive, engaging web training? Attend the Virtual Facilitator Trainer Certification, September - October, 2009. Learn more.
Need to get up to speed quickly for the world of webinar training? Attend Web Conference Essentials, a three-webinar course beginning July 16, 2009. Learn more.
Learning 2.0 is Here
Capitalize on the latest social media tools for learning transfer. NetSpeed Fast Tracks™ combines podcasting, video, avatars, blogs, and knols in one, easy-to-use, customizable learning-on-demand platform. Quickly leverage the power of collaborative asynchronous courses, blended with web conference learning. Maximize learning transfer and performance improvement. Try out NetSpeed Fast Tracks for free for 14 days.
Coming Soon...
Do you want your trainers to conduct engaging, cost-effective webinars that lead to learning transfer? Pick up a copy of Cynthia Clay's new book, Great Webinars: How to create interactive learning that is captivating, informative and fun, available Summer 2009.
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| Upcoming Events |
You're invited to a complimentary webcast:
Leadership 2.0: Developing Skilled Leaders Just-in-time
See how your organization can integrate social media tools and a blend of synchronous and asynchronous learning experiences to develop the leadership skills of your managers and supervisors. Then reinforce and measure the impact. Join us in this complimentary one-hour webinar Tuesday, July 21, 2009 from 1pm - 2pm Eastern (10am - 11am Pacific). Learn more or register.
Would you like to see how our tracking and reporting tools work?
Learn more about our online reinforcement, and measurement/tracking tools by arranging for your own web demo. See our most recent enhancement feature: the third party evaluation utility.
For more information, complete our contact information form and include "Web Demo" in the "Additional Comments" box.
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