TM - December 2007 - (Page 44)

what can organizations do to bridge the generational divide, get their Ys ready for leadership and get their boomers and Xers ready to help? Successful succession planning starts with these six steps: 1. Onboarding. This is Gen Y’s first interaction with your organization. If it’s good, or bad, everyone in their cell-phone contact list, on Facebook and on MySpace will know about it instantly. Onboarding needs to: • Give an overview of your organization’s performance management process. Point out the success derailers at your organization and how to avoid mistakes. If listening to an iPod while working is really going to upset some people, let your young workers know. • Take a cohort approach. These guys move in packs, and friendships are very important to them. A good onboarding process will support them in building relationships and friendships at work. • Connect their work, even if it is menial and entry-level, to the bigger organizational purpose and mission. • Solicit their input. Gather strategic initiatives from organization leaders and have new hires begin to work on them during onboarding and beyond. They will feel involved in meaningful work, and the organization is likely to discover a new approach. • Be fun. If it’s boring, you will lose their attention. 2. Training. Offer training throughout the first year of employment. • Focus on basic soft skills. Conflict management and communication are a good start. • Training must be interactive and experiential. Participants must be active in training design and delivery. This ensures engagement, and when participants are engaged, new ideas come forth. • Don’t offer only an online approach. Despite their technological savvy, Gen Ys prefer in-person training and report that online training leaves them room to multitask (check e-mail, send text messages), so they lose focus. • Include Gen X and boomers in training that heightens generational diversity and similarities awareness and offers solid supervisory and leadership strategies. 3. Mentoring/Reverse Mentoring. Gen Y is used to reaching out to adults for help. • Match them with a boomer who has opted to cut back rather than retire, or a traditionalist, to help them navigate the first year and beyond. • Consider reverse mentoring. Have your Ys be “technology mentors.” Ys are approachable and can increase the technological efficiency of older workers. 4. Coaching. Coaching new employees is essential, but be sure to use a long-term approach. If, for example, you offer an orientation for your new Gen Ys, be prepared to step back in after a few weeks or months. Very often, cohorts reach a post-hire slump and need some coaching to stay motivated. Offer a follow-up team coaching session to discuss the issue and develop strategies to get through the inevitable transition process. You need to be prepared to coach your employees at the beginning and beyond, as well. 5. Give them a seat at the table. Smart organizations realize that this huge generation has its finger on the pulse of future users of services and purchasers of goods. You need to know what your Gen Y workers know. They are new to your system and can offer an invaluable outside perspective. Starting at the onboarding process, make sure you build in some formal communication vehicles so this group can easily surface and get credit for new ideas and insights. They want a way to get their input to you, so give them one. 6. Passport Initiatives. If your organization is large enough, allow your new hires to “travel” to different functional or geographic areas. Seeing how the organization looks from different perspectives will connect Gen Y to the wider organizational purpose, enrich their learning and serve them well as future leaders. These six steps also will result in two less measurable but highly important results that are fundamental to an organization’s ability to remain competitive in today’s marketplace. One, organizations become leaner, flatter and more matrixed, enabling new employees to develop early cross-functional relationships to support change initiatives and innovations as they progress. Second, the steps topple silos that can destroy innovation and efficiency. A Gen Y cohort connected across silos can help break down artificial divides and will go a long way to mitigate territorialism. Smart organizations see boomers moving out and Ys moving in not as unwelcome commotion and upheaval, but as an opportunity to develop talent and plan for succession. Companies should use the entry of this sometimes frustrating, often demanding, definitely entitled, and extremely smart and creative generation as the impetus to give all employees what they need to be leaders. Karen Bedell is a partner in the Careerstone Group, a professional consulting company that specializes in leveraging generational diversity to support organizational success. She can be reached at editor@TalentMgt.com. talent management magazine www.TalentMgt.com 43 December 2007 http://www.TalentMgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of TM - December 2007

Talent Management - December 2007 Editor's Letter Contents Letters to the Editor Human Performance Leading Edge Capabilities The Engaged Difference: What People Want Analytics in Talent Management: The Sports View The Use of Merchandise for Employee Recognition Taking Aim at Performance Appraisals Talent Management Drives Organizational Change Generational Diversity: Mastering the Boomer-X-Y Divide Dashboard: Security-Savvy Workforce: Designing a Security Awareness Program That Works Application: Hilton Hotels Corporation:Checking Out the Merits of Paperless Efficiency Insight: Unlimited Engagement: Innovative Corporate Communication at Deloitte & Touche USA Advertisers' Index Editorial Resources Foundations

TM - December 2007

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