If You Can Only Go to One: ERE Fall Expo
Derrick Barton, chief talent officer for the Center for Talent Retention, is among the dozens of great presenters at next week’s ERE Fall Expo in Hollywood, Fla, which is our featured event this month. SmartBrief on Workforce Senior Editor Mary Ellen Slayter recently spoke with Derrick about what it takes to keep a multigenerational workforce fully engaged. An edited transcript of that conversation follows.
MARY ELLEN: What steps can managers take to keep workers engaged when they can’t give raises or promotions?
DERRICK: The foundation of engagement is one-to-one dialogue, those regular conversations that help you make sure you really have a handle on what’s critical for this person. That’s the best way to know if the projects they are working on fit their skills and interests, and if they have the right resources to get the job done.
Such conversations are free, but they do take an investment of time by the manager. And this works across the board: Boomers want it, Gen X wants it, Millennials want it.
What do you think is the biggest mistake managers make in trying to engage their workers?
On of the biggest relates to prioritization — thinking ‘I’m going to do this when I have time.’ Engaging people is really a make-time issue. If you manage talent, you need to be making time to manage talent.
Another common issue is treating all of your workers the same. There are similarities and differences between people, and those differences make a difference.
A third mistake is thinking that organization initiatives will solve the top needs affecting why a person engages and stays. Most needs can be significantly addressed when a manager and their talented employee work together to make an impact.
What do you think is the sharpest difference between the Millennials and previous generations?
If a Millennial is in a bad work decision, the speed at which they will make a decision and inform their network is astounding.
If a Boomer is unhappy, she’ll maintain their current level of engagement, and perhaps talk with one or two close friends. A Gen Xer will pull back his engagement, and tell maybe 10 to 15 people. Millennials? They leave with speed, and if you get a disgusted Millennial, they’ll inform thousands via their social networks.
What advice do you give to a manager who’s trying to maximize the effectiveness of a multigenerational team?
The manager has to think about two things: How do I maximize my team’s performance, and how do I maximize the performance of each talented person. For the team to work, you have to make sure the group has a clear goal, clarified roles and established practices for sharing information, making decisions, monitoring their group’s performance, and informing other stakeholders. For individuals to perform at their best (engagement) and want to stay (retention) you must be actively working on creating a work situation that is a good “fit” for their most critical needs. You engage and retain talent one person at a time.
Image credit, Yuri_Arcurs, via iStock
Tags: baby boomers, gen x, Gen Y, Retention
Categories: Retention
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Posted by Derek Irvine, Globoforce on September 5th, 2009 at 10:39 am
What to do when merit increases are cut? Try a solution that works across all generations, all cultures, when applied strategically — recognition.
Strategic recognition accomplishes these additional critical goals not fully possible through compensation:
• Telling employees how their efforts matter – how they are not just working for the company, but with it.
• Encouraging cooperation and teamwork
• Encouraging people to notice and acknowledge stellar efforts of their peers
• Offering a “360° review” performance mechanism
• Offering a means for constant feedback throughout the year
• Making the rate of reward equivalent to rate of effort, employee by employee
More on this here: http://globoforce.blogspot.com/2009/02/motivating-employees-when-merit.html
Posted by Roberta Hill on September 7th, 2009 at 10:00 am
I could not agree with you more that it takes time and each person is different. While I agree with intent of what is written, I feel the use of the term “engagement” rather vague. When you finally define it as: individuals performing at their best – I think you have really missed the point. People can perform at their best and not be engaged and vice versa.
Just because a boomer chooses not to leave as quickly or not to discuss his or her concerns more broadly does not imply they will remain performing at his or her best. They may be just as disillusioned but not as vocal.
Engagement is more more complex and includes issues of involvement, ownership and commitment rather than performance. Performance may be the by product of engagement (as is a motivated employee) but I most certainly would not but stay and engage together.
Posted by perry on September 8th, 2009 at 8:10 am
I think of engagement just like marketing. Rule #1 is know your audience. We cannot approach everyone the same and I agree with Roberta that it can be a complex process at times. The best way to simplify is the remember that we are dealing with human beings and, at the core, we are more alike than different. I think we psyche ourselves out sometimes into thinking “we just don’t those people” when I bet we do. They are us at a different point in our lives.
Posted by SBWorkforce on September 3rd, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Creating engagement across generations, Q&A with Derrick Barton http://is.gd/2Qil4 #ereexpo
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Posted by ljohnson218 on September 4th, 2009 at 8:42 am
What it takes to keep a multigenerational workforce fully engaged http://tinyurl.com/m7s2n9
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Posted by robertahill on September 8th, 2009 at 7:52 am
I made a comment on this – what do you think? What steps can managers take to keep workers engaged? http://ow.ly/oteP
This comment was originally posted on Twitter