The Millennial View-Don’t Be: “Young & Distracted”
Editor’s Note: when chatting with Eric about the title, I learned that this was a saying his father (a police officer) would use to reference the dangerous issue of young drivers being easily distracted. The real phrase is, “young, dumb and distracted.” We euphemized it a bit for the post title. We all know that distractions and driving don’t mix. Neither as it turns out do distractions and interviews or jobs. -Art
Eric Rodriguez is the voice of The Millennial View here at Management Excellence. You can follow Eric on Twitter @mvieweric for more on the millennial perspective.
Millennials love communication and technology. It’s one of our greatest strengths and it gives us an invaluable skill to present to employers and teach to others.
Sometimes stories surface on Millennials who become easily distracted with this talent causing them to lose focus on what really matters – their careers.
One example that illustrates this point was when my aunt, the vice-president of a large insurance company, was conducting a final round of interviews for an entry level position two summers ago. The last candidate she interviewed that day was a twenty-something named Derek (name changed for privacy) and he was acing every question in the interview.
My aunt was impressed and was certain that he was the right person for the job, but that feeling changed when Derek brought out his phone in the middle of a question and started to text.
“Excuse me, what are you doing?” my aunt said.
Derek kept his eyes on his phone clicking the buttons with his thumbs, “I’m multitasking,” he said with a smile.
Guess what?
My aunt and the HR Manager didn’t appreciate Derek’s “multitasking” and they hired a candidate who took the interview seriously and kept their hands off their phone.
Derek’s story made me realize that sometimes my generation (myself included) can get a little distracted by the many methods of communication and technology that are available to us. There’s Google Chat, social media, games, apps, texting, and computers at our desks and in our pockets that could keep us “multitasking” for an entire work day.
If our multitasking includes things that aren’t work related, it’s not multitasking; it’s wasting our time and potential.
As Millennials and professionals we need to keep technology and communication use that doesn’t relate to our jobs at a minimum because if we don’t there will be consequences. One of my friends had a colleague who was recently let go from their job because they were running an eBay business on company time.
This individual displayed carless behavior and if they would have waited until they got home to check their account they would still have a job. Millennials should avoid behavior like this and make workplace priorities the primary goal.
There are many Millennials who have great work ethics and take steps to make sure that they are not wasting time at work so they can meet their career goals. Some Millennials make a list of tasks that need to get done, others check their Facebook at lunch, some only respond to texts if it’s an emergency, and one friend slips her smartphone inside a desk drawer so she’s not tempted to use it.
The Millennials who manage their time wisely are going to be the new leaders of tomorrow because their priorities are focused on their careers and not on their social life – while they’re at work that is.
There’s a time and a place for everything, but the workplace is not the place for things that are not related to a career. By engaging in unnecessary activities some Millennials are setting themselves up for professional failure.
Think before you text, check Twitter, or reach for Doodle Jump because this behavior can lead to nothing good in the workplace. Staying focused and managing time well are the steps to a productive and fulfilling career.
Management and Career Miscellany on the Lighter Side
Really Bad Career Advice:
A friend embarking on a next-step job search initiated a conversation with the recruiter she had used for hiring purposes for several years. While most of the conversation was spent listening to how horrible his business was, he finally listened to my friend’s next steps plan and offered up this priceless advice. “You may just have to face up to the fact that your career is over.”
My friend is an experienced, passionate leader with impeccable credentials, current certifications, great management experience and technical skills in a hot industry.
The recruiter must have been talking to himself.
Project Management Success-It’s the People, Stupid!
The most complex part of project management is not mastering the tools or the Project Management Body of Knowledge. It’s all about leading people.
Organizations interested in improving project performance are well-served to improve selection, coaching and mentoring and yes, even training so that their project managers develop critical experience in dealing with the most complex of all projects…the human participant.
Speaking of Project Management-Regarding the PMP Certification Exam:
“It’s the most god-awful test I’ve ever taken.” -Master degreed nurse and operations executive on her recent, successful certification.
More than a few have indicated that this increasingly important certification is a test of your ability to take a test. Hmmmm.
Read Somewhere-A Great Idea for Improving Your Decision-Making Effectiveness:
Attributed to the late, great Peter Drucker, his suggestion was to develop the habit of writing down and filing your rationale for a major decision and then reviewing this document six to nine months down the road to find out how wrong you were.
I love this idea for the learning opportunity as well as for the expected shock value of, What was I thinking?!”
Social Networking-Everyone’s Shouting, But is Anyone Listening?
Spend a few minutes observing a twitter-stream and you’ll notice that interaction has all but disappeared in the noise of people shouting about something. It’s like 20 million people on a street corner all hawking a newspaper with a different headline at the same time.
Here’s to creating more high quality conversations and interactions….likely off Twitter and on something old-fashioned, like a telephone.
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October 29th Carnival of HR (and much more)
Readers interested in some divergent thinking and great ideas should take a look at the menu of authors and content at the latest Carnival of HR. And don't let the HR headline trick you. This Halloween collection of articles covers diverse topics in leadership, communication, execution, talent development and priceless career advice. Oh, and of course, Dan McCarthy, the host, was nice enough to include my recent attempt to place a quantifiable value on leadership development activities. Check it out, it's definitely a treat.
More Thoughtful Career Advice to Ignore on Your Path to Becoming a Sales Leader
From the same organization that brought you this enlightened sales manager and his timeless advice on how to prosper:
"The only way that you will succeed on my team is if you are married to the job," and "The reason that I am not in any family vacation pictures is because I’m on the phone. If I’m in the picture, you can be sure I have a blackberry stuck to my ear," is back with:
"The problem with you is that you care too much about people."
I love this organization. There are very few other places where a simple phone call offers me a priceless quote on really bad ideas from lousy leaders.
What Are You Doing All Day If You Are Not Developing Talent?
I speak, counsel and write consistently about the critical need for an organization’s leaders to institutionalize the process of identifying, developing and retaining talent. In a recent workshop, less than 20% of the organizations represented indicated that they had any form of succession planning or early talent identification programs in place. The numbers got worse when we talked about development activities for established associates.
While I suppose that I should be grateful for how miserably organizations perform in the area of talent development—after all, it means a large market for workshops, programs and books, it frankly pains me more than it pleases me. This isn’t that hard or expensive people. What are you waiting for?
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