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.
The apology is an often over-looked and widely misunderstood tool for keeping smoldering bridges from burning out of control and for repairing relationships that were dented somewhere in the chaos of daily battle. It’s also a tool easily misused by people uncomfortable in their roles and seeking to buy compliance by apologizing their way forward.
Facebook is fun, but there are Millennials and many others that are oblivious that social media could cost them their career. I’ve seen profiles with pictures that look like a Jersey Shore party, people who use language that makes them sound like Eric Cartman, and I’ll never forget when a past acquaintance sent me a friend request. Their photo was a mug shot.
One of the interesting outcomes I’ve observed when engaging truly thoughtful people in the process of understanding the role of a leader and the commitment required for success, is that some people decide it’s not a good fit. However, we don’t make it easy for them to reach this conclusion.
I manage to be a frequent recipient of horrific boss and interview stories from blog readers, twitter followers and colleagues around the globe. The level of what I describe as “moronocity” in the hiring community is off-the-charts, at a time when securing great talent has never been more important. Here are a few of the most recent examples:
Today’s guest author, Eric Rodriguez, is a former student of mine and someone passionate about management, leadership and developing as a professional in his career. Eric recently approached me about writing some guest posts here at Management Excellence to build his on-line brand (a great idea on his part), and we sat down to discuss ideas. After talking over potential topics, we both zeroed in on a Millennials in the Workplace theme…but with a twist versus a lot of the other content found on this issue.
Our twist is to change the perspective, and instead of an endless stream of “experienced” authors writing about what it’s like to deal with the merging of the generations in the workforce, Eric will offer his perspective on navigating early career steps from the eyes of a twenty-something.
With the clear disclaimer that there are no magic formulas, silver bullets or guaranteed fast-track approaches to success in the workplace, there are a number of critical steps you can take to accelerate progress and improve your odds. Here are 4 key skills you must develop to succeed in today’s workplace:
While your own level of influence might not be something that crosses your mind on a daily basis, your relative level of influence in your organization is at least one reasonable proxy for measuring your effectiveness as a leader.
During the next few weeks, I will kick off two new features here on the blog. The first will be a Saturday Management Serial…an on-going story involving fictional firms and companies and the buffet of leadership, management and business issues that require solving by you, the readers. The second new feature will offer a view from the youngest generation in the workforce on the realities of leading, managing and developing a career. We’ve heard a great deal from the 40-something management group on the challenges of leading the generations…now, we’ll hear the story from the other side of the age fence. Coming soon!
Part 1 of this series emphasized the importance of developing, updating and referencing a Decision Journal as part of your program to improve your decision-making effectiveness. In Part 2, we focus on understanding a bit more about how we make decisions, and I introduce the topic of decision traps.
