Chris Collins on Millennials in the Workplace

So today we are going to talk about the myth that millennials are lazy. I would encourage you to take some notes and have some.

Piece of paper or something. I'm going to give you a lot of strategies and some fun stuff. I really did my homework here. So I have some stats that you're going to have to think about and kind of open up your eyes a little bit. And then I have some real clear things that you can do to connect with Millennials. And so also, I would like to ask you that if you enjoy this and you get a lot of good information, please do me a favor and share it with your friends. Share it on Facebook and anywhere, anybody who's in leadership. We have 20 years of experience helping hundreds of businesses increase their profitability, their customer experience, their retention. We're turnaround specialists. At the heart, we're all about results. So we're in businesses every day, helping them improve in whatever areas that they need. But most of it comes down to the customer experience and profitability. So please share this with your friends. Hey, Don. How are you, man? Good to see some friends in here. So the myth that I would like to overcome today is the myth that millennials are lazy. And that's not true. And some stats that I have here for you is the fact of the matter is Millennials are going to make up 50% of the workforce by 2020. And when I was coming up as a kid in high school, I remember that I was labeled the lost generations. So they called us the lost generation. And then they started calling us Generation X. And really, we were the first generation that ever got a name that was ever told that we were something, and it was very negative. And we were called the Lost generation because of our parents. And it's funny, we blame the millennial characteristics on their parents because they're the generation that the parents spoiled and gave them anything they wanted. But my generation was the generation that our parents were divorced and cared more about themselves than us. So we were called the Lost generation. And I always felt offended by that. And I always felt like when people would say that, especially when I was trying to come up in business, and people would say, oh, he's a Gen Xer, it had such a negative connotation. And I think it's disrespectful for us to say the same thing about Millennials, because when we go through some of this content that I have for you today, you're going to see that it's on us to get better. In many ways, Millennials are advanced. And in many ways, they are looking for a solution and looking for something from us as leaders that is the right thing to be looking for. We just think like our generation, and so the negative connotations don't do us any favors at all. And I always hated that when people say, oh, you're a Generation Xer, it would just make me want to fight. Because, yeah, I'm a Generation Xer. Yeah, My parents are divorced now. What? I'm here to work.

Most of the time, just like Millennials. I was disappointed in the people that I worked for because they didn't want to advance and improve and grow as fast as I did. And I think millennials a lot of times feel the same way about us. So let's go through some fun stats here.

Hey, Matt. A lot of fun people on here. Brianna. Nice to see you, Brianna. So millennials have the highest rate of unemployment right now. 29% are unemployed. And 6 out of 10 millennials are currently looking for new employment, even if they are employed. And then here's the stat that sticks out to a lot of people, and it's that 3 out of 10 live at home with their parents still. And that's, you know, the average age of kids leaving home is getting higher and higher. So they're staying homes. Now, Millennials will make up more than 50% of the workforce by the year 2020. So, therefore, it's really important for us as leaders and companies to embrace them, to get to know them, and to learn how to create an environment where they can thrive. Because I'll go through a couple things with you here. So here's some myths. The first myth is that millennials are lazy slackers. The truth is millennials are the most educated generation that's ever come along. They have over $1.3 trillion.

In debt from going to school. They're the most educated, so they can't be lazy if they're going to school and they're putting in the work. So they have student loans higher than any of us. And more of them are educated than my generation or the one after me. The second myth is that millennials are entitled. They are not entitled. They really just want a life and a work, that a work life balance. It has meaning. And we'll talk about that a little bit more and how we create that for them.

Another myth is that millennials want bosses at work, and that's not true. We're going to talk about how we lead them and what kind of leaders they really are looking for. And then another Myth here is that Millennials will love a company brand more than another brand. And the truth of the matter is, is they might spend money on Nikes, and their characteristic might be to, you know, shop with brands that are more popular that they identify with, because brands nowadays do a really good job of creating more of a lifestyle than anything. But let's say that a specific Millennial spends his money at Nike. It does not mean he wants to work at Nike. So there's a big difference there of what they spend their money on and what they're loyal to you. And for the most part, millennials aren't loyal. They're looking for a cause. And so you capture their imagination with a cause, not with loyalty, because they're not really that loyal.

And then the last one that I have here is that Millennials are all the same. I felt that as a Gen Xer, that I was like, oh, you guys. You kids are all the same. And they're not. They're very unique. They're incredibly talented and diverse, and they have skills that.

Us, as in the older generation, you know, envy, especially when it comes to technology and problem solving, the way, you know, the way they think. So I got a big list here of strategies and things to think about when you're managing, recruiting, and creating.

Work environment for Millennials, that they can thrive and get results. And understand that everything that we do here is based on results, not necessarily feelings. We want to give you strategies that you can take and get results. And so we really want to understand how do we manage millennials to get them to perform, not to get them to just want to be there with you and your company. So the first one I have here is that incentives for Millennials, and this has been one that I've experienced quite a bit, is that incentives for Millennials isn't always compensation. And so there's a funny study about millennials, but they would rather lose their wallet than lose their cell phone. So, I mean, if you can imagine that, I could easily replace my cell phone, but I wouldn't want to lose my wallet. But they would rather lose their wallet than their cell phone. And so incentives and how you motivate and gamify Millennials, usually money isn't always the biggest motivator. Usually it's more of an experience, something that gives them time off, work, life balance, things like that. But most of the time, time off or some sort of experience that's rare, will get them motivated more than money. Like, my generation was more motivated by money. And so when you're gamifying things in your business or you're trying to put pay plans together or set up an environment that millennials are reaching for something you want to understand that sometimes time off is more important to them than money, believe it or not. So I would really pay attention to that one. The next one I have here is Millennials have been the center of attention with their parents. They expect their boss or their leader to be a coach, servant, not a boss. And so the style of leadership that they relate to and that they're looking for is way more of a coach and somebody that is interested in them and what's special and unique about them than somebody who's a boss and gives them a task list to go do. So the style of leadership that they are looking for is more of a servant style of leadership. And so you're more of a coach to them. You want to develop them and really get to know them. And then with that hand in hand goes. There's a lot of studies that I've been looking at of companies that have completely done away with yearly reviews and are doing weekly coaching sessions. And so they want more interaction. They would prefer to have daily interaction than a yearly review. And then in that daily interaction, they expect us as leaders to collaborate with them and create an environment that is fulfilling and for them to thrive in, not create a task list and kind of a top down management of take it or leave it. So in the end, they understand that the customer is the most important thing, the customer experience is the most important thing. The business doesn't survive without sales. But, but they want to have their input considered and they want it to be a collaboration, not just, hey, go sell more, get to work. They want you to understand what they're up against. They want you to understand the feedback and they want their input to be valued. So as a leader, you have to become a better coach and you have to think more as a servant than somebody who can sit in an office and bark out orders. And that's the, you know, that's harder and harder the older their, their boss is. Usually if you watch millennials, when they become leaders, they manage completely different than, let's say my generation, Generation X, where we came from, the baby boomers and our parents were very much like, you know, there's that old Cosby saying, like, I brought you into this world and I can take you out, which I always thought was funny, even though Cosby is not a popular subject right now. But they're not going to relate to that. They want to collaborate. And they want to be a part of something bigger. And so daily reviews over yearly reviews. The next one I have is they need very specific job expectations, they need close leadership, they need it drawn out and they need to know if they won or lost. It has to be very clear. And that's a good thing because most of the time in business we're not clear with employees and they get lost and success in business and life and anything is attracted to clarity. So that's one that forces us as leaders to be better and can help the overall environment anyways.

They also want to make sure that the organization that hires them or that they work for is going to invest in them. And I'm going to give you an example in a minute of how companies actually pay them and have libraries and ways for them to learn. Because they want to constantly learn, they love to learn. And so they want to know that as a company you're going to invest in them, you're going to keep them growing because they really are interested in learning, which is something I think we miss lot. The next one is.

They want good paying benefits with few rules and more freedom. They want work life balance. So they want a nurturing work environment that's fun and they want to be included. But money isn't always the thing, and I mentioned that before.

This is an interesting one. They balance the advice of their elders against the advice of their peers in the workplace. And that really is an insight into how they don't want a top down leadership situation. They want a collaboration, they want to know what everybody thinks. And so you have to make the result the most important thing. The culture, the purpose, the cause more than anything. But they're looking at everything. They're not just looking at you as a leader.

They want to advance quickly. So when you bring them on, they want to understand what the path is for them to advance.

So kind of six things that millennials want at work. They want to focus on their purpose, they want to focus on their development, to have consistent coaching towards their goals. A coach as a boss, servant based leader. They want to focus on their strengths and they want work life balance.

And they really want leadership that focuses on what they're good at and gets to know them. And so when you're the kind of leader that's a servant leader and a coach, you're going to get to know them better because you're interacting with them so much and they really want you to help them and coach them to be the best at what they're good at and they're really not the generation. And we talk about this in our leadership training. They're not the generation that's going to get good at everything and work so much on their flaws. I heard an interesting thing with the great Dan Sullivan. I was in a meeting with him and he said if you work on your flaws and you're constantly trying to strengthen your flaws, at the end of the day you just have a bunch of strong weaknesses. And he's right. So they want to be really good and they want to be encouraged and coached and mentored in what they're good at. And that's a good thing. So the example I have here of the business is Zappos and what they've kind of done. And I think it's a pretty strong example. So number one, Zappos coaching. They have a full time life coach at Zappos that anybody in the company can set an appointment with and they will work with the employees to achieve personal and professional goals. It could be weight loss, promotions, financial, whatever it is, but they have life coaches to take genuine interest and create a strategy and then collaborate with them on how to reach that strategy. The second one is Zappos encourages employees to work remotely at coffee shops and, and other places. And so if it's possible to create that scenario, a lot of times having the option of even just a couple days to work remotely, and if you really have a strong system for tracking results, then that's something that, you know, might be something you can do. If you're customer interfacing and it's a customer service thing, it's hard for them to be able to work off site. The third one that Zappos does is community. Zappos really promotes community and they do a lot of things as a group. They have parties, events, things where the employees are encouraged to interact and participate. And so there's a very strong, strong community there.

They're empowered there too. So number four is they're empowered to do whatever they want to wow the customer. So they aren't just following a script. They're not locked into a cage. They have a lot of freedom to wow the customer and then they celebrate that, which is a good one, and then development. So here's the one I was referring to earlier. Zappos offers hundreds of books available for free in their lobby. Employees get paid extra for reading and presenting their learnings. They also offer classes to go over some of the most popular books. And so, you know, that's an easy thing to do as a company.

You know, a book out there that you think would benefit everybody. Do some sort of book report where everybody gets assigned a chapter or you have a book club and they get to, you know, the group gets to suggest books. But that's a fun one to do with employees. And then Zappos has fun. They have nap rooms, a petting zoo, hot dog, socials.

They dress up like different, you know, different theme days where they dress up, but there's a lot of fun. And they are encouraged to express their personality and be unique in an individual. And then.

The other one here is a clear mission. Zappos goal is for their employees to think of their work not as a job or a career, but as a calling. And that's kind of got a little bit of a religious flair to it, right? As a calling, like you've accepted Zappos into your heart. So Zappos vision has a higher purpose above money or being first in the marketplace or what clothes you wear. But it's about the culture. And.

So their company culture is a strategy, with success being a natural byproduct. Let me say that again. So success is a natural byproduct of their culture. Success isn't the focus of their culture. So most Zappos employees consider their peers true friends and will hang out with their employees outside of work. They favor productivity, and they communicate and trust with each other because of that. So trust increases then. I mean, that's one that I have talked about before where I don't know why you'd want to have employees that you don't want to be friends with. And I think that's something that resonates with Millennials. They want leadership to be genuinely interested in them because they were raised that way. Their parents did this to them. Right? So they were the focus, and their parents wanted them to have everything that they didn't have. And so. And that isn't all Millennials. But as you know, kind of as a group, they're more. They've had more attention than, let's say my generation did that way. And so they want you to be genuinely interested in them and their progress. The next one here for Zappos is it's a flat organization, so there's no real hierarchy, which is something that's becoming more and more. Anyways, companies are. Are cutting out the layers, and it's more about the result and the efficiency. We're having to become more and more efficient. And it isn't just about a hierarchical kind of system. So it's a flat organization. And Then the last one I have here is transparency. I've been reading that Ray Dalio book, Principles, and that's a good one for you if you haven't read it. And I'm sending that out to my elite coaching group for everybody before the next meeting, because it's a great book. I've had Dalio's Principles, the PDF that they give to new employees for a long time. But the book is great, and he talks a lot about transparency. And so one of the things that Dalio did at Bridgewater, if you're not familiar with Bridgewater, they were a hedge fund that outperformed. You know, they. They have results that are unprecedented and very unique in their. In their industry. And so they have a very unique system. And transparency is something that is a big part of their culture. And a lot of times, people will come to work for. For them, and they don't last very long because they don't like the transparency, because they're so transparent. They record all of their meetings. I mean, there's no situation where politics or he said, she said could get involved, because you can just go back and listen to the conversation or the meeting, but everything is recorded. There's total transparency. If you don't like somebody or you think somebody isn't getting results, they know that. And so there's not a lot of ways to talk about somebody behind their back. And then the other thing is, everybody has a baseball card with your stat, so there's all these categories that they measure you on. And if you're terrible at executing, everything is on there. So everybody knows what your strengths and your weaknesses are. That's a hard thing for new people coming in to get used to, but after a while, when you become a part of the culture, it's something that you really like and you really enjoy.

Hey, Laura and Jason, thanks for coming in. So that's the last one that I had there is transparency. But I think those are some good strategies and some things to think about. But we have to get better as leaders. And I would stop thinking about millennials as a negative thing. Just like I was saying that I always hated it when they said I was the lost generation when I was younger and start thinking about how we can get better as leaders and how we can create an environment for them to thrive, how we can get closer to them, become better coaches and servants than just this hierarchical, hey, I'm the boss. Take it or leave it. So Curtis says something here. Let me read this. I completely disagree. Thank you, Curtis. I still believe it is the person as an individual, generalizing any group for age, race or gender limits. Leaders. I hire many what many define as millennials, and they frankly are kicking ass. Just ask just ass. Some of our baby boomers have just as much or more energy. People are individuals. Treat them as and they will perform if you motivate. Yeah, that's great, Curtis. But the truth is, the facts will tell you that millennials are unique in some characteristics as a whole. I totally agree that people are individuals, just like I was an individual with my generation. But baby boomers are different than generation X or generation Y and millennials. I mean, how can you say that millennials aren't different when they grew up with iPads and iPhones? And they're so advanced from us in technology and other things that, I mean, they've just times changed and so generations change. It's just how it is. So I do agree with you though, that they, they are individuals and we have to get better as leaders, creating an environment for all generations to thrive. But there are some unique strategies to help them become better. Damon, how are you, bro? You got on just as we're closing up. So I hope you enjoyed this, Damon and everybody, please share this with your friends. Share it with everybody you can. And this is how we can be better leaders when it comes to millennials and creating an environment for them to perform and thrive. So thank you everybody. I hope you have a great Friday tomorrow and the rest of the week. I am going to go smoke this cigar now and have a little tequila. So I hope you guys have fun. Reach out if you have any questions, and we will see you next week. Thank you.