Managing Millennials For Maximum Productivity: How To Foster A High Performance Team And Increase Your Company’s Innovation with Marissa Brassfield - Genius Network Episode #111

Big criticism of millennials is we question authority. That's not exactly. It's not coming from a place of insubordination. Instead, it's coming from a place of why is it done this way? Because we're thinking of ways to kind of hack it and get around it.

Millennials get a lot of slack in the workplace. They're considered lazy, entitled job hoppers. There are three ways that millennials think different that are different than previous generations. Understanding these differences is the key to managing Millennials for Maximum productivity. Remember to subscribe to Genius Network so that you don't miss a Future episode. Visit geniusnetwork.com subscribe for more.

This is Marissa, the Marissa Braskiel.

Okay.

And what is the Name of your 10 minute talk?

It is Managing Millennials for Maximum Productivity.

Okay, awesome. And Marissa, just think of her as the better version of Peter Diamantis.

Okay.

Because she takes care of all kinds of stuff for Peter and she's really. I would consider you a productivity expert. I mean, even the stuff you share with me. So she's really dialed in. So I'm really looking forward to hearing.

What you talked about.

So give it up for Marissa.

So millennials get a lot of shit in the workplace. We are lazy, we are unmotivated. We are job hoppers. We have no dedication, we don't hard. I mean, I probably heard a lot of them even just describing me, and I consider myself kind of a top performer in everything that I do. So you figure you go through the hiring process and you go through the vetting process and you pick the best candidates possible and you get them in. Now what? And everybody kicks ass the first week on the job. And then productivity just goes down. And I don't know, it's just kind of meh. So ideally, my goal for you guys is to foster a team, a high performance team, and increase innovation in your company and simultaneously decrease turnover. These are some of the strategies that I've Learned in my 10 years of leadership experience and 5 years of management experience and leading teams of between 9 and 35, all with an average age of 22 and a half. 23. So something that you've got to know. There's three things you have to know about the way that we think that's different from our parents and different from our grandparents and any other generation. First, we were taught that we could do anything and we could be anything and pursue your dreams and do what you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life. I mean, if I was told that once I was told it a hundred times by my dad. So we come into work expecting and knowing that we're going to work hard because we watched our parents work, you know, long, long weeks and long work weeks and miss our games and miss, you know, entire sports seasons for me, just working, working hard. So for us, we have to feel engaged at work. That's the biggest, biggest tip. It's more important than money to us, is feeling that what we're doing is fun and that it matters and that we're doing important work. So unfortunately, a lot of entry level work is busy work. So there has to be enough fun in there and enough novelty and enough learning and feeling like we're doing something that matters to keep us tuned in long enough to do the busy work that we have to do as part of an entry level position. So one of the best things that you can ask your team is, and I hope that you're having enough conversations one on one with key members of. And this is high performance. This is not, you know, this is not every employee this is not going to work for. But these are the people that you're going to promote and that you see have a high trajectory. These are your top performers that if given a little bit of motivation, would just skyrocket. The best thing that you can ask them is, what can I do or help you with to make you feel more fulfilled at your job? And it's different for all of us. Some of us would be happy with direct deposit instead of invoicing. I mean, that was a big, huge thing for me. And that's the silliest, stupidest thing. But as a freelancer, just being able to know that I don't have to wait 10 days for my check to come so that, you know, I don't have to float my rent check, that's a big deal. For somebody else, it might be being able to choose the device that they bring into work. It's the littlest, stupidest thing. But to them, it's everything and they focus on it. So another thing, we grew up playing video games, most of us, so we're always used to having another life. And what that means is we're not fearing failure. So a Millennial is perfect to put into your innovation teams or put in charge of a 20% project or give them 20% time. You know, I want you to take two hours out of your day or one day out of your week and just think of ways to make everything around us better. What can you do to improve everything you Know, something in the office, something in the workday, right along with that. A big criticism of millennials is we question authority. That's not exactly. It's not coming from a place of insubordination. Instead, it's coming from a place of, why is it done this way? Because we're thinking of ways to kind of hack it and get around it. And this goes back to the video games, you know, how can I. And it's not, hey, why do we have to sit in this meeting? It's not, I don't want to be in this meeting. It might be, I don't know, maybe we should telecommuter. Maybe this would be more effective if five of us were in this meeting instead of 10. Let's see. And it's. Yeah, it's coming from a genuine want to do whatever it is better and to perform better. Another big thing is mentorship. And we need to have mentors. We want to have mentors. And if our boss likes. Peter is really great at spending time with me each week and figuring out what I want to do in my career and how he can help me get there and how to connect me with the right people. And maybe you don't have time to do that yourself, but maybe there's someone on your team who you can connect your millennial with. Maybe this person is really interested in sales. I mean, introducing somebody who's interested in sales to you would be phenomenal for their own engagement and motivation. And this isn't babysitting. It's just they want opportunities to learn. And I'm reading, I read in, I think it was Forbes a few months ago, but people are doing reverse mentorships where they're pairing an older worker with a younger worker to see how they can learn from that generation's unique work style and then expectations and flexibility. So, I mean, you're hearing a lot of what I'm saying and you're going, well, why? Why? How can we do this now? And I guess the big thing, the big takeaway is proactively manage your millennials. And what I mean by that is set expectations. And this is a one on one conversation. Here are the expectations I have of your work, and what expectations do you have of me as a leader? How can we. And just lay that all out. And from there, after having said that, just let go and let them go and let them figure the best way to do something. Let them figure out the best route to take and let them, you know, and if you want them to check in with you, communicate that. So that the expectation is there, but kind of let them go. I feel stifled when I'm micromanaged. I feel like I'm not trusted. And when I don't feel like I'm being trusted, I just. I shrivel up and I can't. I'm paralyzed. And I was telling Joe the worst thing that, you know, you can tell a productive person to do, or the worst thing you can do to a productive person is make them unproductive. And it's personally frustrating. So, as you know, just an example of how this went, I spent three years working for. It was a permalance situation, working for a media company, online media company out of Toronto. And I was in charge. I was a senior editor in charge of six junior editors. And every four months we had a cycle of nine interns. So I personally oversaw and trained and hired, developed some 20, 20 people or so in that time. And while I was there, they'd start out and it was kind of like a content mill sort of situation where we wanted them to write as much content as they could. They came in writing, you know, two or three articles a full work day, and I got them up to 20 or 30. The editors were starting to starting out editing, you know, six articles a day, and I got them up to 130 just by figuring out how they individually worked and then, you know, speaking to that as soon as I left the company. And I left, mind you, because I was feeling unfulfilled. I was feeling like my work didn't matter and that I wasn't being listened to and that I didn't have the freedom to do things sort of my way when it came to how I ran the department. So that's why I left. Within the three years that I was there, I was the longest tenured person. And that's crazy. We saw Turnover. I mean, 20, 26 people come and go just within periods of four months to a year to a year and a half. And that's crazy. And when you scale it up to a big company, like many of you run, the turnover and just retention and just the cost of hiring and finding the right person and training and onboarding them and then letting them go and just that wasted time and it could all be avoided. So that's it.

Wow.

Thank you. You still have one minute. Well, I'm ridiculously efficient.

Does anyone have any questions for Marisa?

So how important is money? More money? Would you compromise? Would you work 60 hours for more money or would you not?

So I'll. Can I Pay my bills.

Okay?

So that's.

If I can pay my bills and have a little bit too. So like every, everybody has a different situation. If I can pay my bills and have a little bit of money to go out to eat and you know, and have a good time, I don't need. I don't care what my. I don't have. I don't care that I don't have an emergency fund, but I do want to be able to go out and have a good time.

I.

It's a little crazy to say that out loud, but it's true. And everybody has a number that they're comfortable with. Now, something that I would be more motivated. I don't like salary based positions and in fact I shy away from them. I like bonus and performance based compensation structures. I will work so much harder if I can because I'll do the math on my own. What do I have to do to earn this amount? What do I. And because what the salary scenario sets up for me is what's the minimum amount of work that I have to do to skate by this week to collect my check?

And that is, that is, that is how you see it. The minimum amount of work that will make me.

Because think about it.

Pay the bills and go out play and save a hundred bucks.

Because if I put, you know, if I work my butt off, I'm making the same amount of money as I would if I just did what I had to do.

What makes you leave the job? What makes you stay in the job?

So that's a great question. So I freelanced before I started working. I'm still a freelance employee with Peter, but I had a great, you know, a great stable. And I thought, I thought I was, you know, doing it. The thing that has made me stay with Peter and will make me stay with Peter is and I ended up hiring someone to just take on all my old clients, just here, take them all. Is because I get to learn, I get to be here. I get mentorship opportunities. If I have a question, the answer is always yes. And here's the best person to speak to. Here is his cell phone number. Figure it out with him or her. If I want to go to a conference for personal development, it's yes. Here, take notes. Send me a recap every day. So I feel immensely fulfilled. And plus, I have a tremendous amount of responsibility with Peter. I can directly influence how much time he spends at home with his wife and his two sons, which boy, you know, if you ever need an incentive not to fuck up like it's, you know, to be able to give a successful, busy person more time with their family.

I'm imagining I'm just kind of sensing this, that an important thing for you. And I think that I'm very much the same way. Like, I don't know what this whole age range is, but I feel like I'm one of you, what you're talking about. But I would think, you know, with you coming to the group and doing all these other kind of personal development things, that's showing a real buy in to who you are, which probably makes you feel feel very appreciated and make sure ideas feel extremely valued. And I feel like that's probably a.

Big and it's that and it's I know that he holds me in esteem. I'm not gonna fuck it up. How can I prove to him that I'm even better than he thought?

And so he has the trust in you and that makes you want to fulfill that for sure.

Thank you.

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