Do you want to take advantage of the most potent workforce available to you as a business owner?
In this video, I'm going to share with you how to run your business the millennial way and unlock the power and productivity of running your business with millennials.
Here are some of the ways you can manage millennials in your workplace:
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Part 1 Transcription
Do you want to take advantage of the most potent workforce available to you as a business owner? Well, in this video, I'm going to share with you how to run your business the millennial way and unlock the power and productivity of running your business with millennials. If you're new to this channel, my name is Pete Moriarty. And we help business owners all over the world get the systems technology and people organized. So they can play a bigger game. And we work with literally 10s of 1000s of business owners and employees all over the world to help them get their tech organized. And we're looking forward to sharing all of that knowledge with you on this channel, and through our businesses that are part of this channel as well. Now this video is all about how to run your business, the millennial way. And myself, I'm currently 33 years old, I started my business when I was about 20. And the average age of employees across our business of which we've got more than 60 employees across the group is actually around about 30 years old. And so we've got quite a young workforce, yet we are a successful business, we're fast growing, we have millions and millions of dollars in revenue, lots of profit. And we compete with the big guys in our industry, even though the average age of employees in most of our competitors will probably be 10, or even 15 years older than us. So how do we do it, I'm going to share some of the secrets in how we run our business. And some of the ways that we approach business as millennials, both inside the business and also as executives running the business. First up, it's most important that your business is mission, vision and values driven. Now Millennials we have got the you know the beautiful gift of being self actualized. And you know, there's plenty of videos on how to manage and how to lead and how to look after millennials and actually motivate them in your business that Simon Sinek has done a great job of but it can't be missed that a business needs to actually have a mission and a vision that is aligned to those that you want to attract to the business. Now for business owners, it's important to know what actually motivates them what's actually going to get your team excited about working in your business. And I recently recorded another video on the top four motivators for employees with number four actually being, how much they're being paid. And so it's really important for your team. And for you, as a leader of the business to ensure that you're really clear about what your mission and vision is in the business. Because you're going to attract those who are attracted to the mission and the vision. Now, it can't just be something that you put up on the wall, you know, in the past values would be posters, like integrity and hard work, that kind of doesn't work that like 90s version of doing values doesn't really work. And also, I think we're probably coming out of the era of like the startup hustle, grind, work, work, work, work till you die 20 hours a day, I don't think that's really, you know, positive anymore for businesses. Now, maybe still, in the Silicon Valley tech scene, there's still businesses that will have that kind of hustle and that kind of vibe, but for most businesses, at least those that we consult their business owners who are not looking to be the next unicorn, but are at least looking to run a productive team and have a successful business. And so what's going to be really useful for you is to really know like, what is the purpose of your business? What is the mission, what is the vision, and really clearly articulate that but also share that with your team. And here's the magic, get your team involved in this process as well. Now, when we say get the team involved in the process, it's really important to invite your team in to be a part and to actually have a voice of how you're developing where the business is going to go, what the mission is, and what the vision is. Now, your team probably not going to be interested in writing that vision, they're probably not going to be interested in being the sole person responsible for that vision. But they probably do want to have some input in actually collaborating in what it actually looks like. And so for me as the visionary, that's my job as the founder as the CEO, I'm no longer the CEO of our business, but I am still the founder, it's my important job role. It's my title to make sure that I've actually set the vision and set the mission of where businesses go. And so bring your team into that process as well. Next up, let's talk about age. And I already shared that our team are on average, around 2830 years old, those that we hire, now we are in the tech industry. There's plenty of people who go through high school do a computer science degree these days, and will want to get their role somewhere in the tech or the IT industry. And so we welcome them with open arms into our business. And we tend to find that those that we hire obviously you can't discriminate based on age. And we tend to find that those that we hire are in the millennial in the younger age group. And that works really great for us. Because Gen Y and millennials broadly AI really savvy not only when it comes to tech, but you know when it comes to tools when it comes to collaboration and when it comes to the way that they work. Now myself personally, I grew up with a mobile phone when I was in high school, I grew up with computers, even when I was in primary school, and so doing things on the internet doing things online. Working with technology is a natural way for me, whereas for many of our customers, they tend to be either in the Gen X or even the baby boomer age bracket segments. And those demographics had to learn tech, they didn't go through school and have tech, my father's generation actually had, you know, like slights that they would draw on in high school. And so there's a big difference between someone who had to learn and adopt tech and someone who naturally grew up with it, literally as the personality was forming. And so it's really natural for a savvy tech savvy millennial to just be one with technology. And so when you're doing things like in a rolling out a new technology platform, when you're going through change management, you'll find that millennials are much more adaptable to change. And so that makes it pretty easy for you if you're running the business. So my advice there is to err on the side of hiring a younger team where possible, especially if you have technology enabled business. Okay, let's talk about the next one. Radical candor, super important. Now, this is like a fancy word for, you know, being honest, and actually sharing exactly what's going on. But radical candor, I believe, not only applies to just one on ones, and HR, and you know, personnel performance management, we believe in this right across the business. And so what that means is actually fostering a culture where things are not hidden. And so for us, that means sharing what the financial results are in the business, that means showing whether we're doing great or not so great this quarter, or this year, it means actually letting the team know, you know, when executives are feeling good about things or you know, when maybe they're a little bit low on motivation, or running a little over a little bit of steam, you know, obviously, you don't want to come to work and say, Oh, my God, I'm really stressed, I'm really worried we might not have enough to pay wages next week, that's probably not the kind of thing that's going to go down really great with the team. But what is important is to be honest about what's going on in the old ways of doing business. And I've only had one real job before when I was 19, working for another business owner when nothing was disclosed to me as an employee. And you know, all of the numbers were just basically hidden, I had no idea about how the business was going. And so there was always that kind of, like lingering fear of, well, I don't know what I don't know. But also, I didn't feel like I was connected to the success of the business. And it's really important to me as a millennial to feel connected to where the business is going to where the organization is going, that I'm a part of. And so if I actually have transparency, and I can actually see where things are going. Not only does it give me the safety and the comfort that I know if things are good or bad, it's like, hey, it's good to get the truth no matter what the story is. But also I feel more motivated to actually contribute to that. And so for our team, we really love sharing everything that's going on with the business in a candid way. Because what that allows is for the team to feel like they are involved in actually helping solve the challenges of the business, they're involved in helping to make sure the business reaches its goals. They're involved in bringing in more revenue for the business, which creates more success, and then will filter down to everyone through increased pay career opportunities, business growth, and the rest. Okay, so next up is a tip for young leaders. And you know, I started hiring my first employees when I was 20 years old hired and you know, let go of as well, hundreds of employees across my business career over more than 10 years of running it genius. Now, what I found for me personally, as I was in my 20s, and a young manager, I found that there was a battle limit of 10 years, either older or younger, for me that I would be able to effectively manage and connect with someone on a cultural level, I found that if I'd hired someone who was more than 10 years older than me, the generation gap would just be too wide for me to be able to relate and work with them. Now, obviously, you know, you're unable to discriminate based on someone's age when you're looking to hire or for someone who is a newer leader or a newer manager, this might be a metric that you want to keep tabs on. And so might be important to you, if you're finding your feet with learning to manage new teams, that you look for those who will actually match your age group in some way. Now, that's not to say that there is an amazing talent that there is an amazing talent outside of age groups that are within 10 years of your age. And so it may be a need to kind of bridge or have someone who kind of like sits in between you and someone who's that you know, more than 10 years gap and that may able to be helped to bridge the gap and be able to still have those in your organization who are a wider age to get to you. Now if you're someone who is in the senior position, and you've got someone who's more than 10 years younger than you, well have a think about how you may find someone to bridge the gap and not distance yourself from someone who's further than 10 years apart from you, but ensure that you have let's say a cultural bridge so you're more likely to be able to work well together.
Part 2 Transcription
Okay, so let's talk about gamification. Now millennials have obviously grown up with tech. And so the consumerization of technology means that we expect our business tools to be as easy to use as our personal tools. Now, what that means is that we want to be able to send voice notes in like messenger or WhatsApp, you know, we want to be able to send emojis in no matter what work app we're using. So if it's slack, or teams or Google Chat, you know, we want to be able to respond with emojis, it's also really important that things are cloud based, easy to access from any device that we're working with millennials hate having to dial into VPN, or use remote desktop, you know, all the old ways of doing business with a server, or driving to the office, thankfully, those days are pretty much done now. But anything that feels cumbersome, technology wise, is just not going to work for millennials. Now, if you have tech systems that are outdated, or are not easy to use, then you get to find your team, I just gonna go around them and use something else anyway, they're just not going to engage with tools that you have on board. Now in the tech world, we call that shadow IT, where the team will actually potentially even spin up a separate app to get their work done, which is outside of the control of you, the business owner, just because the tools that they've been given have not been adequate for them to get their work done. So ensuring that the tools that you're using are as easy to use, if not easier than consumer based apps is really important. And that's going to help you go a long way with engaging team members who are used to using that tech. And so bridging that conversation over to gamification. Well, it's pretty important to recognize that my generation of millennials grew up with computer games. And we grew up with a lot of computer games, and I went to a Steiner School. So I didn't have a Gameboy or a PlayStation or anything like that when I was young, but my parents divorced. And in high school, I actually got a PlayStation started playing computer games as well. And I'm part of a whole generation that grew up, you know, trying to earn points, having a lot of time spent grinding away on games, but also getting dopamine based rewards from those games really frequently, as well. And so that's really ingrained into us. And you know, we are the Candy Crush generation, where we want to be entertained by our devices. But that also extends into how we work as well. Now, let me give you a bit of an insight into how that translates into the workspace, if you're playing a game, and maybe it's a role playing game, and you've got to grind away and earn points or collect badges or collect tools and those kinds of things. You know, you get rewards when you're grinding away at things and working in a business is in a way, grinding away. Now for most traditional businesses, they'll do a salary review and a performance review once a year or maybe once every six months. But that's a really long time to a millennial, when we're used to grinding away at something for maybe a few weeks, and then getting a reward or maybe even a few hours and then getting a reward a year is a really, really long time. And so some more senior business owners have been frustrated with Gen Y millennials, only sticking around for a few months in their businesses and then hopping between different jobs. And you know, we used to celebrate if we got somebody to one year to stick around in our business. And you know, we've still found even today that young people are more likely to move between different roles and different businesses. However, there's a little trick to this. And one of the little tricks is to have more frequent rewards, and more frequent progress for your team members. And I read this amazing article a couple of years ago, and it was just absolutely brilliant. Basically, the article said to give your millennial employees pay rises every quarter. Now, that doesn't mean you give them more and more and more money over the course of the year, basically, you take what you would normally give over the course of the Union divided by four. So it ends up being the same amount of money, but you give a pay rise every quarter. And that will feel a bit more like a game where you get regular rewards, and you regularly level up. Now there's other ways that you could extend this as well. Other ideas may be to have different role changes, or different you know, names for different roles where someone can progress more quickly. It's not to say that you're going to make up fake or phony roles, you know, but perhaps if someone is a project consultant, they might be a project consultant, level one, project consultant, level two, project consultant level three, see where I'm going with bringing in the gaming type, you know, speech in the gaming type fundamentals here. What that allows your team to do is feel like when I'm putting in the effort, I get the reward one year is just too long for someone to wait. And so having little mini checkpoints or little mini milestones can really allow your team to feel more engaged in the process. And that's going to translate to other areas of the business. If your team have the opportunity for let's say, for example, doing some training or upskilling. Well, they're more likely to engage with that if they know that Oh, at the end of this, I'm going to become a project manager level three. Oh, what's the next thing How do I become a project manager level four. You see where I'm going with this? All of this, you know frequent rewards are really speaks to how millennials brains have been wired. As we've grown up with a culture of technology based gaming. My final tip for you is that business strategy is a team sport. What I mean by that is to have your team involved, like your mission and values in the actual strategy and execution of your business. What that means is when you're doing your yearly or your quarterly or your seasonal strategic planning, to actually make that a team effort, bring everybody in and bring everybody's input in. Now, many business owners think, Oh, well, you know, like, this is a hierarchal business, and I'm the business owner. So I should be setting the strategy and just having that trickle down. Well, that's not quite the best way to do things. Millennials have grown up believing that their voices are important, and the voices are important to a business, I know that in my business, we work much better. And we listen to all of the voices that are a part of our team. And so when we work on the strategy, the business, the business leaders and myself, the business founder, we'll have, you know, a good idea of roughly where we want to go, you know, rough idea of the target. But we bring in everybody's input to actually help us with that, and help refine what that target looks like help us refine what the practicals look like, and allow everyone to bring their ideas to the table. Now, why does this become so effective? Well, if everyone has contributed and collaborated to the business strategy, well, they're going to have a lot more ownership in actually executing that strategy. If someone has just shared something with you that you have to do just because they said so well, you're probably going to be a whole lot less aligned and a whole lot less motivated to actually take that on, if you don't feel that you've had a part in it. But if everyone feels that they've contributed to where the business is going, and what strategies are going to be implemented, well, they're going to be much more likely to be engaged. I'd love to know if this video was useful for you. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Maybe let me know if there's any strategies that you have for managing leading and working with millennials in your business. Now, if you're a business owner, and you're looking to get more out of your tech, and you're new to the channel, well hit that subscribe button and have a look at some of the other videos on our channel. We've got heaps of videos on how to get you and your team productive, and make sure that all your technology is in check so you can grow a successful business that works on your terms. If you're a user of Google workspace, we happen to be the number one partner in Australia, and we service businesses all over the world. And so if you're interested in learning more about Google workspace, and getting access to some amazing training tools for you and your team, our team will do a free account check on your business just by clicking the link below for our transfer in offer. If you liked this content, give us a thumbs up and I'll see you in the next video. Cheers.
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