Friends of Dave #97: Failure to Communicate
The biggest challenge for young people as they enter the workforce? Talking.
This past week I had the pleasure of returning to my alma mater, Boston College, as a guest speaker in the "Lunch with an Entrepreneur" series put on by the Carroll School of Management and the Shea Center for Entrepreneurship. I had a great time sharing details about my career journey (which happened to include being the first marketing intern at Harpoon Brewery during my junior year) with both undergrads and graduate students spanning a variety of majors and interests. If you have an opportunity to do something like this (whether at your alma mater, a local college or university, through Junior Achievement or even career day at your local high school or middle school), I highly recommend it.
At one point during the Q&A portion of the discussion, one of the students asked me this:
"As we enter the workforce, what do you see as being the biggest challenge or obstacle we will face?"
If you think about it, this generation entering the workforce is probably the most technologically savvy that humans have ever produced. They are also more globally aware and connected than previous generations as well. They are very engaged, collaborative and team oriented. And their gravitation to texting and smartphones has made them adept at efficient communication -- i.e. emojis, abbreviations, short answers to quickly convey their thoughts and feelings. These are all extremely valuable skills that can be beneficial to a growing, innovative, fast moving organization.
I slowly looked around the room. It struck me that the students in attendance were not that much older than my own kids -- some even the same age as my oldest. After a few moments of consideration I gave them my answer: learning how to communicate EFFECTIVELY, particularly upwards.
While they may be comfortable with technology and communicating via text, they lack the interpersonal skills that allow them to effectively communicate in a work setting, particularly with older managers and executives. Think about your own workplace. It's well documented that we deal with the "millennial" problem all of the time, but I feel what we are really experiencing is a massive breakdown in communication styles across the various levels of our organization and between our companies and our customers. Poor communication alone can have an impact on critical areas such as employee morale, employee development, client relations and retention, product management and revenue growth to name a few.
Of course, in the long run, as the older generations move out of the active workforce and corporate client bases, this will become less of an issue. But, as I have written before, for now we are seeing Generation X ascending into more positions of power: both as managers and as buyers of product. While there are some situations where the communication styles of the younger generations can be easily accommodated, there are many that they cannot.
For example, on many occasions I have counseled younger employees (or my own kids, for that matter) that instead of texting or emailing someone about something, you actually need to pick up the phone and call them. Or better yet, go to see them in person. Visual cues, voice tone and eye contact are all still critical components of communication with people over 40 years of age, especially if you want collaborative feedback from them or you are trying to sell them something (i.e. a product, a solution or an idea, or to yourself to get a job offer). While it may seem like I am joking, this can be a real challenge and source of anxiety to people under the age of 30.
In my opinion, this failure to communicate effectively is an under reported, MAJOR problem for business -- and also for these enthusiastic, ambitious students looking to work their way up the corporate ladder. They are being taught how to code, but they aren't being taught how to talk. And while, yes, we as managers and executives absolutely need to adapt to maximize their value to our organizations, it seems to me that we are doing them a disservice by not equipping them with strategies to overcome this communication gap on their own as well. It will make them more valuable to us and to our organizations if we do.
NOTE: I was very careful to deliver this message in a way that didn't trigger anyone or send them desperately seeking a safe room. While I think there may have been at least one audience member who pulled out a fidget spinner while I discussed this, I am pleased to report that I did not receive any calls from parents afterwards with complaints. So I think I did okay.
Fun going back to campus to talk entrepreneurship...and now on to this week's selections. Remember, it's fall back time this Saturday night, so you have an EXTRA HOUR to read up -- no excuses! And, if you haven't done so already, make sure you go vote on Tuesday. It is only the most important election ever...at least until the next one...
Have a great weekend!
XOXO
Dave
3 To Get You Thinking...
The Art Of Making Difficult Things Look Simple
So the next time you see someone who displays such poise that makes you think he’s naturally talented, consider that he could have just put in a lot of work to pull this off.
And if you just put in the same amount of work, you could do the same thing.
It takes a lot of thought, preparation and work to make something look effortless and simple. From products to presentations to marketing messages to sales performance to managing people, making complicated things look easy is really an art form.
Deep Thoughts On Being Different
Interesting, introspective post by Hubspot co-founder Dharmesh Shah about how he went through great lengths to "solve the problem" of being different, only to realize later in life that being different is perhaps his biggest asset.
The Rise of the Learning Culture
It takes courage and vision to lead the transition from a hierarchical culture built on authority, order and safety to one that prioritizes learning. Yet this shift is part of a global trend away from highly formalized structures and toward more informal, flatter networks, where “teams of teams” are encouraged to iterate, come up with ideas and solutions, and then share what they learn across the entire organization.
More organizations are prioritizing learning and agility to respond to an increasingly complex and less predictable environment. Important to understand how this is coming together as I suspect it will become a more crucial component to successful company cultures as we move forward.
4 Good Ones For The Day Job...
To remain competitive, smaller banks must offer services that consumers want and find useful. Using consumer data to improve the customer experience is key to them succeeded. While this is geared toward the FinTech folks, there are some great lessons in it for everyone about leveraging data for their businesses.
How to balance customer success and revenue in sales
“Customer success can’t always be measured by your most recent quarter’s revenue numbers”
Customer success means wildly different things to different companies in the SaaS industry. It's becoming a point of focus, and like marketing was about 10-15 years ago, many organizations create customer success teams but there’s no clear definition as to how these teams develop long-term value for both the customer and the business. Really interesting look here.
How the Growth of SaaS Makes Life More Difficult for Customers
The SaaS landscape is more crowded than ever. Which means it's harder for customers to decide which products are right for them. Your company needs to deliver messages (both in sales and marketing) that have a sharp focus on differentiation regarding the solutions to the customer problem in order to stand out.
Dunkin’ Donuts is changing its name. So what’s the payoff?
With the long-term benefits of a corporate rebrand are hard to predict, seems like Dunkin' is taking a huge gamble where it probably didn't need to. Really interesting look here submitted by long time Friend of Dave and bear claw aficionado Michael J. Coyne.
Your Weekly Dose of Randomness...
How Did "Athleisure" Take Over American Fashion?
Step away from the yoga pants.....yes, you.
Maine will help kids pay off student loans if they move there
One small detail they gloss over: you still have to actually live in Maine all year.
Human consumption of chocolate began more than 5,000 years ago
And it definitely needs to end in my house sometime before the holidays....
