Issue 20

• Whys Insight
• Whys Perspective
• Whys Strategies
• Whys Cracks
• The Buzz

Word to the Whys

"Most people are more comfortable with old problems than with new solutions."
~ Anonymous

"Change is not about understanding new things or having new ideas; it’s about seeing old things with new eyes."
~ Dee Hock
Founder, VISA

"What employees are looking for is sincerity, and you don’t demonstrate sincerity through making something programmatic. It has to come through the heart rather than the head."
~ Herb Kelleher
Founder and CEO,
Southwest Airlines

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"I'll have a hot apple pie and a vanilla shake," I said. The young teen who took my order replied, “Fine, sir. Would you like any dessert with that?”

This story was shared by my colleague Nido Qubein. While amusing, Nido’s point was that the McDonald’s? manager had trained this young employee how to reply, but had failed in educating her with how to relate.

Sad, but true. Today’s managers are so caught up in the act of training their young employees that they forget to teach them. As a result, their front line can blurt out a properly formatted response to a predetermined set of questions, but when the formula is tampered with, the results are alarming.

Should we blame the managers? Not really. As a society, we’ve demanded that our schools prepare students with all the right answers for the standardized tests we’ve bombarded them with. But in the process, we’ve failed to teach them how to respond when the right answers don’t fit the situation. (Would you like dessert with that?) Thus, business now inherits entry level employees who can pass a skills test, but who have no idea how to solve problems and think on their feet.

The Solution?

To avoid cold robotic responses and reduce mindless mistakes from Gen Why employees, managers must make time to teach the reason instead of merely training the task. When Gen Whys comprehend the purpose and are plugged into the mission, they’ll unleash their boundless talents to accomplish a mutually beneficial goal.

After my keynote address to the Meetings Industry Council last week, a young college grad approached me to tell me that he agreed with most of my assertions and ideas, but that if I wanted an even a deeper insight into Generation Why, I ought to hire one.

Chad Shubin was looking for a job and he wasn’t going to rely on traditional tactics. He then handed me a pocket-sized professionally designed card with the words Vision, Enthusiasm, and Integrity printed on one side. On the other was an abbreviated resume highlighting his two college degrees, his fluency in four languages, his impressive work experience, and his contact information. Chad had moved to town just four days earlier and he had come to the Adams Mark Hotel prepared to network with the movers and shakers.

I’d hate to be in a waiting room of a prospective employer knowing that there was but one opening and I was going to have to outshine Chad Shubin to get it. I wouldn’t fear his pocket resume as much as I would the mental process that created it.

Chad is a shining example of what we can expect in our emerging workforce. Feeling that business cards are often lost in the shuffle and knowing that a resume is too awkward to carry around, Chad simply merged the two and furthered the impact by giving it his own personal three-word brand. This kind of thinking goes beyond multi-tasking to something I call multi-purposing, e.g. maximizing resources through leverage innovation.

Finding new ways to perform old tasks is a hallmark of Gen Why. If we can avoid erecting fences around them, and relying on existing template management styles, their creativity will catapult our businesses in totally new directions.

Are you struggling to connect your Gen Whys to your company's mission, purpose, and values? Does it seem like they don't have their heads in your game? Don't take it personally; you're not alone! For a quick connection, follow this three-step formula.

1. Share the Vision. It’s astounding how many managers assume their new recruits arrive for work with an innate knowledge of their business’s infrastructure and its goals. This is very unrealistic.

Your Whys employees - although appearing to be full of street smarts - probably do not know that careless waste can adversley affect every employee, or that a dissatisfied customer will tell an average of nine other people about their negative experience. It’s critical to orient your front liners and share with them the process of profit making so they will have a clear idea of where their paycheck originates and how performance makes it grow.

2. Share the Expectation. Be very clear on exactly what their role is and what you want them to do to participate in the bigger picture. Leave nothing up to the imagination. Don’t just give them the ‘want to,’ share the ‘how to’ strategies so they know how to meet and beat the expected levels of performance.

3. Share the Rewards. If Generation X was the “me generation” – then Generation Why is the “what’s in it for me?” generation. Make certain that your compensation plan is structured so that growth and success generate rewards for the front line, as growth and success is impossible without the front line. Don’t get caught up in the archaic thinking that says, “getting a paycheck should be a sufficient reward for the part-timers!” .

BOY MEETS GIRL: Boy likes girl and asks her for her number. However, girl thinks boy is a creep. Instead of giving him her real phone number, she writes down 303-575-1696. Next day, boy calls number expecting to reach girl. Instead, he hears a recorded message telling him (in no kind way) that he has been rejected.

Originally started as a joke in Atlanta, this recording was soon getting over 10,000 calls per week. So ‘The Rejection Hotline’ expanded and is now open for business in 16 cities (Denver’s local number is given above). This ‘service’ offers a website where customers can even obtain a set of bogus business cards to help them avoid the unpleasantness of getting rid of a pesky suitor.

The bogus business’s name? The Noitcejer Group or ‘Rejection’ spelled backwards.

See for yourself at www.RejectionHotline.com

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