Loyal friends & readers:

I discovered today that someone had hacked into my blog and posted a post without my permission. The post appeared to link to some inappropriate content. Should you still have the e-mail of the post, please delete it and do not visit these links - they are likely malicious.

We are taking steps to prevent another such occurrence, and please know that I would never send out that kind of content.

-tj

Smith Optics has some pretty bad-ass branding going on. If you’re going to pick up a new pair of aviators from them, you’ll notice that each of their throwback aviator styles is named after a cool, throwback movie cop. Serpico. Foley. Rosewood. Taggert. (I’m still trying to decide if the Noltes are a hat-tip to Nick Nolte in 48 hours, or if they aren’t actually an aviator style.) And while I’m impressed by such awesome allusions, it brings to mind a problem I often see facing managers with young employees.

Beyonce knows that cops rock aviators

Popular culture evolves at light speed, and for whatever reason, the day most people step into the workforce, they seem to freeze-frame the pop culture of that moment and let further developments pass them by. (I know I’m slipping. I wasn’t even aware of the Twilight trend until I saw it lampooned on South Park.)

Now, it’s no surprise that busy people don’t have as much time to watch movies and buy CDs as their less time-committed counterparts. So, what’s the big deal?

The big deal is that popular culture is an important part of relationship building, particularly with young employees. And when you’re even a couple years behind, you’d just as well be on the moon.

Popular culture is often a huge part of the life of young people. Certainly part of its impact is that young people have the time to pay attention to it. But a large part if the power that pop holds for young people is that it allows a mode of expression. Whether it’s by visibly accepting or rejecting current trends, a young person can tell the world a lot about himself. The explosion in popularity of social media has made it abundantly clear that self-expression is high on the list of priorities for young people.

And this is why being even a little bit connected to current popular culture can yield dividends for the managers looking to connect with their employees. (Which, I’ll say again and again, is any manager looking to minimize turnover, lead an effective team of young employees, and, in so doing, make money.)

There is some art to talking pop with your employees, but it need not be intimidating. Four simple guidelines:

1. Don’t be afraid to be informed

Note: not be cool. Be informed. Find a popular show you enjoy and watch it. Check out the radio station or artists most popular with your employees. Go see the flick they’re all talking about. Give yourself one hour per week to check out so-called youth culture, and find something about it that you enjoy so it won’t be a chore. You don’t have to be all-knowing, but you should have at least a passing familiarity with a few bands, shows, or movies that your employees really hone in on.

2. Don’t be afraid to be ignorant

If you check out a show and don’t like it, don’t try to pretend you did. Certainly don’t try to pretend that you know more about it than you do. The truth is that for every bit of credibility you can gain with a single great popular culture reference, you can lose ten times as much with a single botched one. If you’re asked about something you’re not familiar with, the worst that can happen if you’re honest is that you’re seen as honest, if a bit out of touch. Whereas if you lie, you can be called anything from a tool to a poser… and out of touch.

3. Don’t be afraid to share your opinions

Did you think Transformers 2 was awful? Don’t be afraid to share the truth if you’re asked. You might not want to hammer it as “fare appropriate only for immature troglodytes,” but if you say “I didn’t like it,” and can even explain how you felt the movie could have been improved (e.g., a plot), you’ll be able to engage in a conversation that can connect you to your young employees. Remember: Not all young people like exactly the same books, movies, tv shows, or bands. There’s no reason you should either.

4. Don’t be afraid to share some throwbacks every once in a while

There’s a reason you loved them when they first came out, and odds are good that a young employee with tastes like yours will, too. If it comes up, don’t hesitate to bring in a CD or DVD to share with a young employee. So long as it was thoughtful and genuine, they’ll appreciate the effort, even if they don’t think it’s that cool. Better yet, if they do like it, you might be bringing back aviator shades in no time.

A recent article in the Silicon Valley Mercury News quoted psychologist Kit Yarrow’s analysis of Gen Y shopping habits thusly:

Yarrow found that buying stuff is the way Generation Y has learned to express itself. It’s not necessarily about accumulating large amounts of stuff, or declaring your financial status as was the case with the buying habits of baby boomers.

Rather, shopping is a new form of self-expression. “Stuff is a natural, easy way to say who you are,” Yarrow said.

And while Yarrow was interested in shopping behaviors of Generation Y, her insight is just as powerful when trying to understand why your young employees buck when told what they should wear: In the mind of many young people, when you tell them what to wear, you are telling them who to be.

Young employees tend to fight that.

Of course, most managers didn’t need psychoanalysis or in-depth research to know that. It can feel like an incredibly up hill battle to get young employees to wear their uniforms.

Fortunately, Yarrow’s insight doesn’t just explain the problem - it leads to a solution: allow your employees to choose their uniforms so that they want to wear the uniforms as a part of expressing themselves.

Now, for those of you who are recoiling at the thought (”This is a workplace, dammit, I pay them to work, not to express themselves!), remember: our goal is to find a way to get your employees to wear your uniform. As I’ve pointed out in the past, if you have a uniform your employees want to wear, you won’t have to make them wear it - they’ll take care of it themselves.

But I would never advocate giving employees a blank slate to work with. It’s important to represent your brand and keep the uniform from becoming a disservice to your brand.

Like this. Or this. Or this.

(OK, that last one was not the result of the players having free reign, but the uniforms have been a punchline since they debuted, and are thus a disservice to the Seahawks brand. This may be a welcome distraction for a 2-4 team, but likely wouldn’t be for your business.)

So, instead of giving your employees carte blanche or trying to fit them into a hat and shirt they’ll never wear, look to work your way into the middle of the road with one of these strategies.

1. Offer different uniform choices

Tokyo Joe’s and Chipotle are both concepts I’ve visited where I’ve seen employees wearing a variety of different uniforms that the company designed, prepared, and provided. You might have a standard uniform that’s issued, but sell different items to your team at cost so that those who are really inclined to express themselves can do so.

2. Let the team design the uniform

Whether it’s a contest or simply asking if anyone on your team wants to tackle the project for a few extra bucks, you are able to let the team get in some form of expression while still maintaining a level of control on this one. (Example: You tell them: it’s a black polo. They choose: the logo, image, or slogan on it.) If you wear screen prints and have to re-order regularly, consider allowing the team to make new designs with each large order.

3. Let the team choose the uniform pieces

So, maybe the design and slogan on your uniform are very important to your brand, but the cut of the shirt or the style of the hat isn’t. Let your team tell you what they’re more interested in wearing. It may be that getting your employees to wear their hats is as simple as letting them tell you that they prefer this style of hat over that style of hat. (God forbid they choose this style.)

4. Let them wear their own clothes with a few guidelines

Maybe it’s just saying “make sure you’re wearing this color.” Maybe it’s saying “make sure you wear a polo - I don’t care what color.” Whatever it looks like, I’ve seen this at a number of major national brands (Sears, Target, and Panera to name a few), and it seems pretty effective for the most part. The main battles I’ve seen on it is seeing shirts tucked in and getting enough flesh covered.

What other ways can you think of to allow employees to make some choices with their uniforms without choosing not to represent your brand?

The other day, I was asked a great question on Twitter by Gary Thill, the editor of Aquatics International Magazine (Check him out on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aquaticsintl). Mr. Thill had asked what the twitterverse thought was important in managing Gen Y, and I told him that building genuine relationships with employees is what I would point to as priority number one. Then he asked me:

“Since Gen Yers communicate so much through texting, and social media, how do you build relationships?”

That there is an insightful question. And one that is very difficult to answer in a mere 140 characters, so I figured I’d give it its due with a blog post. In fact, it’s going to be a two-part answer, with today’s post focusing on what I want from that relationship and my next couple posts focusing on the ways that new technology can change that game.

My generation is redefining the concept of “relationships” as we go through our daily digital lives. We don’t need face-time to feel like we’ve got a relationship with someone. Part of the cause of this change is technological. Courtesy of tools like Facebook or Twitter, I can know what people in faraway places are doing at any given second, see pictures or videos of their most embarrassing moments, and converse with them in real time. All of this without ever going to Singapore, Sydney, Madison, or wherever. I can learn more about someone with 10 minutes looking at his Facebook profile than I might be able to in a 10 minute conversation with him.

Consequently, I don’t feel the need to physically meet people in order to get to know them. Certainly there are people I am interested in seeing on a more than digital basis, and I derive considerably more satisfaction from those interactions than I do from my Facebook friends.

I’m also very comfortable categorizing my relationships and treating them differently. Some are for work, some for school, some for day-to-day friendship. Each requires a different level of engagement on my part, and I expect a different level of engagement from each.

When it comes to the work relationships, then, what am I looking for? Certainly it’s a little different with each boss, each job, and each co-worker, but there are a few things I always look to get out of a work relationship, whether I get them digitally or in person.

First, I want to be respected for the work I do. And, no, I don’t consider my paycheck “respect” for what I do. It is what you give me in exchange for doing my job. A part of our relationship as an employer and employee, I need you to include (a) some sort of congratulations for doing well and (b) include a picture of the difference I make for your business. I’ve never enjoyed working for a boss who didn’t let me know that my successes were appreciated, and who didn’t help me understand how those successes fit into the bigger picture.

Second, I want to be valued for who I am. I understand that as a front-line worker for a billion dollar corporation, I am small cog in a very big machine. But as my day-to-day manager, I don’t want you to treat me like a replaceable part to a machine. I’m a person, and I’d like to be treated accordingly. Take an interest in my welfare, ask about my hobbies or my family, discuss one of our common interests with me.

Third, I need you to lead me. Yes, I want to know when I’m doing well. But at work I need someone who knows the way and who will put me back on the correct path if I stray from it. Bosses who are so interested in being my friend that they allow me to make mistakes can create one of two situations: (a) I consistently mess up, and feel good about the work I do until some sort of crushing reality check comes when I get a new boss or talk to an honest co-worker; or (b) Boss eventually gets so fed up with my incompetence, and explodes at me for having problems the boss should have been fixing in the first place. Both of these have the same end result: our relationship ends badly.

If you can bring those three elements to a workplace relationship with me, we’ll get along quite nicely.

I’d like to conclude by re-posing the question that I’ll be addressing in my next few posts: How can a boss bring this kind of management to the table in an age when texting and social media seem to be the norm for communicating?

I’ve been quite a bitter bear lately, so I want to take this opportunity to reverse that trend, and focus on something cool.

It’s graduation time! My little sister graduated from high school this year, and she managed to make my brother and me look bad while she did it. She was awarded a full-ride NROTC scholarship and graduated as the class salutitorian with a 4.22 GPA. She has been involved in sports, and she works a part-time job at a shoe store. Very impressive!

And while she’s out enjoying graduation party after graduation party, I wonder if her bosses are taking steps to be ready to replace her when she takes off for the East Coast at the end of the summer. Because if they aren’t, they’re going to be in a spot at the beginning of the fall. And this isn’t just fraternal pride speaking - this is an issue everyone who employs young people should be thinking about right now. (OK, there is definitely some pride involved.)

As your employees who finished their senior year begin to enter the real world, college, or whatever it is they plan to do, one thing is certain: their major life changes will also be translating into changes for you. The end of the summer will bring with it the loss of some talent, the advancement of other talent, and the need to find new talent.

I suggest asking yourself these questions long before the end of the summer. In fact, you should probably have started thinking about these issues already.

1. Who is staying and who is going?

Some of your recent graduates will be going to school out-of-state. Some will be seeking other employment. Some will be staying with you. You need to start asking your young staff what their plans are right now so you can set yourself up for success accordingly.

2. What will I do with the people who stay?

You might learn that some of your great part-time employees are thinking of coming on full-time. Hooray! Start thinking about the steps you want to take to develop them, and then get them engaged immediately!  This is important because a job that seemed fun for 15 hours per week can get dreary when move up to 40 hours per week. Especially when your school social life is no longer providing stimulation and excitement. Believe me - I’ve been there.

You may also find out that one of your less-than-stellar employees is interested in staying and is even considering trying to work more often. You should look very carefully at whether or not you want to provide more work, more responsibilities, or even keep someone who isn’t impressing you. Don’t allow yourself to think that someone you can barely stand will magically improve with more hours and a freshly printed diploma.

3. How will I replace the people who are leaving?

Odds are pretty good that some of your performers are leaving for school or other jobs. You’re going to be in the position to replace them, and now is the time to start work on that process. You should already have some sort of recruiting practices in line so that you can keep finding fresh talent, and right now the only difference is that you’ve got more than two weeks of notice that some of your best will be departing. If you finish your recruiting before school starts, you’ll have the opportunity to have your new people bought-in, trained, and producing before fall arrives with its craziness.

By dealing with these issues now, you’ll be able to create a much less stressful fall for yourself.

So, a few housekeeping issues today:

1. There was some sort of issue with comments in the past, and I fear it may have discouraged some readers from commenting. From the recent comments I’ve been getting, I believe it’s fully fixed and you can now post comments deriding me at your discretion.

2. Tomorrow, I’ve lined up a special treat for those of you who are sick of my voice. As a part of the 20-Something bloggers social network I’m a member of, I am participating in a blog swap. Tomorrow’s post will be by Jennifer, a Chicagoan who has got some really interesting thoughts on being managed. I’m looking forward to reading it, and I hope you will, too.

3. I’ve spent a lot of time lately video interviewing young employees. We use the video in Eric’s presentations, and in the future we may be using them in other projects. It suddenly struck me, though, that these interviews give us an incredible opportunity to ask young employees the questions YOU want to ask them. So, if you have questions you want me to ask young employees, put a comment up on this post, e-mail me (tj@generationwhy.com) or e-mail Eric, and I’ll be sure to ask next time I’m doing an interview. From there, the video will go through technologic magic that I can’t comprehend and will find its way onto the blog. How cool is that?

Until tomorrow (when Jennifer will have the reins)!

I work in retail sales, so rather than sleeping off the brutality of the previous day’s turkey dinner and fantasy football blunders, I worked. My shift began at 4:45 am, and when I arrived there were already customers lined up outside the doors. I think this just goes to show that while the customer may always be right, the customer is not always sane.