Last time around, my son Brian and I looked at how you can boost your time management with effective communication, coming at it from a couple of different perspectives. Let’s take a deeper dive into that now.
Paul’s Perspective on Generational Communication:
“The only thing worse than blindness is sight with no vision.” Helen Keller
This timeless advice suggests you need a clear business vision communicated, understood, and “seen” by your troops. Especially millennial troops who typically look for purpose, culture and not simply just a paycheck.
The big question: “How clearly is your business vision and culture seen, heard, felt and understood?” Should you assume or do you know that answer?
Yes, you need to trust; however, verify to be sure. Ask for a random sample of associates, not simply your department leaders, to verbalize the company vision and/or culture.
Want to go a bit deeper? Then ask your customers and strategic suppliers to share their perspectives as well. Gird your loins and this can be an eye-opening experience. How about a little coaching to help you get started?
- Your job is to listen actively to their words, expressions and body language.
- Do not interrupt their flow of conversation. Let them complete their thoughts.
- Do NOT get defensive or justify any criticism. Absorb it to ponder later.
Understanding the daily execution of your vision/mission/cultural values from a different perspective is priceless. Perform this communication exercise internally and externally on a semiannual basis and adjust as needed.
If your business plan and vision have not been updated in the last three years, it is time to work on this vital piece of company communication. While it can be a challenge to get started, it is necessary.
Let me coach you to help you stop procrastinating and get going.
Why this matters:
- Your crew won’t know what direction to row your company boat without a captain who has a destination he/she has shared. Otherwise, the crew will be rowing in circles.
- A clear vision/mission is vital to recruiting top talent that needs to understand how they will contribute to your worthwhile mission. Millennials need to have purpose, mission, and their role in that success.
- Department leaders need to see the big picture and how their team contributes to those goals. Departments typically put their focus and energy on their specific goals. This can often ignore another department’s role in the big picture.
- Buy “Traction” by Gene Wickman and read Chapter 3. Complete the Vision Traction Organizer (VT/O) exercise. Concise, focused and delivers a four-page vision, values, business plan and key steps by the team. You can complete this in less than a week. Let your departments help but recognize you own this document!
Brian’s Perspective:
Searching for Millennial talent effectively requires evaluating your communication process and content. We do our social media homework on prospective career opportunities and companies.
We also read between the lines well, separating the “wheat from the chaff” to better understand our business fit, if there is one.
Why does this matter?
Because we comprise 36% of the U.S. labor market and astounding 75% of the global workforce as of 2025! Boomers are 25% and GenX 31%. What attracts Millennials to security industry businesses?
- Technology forward companies that adapt quickly to new hardware and software solutions get thoughtful consideration. We crave novelty and modern technology can be the very ethos to attract new talent. We like carrots and not sticks so much!
- Have a well-defined mission, vision and purpose that align with our sense of a larger meaning than just a paycheck. Knowing our real-world impact versus numbers on a spreadsheet is a great motivator for millennials.
- Most importantly, your company culture and values. Not the ones identified on motivational posters in the office but the ones everyone lives and breathes.
Here’s what is important to me in my career:
- I want high-quality training and I want opportunities to gain experience that build my skill stack.
- Challenge me to do things that scare me a bit but train me first. If I have innovative ideas, I want you to hear me and have a serious dialogue.
- I want a mentor or two who shoots straight and holds me accountable.
- I want to learn from my mistakes; they are the best teachers.
The security industry has so much to offer a Millennial who is not sure where they are heading. The security industry offers different career paths in one industry.
Whether you gravitate to sales, customer service, designing solutions, installing solutions, servicing solutions or support, you can incorporate your values into your work.
Bottom line: our work in the security industry saves lives—every day. That is purposeful to me and other Millennials.
