Focus Confidence Momentum

As the workplace fills up with young people who have grown up in the digital information age, we’ve been asked to help their bosses, some just a few years older, coach and manage them.

The young people, commonly known as millennials or Digital Natives, have a wealth of know-how with tools that have the power to deliver an awesome increase in productivity.  Succeeding at getting these kids to work hard and happily with these leading edge tools is the opportunity.

Alternately there are the Digital Immigrants, older than 35 today, whose early learning was not digital. They’re always catching up to technology, typically with difficult learning curves, able to use fewer tools and less productively. They’re ok with digital tools, but it’s like they have an accent. The same kinds of problems immigrants always have had. Here is a scene I witnessed recently starring a Digital Native that makes the point. I’m sitting in a meeting. A 40 year old partner in a law firm, a Digital Immigrant, is talking. A young lawyer, a Digital Native, across the table is flailing away on his BlackBerry. The partner asks the Digital Native to listen up. The young man says, “I am. I’m taking notes.”

For the most part the workplace of 2010 hasn’t caught up to the way Digital Natives can work and so their productivity is limited. Here are five ideas that can enhance the way you manage them.

1.     Digital Natives live in a much more open world. For example their Facebook pages might be a minute to minute update of what’s up in their lives. As a result they tend to be less guarded while expecting openness from others. Take advantage of that by being more up front when you talk to them. They’re used to it.

2.     Give them the opportunity to fail more. They’ve learned to fail and fail again in the games they play and as they learned with hardware and software. Think Rubik’s cube. A constant spinning exercise in trying and failing until success. They’ve done so much of that growing up it’s comfortable.

3.     Motivate them with new technology. They want to use and master the best and the smartest of new technology. Give it to them and find a way to challenge them at the same time to make it a great investment. Look for the win/win.

4.     They’ve collaborated much more growing up than the previous generation. With the web they had the opportunity to do it webcam to webcam with people they’ll never meet. They have the know-how to do more with collaboration. Find the ways to challenge them to do so. Involve them in the search for challenges.

5.     They definitely don’t want to burn out the way they saw many of their parents wear out. They want work life harmony 24/7. Technology allows for that. You should also.