Attracting, Engaging, Retaining Your Next Gen Leaders

By Alexi Boyd | Tuesday December 10

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd, broadcaster, advocate and small business owner.
Date: 10 December 2019

“Ah Millennials, what ARE we to do with you?” It’s a sentiment quite openly discussed in small business circles; accompanied with the inevitable eyeroll when mentioning the hardship of finding the “right people” for your business …. They lack work ethic, they haven’t experienced hardship, they need to go through what we did to REALLY understand what it means to be in business…. All thoughts openly expressed by us in small business (and yet, not thought of as discriminatory - a thought for another time, perhaps?)

But before you taint everyone from a generation with the same brush and completely forget what it was like to experience jobseeking for the first time at their age; let’s get a real perspective in this. Let’s learn what it’s like for the Millennials to work in small business or BECOME small business.

With a background in HR across corporate, small business and learning & development, Amy Smith, a Millennial workforce specialist trains the trainers in the corporate world on how to better engage and retain their millennial workers. Let’s learn her secrets!

Welcome to the show Amy.

Topics we’ll be covering:

How have you positioned yourself as the expert in your field

  • Strategic HR & Industrial relations management
  • International experience then a big role in YMCA HR management
    • casualised workforce, regional experience, high volume, high turnover
  • Across compliance and HR, very intense – in the end had to make over 250 staff within one month … redundant. Coaching came in that fallout – What do I do now?
    • Difference between regional & city
  • In the small business space you supported small business in a role where you utilised LinkedIn to start up a CEO roundtable SME groups

 

So what can you expect from a Millennial in your business

  • For generations younger people wanting to better the generations before them
  • With IT brings choice – options out there to start their own business
  • They’re happy to start their own business if they’re not content in what your providing them
  • They’re fighting an uphill battle because their portrayal in the media
    • Entitlement / lazy
  • If there’s a simpler way to do it – they’ll look for it. Efficiency is important.
    • Immediacy of product, instant gratification
    • It’s going to be worse in the next generation

 

Job acceptance, role definition, expectations:

Selling the role – (stats on desiring career development, why they choose one career over another, flexibility)

  • If you’re not talking about job development, the WHY… why not>
  • They know the market rate, they know their value (websites) after that its why am I here?
  • Trust is important – Don’t paint just a rosy picture. Millennials have a higher sensitivity to this. Be transparent (like what you won’t enjoy), role longevity & growth
    • They will research your workplace culture - If you are trying to hire Millennials you need to showcase this online

 

In the role:

  • Being open to the solutions Millennials can provide:
  • They grew up with tech, they have more experience than you and seeing things in a different way, apps
  • Watch those assumptions! Have the mentality of getting the work done is the target. Not the time it makes to do it. Just because you can’t see them physically doing the work doesn’t mean its not getting done. They might be doing it remotely…
  • Millennials are driven to making an impact. They need purpose as the motivator. WHY am I doing this? How does this help you the boss, the business, society as a whole? Highlight

 

In reality, in your opinion where is the real disconnect between the generation that is hiring

  • Technology – hinderance or enabler?
  • Having to “earn your stripes”
  • “This is the way it’s always been done”
  • “Hoarding information” – working autonomously or collaboratively

To find out more about Amy find ehr on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amylaurensmith/

 

Amy Smith – Founder at Aligned Tribe

Short BIO:

Amy Smith is the Founder of Aligned Tribe which specialises in helping organisations to ‘bridge the generation gap’ to attract, engage and retain their nextGen leaders and remain competitive in the rapid changing world of work. Amy started her first business at the young age of 12 and by age 23 she was working across the globe helping businesses of all sizes to optimize their talent and business development strategies. Amy has worked ‘behind the scenes’ supporting former CEOs of companies circa $5Mil-100Mil+ to grow their own portfolio careers in the executive recruitment/coaching space and has worked with brands such as HSBC, YMCA, Open Colleges and the Executive Connection (TEC). She is a member of the Directors Institute Next Generation Board of Directors and regularly advises organisations as a specialist on leading and managing Millennials and Generation Z in the workplace.

Amy also supports young people in their careers through her coaching, career workshops and online career management programs. When she’s not working, you will find her on the ski slopes when there’s even a glimpse of snow and enjoying some smashed avocado on toast with friends at brunch on the weekend, like a true Millennial. 

 

Where to find Amy

Email: amy@alignedtribe.com

Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amylaurensmith/

Website: www.alignedtribe.com

Facebook page: Aligned Tribe

Access the latest ‘non traditional’ career insights in the Aligned Tribe private FB community ‘Career Accelerators’ here: http://bit.ly/careeraccelerators

Instagram: @alignedtribe