We recently hosted a conversation on millennials in the manufacturing workplace and posted the notes from those proceedings here. It sparked some significant response and a wide amplification across a variety of market sectors. It also prompted the following response from Sterling Balstead, GM of the Minnesota facility for Engineered Pump Systems (full disclosure: I serve on the board of the company):
I hired three young engineers in the last two years and work with them daily. Previously, I worked with two other engineers who were 26 and 33 years old. I am [personally] right on the edge of this conversation at 36.
When I think about our younger employees I see we need to engage and work with them differently than older generations, or hold on and hope they change into their grandparents. Our company is used to employees who like or at least tolerate “8 hours per day + lots of overtime and few questions”---“nose to the grind stone”. It also seems important for these same people to “start on time every day”. Overtime seems to be proof of character[upon which] one can build identity. Another obstacle we face is the length of time it takes to train our engineering team. It takes 2+ years of employment to build the competency some of our current white collar job descriptions require, which I imagine is typical of small service based companies. This is a big deal given millennials seem willing to change jobs, locations, and maybe career paths more easily than previous generations. The younger generation seems to desire looser work schedules, working from home, and protecting personal time. I understand and admire some of these concepts.
Your conversation notes seem to highlights millennials liking well communicated goals and performance reviews. It also states they are jaded. I wonder if this is what non-millennials perceive when millennials are trying to make sense of “why” we are so rigid. To reframe the entire conversation positively, millennials may be asking: “who cares what road we take as long as we get to the final destination on time”.
This GM, Sterling Balstead, is paying attention, thinking about the changes needed rather than resisting the tide, and moving forward--not just in technical innovation, but with personnel recruitment and workplace consideration.
Read More →
Topics:
process consulting,
Process Consultation,
organizational development consulting,
Organizational Leadership,
Mark L. Vincent,
Design Group International,
leadership development methods,
millennials in the workforce,
Millennials and manufacturing
Read More →
Topics:
process consulting,
the art of agreement,
organizational development consulting,
leadership arts,
organizational development muse,
Mark L. Vincent,
Design Group International,
organizational decision making,
group process,
executive learning,
polarity management
The shoreline of the Mediterranean sea can be seen from the right side of the jet I’m riding in as I write this. It is beautiful, even from this height.
Read More →
Topics:
process consulting,
organizational development consulting,
leadership arts,
executive leadership,
organizational development muse,
Mark L. Vincent,
Design Group International
Truth be told, even after several decades of Silicon Valley leading the way, and an incredible amount of research demonstrating the power of teams and an empowered work force, the majority of organizations are stuck in the authoritarian model of old (especially manufacturing), or even more stuck in the hyper-democratic models that tried to offer a correction in the last half of the 20th century (especially charities and denominational bodies).
Read More →
Topics:
process consulting,
organizational development consulting,
Organizational Governance,
organizational development muse,
Mark L. Vincent,
Design Group International,
organizational design,
organizational systems,
open vs. closed organizational systems
Outcomes
magazine from Christian Leadership Alliance just published an article of mine on the importance of succession. With Sepp Blatter's FIFA (non)resignation, the timing could not have been better for putting this issue that confounds so many leaders front, center and global.
In Blatter's case, we are being the shown how to make all the succession mistakes, compounding one upon another, and being lived in front of the planet in vivid 24 hour ever-evolving news cycles.
Read More →
Topics:
process consulting,
organizational development consulting,
leadership succession,
executive leadership,
organizational development muse,
Mark L. Vincent,
Design Group International,
ethical leadership,
executive case studies,
business ethics
We all grow tired of phrases. In addition to the way overused "sit back and relax and enjoy the flight," one I would like to retire is "a heartbeat away from the presidency." With grave respect for the ways in which people pass away may I suggest the following alternatives?
Read More →
Topics:
organizational development consulting,
organizational development muse,
Mark L. Vincent,
Design Group International,
steward leadership
