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.
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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
Last in a series of excerpts from the recently released e-book The Selfless Leader. Previous excerpts are from Jo Anne Lyon, Mark L. Vincent, Dan Busby Tim Hanifen, Tim Walberg and Scott Rodin. Here is one from Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers.
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Topics:
Process Consultation,
Scott Rodin,
organizational development muse,
Mark L. Vincent,
Design Group International,
selfless leadership,
self-aware leader,
Leadership courage
In the December issue of Depth Perception, we published a set of baseline questions that are more helpful than the self-centered ones we are more likely to ask when faced with problems to solve, people to manage, and opportunities to embrace.
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Topics:
process design,
Process Consultation,
becoming a steward leader,
Organizational Development. effective nonprofit ma,
Mark L. Vincent,
Design Group International,
organizational design,
steward leadership,
organizational decision making,
Depth Perception
Do you have what it takes for process consulting? Two key questions
It is a privilege to sit with a variety of women and men interested in pursuing consulting as their vocation. Notice the use of the word vocation rather than hobby, job, pursuit or career. People can do consulting work as a side job, hobby or special interest, but making a living at it for the rest of one's working life requires deeper life-mission and intentional action.
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Topics:
Process Consultation,
business ownership,
organizational development consulting,
entrepreneurship,
Design Group International
I am committed to read a lot of biographies and memoirs in 2012. Design Group International grew so much in 2011 that we made some internal changes to better serve our clients and our Senior Design Partners challenged me to live more fully into the CEO role. A reading list of significantly accomplished and respected people emerged. I expect some of what I discover will find its way into this blog from time to time.
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Topics:
process design,
process consulting,
Process Consultation,
organizational development consulting,
emell vee,
Mark L. Vincent,
Design Group International,
Whorled Viewz,
steward leadership
