Understanding what makes your team TikTok

Last week I read and enjoyed "The Squiggly Career", a self-help guide written by Millennials, for Millennials, to understand the world of multiple employments and frequent career change into which they have been born.

Although I was able to skim through the content at a fair pace (I'm OK - I've already found myself), it's a book I would recommend for any Employer of said demographic as an insight into their motivations (as well as to any Millennial who has the urge to discover their potential and how to progress in the workplace).

This is, of course, a sweeping generalisation as not everyone fits in to any stereotype.

Last week I also video interviewed a recent graduate for the position of marketing manager for one of my clients and reported back that if I wasn't hiring my own daughter, I'd be hiring this young lady - she just SHONE in the conversation and I'm looking forward to training her.

However, needles in haystacks are just as rare in any generation.

A recent conversation with another client reminded me of the lessons learned in the book. He was asking for advice on how to plan for an internal team training day, as he wanted to "rally the troops" before drilling down in to the detail of his business plan.

That's clearly coming from a well-intentioned place but I asked him to pause and reflect on whether his message of core values, business mission, evolution and growth would be received with interest by his largely Millennial team?

"Seek first to understand, then to be understood" we were counselled by the late Stephen Covey.

There's little point in talking to your team about Simon Sinek's "Start with Why" when all they are thinking is "WTF?"

Other than perhaps as long-suffering parents, how much do we really understand the challenges of the modern Millennial workplace?

A world in which Facebook is considered "old school" and Instagram is starting to look sluggish compared to the seconds-long swiping of endless dance steps and tomfoolery on TikTok?

It's not just careers that have become "squiggly"; so have the people pursuing them.

Consider a team meeting (or a 1:1) as an opportunity to listen, not to give speeches.

Then, you have 15 seconds to get your message across.

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