Respond to two (2) Colleagues 3B

Respond to at least (2) two of your colleagues' postings “see below” that contain a perspective other than yours. Please ensure your response to your colleagues addresses concerns listed below:

· Share an insight about what you learned from having read your colleagues’ postings and discuss how and why your colleague’s posting resonated with you professionally and personally. (Note: This may be a great opportunity to help you think about passions you share with your colleagues who could become part of your Walden network.)

· Offer an example from your experience or observation that validates what your colleague discussed.

· Offer specific suggestions that will help your colleague build upon his or her perceptions as a leader.

· Offer further assessment from having read your colleague’s post that could impact a leader’s effectiveness.

· Share how something your colleague discussed changed the way you consider your own leadership qualities.

· No plagiarism

· APA citing

1st Colleague - Ryan Sharratt 

Discussion 2 - Week 3

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Any leader is responsible for creating an environment that fosters trust, growth, and connection. As connections manifest by environmental factors, those same connections also manifest by generational demographics. Leaders who understand how followers respond to the environment establish a relationship with those following and tailor a leadership style to those following. As such, generational understanding is critical to a leader's perspective in leading. Today, our workforce (followers and leaders) consists of Individuals born between 1928-1945 (industrialists), those born between 1946-1969 (Baby Boomers), those born between 1970-1984 (Generation X), and Millennials that are born between 1984 to current work-eligible adults. Each generational title having specific environmental factors that codify their beliefs, standards, and need for interpretive communication and connections from their respective leaders. Identifying this generational identification is essential to understand and exemplify that a one-size-fits-all type approach will not work in a positive leadership environment (Cohen, 2015).

 

Our workforce is currently undergoing a systematic shift from baby boomers exiting the workforce, and Gen X and Millennials are entering critical functions in the force. Connecting to workers' generational classification is one of the essential tasks for today's leaders in today's work environment.

 

Millennials are a demographic of individuals born between 1984-2004 (respectively) who, as a group, are entering the workforce as the baby boomers are exiting and Generation X is becoming more heavily involved in the modern-day management and leadership tasks related to our jobs. A large situational gap between environmental factors has posed a unique perspective to connect between generations. Simon Sinek (2016) illustrates four categories of Millennial challenges and environmental factors:

 

Parenting – Failed parenting strategy. They were told that they were special. They were given anything they wanted in life. Honors classes, parents complained. The teacher did not want to deal with the parents. When we are young, we only need the approval of our parents, and as we grow, we transition to requiring the support of our friends. After school, thrust into the real world, and they find out they are not unique, moms can't get them a raise (Simon Sinek, 2016).

 

Technology – social media world. We are used to putting filters onto things. We boast a "we are doing great," yet on an actual list, they are not. Engagement with social media we have dopamine releases; it feels good. It is why we count the likes, trauma from being unfriended. Same chemical when we smoke, drink, and gamble. Highly addictive. Age restrictions on smoking, gambling, and alcohol. We allow social media relationships without knowing how to build deep, meaningful relationships, and they lack the coping mechanisms to deal with stress. We know people spending more time on social media have higher rates of depression (Simon Sinek, 2016).

 

Impatience – Instant gratification. Amazon delivery, binge movies on streaming. Online dating and being uncomfortable, instead just swipe right. Social coping mechanisms are lacking. Job satisfaction and deep relationships are not able to be substituted. These take time. They rush to make an impact; the victory rush cannot be instantly gained. Sometimes the journey is long and complex—increase in suicide rates, accidental deaths to drug use. The best-case scenario is to exist and never find deep meaning (Simon Sinek, 2016).

 

Environment – taking a fantastic group of kids, put them into corporate environments. Care more about the numbers than the kids. Take more about the year than the lifetime. We are not helping build their confidence and help overcome the balance between instant gratification and the fulfillment you get to work on something. The worst part is the generation thinks it is them, themselves. Boils down to the lack of good leadership within the corporation. Corporations must work extra hard to build confidence and teach social skills they are missing out on—no cell phones in conference rooms (Simon Sinek, 2016). 

 

Trust does not form instantly, and it starts in a slow, steady, and consistent environment. You get to enjoy the world, and this is where innovation happens. Ideas. Technology takes away the time to innovate and think, imagine, and come up with ideas.

 

In my own business, I have one Industrialist, twelve baby boomers, sixteen gen-x, and the others all fall into the millennial demographic. The output from each of these demographics is quite amazing. If I were to put the Industrialist with the millennials, they perform better than putting the millennials with the baby boomer leaders. It was almost a resentment between the two, but a connection between the Industrialists and the millennials compared to unseen respect and fortitude to the mentorship. Dare I say the millennials know better than the baby boomers? In my observations, it feels the technological disconnect between baby boomers who did not grow up with information at their fingertips struggle with how quickly information is readily available. Information and data win debates, so an environment is created where the older adult does not know what he is talking about. Credibility is lost because look at what I was able to access on my recent google search. The baby boomers harbor resentment, and the Gen-X demographic often plays a neutral role in understanding both the technological gap and technological abilities. In my position, I can close the gap between these demographics by relating to them.

 

One example of communicating between generations is in my training classes. As I teach the curriculum, I reference both hard books (required to be in each response vehicle), Apps, and the use of internet resources (as hyperlinks). This allows each of my generations to have access to the same data and get the same answer. This eliminates the scenario outlined above (creating us against them event) and closing the demographic gap.

 

As far as my abilities to grow and learn from my mistakes, I pride myself on a core value of peer accountability and transparency. The only way this can happen is by my admission of errors and communicating the learning opportunity to improve myself. I pride myself on being able to portray vulnerability and agility to an adaptation of improvement. As demonstrated in a course resource, I am more likely to compromise and listen to each other (Headlee, 2015).

 

 

References

 

CANWELL, A., DONGRIE, V., NEVERAS, N., & STOCKTON, H. (2014). Developing 21st-Century Leadership Skills. MWorld, 13(3), 38–43.

Cohen, E. (2015). How should today's leaders behave? Chief Learning Officer. Retrieved from http://www.clomedia.com/2015/09/21/how-should-todays-leaders-behave/

Headlee, C. (Producer). (2015, May). How to have a good conversation [Video File]. Retrieved September 12, 2017, from  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6n3iNh4XLI

Sinek, S. (2009). Start with Why: How great leaders inspire everyone to take action [PDF version]. New York, NY: Penguin Group. Retrieved from https://www.pdfdrive.com/start-with-why-how-great-leaders-inspire-everyone-to-take-action-d174922567.html

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2nd Colleague - Natasha Mills 

Discussion 2 - Week 3

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My Ability to Resonate with a Broad Range of Individuals

Communication is one of the most critical components of a leader’s effectiveness and success. The current work environment is diverse, stemming from different demographics, including age, race, and gender, among others. This case presents age differences in the workplace and the ability to balance communication between different generations in the contemporary workplace. The generations include generation X, generation Z, and millennials, all of whom require a balance of diverse communication strategies to match their communication styles.

However, one common factor that influences effective communication and interactions between these generations is technology. Therefore, it is safe to state that one of the critical components of 21st century communication strategies is the use of technology. This means that the ability to resonate with the technological preferences of people from each of these generations is a hack for any leader. For instance, I tend to resonate with all of these generations as a leader due to my understanding that they prefer brevity over long messages, regardless of the medium of communication. Also, companies have become highly dependent on technology for their daily operations.

On the other hand, I deploy different communication strategies with followers from the different generational groups. For instance, I prefer using face-to-face communication with generation Z, while relying on digital messaging apps to get to millennial employees. Hence, an understanding of the communication preferences of individuals from the different generations is one of the communication strategies that enables me to resonate with the diverse employees.

My Ability as a 21st Century Leader to Grow from My Mistakes

In the video Inside Quest (2017), Sinek states that the contemporary workplace, which is mostly dominated by diverse individuals collectively referred to as millennials, totally lacks good leadership. According to Sinek, this lack of good leadership creates a work environment that does not correspond with the needs of the millennials, leading to reduced productivity and job satisfaction. The scholar on leadership issues also suggests that it is significantly a company’s responsibility to teach millennials social skills, as well as how to form relationships and trust, among other skills because of the nature of environments they grew up in.

This perspective immensely highlights my unsuccessful communication strategies, as well as my weakness as a 21st century leader to grow from my own mistakes because I fall under the millennial group. However, since my goal is to become an exceptional leader with a disproportionate degree of influence, I am more than willing to grow from my mistakes, and be courageous enough to abandon unsuccessful communication strategies. This is because Sinek has cited that one of the primary challenges that hinders millennials from growing is impatience and need for instant gratification. Thus, I believe that my willingness to grow and courage to abandon unsuccessful communication strategies is a solid approach for overcoming such challenges.

Communicating to Different Generations Situation

As already mentioned, the contemporary work environment is characterized by diverse people from different generations. As a result, it is more than common to find people with generational differences within teams when tasked with a project. In one of my experiences communicating with different generations, I used an email to pass on important information about the requirements and goals for a project. The inclusion of all the requirements made the email lengthy and the outcome was adverse.

Whereas team members who were generation X and millennials substantially grasped the contents of the email, those from generation Z missed most of it. Therefore, I was tasked with explaining to them anew what the project was about, as well as the goals that we set to achieve. Even then, these team members appeared distracted during the brief, forcing me to break down the information further and give it to them in bits. As a result, a lot of time that could have been put into the completion of the project was wasted, causing delays in the achievement of goals. From that experience, I learned the use of different mediums of communication to reach the different members of my team for ease of accomplishing goals. I also learned the importance of being brief when communicating as suggested by Headlee (2015).

Headlee, C. (Producer). (2015, May). How to have a good conversation [Video file]. Retrieved September 12, 2017, from  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6n3iNh4XLI&feature=youtu.be

Inside Quest. (Producer). (2017, January). Simon Sinek on the millennial question [Video file]. Retrieved September 12, 2017, from  http://www.success.com/videos/youtube/simon-sinek-on-the-millennial-question

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