Running through the local park one morning, I noticed a personal trainer working with a client. He gave his client a set of instructions and then started using his mobile phone. He was more interested in what was happening on his phone than what was happening with his client.This got me to thinking - was this 20 something millennial representative of the age, or was he a unique aberration? Are we living in in an age where the next generation of employees are more obsessed with their technology than those around them?In one of the early interviews on global culture with a Canadian company, the comment was made around the challenges of millennial employees. This started the thinking around how does millennial culture fit into a world designed by baby boomers.Perhaps the actions of the personal trainer meet the norm of this next generation. How often do we see a group of people of all ages sitting around a table in a restaurant, and each one is doing something on their mobile device. Each one is communicating in some way – just with someone who is not present in the room.

A Shifting Workforce

The best description of the 20 something workforce that I read recently was that they work to their own beat. They want to start work at 10am and are happy to finish at 8pm. They will give heart and soul to the company but after a few years they will move on. They will move on as they need to have another experience where they will go through all this again.In the culture interviews I conducted, I often hear the complaint about this workforce - that they have no loyalty and no commitment, and they are obsessed with their devices. Recently, I was at a meeting with a potential referrer and had a new team member with me. Whilst waiting for the meeting to start he was constantly checking his phone. I enquired as to what was possibly so urgent. He said that it was trading season for AFL (Australian Rules Football) players and he was obsessed with wanting to know who his team had “picked up”. When I refer to his team, that’s not a team he played for. Rather it is a team that he supports.What struck me about this conversation was the perceived urgency of needing this information. In a similar way, what was the urgent communication need of the personal trainer in the park?In both cases, I think it was the “now generation”. What has happened to us that we need to have information on an urgent basis? What happened to our ability to be less obsessed with information urgency? Is the immediate nature of information influencing the culture of our society?

Fast food for thought

Perhaps it is the Google generation, where all information is literally at our fingertips. Recently, I heard my wife explaining to our son the process of doing research when we were at school. This involved having a plan, going to the library and spending quite some time searching for (and hopefully finding) answers. Today, if it’s not on page 1 of a Google search, then it does not exist.How does this challenge you and your organisation?I finish every blog with “why am I writing this?”The answer is BECAUSE –

•       Because I want to share the ideas, stories, anecdotes and business tips and traps.
•       Because I want to pay it forward.
•       Because I want to help people grow their businesses.
•       Because I want managers to become better managers.
•       Because I believe that I can “Give your business the EDGE”