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Part two of chapter five offers more great tips on helping Gen Yers navigate the workplace and basically helping them keep from making an idiot of themselves.

Teach Them How to Shine in Meetings and Presentations

Gen Yers feel if they participate in the production of a presentation or report they have full ownership over it. Bruce Tulgan reports several managers have told him about experiences where an assistant who helped prepare a presentation will cut in or answer questions without being asked to in a meeting.

You should approach bringing a Gen Yer into a meeting with the same rigour you would with preparing yourself for the meeting. Tulgan says the most important thing you can do is specifically tell them if this meeting or presentation is a time for them to shine or not. He has four other best practices he recommends you subscribe to as well:

1. Before the meeting even happens, find out if it is appropriate or even acceptable to bring the Gen Yer along.
2. Prepare in advance and have a discussion with the Gen Yer. Is there anything they need to know, is there anything you need to know about this meeting.
3. Identify their role in the meeting. Will the be responsible for presenting any information, should they answer questions if they’re not specifically called upon? Encourage them to make a note if they feel they have something to add but not to stop listening, does their point still need to be raised? Does what they have to add need to be addressed with this group or can it be spoken about in a one-on-one meeting after the meeting?
4. If the Gen Yer is the one to be making a meeting, get them to write a script and rehearse, rehearse and rehearse it. Once they’ve got their presentation down pat, then and only then, should they prepare slides or handouts.

Teach The How to Deal with Your Boss’s Boss’s Boss and Other Big Shots

A common belief is Gen Yers have no respect for authority. It’s easy to understand why people think that way, Tuglan writes. Gen Yers will set their sites on the “big guy on campus” in order to help improve their career but they’ll still look at them as just any other person.

Tulgan relates a story from a senior official in a U.S. government agency. The official said “If they think you can help their career, they they want to know you. In fact, they will beat down your door to get your attention. But I say they have no respect for authority because they are not intimidated by titles at all. I want to tell them that if this person is impressive enough that you are trying to get her attention, then she is impressive enough that you should be deferent toward her.”

This is a result to Gen Yers being more attuned to the power of networking than generations past thanks to the close relationships they’ve had with their parents, teachers and counselors in all dimensions of their lives, Tulgan says. They recognize these relationships will help speed up their career more than anything else.

Tulgan lists some simple techniques you should teach Gen Yers about reaching out to and building relationships with the company big-shots.

1. Don’t waste the time of busy people, unless you have a reason to contact them, don’t. And don’t try to make up a reason to contact them as it will start the relationship off on a disingenuous foot.
2. Approach decision makers with what you can offer them and not what you want. If you don’t have anything of real value to offer this person then it isn’t the right time to contact them
3. Do homework before approaching a decision maker. Is this the right person you should be approaching? Is this the right time?
4. Win over the gatekeepers. Most decision makers will have someone else who checks their voicemail, monitors their e-mail and keeps their schedule. Take the time to get to know the gatekeeper and try sending them correspondence addressed directly to them thanking them for their time.
5. Once you are on the radar screen, don’t just be a one-time blip. Make sure what you say you’re going do actually materialize into results. Make those results valuable and look for ways to repeat them
6. Once you have established a relationship, determine its temperature. If it’s “hot,” like if you’ve just submitted a proposal, follow up once a week but if it’s “cool,” or there isn’t a project on the go, suggest getting in touch in a month or so but look for the decision maker’s lead on how often you should contact them.

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Tags: book, Bruce Tulgan, education, Generation Y, Learning, Millennium Generation, reading
Posted in Not Everyone Gets a Trophy