Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/1390499
PalletCentral • July-August 2021 25 What is "The Undercover Millennial?" For four years, I went undercover in hundreds of organizations, interviewing thousands of people. I would go into an organization looking for a job. In that process, I would ask workers, "What's it look like to work here." ey would tell me everything; people like to communicate their truth. at is the magic of all the research. I would go from employee to employee, and I heard, 'I love my job, I love my manager, I love the culture, the customers,' as common positive responses. I dug further to see what the truth was behind those responses. Why did people thrive in these environments? en, I also heard the opposite, like, 'run from here – management is horrible,' 'drug deals happen here daily,' 'bosses abuse employees,' or 'bosses are mean.' Some people indicated they stayed only because they felt they didn't have anywhere else to go due to criminal records and such. ey were very interesting responses with many common denominators from which I wrote my book. Ultimately, the goal is to help organizations retain, engage, and inspire their team members from the front desk to the board rooms and everyone in between. Navigating generational complexities, communication challenges, leadership missteps, and culture cues are the crux of my work. What are the most interesting things for employers to know that you learned undercover? People have a love-hate relationship with their jobs. When they hate it, they speak about the manager. When they love it, they talk about their mentor. No employee ever said they loved their job because the manager is amazing at time efficiency. Mentorship is unique; it is something that cannot be given by leaders to employees. Mentorship must be earned from employees to leaders. People will decide if you are a mentor to them and invite you in as a voluntary act. To earn this trust, mentors must act as advocates and be seen as leaders who can connect people to their dreams. Like any good story, the hero (the employee) works to overcome an obstacle, then a mentor (the manager) appears in the storyline to offer wisdom, compassion or guidance to resolution. When I asked people, "why do you work here," they would say things like, "I stay here because of Susie. For 15 years, I worked for her and she was instrumental in my life." Can people say that about you? What are the characteristics of a great leader that inspired people to love their work? ere are five areas that I found incredibly important that help employees connect with supervisors and companies. ey are The Five C's: Confidence – Confident people instill confidence in others. ere is something that makes people feel empowered when they work for confident managers. Credibility – Managers that have some influence in their industry is something that employees admire. Competence – It is important that an employee sees a manager/mentor as a practitioner of the work, not just a theorist. ey want to see that they are capable of doing the work that is being required, or at least have working knowledge on it. Candor – Honesty and openness creates trust which establishes strong working relationships. e ability to make deposits and withdrawals into a worker is made possible through frank expression. Be clear, set standards, and manage expectations. Care – Genuine concern is very easy to recognize, as is the flipside. e moment we stop caring, we break employee-employer relationship trust. iStockphoto.com/filipfoto People have a love-hate relationship with their job. When they hate it, they speak about the manager. When they love it, they talk about their mentor.