A Gen Z Board of Advisers at The Body Shop

Source: HR Exchange Network

What's the average age of the Board members of your company?  For many companies, that average is much higher than the average age of their customers, and higher than the employee population as well.  You can see where decisions made by the Board might not always be informed by up-to-date thinking about the values, goals, beliefs, and needs of Gen Z and Millennials.  What can companies do to bridge this gap?  Orianna Rosa Royle has written an interesting piece for Fortune about one firm's attempt to address this issue.   In her article, she describes The Body Shop's Youth Collective advisory board. 

Other companies have tried similar structures, but not always with as much success as anticipated.  In the worst cases, employees view these advisory boards as all for show, without any real substance.  The Body Shop has structured the board and its process in ways that increase the likelihood of securing valuable input and constructive criticism, while building trust with employees.   First, 50% of the members come from within the company, while the other half are from external organizations.  This balance seems very important.  The internal members have a strong vested interest in the organization's success.  Meanwhile, the external members provide a valuable outside perspective, and they perhaps feel safer speaking up with their concerns or feedback.  

Second, not every issue comes before the advisory board. Royle writes that The Body Shop "avoids drawing on their expertise unless a problem needs out-of-the-box thinking that the older leadership team can’t crack."  In other words, align the issues brought before the advisory board with the core purpose of that group.  Don't simply try to replicate the conversations that a board of directors might have.

Third, and perhaps most importantly, The Body Shop has outlined the ground rules and shared norms for this group in a very clear manner. Most importantly, everyone has a voice, and there's a commitment to listen and consider each opinion in a genuine manner.  That doesn't mean the group always gets their way.  The Body Shop executive and board of directors member Chris Davis notes, “Do we always listen? Yes. Do we always act? No. When we don’t, we explain why. When we do, we explain why—that’s part of the deal.  There will always be feedback and full transparency so it’s clear that everybody is heard.”  In short, The Body Shop has tried to create a fair and legitimate consultation process.  Fair process means giving people voice and considering their views genuinely, but not taking a vote and making decisions democratically.  In the end, creating a strong perception of procedural fairness means explaining decision rationale, and specifically why leaders acted on the group's recommendations or why they chose not to do so.  If you don't create this perception of a fair and legitimate process, people will stop offering their input.  Trust will be broken. 

Are Millennials Really All That Different?

Fast Company's Jared Lindzon has written a good article this week about the myth vs. reality when it comes to millennials and their differences relative to those of us from other generations.  She draws upon the work of Jessica Kriegel, a researcher from Drexel University.   Here's an excerpt from Lindzon's article:  

When Jessica Kriegel set out to write her doctoral dissertation on the unique attributes of the millennial generation, she discovered one major problem: There weren’t any.  "As I was reading all of the different books, research articles, and peer-reviewed studies on generational difference, I started to realize how much contradiction there is in the literature," says Kriegel, who earned a PhD in educational leadership with a specialization in human resources management from Drexel University in 2013. "I realized it's all kind of made up. There's not a lot of hard data that supports any of these assumptions. It's all anecdotal, case studies, research studies with 200 people that they apply to the broader population, and it's really damaging... People are using the stats to sell whatever it is they're selling, and journalists are using the stats to tell a compelling story, whether one exists or not," she says. "It's way more interesting to say, 'We figured out millennials, they are X,' than it is to say, 'Well, we can't really label because that's stereotyping, and so in reality we're going to just continue to remain vague about what we know."

Meg Whitman: Listening to Millennials

Forbes has a great interview with Meg Whitman this week.  In it, she talks about listening carefully to millennials in her organization.  Here's an excerpt:  

Whitman says “entitled is too strong a word” to define new graduates, but even that isn’t so bad. In fact, the impatience of today’s youth is useful at a $50 billion sales corporation like Hewlett Packard Enterprise. “They refuse to work on things that do not matter,” she says. She receives emails frequently from young hires complaining that a project they are working on isn’t going anywhere. That’s surprising, but it’s also useful.  “You would be surprised how many projects we’ve killed because a 22-year-old says, ‘That’s stupid,’ ” Whitman told the audience. “It’s a little annoying honestly.”

I've argued in the past that senior executives need to listen to young people.  They hear about new trends, ideas, and perspectives from these people.  Moreover, they often represent a key target market for their goods and services.  Finally, as one executive told me, "They are stupid enough to tell me the truth."  It made me laugh, but it was also a profound statement.  He meant that these young people did not worry about offending the boss or losing their job.  They were more willing to speak their mind, in a way that some older workers were not in his organization.   Young people do not have the experience to always know the right answers on tough issues, but they bring a fresh lens to problems.  You do not have to agree with them, or give them their way, but you can learn from them.  

Keeping Millennials Engaged at Work

Consultant Tracy Benson has written a terrific post this week for Harvard Business Review.  She focuses on how to engage Millennials at work.  Benson argues that work-life balance is important to them, and flexible work policies can attract them to your firm.  However, keeping them engaged, and retaining them, takes much more than just flexibility about hours and location of work. Engaging them requires providing them a compelling sense of purpose, building an entrepreneurial environment, loosening the traditional career ladder, and providing technology that promotes collaboration.  These suggestions make good sense.  Beyond that, I also think we need to challenge them.  They need to be stretched intellectually.  At the same time, we need to provide them excellent learning and development opportunities.  In that way, they will have the tools to succeed at these stretch assignments.  What if they face adversity or fail?  Many may fear failure a great deal.  They have been hovered over for years, and their self-esteem has been boosted relentlessly. Thus, we have to be ready to address their anxieties as they take risks, face adversity, and perhaps stumble badly at times. We have to challenge them to pick themselves up, fix their mistakes, and climb back on the bike. 

Using Internships to Facilitate the Reverse Mentoring Process

What is reverse mentoring?  It's when you have the new, young, rising talent in an organization teaching and advising the experienced managers and executives.   An effective reverse mentoring process enables senior executives to keep tabs on key social and technological trends.  Moreover, it provides a way for senior leaders to gain a better understanding of the millennial employee and customer.  

Phil McKinney has a great podcast focused on managing innovation (it's called Killer Innovations).  He is the CEO of CableLabs, and he formerly served as Chief Technology Officer for HP's Personal Systems Group.  McKinney says the following about reverse mentorship:

Each summer, we bring in interns across a wide range of disciplines: technical, legal, marketing and this year social media.  This years interns were impressive.  Over the years – I use interns to be my pulse on what is happening in the education system. In my previous role, I would select two and have them stay at my house. For their internship, they would report to someone else. At night – it was the barrage of constant questions. Why must we do something a certain way? Why aren’t we doing this?

Most people think I’m nuts for even doing this. I learn so much. It’s a process I call “reverse mentoring.”

Now most of us would not be willing to take interns into our homes.  However, we can find ways to structure a series of conversations with our summer interns to tap into their insights, knowledge, and creativity.   In some firms, you might do this through a series of one-on-one conversations with interns.  In others, you might assemble teams of interns, and ask each team to take on a particular innovation challenge for the firm.  The teams then might be given the opportunity to present their findings to senior executives.   Interns will enjoy this type of activity, because they get a chance to do something that is definitely not mundane, routine work.  Moreover, they have a chance to get in front of senior leaders.  Meanwhile, your organization creates a natural reverse mentoring process.

Follow Your Passion: Is it Really Good Advice?

You've all heard the advice:  Discover and follow your passion.  I certainly advise my students to do so.  Is it really good advice though?  Sarah Leary, co-founder and Vice President of marketing and operations at Nextdoor, has an interesting perspective on this topic.   She shared it with Fortune recently.   She explains:  

Many talented businessmen and women advise young people to follow their passions. However, I’ve seen that most are paralyzed by this open-ended advice because they don’t know what they are passionate about in the professional world. And this isn’t entirely their fault. They simply lack the real world experience and feedback to distinguish what they are truly passionate about — yet. In fact, the advice to follow your passion can often work against you as an inexperienced young professional.

What should young people do instead?   Should they not try to discover and follow their passions?  No, she simply argues that one needs to get out there and gain work experience so as to learn what really motivates and inspires you.   Gaining a variety of professional experiences early in your career can help you discover what your passions are and what you enjoy doing.  She recommends pursuing multiple internships while in school.   She advises exploring different industries, companies, and roles.  As Leary states, "Concrete work experience, even as an intern, is illuminating."  Students will not only learn what they enjoy doing... they also will learn what they dislike.   

I would take it one step further.  Internships provide one important way to discover your passions.  There are others.   Take on leadership roles on campus in various organizations.  Shadow alumni  for a day at various companies, if your university has such a program (we do at Bryant University).   Work hard on class projects that involve consulting work for companies and organizations in your region.  Think carefully about the type of campus job that you might like to apply for, particularly in your junior or senior year.  Use independent studies or field study projects to explore an area of interest in more depth.  These techniques, and many more, will help you discover your passions. 

How PWC Engages Millennials

Bob Moritz, the U.S. Chairman of PWC, has written an article for Harvard Business Review regarding his firm's efforts to attract, engage, and retain millennials.  Moritz and his firm collaborated with researchers from USC and LBS to understand key generational differences.  From that work, PWC began to develop initiatives to foster higher levels of engagement and retention among millennials.  They have tracked the effectiveness of various efforts.  Moritz cites four major areas of emphasis:

1. Give them voice. Millennials want to have input regarding the future direction of the organization.  Therefore, PWC gave them voice in several powerful ways.  They asked millennials to offer ideas regarding the most effective methods for talent development in the firm.  In addition, they asked people for suggestions regarding the next $100 million opportunity for PWC.  More than 70% of the employees offered suggestions.  
2. Provide flexible career paths.   Millennials do not want to stay in the same role for a lengthy period of time.  They want to shift positions and roles, try new things, and embrace different opportunities.  Moreover, they want greater flexibility in their careers.  PWC has created several programs that enable talented employees to take time off or to work part-time for the firm while pursuing other opportunities (such as graduate school). 
3. Recognize them often and in multiple ways.  Millennials want to be recognized, and that does not mean only monetary awards.  PWC implemented more frequent recognition, and they began to offer a host of non-monetary rewards.   For instance, PWC created a sabbatical program as a reward for millennials who perform well and stay at the firm for a certain period of time.
4. Give them a chance to give back.  Millennials want to make a broader impact, and they want to work for a firm that has that same aspiration.  PWC found that employees who participate in a corporate responsibility initiative tend to stay at the firm for a longer period of time.  For example, participants in one program to enhance students' financial literacy tended to exhibit much less turnover than those who did not participate (only 8% of participants had left PWC a year later, while 16% of non-participants had left the firm).