Alyssa:
Hi, everybody. I am Alyssa Zeff your Gen X, mom of one, warm-weather lover. I'm here with Lucy and Maira…who, are both project specialists here at Davis & Company. Today we're going to talk about change and the reason why I said I was Gen X is specifically what we're going to talk about; how to engage millennials in change. Maira and Lucy are both millennials, which means they were born between 1981 and 1996. Maira is a new mom whose parents and sisters live in Canada. And Lucy just graduated from grad school a year and a half ago. So, welcome both of you.

Maira:
Thanks. It's great to be here.

Lucy:
Yeah.

Alyssa:
Let's dive right in. Change is difficult. We know that. Getting employees engaged in change can seem even harder. That's true across any employees. So why should we be talking about millennials today?

Maira:
Well, I think it's important because, especially if you look at today's workforce, the largest generation is millennials. So that has to be our focus.

Lucy:
Yeah. We actually looked it up, and we found a cool stat that said by 2030, it's estimated that three out of four, so basically 75% of employees will be millennials.

Alyssa:
Oh, boy. All right. Okay. Okay. Okay. So fine, we have to understand them and we have to embrace that. We know that research shows employees’ preferences for how they receive internal communication in the workplace are really shaped by communication in their personal lives and their lives outside work. Do you think that that's true with millennials?

Lucy:
Yeah, absolutely. So I still try to get news every day, even though it's pretty tough because between work and social life and stuff, but I get these cool e-newsletters every morning and they’re sent directly to my phone and they give me a high-level overview of the most important stories from the past few days. And I really like them because the tone is conversational and the contents really scannable. And I would say that that's something that millennials kind of want from internal communication, where you get the most important information, you can tell that it's important right up front. Then it's written in a way that's accessible, not super jargon-y, and then you know you're going to get it every day. Or if we're talking about change, you're getting it at important moments during that change.

Alyssa:
That's interesting because I think about the generational difference between me, and I love what you're saying and part of how I seek news is that way. But I also seek out big chunks of information depending on what it is. And that's true in my personal life too. Especially, now it's an election year, and I'm trying to get my head around what's going on with the candidates and everything else, and we know how biased media can be. So I have to seek out so much information to form my own opinions. What about you, Maira? What do you think?

Maira:
For me, especially since my family is in Canada, it's really important for me to use apps like Facebook Messenger, Viber or like WhatsApp, just to have those easy and quick conversations with my family. And then also just be able to share videos or photos. And then that way, even though despite the time or the distance, we're still able to keep in touch. And that even applies to communication because you don't know when you're going to have time to look at all the updates or maybe you don't know when a leader is always going to be available. They might have a constraint with distance.

Alyssa:
What's interesting is you guys probably remember we did this trend infographic at the beginning of the year, and there are two interesting trends from that that relate to what we're talking about, which are big trends for 2020. One is a focus on conversation, which has a huge impact on communicators. Not just pushing out information but facilitating communication. Facilitating those conversations. Related to that is this quest for community. And I think that's somewhat of what you were getting at Maira, which is that I think a lot of generations, but it seems to be heavy with millennials, are looking for communities that they can join even within the workplace.

Alyssa:
And as communicators, we have an opportunity to help create that. And you can imagine how important that is during change when they are trying to find other people who that change impacts them the same way you can help create those communities. So, I'm a communicator. It's true, I am. But for communicators who are now rolling up their sleeves and getting ready to put together a change communication plan, if they're thinking about their soon to be 75% of their workforce, millennials, where do you think they should get started? What's page one?

Maira:
So I think they need to start with embracing social media. It can be used for a variety of things. You can host a Q&A session. You can provide real-time updates and really just use it to create interaction, a two-way dialogue. And your social media is part of millennial DNA. We use it every day, so we're so accustomed to it that even though we use it just in our personal lives, sometimes we kind of expect it at work too, because we're looking for that level of transparency and interaction with our colleagues as well.

Alyssa:
Absolutely. Lucy, what do you think are some of the examples of social media platforms that can be used for change communication?

Lucy:
So here at Davis & Company, we use Yammer, and it's great because it does all the things that Maira just talked about. It provides a place for interaction, Q&A sessions, and I mean yeah, we use it for fun stuff, too, like sharing pictures of our pets or sharing interesting articles. But, if something big happening at Davis & Company, someone from the Operations team can just post to Yammer and open it up to questions and it kind of starts a conversation about that change rather than just being told that a change is happening. So there's Yammer, another client that I work with, they use Microsoft Teams, which is a really cool platform because they have file sharing and they have that live feed and then they also have instant messaging. So it's kind of like Facebook almost. People are used to using Facebook, and it kind of creates that same feeling of that interaction and connection with colleagues like we were just talking about.

Alyssa:
I think it's great. I think the advice that I would give to communicators who are embracing social media is that it does still need guardrails, and it needs purpose, and it needs definition, and it needs a reason for people to go there. So even millennials who love social media are probably averse to yet another new thing that they have to do. So you have to give it a reason. They have to see the value in taking their time out of their day to go visit it. Any other benefits that you can think for social?

Maira:
I think that it's also good because you don't have those talking heads, you don't have corporate speak. It's like quick updates, you don't really have that much space to provide paragraphs of information. You just want to give that quick-hit information to get employees on the same page and maybe share a quick update.

Lucy:
It also gives leaders the chance to be a little bit more candid. Like Maira just said, talking head videos don't really resonate, but having a social media platform or something like a social media platform I guess, kind of helps leaders interject a bit of their personality into it and give people the connection that a lot of millennials do want with leaders and even like managers and stuff.

Alyssa:
That's a really great point. So let's stay on leaders there for a second. I think we all know how important leaders are during a change, right? They have to set the example. They have to explain the change, they have to make it real. So thinking about millennials, what should leaders do when it comes to change communication?

Maira:
So I think they need to focus on being more authentic. Millennials really want real conversations. They don't want it to be scripted or over-engineered. They really need to know that the leaders are human, so that it's easier to have conversations with them, but also at the same time you want to be comfortable enough to ask them questions. Especially if a change is going on, you want to ask them questions about the change, get any clarification that you need because, especially for employees, it's going to help you do your everyday job.

Alyssa:
What do you think, Lucy? Any other ideas as it relates to leaders and millennials and change?

Lucy:
Yeah, I mean, I think it's always really cool when leaders go ... sometimes, I mean, I guess it depends on the leader's personality, but out of their comfort zone, doing things. Like one client I work with does a podcast where he interviews other leaders within the organization, and it's fun because they always start off with like a rapid-fire question things, where they ask this or that, like chocolate or vanilla. Then they go into leadership questions and advice. But it's good because it does help kind of humanize both of like the guest and the leader. And they're having real conversations that aren't scripted like Maira said. So it feels more genuine, and it builds trust within the organization. And just a good way for people to get to know the leader.

Alyssa:
I think those are great points. I think for a leader to be authentic is great, to be real, but also listen, right? Take the time to not just talk, but listen. Coming back to some of the things that you said, which ties to some trend research that I've done. One, certainly on podcasts, right? Podcasts are going nowhere, we say as we're doing a podcast. But the trends on podcasts and the numbers are astronomical. And more and more companies are embracing this as an internal communication tool.

Alyssa:
Another is sort of the end of what I would call zombie video, which is the talking heads. People just standing there and talking, and a great trend when it comes to video, which leaders can really embrace is Live. I mean, think about tying back to social, Facebook Live, Instagram Live, everybody has this live feature, and it's really embraced. Leaders need to..I understand that it gets a little uncomfortable, but if you think about going live, it brings that authenticity to it and connects to how people are experiencing things outside work, and it makes it feel more real.

Alyssa:
So it has been said that millennials are the most researched generation. As a result, there have been some stereotypes. Let's talk about some millennial stereotypes that you absolutely can't stand.

Lucy:
Okay. I mean, I have, it's the first one thing that comes to mind. You see dozens of articles about it, but it's that millennials think that everyone should get a trophy. And that's definitely not true. It's true that millennials are more of a gaming generation, but we're also really high achievers. And if you give us a goal, we're going to hit it. And it's just nice to have that acknowledged. And it doesn't mean that we want a trophy or even like a handwritten thank you message on our desks. Just as simple, thank you is fine. Yeah. I just think that stereotype is definitely one that isn't true and we should stop stressing that.

Alyssa:
Well, it's funny because I have worked with millennials who fit quote-unquote, "Stereotypes," but I'm proud to say, and I'm not just saying this, that the millennials I work with at Davis & Company don't fit those stereotypes. Now, we all have generational stereotypes that we fit. They're stereotypes for a reason, but it is exciting to see this feeling of not needing a participation trophy for everything or have everything handed to you on a silver platter.

Alyssa:
What do you think, Maira? Any things you would want to add to that?

Maira:
I don't think it's a generational thing. I think when it comes to recognition, we have to think that it's good for all employees at all levels. Everybody, especially during change, they want to be shown what good looks like. Give them incentives for others to follow, reinforce those desired behaviors so that employees can see like, here's something good that someone's doing. Maybe I should also tag along and try to do that. And if you're able to recognize that, then you're just encouraging that even more.

Alyssa:
Yes, certainly for millennials, but I think for any generation we're finding, and we're seeing trends on the importance of recognition overall. And recognizing even in small ways can increase engagement, can increase productivity. I mean, it's great for all organizations, for all levels in the organization. Anything else that you guys would want to add before we wrap up?

Lucy:
I guess another thing that I just thought of is that millennials are always on their phones. And like we've discussed earlier, I mean, is that such a bad thing? It's a stereotype, but it's also true, but it's also true for a lot of other generations too. Everybody's going mobile, everyone gets updates on the go. So that's an important thing to acknowledge, especially during times of change where you don't necessarily want to send that huge chunky email or post a six-minute talking head video. People get news, they want it fast, and they just want the important highlights.

Alyssa:
That's a great point. Thank you. Well, I thank you both for being here, for sharing your experience and expertise.

Alyssa:
Thanks for joining us on Employee Buzz, where we laugh and learn. If you haven't subscribed yet, go to your podcast platform, iTunes, Podbean, Stitcher and Google Play, and click subscribe. That way,  you won't miss an episode. Catch you next time.