Business leader presenting a lesson educating team in conference room
Throw a metaphorical dart at the internet, and chances are it’ll land on an article about working with millennials, Gen Z or Gen Alpha. (Nevermind the fact that many millennials now have 20-something-year-old children). There’s a lot of advice out there about coaching the next generation.
Training your youngest team members, however, isn’t actually about responding to vague generalizations, like “catering to shorter attention spans” or “incentivizing with gamification.”
To coach any generation, from youngest to oldest, lead with acceptance, understanding, and a culture of feedback that goes both ways.
Learn to Spot Missionaries vs. Missionaries
Over a decade ago, Jeff Bezos (probably) coined the distinction between missionaries and mercenaries in the workplace. Missionaries are those folks who are deeply invested in their growth, the strength of their product, and their service to customers. Mercenaries, on the other hand, tend to show up, keep their heads down, and do what they have to do to earn a paycheck.
I’d go a step further and say that mercenaries are almost always those employees who’ve been burned by a lifetime of toxic company culture. Often, they started off as productive, engaged employees, but management slowly worked to demoralize and demotivate them. They’re not bad people, and it’s not that they don’t care about their work; they’ve just been taught their contributions don’t matter.
Earlier this year, I had the privilege of speaking about this very topic on a podcast called Best People: Best Place, hosted by Matt Granados, Co-Founder and President of Life Pulse Inc. In the podcast, I highlighted that it is a lot easier to spot and recruit missionary employees from the get-go, rather than trying to hire and retrain mercenaries. If you do hire the latter, you need to be quite sure that they really want to grow their way out of whatever ugly workplace past they came from.
Either way, it’s really important to understand who you’re talking to and recruit for the types of people who want to grow with you. One way I do this is by asking candid character questions in the interview, like “When was the last time you did something considerate?”
Co-Create Your Training Programs
Of course, you need a fantastic training program with all the resources each employee needs to learn their job. Onsite employees need to really get to know the people they’re working with, and remote employees need great digital resources.
A great training program, however, needs to go beyond all that to bring the best out of each and every employee. I look at education as something that should never stop, especially when it comes to real world experience.
As a leader, you need to get inquisitive. Ask them what they want to learn, and get specific. Ask which courses interest them or what skills would they like to learn next. With that information, you can work alongside each other to co-create a long-term plan for their success and development.
In many cases, you may be equipped to offer them something they wouldn’t have thought of or had access to on their own. For example, if they ask about a specific Hubspot course, you might know a perfect mentor who could teach them a whole lot more.
Give Feedback Employees Love to Get
Many of my colleagues say that what they like most about working with me is the type of feedback I give them. I try to be honest and direct and to give genuine feedback that’s about helping, not putting them down.
True mentorship isn’t about building out the perfect training program with all these formal policies and procedures. It’s about really getting to know and understand the person you’re working with, learning what drives them, and how to keep them motivated.
It’s also — and this is very important — about understanding you can’t be their only role model. Leaders have strengths and weaknesses. If someone comes to me for advice on getting more organized, I send them elsewhere.
Take your ego out of it, and learn to embrace feedback no matter who it comes from or their level within the organization. Accept it in an honorable and curious way, and make it clear that your employees are safe to be honest with you about how they really feel.
Set the Right Example
“Do unto others” is just about the oldest rule in the book, but it definitely applies to being a great leader and mentor. When people see someone lead by example, they think “this is the type of person I want to become,” and start working toward that.
At our office, when someone has a birthday or special occasion, we always take time to make a thoughtful gesture. We make sure to do this consistently over time, for every employee, so it doesn’t ever feel favoritist or like a transactional tactic.
Lead your missionary employees by modeling thoughtful behavior, and you’ll soon see how quickly and easily it moves down the chain. Treat your employees exceptionally, consistently well, then step back and watch how they do the same for others.
Remember that, as a leader, all the wealth you have is because of the people who work with and for you. Treat them accordingly, and they’ll feel intrinsically motivated to perpetuate that kind of culture of love and respect.
Don’t Become the Boss You Hated
That boss you once hated can serve as the perfect lesson on how to effectively lead your employees. Look to their specific behaviors to help you understand what does and doesn’t make someone a good mentor, coach, or boss.
Think about how you reacted or how you felt when that person (or people) acted in certain ways. I think of one boss who would yell at me if I didn’t unload his luggage fast enough, or started eating before he was done.
Remember how much it stressed you out — the tight feeling in your chest, maybe even tears you cried in the office bathroom. Ask yourself what you can do in the future to make sure your employees never feel the way that person made you feel.
Use what I call “Opposite Modeling:” observe the behavior, lean into it, and then do exactly the opposite of what they did. Where that boss used criticism, use kindness. Where they yelled, use a soft voice. Where they punished you, help your employees learn.
Provide Resources — and Be One
In one of my previous roles, I remember colleagues complaining that they got turned down for some pretty simple requests. For example, they wanted a Wall Street Journal subscription, but management said no to spending the 10-ish dollars a month.
That same kind of manager will often spend hundreds of dollars a month on wining and dining employees. They’ll spend $150 on booze for a single happy hour, but won’t invest the same in enabling employees to work more efficiently all year.
The lesson I’ve learned is that someone approaches you and says a resource is valuable to them, ask why, and then (usually) say “yes.” Think about the long-term gains in their engagement and satisfaction, rather than short term distractions.
I also personally like to be a useful resource by staying prepared for any situation — first aid, weather emergencies, you name it. You can help employees learn to trust you by always being the one who has the plan or the supplies.
Growing From Your Past
If you’ve made it this far, chances are you’re cringing at some of the past leadership mistakes you’ve made. Some of the best leadership insights, however, come from looking inward and understanding where we went wrong. To set a better example for your youngest team members, dive into your past without dwelling on it. Remember the kinds of leaders you wished you had and let that guide your behavior.
