Maverick Mastery®

Generation Y employees must be granted access to social media tools like Twitter and Facebook in the workplace, as developing work-based relationships online will increase customer confidence, says leadership expert Judith Germain.

The publication of a survey by BT Business reveals that thousands of employees are worried that they will lose clients if they do not get better at using Web 2.0 technologies to communicate with them. Dynamic Transitions’ MD Judith Germain is warning companies to reconsider their restriction policies on the use of social networking sites for business use, or risk losing valuable market share to competitors.

Germain says:

“Companies need to recognise the ease with which these tools can be used to improve customer relationships and to engage with them. Generation Y employees have highly advanced online communication skills developed over years of using social media as part of their daily lives. They have the ability to unlock the potential of social media for the benefit of the business, but only if managers take the lead, set the guidelines, and show them how to harness this talent most effectively.”

“Now more than ever, companies need to devise a social media marketing strategy that encompasses the needs of the employees and the needs of the business. It should be their number one priority as it is only by making a determined move into the 21st century, rethinking the status quo and actively integrating the customer and employee journey, that substantial leaps forward for the business can be made.”

The social media buck should not just be passed to HR says Germain, who is also Vice-President of the BlackStar Life Members Community on popular business networking site Ecademy. “It is not just the HR department’s responsibility to manage social media policies. Marketing, HR and Ops need to find a way of working together to devise an effective social media strategy that can work for the entire business. “

Judith Germain is founder and principle consultant of Dynamic Transitions Ltd, a leadership company specialising in managing Troublesome Talent® and improving leadership performance in companies. For further information or to find out more about Dynamic Transitions visit www.developing-leadership.com or telephone +44 (0) 208 288 0512.

Leadership consultancy Dynamic Transitions is warning City law firm trainees who have been paid to defer their training, to use their time sensibly or risk having their places withdrawn.

Further to news that a number of City law firms are offering trainees up to £10,000 to defer their training, Dynamic Transitions’ MD Judith Germain believes that many firms will be using the opportunity to see which graduates have stronger leadership tendencies by observing how productively they spend their free time.

“Many graduates may be drawn into seeing this as a free ticket to a year of ‘loafing’ before they start their training, but in reality they need to realise that they are also being tested to see how self-motivated they can be when left to their own devices. Law firms are making the decision to defer start dates because they feel they need to in the current climate. This doesn’t mean they will not be watching to see how their trainees use their time,” says Germain.

Despite claims by some firms that there is no stipulation on how trainees spend the time or money, Germain urges trainees not to take this at face value, or be too complacent about their job prospects next year.

“The fact that some firms have gone as far as telling trainees that they need to do ‘something useful’ in the year, suggests that there is likely to be consequences for those that don’t. I predict that this time will be used to assess from a distance how these individuals use their time and those who don’t take it seriously may end up finding their places withdrawn next year, which may actually hurt their future career prospects.”
“Graduates should use the time to ‘round off’ their experience by doing relevant work or by enrolling in further education. Employers will be more impressed with those that use their time well,” says Germain.

Judith Germain is Founder and Lead Consultant of Dynamic Transitions Ltd, a leadership company specialising in working with Troublesome Talent® and improving the leadership performance within organisations. They provide strategic mentoring for senior executives and business leaders/owners and delivers innovative leadership programmes, training, coaching and consultancy to corporate clients. For more information visit www.developing-leadership.com or email jude@dynamic-transitions.co.uk

A shortage in graduate positions this summer means that newly qualified graduates must break the ‘Lazy Generation Y Stereotype’ and fight to prove their worth in a rapidly shrinking graduate job market, warns leadership specialists at Dynamic Transitions.

Following on from reports that many students may end up graduating and going straight onto the dole queue due to a lack of available jobs, Dynamic Transitions’ MD Judith Germain is urging graduates to wake up to the fact that they need to radically revise their approach to job applications and interviews if they are to stand a chance of gaining employment in the current economic climate.

“Graduates need to be realistic in the jobs that they seek, as they already face scepticism in their ability to achieve by employers who believe that they only have academic knowledge and little experience. There is also a long standing belief that graduates academic knowledge is inferior to previous years and that graduates are lazy, under skilled and difficult to manage”, explains Germain.

Germain, a specialist in the differences between Generation X and Generation Y workers, believes that new graduates will fall victim to the negative connotations associated with Generation Y employees, which is why they need to work harder to prove their worth and their value to the business.

“There is a distinct clash of culture between the X & Y generations. At the moment ‘Y’ are generally ‘the workforce’, with ‘X’ or ‘Baby Boomers’ being ‘the managers’. Managers, especially ‘Baby Boomers’ think employees should do long hours at work and put the needs of the business above all else. Generation Y employees believe that their work can be done without spending hours at work and at a time that is convenient to them. Generation Y are used to studying whilst accessing digital or social media technology like IPods, Facebook, Instant Messaging and multiple ‘windows’ on their computers in the name of multi tasking. This leads them to believe that it’s essential to do many things at once in order to concentrate and therefore complete tasks. For example, Generation Y employees cannot understand why they can’t sit at their desk listening to their Ipod whilst they work, but to attempt to do this will lead to disciplinary action by the typical Baby Boomer or Generation X manager”, explains Germain.

“Things are moving faster and more dynamically than in the past and the cycle of change in business is nearer two years than the ten years that it used to be. Graduates need to show future employers that they are flexible, willing to work their way up and are good potential employees. They need to show employers that they are more interested in the business than they are in themselves”, adds Germain.

Judith Germain is founder of Dynamic Transitions Ltd, a leadership company specialising in dealing with Mavericks in the workplace and Troublesome Talent®. For more information visit www.developing-leadership.com

Generation X employees need to educate unruly generation Y employees on the appropriateness of using social networking sites in light of revelations that employees at Waitrose and Tesco have been publicly posting insulting comments about their customers on social networking site Facebook, says Talent Management specialist Judith Germain.

As Waitrose becomes the latest high street chain to fall victim to the widespread visibility of their disgruntled employees via their unreserved comments on Facebook. Dynamic Transitions MD Judith Germain believes that Generation Y employees aren’t intentionally trying to tarnish the brand’s reputation, but simply don’t realise the consequences of their actions online, which for many, is an integral part of their day to day lives.

“Whilst Generation X and Baby Boomers know instinctively that conversations in public forums that involve their employers is a bad idea, Generation Y do not have that belief and struggle to understand the effect on their employer’s brand and the consequences that their actions may bring to their careers”, explains Germain, who specialises in managing Troublesome Talent® in the workplace.

Germain believes that employers must act now by educating their Generation Y employees on how to behave appropriately online and by providing ‘safe havens’ for them to express their views and vent frustrations in a controlled environment and away from the public eye, if they want to maintain staff loyalty and customer satisfaction during a particularly difficult trading period.

“Organisations should consider providing a place internally where staff can have ‘conversations’ with each other in a social networking environment which is away from public scrutiny, however, these kind of solutions must be thought through carefully in terms of how they are implemented and how much intervention or moderation they want to provide. The legal implications of getting it wrong can be quite adverse to a business, although getting it right can bring radical results”, adds Germain.

Dynamic Transitions is a leadership company specialising in managing Troublesome Talent®. You can download their free whitepaper ‘Harnessing Maverick Talents’ at www.developing-leadership.com/whitepapers.html For further information or to find out more about Dynamic Transitions visit www.developing-leadership.com or telephone +44 (0) 208 288 0512.

Despite the word ‘Maverick’ being banned by a leading State University for its continued over-use during the past twelve months, the economy is actually dangerously short of real Mavericks and the emergence of Generation Y employees is set to make this situation even worse, according to leading talent management expert Judith Germain.

Following the 34th release of Lake Superior State University’s annual List of Words to Be Banished and the playful inclusion of ‘Maverick’ for its overuse by John McCain in the US Presidential Campaign, Dynamic Transitions MD Germain believes that joking aside, the time has come to redefine what being a Maverick actually means, and why it is good for business.

“McCain coined the word ‘Maverick’ in his campaign speeches but clearly missed the full scope of what being a Maverick actually means in a business context. I define Maverick as wilful independence and ‘Maverickism’ can actually be found on a continuum from the conformist right through to extreme maverick tendencies”, explains Germain.

“A maverick personality is one which is wilfully independent at all times and in all circumstances. They are keen to make their mark and do things their way and often blaze innovation and lateral thinking to the projects and problems that they are working on. They often exasperate the people around them and peers can feel that they can’t keep up or hurt if an objective comment from a maverick is delivered in their usual blunt and brutally honest way”, explains Germain.

Germain believes that having maverick tendencies as opposed to having a maverick personality, is when the CEO or business owner is wilfully independent in their business dealings only.

Germain believes that the real advantage can be gained by those who can achieve Maverick Mastery® which is about being talented and different and being able to blend knowledge and skills for business success.

“When mavericks are running their business they do things in a way that is different to the rest of their industry, they take risks that other CEOs shirk at, and push harder and seek challenges that others feel are ‘insane’. This can be good for business especially if the CEO can harness their maverick nature”, says Germain.

Germain also believes that more Generation Ys need to adopt maverick tendencies if they want to stand out from their peers in an increasingly competitive environment. “Generation Y employees are already at a disadvantage in the current recession due to a difference in their values and work ethics, meaning they are often seen as lazy and unwilling to put in the extra time and effort that Generation X managers see as a given. Finding out what it means to really be a maverick and adapting those tendencies at work will give Generation Y employees real leverage and help them to secure their place in the business”, explains Germain.

Judith Germain is founder of Dynamic Transitions, a leadership company specialising in dealing with Mavericks in the workplace and Troublesome Talent. For more information visit www.maverick-mastery.com

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With news that HSBC is the latest to announce substantial job losses, many highly valuable Generation Y employees across the UK may be unfairly lost due to their perceived job-hopping mentality, according to leadership consultancy Dynamic Transitions.

Gen Y feel little loyalty to the company and are more interested in what the company can do for them

There is much discussion over the emerging trends of Generation Y employees, most importantly the disappearance of a ‘job for life’ approach to employment and Dynamic Transitions MD Judith Germain believes that this, combined with increasingly tight market conditions, is forcing out some of the most talented younger individuals and potential successors, in a bid to keep costs down.

“Generation Y individuals tend to change jobs frequently in their search for personal development and a company that shares their same values. The talented ones understand that they will have many jobs and indeed careers in their working life, so they feel little loyalty to the company and are more interested in what the company can do for them”, explains Germain.

This sentiment is reflected in a recent survey into Generation Y employees which suggested that the average length they stayed in a position was under two years and a panel for the Association of Women in Technology revealed that Millennial (Gen Y) workers actually feel they are discriminated against due to their age.

“The ‘always-moving’ approach to working life displayed by Generation Y employees can put them at a huge disadvantage when it comes to the securing of jobs, especially in an environment when big companies are downsizing to save costs and ‘older’ managers interpret many jobs on the CV as lack of commitment or fickleness of the employee”, adds Germain.

Germain believes that the distinct clash of culture between X & Y generations is the primary cause of talented Gen Y job losses and says “at the moment ‘Y’ are generally ‘workforce’, with ‘X’ being ‘the managers’, so they are already at a disadvantage as their approach to working life is markedly different”.

Dynamic Transitions is a leadership company specialising in working with Troublesome Talent ® and improving leadership performance within organisations. The full version of their recently released whitepaper ‘The Generation Game: How to manage a new generation of Mavericks’ can be downloaded from http://www.developing-leadership.com/generationy.html

Businesses are heading towards a shortage of talented successors as current managers resist the emerging new work culture of Generation Y, according to a newly released whitepaper from leadership development consultancy Dynamic Transitions. “Generation Y expect more from a company than just a salary and are looking for community and a company that shares their principles and respects their individuality. As a result, traditional incentives are holding little interest for them”, says Dynamic Transitions MD Judith Germain.

The whitepaper entitled ‘The Generation Game: How to manage a new generation of Mavericks’ argues that managers should be encouraging more extroverts and those with maverick tendencies into the workforce, something which is counter intuitive to most managers and suggests that it this reluctance that is causing companies to struggle to recruit and retain talented Generation Y Mavericks.

It also identifies that Generation X individuals are much more willing and find it acceptable to work longer hours to get ahead in the company, whereas the new Generation Y employees do not accept that they need to be at work for 14 hours to succeed or be promoted.

“There is a distinct clash of culture between the X & Y generations. At the moment ‘Y’ are generally ‘the workforce’, with ‘X’ being ‘the managers’. Managers, especially ‘Baby Boomers’, think employees should do long hours at work and put the needs of the business above all else. Generation Y employees believe that their work can be done without spending hours at work and at a time that is convenient to them”, explains Germain.

“Generation Y are used to digital technology like Playstations, IPods etc that allows them to multi task. This leads them to believe that it’s essential to do many things at once to complete tasks. For example Generation Y employees cannot understand why they can’t sit at their desk listening to their IPod whilst they work. To attempt to do this will lead to disciplinary action by the typical Baby Boomer or Generation X manager” adds Germain.

“Mavericks are something to be encouraged not something to be stopped in terms of the work they are doing. The way you work with mavericks has to be challenging and give them the freedom they need to carry out their role effectively. Whilst the new generation of Maverick has slightly different expectations and skills, they still need to be managed carefully to ensure their energies are channelled to make a positive contribution to the organisation”, adds Germain.

Dynamic Transitions is a leadership company specialising in working with Troublesome Talent ® and improving leadership performance within organisations. The full version of the whitepaper can be downloaded from http://www.developing-leadership.com/generationy.html

UK businesses are failling to dedicate sufficient resources to improving or leveraging talent according to leadership consultancy Dynamic Transitions. In light of the recent CIPD report ‘Generation Y – Unlocking the Talent of Young Managers’ it was indicated that global leaders placed talent management as their top priority, Dynamic Transitions MD Judith Germain is calling for UK businesses to be tougher on senior management who abdicate the responsibility to HR and stresses that ‘we must move to a world where senior managers are NOT rewarded or promoted if they are not actively developing their staff or leveraging their talent.”

Speaking in a recent interview Germain suggested that as the credit crunch takes hold, more and more talented young managers are being overlooked, mainly because of their tendencies and inquisitiveness are considered a threat by senior managers who have taken an instant dislike to the new age workers and their working habits.

The CIPD report reveals that young managers are more prepared to give up their personal lives for their work to some extent, with fifty per cent agreeing that they would make sacrifices in order to succeed in their careers. Also the career-focused elements such as developing new skills, challenge, and good career prospects were the dominant attractions for Generation Y when joining their current organisation.

“Generation Y workers tend to go by the ‘ask, learn and succeed’ approach whereas senior management (Baby Boomers and to some extent Generation X managers) are more akin to the ‘work long hours and learn approach’. But perhaps more importantly, we are finding that Generation Y workers are getting through their workload at a much faster pace than their predecessors when given the right support and focus, and this is also seen as a threat,” explains Germain, who specialises in managing Troublesome Talent ® in the workplace.

Germain believes that UK companies run the risk of slipping behind global companies if they continue to focus on things that can work counter towards improving the business through leveraging the talent. That there is a distinct mismatch between the priorities of HR in aligning leadership development with business priorities and performance management systems and what exactly is required by the business.

“There is lack of accountability for leadership development by senior management and UK businesses need to realise that it is not HR’s responsibility to develop individuals – it must be developed by senior management if it is to have any impact on developing and retaining talent” adds Germain.

Judith Germain founded Dynamic Transitions in 2005 and provides strategic mentoring for senior executives and business leaders and delivers innovative leadership programmes, leadership consultancy, training, coaching and mentoring to corporate clients. For more information visit www.developing-leadership.com

Many organisations risk losing their most talented employees as the credit crunch takes hold, according to leadership company Dynamic Transitions. Speaking at HR Director’s Talent Management Breakfast at the Lord’s Cricket Ground last week, Dynamic Transitions MD Judith Germain warned that the emergence of Generation Y is “spelling further trouble for organisations who continue to adopt a one size fits all approach to talent management”.

Addressing attendees at the exclusive breakfast event on 26^th June, Germain suggested that many of the most talent employees were likely to be selected for redundancy due to their perceived troublesome nature, when in fact, with the right management techniques, these individuals could become the top performers in the organisation.

Germain argued that Troublesome Talent® made up 20% of the top performers in an organisation, but accounted for 80% of the problems and urged attendees not to use redundancies to kick out the business’ best talent.

“The reality is that too many employees prefer to keep their head down and follow rules and procedures that don’t work simply because it is easier and acceptable to do so. Troublesome Talent® however, are prepared to stand up for what they believe in and will tell managers the flaws in the company’s policies and the issues they face. As a result, their employees are often singled out as trouble makers,” said Germain.

Germain revealed that whilst Troublesome Talent® had emerged in Generation X as people started to demand more flexible working and concentration on their individual desires, the emergence of Generation Y (Birth dates between 1980-1994) has meant that organisations need to re-examine their talent management techniques and adopt a more individualistic approach.

“Generation Y employees do not believe in the ‘9-5’ and are more focussed on themselves and their development. They are more likely to question authority and are more entrepreneurial and extrovert than their Generation X predecessors. Organisations need to realise that traditional command and control management techniques just will not work with them,” said Germain.

Germain founded Dynamic Transitions in 2005 and provides strategic mentoring for senior executives and business leaders and delivers innovative leadership programmes, leadership consultancy, training, coaching and mentoring to corporate clients. For more information visit www.developing-leadership.com