New workforce generation, new business model? Email
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Tuesday, February 23, 2016 08:00 AM

 

Jamie NotterAt ProGreen EXPO 2016, Colorado Green NOW met with Jamie Notter, a notable speaker, and consultant with deep expertise in generations and organizational culture. Notter spoke at two excellent ProGreen sessions focused on working with millennials, including an interactive session with his business partner, Maddie Grant, about developing a company culture that welcomes all generations, including millennials.

Colorado Green NOW spoke with him during the conference about his thoughts on working with the next generation. Some attendees were interested in what can business owners do to adapt to the growing number of millennials in the workplace. Notter said that he felt that there needs to be a shift away from old business models systems that reflect the current climate.

“For me, it's not as much about changing for the millennials as it is about changing to be more aligned with the future of business,” he explained. “Both sides will inevitably do some adapting. Traditional management is based on a set of operating assumptions that simply don't make sense to the Millennials, given their upbringing. Growing up with the social internet, abundance, diversity, and in a child-focused world, they come to the workplace expecting to be able to do things on their own, despite their inexperience.”

Young adults are have been raised with flexibility and autonomy to learn and explore. If they are given a job and allowed the chance to work it out and learn on their own, they may develop a new, better way to complete the tasks.

“They expect resources to be available to get the tools people need to get the job done, they expect innovation and experimentation, and they expect to have access to and influence on higher levels in the hierarchy,” says Notter. “This is not because they are ‘entitled;’ it is because they had those things growing up.”

There may be resistance to this change in the way of doing things. Some Baby Boomer and Generation X professionals could have difficulty letting go of the idea that younger employees need to “pay their dues” or learn the old way of completing a task because it is what has always been done. Notter explained that while a fundamental change in the business model is challenging and perhaps a little frightening, it can yield great results.

“[Businesses need to] maintain a hierarchy that is dynamic. They need to be flexible and invest in teaching employees in managing profitability,” Notter proposed.

He feels that giving young employees more responsibility and investing in giving people more information can go a long way. At one business, this new business model created workgroups in which peers set salaries for the team. They let staff manage productivity and resulting rewards.

This kind of transparency flies in the face of established norms for business, but for those companies who have created in an open and flexible model of business, there has been great success.

Read more in this issue of Colorado Green NOW:
Repurposing is winter work for JKJ Lawn Sprinkler
Do you have an employee suggestion system?
Irrigation System in a Box gives teachers hands-on skills
Despite millennial growth in the workplace, Boomers are the ones spending on their homes