So...What's Next?!?

Managing Expectations

This week I will be launching our first online training class!

I do not want these sessions to be basic presentations that you can hear at conferences and association meetings. I want them to be real opportunities for learning and applying that knowledge to improve the lives and businesses of our students.

So in addition to putting together the training guides and lesson plan, I have been really studying adult learning theories. I found this link: Tips to Improve Interaction Among the Generations.

As I was taking notes, I was thinking about the different people in my life that fit into the stereotypical values and expectations of each generation. What I realized is the generation time clock is not so exact.

For example, because my first job right out of college was an IT recruiter, I fit the exact profile of the Generation Xers such as having the entrepreneurial spirit, perceived lack of loyalty to any one company, independence and creativity, and the need for continuous feedback.

However, these traits did not come from my upbringing. They came from my experience of watching who was getting hired, who wasn't, who was succeeding in their careers and who was staying stagnant. I got a front seat view of the consequences (good and bad) of people's career choices for the first 3 years of my own career.

What I saw was companies not investing in the long-term growth of employees - expecting to churn and  burn their teams. The rule at the time was 1 year was a long term employee - we would like to see someone with a track record of two years - anything over 5 years meant their skills had become stagnant. The team that got the highest pay and status were the contractors and consultants. This was the late 90's - the time when Gen Xers were coming of age.

As I read through the traits of the Baby Boomers, their expectations in life are a lot different. Where they are the same is in that both generations value change and innovation and believe in hard work. However to climb the company ladder, Baby Boomers believe in company loyalty and many still expect to be at their companies long-term.

Now the year you were born does not necessarily subscribe you to the traits and values of that generation. I know many people who were born between 1966-1977 that would like to stay with their company long term and go up the corporate ladder. Those values and ideas would have been passed down from their family. They may not have witnessed the chaos that I witnessed early in my career.

So how will this affect how I teach social media?

I am realizing that when I stress the "need to know" it has to align with multi-generational values. If you are a long-term employee climbing the corporate ladder, you "need to know" how to get recognized and add value to your organization. If you are in this game for your own development in spite of who you work for, you need to keep your skills relevant and in demand.

More importantly, while going through this exercise, I am starting to understand the generation gaps and cultural breakdowns more and more - there are definite bridges between the generations, but there needs to be some prodding to get each group to cross over them. The younger generations do need to look to the older generations more for some core values related to hard work, drive and resilience and the older generation can no longer throw there hands up and claim that these new technologies are for the youth.

This is definitely an area I expect to being exploring more along the way.

Introverts vs Extroverts

My husband and I had planned on having a date night tonight for our anniversary. I wanted to take it a step further and get out of town. We scratched both plans.

We spent the day working on the kitchen - the coffee house/cafe look is almost complete. We also worked on our financial goals.

My oldest son invited a friend over for the night and we just finished some Mexican appetizers and margaritas (my husband and I had the margaritas, not the kids).

I worked a little on some status reports of a couple of the projects I am working on. I also worked on some strategy and future offerings for the company.

I had a lunch meeting with one of my interns who is working on a competitive analysis report for my company. She has confirmed all of my suspicions about how I need to position myself.

Once again, I have to say how much I love working with my interns. They are bright and driven and open to so many possibilities. It is also a time where I get to recognize a lot about how far I have come in my career when I have the opportunity to share with them what works and doesn't work and why and how to overcome certain challenges.

Two of my interns are introverts. Guess what? So am I.

Many people who do not understand the differences between introverts and extroverts do not believe me when I say I am an introvert. However, because recently I have seen in my son a bit of who I am and what I have had to overcome, I have really  started  educating myself about the differences.

Today, at lunch, I think was the first time I really expressed my understanding of the differences really well.

Introverts live more in their heads than in the world. We are often accused of "thinking too much." Most introverts I know are very creative people. Being an introvert does not mean you are shy, necessarily, though more often than not you can be. I would no longer consider myself a shy person. I was for a long time, but for reasons other than my psychological make-up. However, what I have come to realize about myself is I have about a 3-hour threshold. I can interact and mingle and speak in front of hundreds of people, but after 3 hours I HAVE to get some alone time to re-charge.

Extroverts, however live more in the world than in their head. They are typically busy bodies surrounded by other people and getting involved in various activities. I suspect that they are opposite from introverts in that they have an "alone time threshold" where after so much time they just need to socialize!

Recently I have really been paying attention to the opinions that  introverts have of extroverts and visa versa. It seems that introverts think that extroverts are trying to run away from themselves and extroverts think that introverts are self absorbed. Having any kind of relationship where one person is an introvert and the other is an extrovert is a constant challenge. For example, my mom is a classic extrovert - to this day, she can not understand me.

Celebrating our 14 year anniversary by just hanging around the house, with candles and margaritas is a perfect way to reconnect with my husband and our family. Taking time out during the day to do the things that are on my mind or to reflect on who I am or want to be has been wonderful.

Sometimes I find myself judging our life from the point of view of an extrovert and I suspect that I should be out at a show, or dining & dancing, and have a grand celebration. But it is the simple things in life that put me at ease.

Today I realized, extroverts are not trying to run away from anything just like introverts are not self absorbed, we are just experiencing our time on this planet from many various points of view.