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Boundy’s Bookshelf: The Coaching Effect

I just read – and highly recommend – The Coaching Effect, What Great Leaders Do To Increase Sales, Enhance Performance, and Sustain Growth by Bill Eckstrom and Sarah Wirth.

Besides my involvement in teaching, guiding, and practicing coaching with clients, I read a lot about sales management and coaching. In fact, I was one of the first in Miller Heiman Group to be certified in their full sales coaching suite.  I wondered if I would pick much up from this book, and am pleased to say…yes, I did. I will be supplying this book to sales transformation clients from now on.

Coaching by Your Front-Line Sales Managers Improves Sales Performance

Based on over 100,000 real-world coaching interactions, this book shares some of the research behind its recommendations.  Most important:  Sales teams with great coaching average 110% of goal, vs. 91% of goal for the bottom 80%. Think about that. The most effective teams have the most effective leaders…the ones who behave like great coaches. These teams outperform the average team by over 20%.

I’ve seen similar data from other sources, including CSO Insights, who I consider to be the gold standard.

Anecdotally, I experience how focusing on coaching is the primary differentiator between successful sales performance initiatives…and those that fizzle.  I buy the difference coaching makes.

What’s a Good Coach?

Eckstrom and Wirth go into depth on what great coaching looks like.  The first thing that struck me was how seldom we measure coaching quality.  Most practitioners stick to the easy-to-measure stuff like quantity (more on that below).  The authors have a robust scoring system for the quality of coaching that’s as simple as it is intuitive and effective.  They measured major themes of impact/culture, relationship, cadence, and ability to wring performance improvement – each of which is broken down into components.

The second striking finding is that “quality” is measured in the eye of those being coached. This seems obvious to a guy like me who regularly harps that value is only in the mind of the customer.  Of course, that’s how you measure great coaching.  So why do so few other people do it?

A third, not-so-striking finding: the best coaches have their “coachees” best interests at heart.  Think about it. Coaches who have their subordinates’ trust are the ones with permission to push them to greatness.  Yes, this is everyone on your team, not just those oft-maligned millennials.

The Four Pillars of a Great Coaching Culture

My “coaching acumen” improved. The research behind Coaching Effect broadened my idea of what a great coaching culture looks like.  Eckstrom and Wirth describe four pillars (my term, not theirs) that sales leaders need to implement as part of a consistent coaching cadence.

  1. One-to-one meetings: Coaching Effect teaches that these are higher-level-than-you-might-have-thought meetings. They cover a seller’s personal updates, long-term goals, daily work, and priorities…combined with offers of manager support. It turns out that quality is far more important than weekly frequency.
  2. Team Meetings: Again, the research shows that quality is more important than frequency.  Meetings that share best practices, share successes, discuss team-side issues, etc. (the book has a lot of great examples) might be monthly, with as-needed team huddles on a given specific timely issue.
  3. Performance Feedback: This is where I’ve focused most of my own work, and I’m glad the authors and I agree on approaches.  There is solid advice on how to approach performance issues, using what another author called “compassionate directness”.  The personal updates and focus on long-term goals from one-on-ones build trust that’s needed during more difficult feedback conversations.
  4. Career Development: Isn’t it crazy how few coaching programs formally introduce career development into the regular coaching cadence? Great coaches use this component to inspire “discretionary effort” (I love that term, Bill) on the part of sellers.  There are great examples of specific actions a coach can engage in to become a meaningful force in the career of his team members.

Two Thumbs Up

As I said, this book helped me clearly articulate the differences between average and great coaching, and any serious sales leader should invest in it…and themselves

To your success!

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Best Practices Growth Health and Wellness Human Resources Management

What If Your Dream Came to Life?

What if you could breathe life into one of your dreams?

What follows is step by step guide to help if you’re really interested in achieving your wish this year, set aside a block of time for the next few days, get yourself a notebook or open a file on your computer and give yourself the luxury of reflecting and seriously considering what dreams may come. 

How to Fulfill Your Dreams

1. Select a Dream:

Think about the different dreams you have.  In your imagination, step into each one of them, one at a time and experience what life would be like when you realize that dream. What do you see? Hear? Feel?

  • What changes?What’s good about it?
  • What’s not as good as you hoped?
  • How might you change it for the better?
  • After you explore the impact of having those dreams, pick one that you’d most like to bring to life.

2. Analyze what you need to do to make that dream come true:

  • What skills and strengths are required for your goal?
  • Which do you currently have?
  • Which do you need to acquire?  How can you acquire them?

3. What hurtles might present themselves:

  • What might get in the way?
  • How can you problem solve those potential obstacles?

4. Find a champion:

Find folks who can listen and respond, who can provide an outside perspective as well as cheerlead you.  These may be people you know or you might join a local or online meet-up of people with similar goals. Or start your own meet-up. Set up meetings with them to discuss your dreams and bring them to life.

5. Create a Plan:

Just like making a business plan, create a reasonable,  step-by-step personal plan with tasks, actions and deadlines along the way.

6. State your intentions publicly.

By sharing your dream out loud with others, you magnify your cheering squad many times.  It’s like telling people you’ll stop smoking.  The success rate rises dramatically because there are many others beside yourself that you want to avoid letting down.

Similarly, if your goal implies a new capability or accomplishment, start referring to yourself as such.  I’m Jane the artist; Jim the author; Jen the marathon runner; Dan the pianist.

7. Find a partner to hold you accountable:

Meet with him/her in person, by phone, online at least weekly to review the actions you’ve taken and refine your plan on a regular basis.

To learn more about creating and achieving your personal and career goals click here.

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Best Practices Human Resources Management Marketing Personal Development Women In Business

Why Every Business Needs a Personal Brand

Over the past several years, personal branding has become a hot topic across the business world.  That’s because it’s tough out there with the competition increasing daily.  Not just for businesses but for individuals as well.  Just consider the statistics.

In the United States there are currently: 1.3 million lawyers.  1.24 million accountants.  659,200 management consultants.  There are nearly 28 million small businesses in this country, more than 800,000 of them in New Jersey.  Yet the competition is so fierce that 50 percent of these firms including 80 percent of all restaurants fail before their fifth anniversary.  In 2018, more than 3800 major retail stores closed their doors.

What can you do to ensure that you don’t become one of these statistics?  The first step is to recognize that the way to successfully market and promote your business has changed dramatically over the past decade.

Today, the number one way that people find new companies, products and services is by accessing your website through the Internet, primarily by using Google Search.  The majority of those searches are done via smartphones.  When someone arrives at your website, you have approximately ten seconds to capture and hold their attention.  If you don’t, they’re off to one of your competitors.

The initial challenge is to get people to your website.  One way is by utilizing online advertising.  The problem is that online advertising is expensive with costs rising 5x faster than inflation.  The average small business effectively using Google advertising can today spend as much as $10,000 per month on their online advertising campaigns. That’s $120,000 per year.  Another problem is that consumers just don’t trust advertising. In a recent survey, less than 1% of Americans said that advertising had Influenced them.

That’s the bad news.  Now here’s the good news.  Unlike online advertising, social media is not only inexpensive but highly effective.  It’s also highly personal with almost half of all Americans reporting that they have had meaningful interactions with companies via social media.  Most importantly, social media gets people to your website — not by tricking them into clicking on a link or an ad, but by building a personal brand that generates trust and credibility for your business.

What is a personal brand?    According to Amazon CEO, a personal brand is what people think and say about you when you’re not in the room.   It’s what differentiates you and sets you apart from the competition.  It’s not simply a logo or a website — although both of these are important.  Instead it’s what you say and do that resonates with your target audience.  It’s the articles, the videos, and the photos that you post.  The advice you give and the ideas you support.  It’s what makes you special and unique.

So the next time you need to set your business apart from the competition, consider personal branding and social media.  Together, they’re a powerful combination that will help you not only survive but prosper and grow.

Categories
Best Practices Growth Human Resources Management Personal Development

How to Clarify You and Your Clients’ Goals

Coaching helps people with their goals.  But as simple as that may seem, it’s not always clear what their goals are or how that goal might improve their lives.

When a new coaching client comes in for a consultation they usually have a stated goal in mind.

It’s important to help them assess the viability of the goal based on their strengths and skills as well as understand what that goal will give them.  In a sense, what’s the goal behind the goal?  Why is getting to this goal important?  What will it bring you in a positive way?  How might your life change because of it?  Have you considered all the pros and cons?

There’s an illuminating model that has been used in the Navy’s Human Resource

We can ask the following . . .

1. What are you trying to achieve? Or, what do you want that you don’t have?

2. What are you trying to preserve? Or, what do you want to maintain that you already have?

3. What are you trying to avoid? What don’t you have that you don’t want?

4. What are you trying to eliminate? What do you have now that you don’t want?

This is a powerful assessment to help your client think through their potential goals. Just ask them to fill in these questions and use it as fodder for your coaching session on the goal. Suppose your client is interested in becoming a Professional Coach.  Here’s how the conversation might go . . .

Sharon: You said your goal is to become a professional coach.

Joe: Yes

Sharon: What might that give you that you don’t have now?

Joe: I’d feel like I was contributing to society while also making a living.

Sharon: How is that giving you something more than now?

Joe:  I get to work with people but I don’t really have an opportunity to help them move forward in their lives?

Sharon: Why might that be important?

Joe: I make great money at my job, but sometimes I feel bad that I have all these relationship building skills that are wasted.

Sharon: And . . .

Joe:     I’m at a point in my life where I feel grateful for what I’ve achieved and want to give back.  So it’s a win win.

Sharon: Great.  And what do you want to maintain that you already have?

Joe: Well  . . . my standard of living!  [He laughs]

Sharon: Uh huh

Joe: And the recognition and respect I currently enjoy in my career

Sharon: Great.  And now, what is important to avoid in this career move.  That’s to say what don’t you have that you don’t want?

Joe: I don’t have money worries and I really don’t want them!

Sharon: And what do you have now, that you’d prefer to get rid of

Joe: Well, I don’t punch a clock but it feels like I do because of having to be at my office regardless of my work load or my preferred times when I’m more productive and less so?

Sharon: Tell me more

Joe: I have to drive in rush hour twice a day, which is tiring and frustrating on a daily basis, while I’d prefer to have a lot more flexibility with my hours.  I have great energy early in the morning when I can get a lot done, but then I’m dragging my mental feet in the afternoon when I’d love to be exercising or taking a long hike and then returning to work.  I COULD do that as a Professional Coach

So let’s take a summary look at what we learned about Joe’s goal with our 4 element model 

Goal – I want to become a Professional Coach

Don’t Have                           Currently Have

WANT                      ACHIEVE – Satisfaction of helping others     PRESERVE – $$$$

DON’T WANT    AVOID – Money Worries.     ELIMINATE – Rigid Schedule

You can conduct this type of analysis with any goal. Why might you want to become a Professional Coach?

What might it help you achieve, as well as how does that goal stack up on the other factors? Good food for thought, right?

NEXT TIP heading your way tomorrow

Thinking about getting certified as a Professional Coach? Want to talk about it? Or any questions you have about professional coaching? Let’s talk and see whether or not it makes sense for you to become a certified professional coach.

Learn more about our upcoming Fast Track programs in NYC and Dallas in March

Warmest regards,

Sharon 🙂

Dr. Sharon Livingston

www.DrSharonLivingston.com

603 505 5000 cell

DrSharonLivingston@Gmail.com

 

Categories
Best Practices Growth Human Resources Management Personal Development Women In Business

How to Listen to Engage in a Win-Win Business Relationship

Listen, listen, listen and then reflect

One of the best secrets of great coaching [and all good relationships for that matter] is the ability to listen attentively. You demonstrate to your client that you are engaged and responsive while avoiding expressing your opinion or giving advice or instructing.

We call this Active Listening.  (Some call it Reflective Listening…)

I personally prefer Active Listening because it suggests involvement and engagement with your client. You’re not just a sounding board who repeats the others words [Reflective Listening] but you’re fully present, responding authentically to what you hear and see and sense.

Active Listening creates a safe environment that allows the client to go deeper, and often come to new realizations. It’s the basis for connection, trust and respect.

Further, when you as coach Actively Listen your clients get to hear their words and tone as you mirror them.  It’s almost like being an outside observer. This perspective helps them to have compassion for themselves and often helps them begin their own problem solving of challenges and paths to their desired goals.

There’s also a major benefit to the coach, particularly for those who are starting out.

Many new coaches and managers feel compelled to provide an answer or give direction.  They think they have to do the heavy lifting telling the client what to do next, or sharing how they did it themselves, or coming up with a brilliant solution for a tough problem.

Listening in an engaged manner keeps the focus outside onto the client.  There’s no need to provide a solution.  All you have to do is be there in real time and play back what you experienced to spark their creative thinking.

Here’s an example.

Lisa rushes into her friend Jodie’s office, closes the door and begins:

Lisa: I’m sorry to dump this on you, but I had a fight with my sister and we haven’t spoken since. I’m upset and don’t know who to talk to.

Jodie: I’m right here.  Go ahead.

Lisa: Well, we were arguing about what to do for our parents’ anniversary. I’m still so angry.

Jodie: You SOUND angry.  Tell me more.

Lisa: Yes, she just makes me so angry. She assumed I would help her plan this elaborate party—I don’t have time! It’s like she couldn’t see things from my perspective at all.

Jodie: She really upset you by not taking you into account?

Lisa: Frustrated. Angry. Maybe a bit guilty that she had all these plans and I was the one holding them back. Finally, I told her to do it without me. But that’s not right either.

Jodie: Sounds really upsetting.  And as if her plans are your problem.

Lisa:  Right?  Now I’m the bad one and I hate that.

Jodie:  It feels bad being the bad one.  So sorry.

Lisa: Yes, Exactly. So frustrating and I do want to be part of it but I’m so overwhelmed with things right now.

Jodie: It sounds overwhelming!

Lisa:  Thanks for listening, I just needed to vent. I’m already beginning to think of how I can talk to her.

Jodie:  That’s great. If you want to tell me more about it . . .

Lisa:   [Sigh] I think I’ve got this.  I do love her and my folks.  Just hate feeling like I’m being pushed around and invisible in what I need.

Jodie: [Smiles] I see you.  I think you’ve got this too.

Lisa:  Yeah, I’m going to call her and see how we can work it out.

Jodie:  Sounds like a plan.  Keep me posted?

Lisa:   Sure.  Thanks so much for listening!

Can you see how this engaged listening environment gave Lisa just the help she needed to express her feelings and thoughts, relax and be accepting of herself so she could rethink what happened and solve her own problem?  That’s a major benefit of the Active Listening technique.

Thinking about getting certified as a Professional Coach? Want to talk about it? Or any questions you have about professional coaching? Let’s talk and see whether or not it makes sense for you to become a certified professional coach.

To Learn About Our Upcoming Fast Track Certification Workshop This March in New York City

The cost of $75 for the 30 minute consultation can be applied to the TLC Professional Coach Training program if you decide to join.

Tip 3 will be along tomorrow.

Warmest regards,

Sharon 🙂

Dr. Sharon Livingston

www.DrSharonLivingston.com

603 505 5000 cell

DrSharonLivingston@Gmail.com

Categories
Best Practices Entrepreneurship Personal Development Women In Business

Turning “Failure” Into a Learning Lesson

A few years ago, I had to deal with an opportunity that went awry in my business. It was disappointing, frustrating and complicated, to say the least. As I was going through it, I questioned my own ability to make clear decisions. I wondered how I missed some of the signs that perhaps others had seen. I spent too much time replaying every little detail. And I kept asking myself the question: Was I a failure?

Here’s the thing, I was working on a project that I so was extremely passionate and excited about that I allowed myself to be blinded by the questionable factors that were happening at the same time. I brushed it off, continued to do the work and, mind you, be successful in the process. I continued to forge on until I had to face the reality that the project was not going to find completion.

As a life coach, my job is to make sure my clients are reaching their goals in a positive and growth-filled way. I want to make sure any project I work on is going to be impactful to my audience. My message is clear — you can have the life of your dreams if you do the work and find optimism in your journey. Once I realized that for my now defunct project, I no longer felt like I had failed. I needed to find the learning lesson in my experience. I teach this to my clients every day; it was time I listened to my own advice.

Overcoming a “failure” (not a word I particularly like), isn’t easy. Here are a few steps to help you along in your process:

1. Acknowledge your “failure.” Allow yourself to say yes; give yourself the grace to recognize that your situation happened to you. This could be a difficult pill to swallow. You’re going to get questions from outsiders asking about details of your experience. It’s your choice about how much information to share. Always be honest with your responses, and be careful with oversharing.

2. Accept it. Moving through a failed situation is like moving through the grief process. There are a few stages: shock, anger, guilt and reflection followed by the upturn of rebuilding through it. You have to be able to step back and be okay with your experience in the end. Give yourself a few minutes a day to work through it, start with the bad thoughts, continue through the learning pieces and end with positive affirmations. I use this exercise with my clients and it helps tremendously.

3. Look for the positive lesson. What did you learn from your experience? What would you change or do differently? In my case, I had the opportunity to meet and network with some amazing new people with whom I will continue to cultivate relationships. I learned to be better at vetting business partners. I learned that regardless of this particular outcome, my passion for collaborating and creating will continue.

Often we see failure as a bad thing. But if we turn it around and find the learning experience in it, the situation can become a little easier to bear. I try to learn from all of my experiences, good or bad. That allows me to continue to grow and educate myself both personally and professionally.

Don’t beat yourself up too much. None of us are perfect, we all make mistakes. The most important thing is that we learn from them all.

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Best Practices Human Resources Management Marketing Personal Development Sales

There Are Two Kinds of Training. Only One Works.

For as long as I’ve been working, I’ve experienced training. We all have. We also know that it doesn’t’ always “stick”. This is especially true of sales training. Let me share one big “why”.

As my role transitioned into sales leadership, and now consulting, I had to figure out why some training works better than others. When an initiative involves training, whoever owns the results of that initiative (sometimes different from who leads the training) must understand why…and what to do about it.

There Are Two Kinds of Training.

The two kinds of training are really related to two kinds of content:

  1. Content that trainees can “know”.By this, I mean that information in the training is simply transferred with little or no behavior change. Examples in the sales world are how to prepare a bid or enter an order, or how to find collaterals. General examples might be how to log into the company networks or get help, where to go for an access badge, etc. In banking, we had “how to spot and report possible money laundering” training. The point: learning is simple knowledge transfer. Training works fine for this kind of content.
  2. Content that addresses what trainees “do” (behavior content).A lot of sales training falls into this category. It introduces and defines specific selling behaviors…perhaps with some role-playing for practice. A training department might erroneously measure “success” via post-course content retention testing. By contrast, the vice president of sales owns results responsibility; for him or her, success means permanent behavior change. Millennial-friendly hip multimedia content, video role-playing or easily digestible micro-eLearning modules won’t change behavior. These innovations are great at achieving “know”: they effectively transfer knowledge and introduce desired behavior, but they don’t drive behavior change.

The second kind of training doesn’t work…without help. Behavior change training alone works for only a very small percentage of self-starting and highly capable sellers.

I have watched many companies fail to distinguish between the two kinds of content. As a result, they unconsciously cripple a “sales training” initiative by applying a “know” solution to a “do” problem. They fail to adequately reinforce behavior change after a “do content” training event.

Changing Behavior is Simple, But Not Easy.

The difference between “know” content and “do” content is the level and type of follow-up required. “Do” requires follow-up coaching. Until recently, coaching required a personalized coaching regimen delivered via old-fashioned human interaction. (more about new innovations in that area below). The graphic above shows a table of the difference between a training event and coaching for “do” content. Notice how coaching focuses on adopting or changing behaviors. The differences are pretty self-explanatory.

The gold standard of coaching behavior content is and has always been manager-delivered. Due to the one-on-one nature of effective coaching, a seller’s immediate manager is the logical person to deliver effective coaching.

I was one of the first in my company to become fully certified in the full suite of (Miller Heiman Group) coaching methodologies. I now help not only my own clients, but those of several colleagues to build coaching acumen in their management corps. It’s a hugely rewarding part of my consulting practice: I grow sales careers by growing sales managers’ careers.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Comes to Coaching

The promise of AI is that it can act as an expert system that tirelessly monitors behaviors looking for gaps. An AI system has the time that a sales manager lacks. This is a powerful management tool. It also requires a huge underlying data set to “teach” the system to recognize both behaviors and behavior gaps.

I work with one of the first systems capable of recognizing critical selling behaviors. It diagnoses selling gaps proactively. It’s able to spot deal risks and recommend corrective selling behaviors in time to change the deal trajectory, a major innovation. This system operates from an expert system database built from the deepest experience base in existence: the largest, most successful B2B selling organization in the world. This knowledge base is poised to become the first to use machine learning (one form of AI) to diagnose sales opportunities via CRM data. This requires a different CRM that collects behavior data rather than today’s usual “activity-based” tracking. For instance, you can’t coach from “how many calls did this salesman make”. You can coach from data about meaningful conversations. CRM data isn’t today’s activity-based tracking; it’s metrics with insight into a buying decision…selling behaviors.

While personal coaching is still the gold standard, an expert-based system focusing on selling behaviors lightens the load on front-line sales managers. Sales managers are a very overloaded group, and can use the help.  A system which can automatically catch and notify sellers of the most common behavior gaps allows managers to concentrate their coaching on higher-value issues. Managers can follow up when sellers don’t react to machine-based suggestions, coach for more subtle points, etc.

Don’t Address a “Do” Problem With a “Know” Solution

If you and your company want to embark on a sales performance improvement journey, make sure your plan distinguishes between “know” and “do” content.  Then make sure that you do “do” correctly: with a robust coaching component. Also look for a solution which has a clear future into automated ongoing coaching using AI or some similar technology.

If you’d like a fresh set of eyes on your situation, I’d be happy to spend some time hearing your situation out, and your thoughts. Contact me at mark@boundyconsulting.com if you’d like to access a free sounding board. Comment below if you have any additional insights or questions to share.

To your success!

Categories
Growth Management Personal Development

It’s Time for Managers to March to Their Own Coaching Cadence

Are millennials really that different from their younger counterparts: the members of the up and coming Generation Z? Yes, says Jessica Ogilvy, assistant professor of marketing at Marquette University. She explained the difference between generations during a recent Manage Smarter podcast.

Gen Z: Great Expectations

While managers might be used to supervising baby boomers, Gen Xers and millennials, Gen Z workers have different expectations. Here’s what you need to do to hire and keep the freshest talent.

Like millennials, Gen Z workers grew up in an age of transparency. They’re always connected and always want to be kept in the loop. This desire can come as a surprise to hiring organizations. In the past, you got away with not keeping in touch with candidates. That practice was especially true during the recession, when there were hundreds of qualified candidates for every job opening.

Right now, we’re in a strong labor market. If you’ve got a winning Gen Z candidate, you need to stay in touch. They want feedback. How did the interview go? Are you going to reach out to their references? Let them know these details, before they decide you’re not interested and move on to their next option.

Managing the Gen Z Employee

Once the Gen Z joins your workforce, the need for feedback doesn’t change. When these employees turn in an assignment, they expect some kind of response. For them, the absence of a response is the same as receiving a thumbs-down. That reaction is a far cry from the expectations of older generations. Old-school workers weren’t raised in a climate of constant feedback. They’re likely to break in a sweat, worrying they’ve done something wrong, when the manager appears at their cubicle.

It’s risky to hire an unproven Gen Z candidate right out of school. And it can be expensive if they leave quickly, which many tend to do. Ogilvy says we shouldn’t overlook the Gen Z eagerness to learn and high energy levels.

Coaching Cadence

To generate loyalty, Ogilvy recommends a using a practice called coaching cadence. Start your relationship with your employee by understanding their personal and professional goals. If they hope to buy a house and need more money, work with them on developing skills that will qualify them for a promotion in your organization. Help them see how their professional lives, at your company, will lead to achieving their personal dreams.

When you reach out as a manager on this level, employees see you being self-aware and empathetic. That transparency matters to them. The bigger challenge for you, as a manager, is to balance the unique needs of your youngest employees with all of the other demands on your time.

Make sure you regularly evaluate your priorities and don’t be afraid to delegate tasks when it makes sense.

Categories
Growth Management Personal Development

Management Tips from The Charisma Coach

You’ve hired your dream candidate. They’re blowing the doors off all the technical problems you’ve been having. But, they don’t seem very happy. And, they don’t seem to be fitting in with the rest of the team, especially since they’re lacking professionalism. What are you going to do now? Mary Gardner, The Charisma Coach, who we just interviewed for a Manage Smarter podcast on the C-Suite Radio Network, would say it’s time to put on your coaching hat. Here’s how it works…

Today’s managers are faced with building teams from five different generations. Older employees, those in the baby boomer and Gen X groups, accept assignments without question. They put in long hours. For many, the concept of work-life balance doesn’t exist. Younger employees question everything. These team members won’t necessarily complete a task unless they feel involved.

To increase involvement and make solid connections with your team members, use storytelling. Try opening a meeting on a project by delivering a one-liner: a statement about what must be delivered. Then you should delve into details that will make your audience, your team, become emotionally involved. Talk on a personal level about a similar project you managed and how it impacted you or the larger world.

Beyond storytelling, start involving your team members. Ask for their input. Start with the least experienced person in the group. Otherwise, the more experienced team members may squelch creative thinking, simply because newer employees often feel intimidated. Include as many ideas as you can in the project in order to give employees ownership. This process, says Gardner, will appeal to millennial and Gen Z workers who admire inspiring leaders.

Excitement about a work project may still not be enough to induce professionalism in your new tech hire. Managers realize that while younger employees bring energy, ideas and technical skills to the table, they often lack understanding of true teamwork. It’s up to you, the manager, to set ground rules. One approach to the situation is to focus on career goals and discuss how the current job fits into the employees’ larger vision for their lives. Ask if they see themselves progressing in a management role. Many young workers share this goal.

If they are coming in late, leaving early and asking about more benefits, explain how that attitude doesn’t match the management profile. Encourage them to volunteer for more projects and devote more energy to work. Advise them to pay attention to company culture. For example, taking more than an hour for lunch isn’t a good idea. Another example could be reminding them to praise a co-worker for a job well done. Consistent coaching on these topics can help you shape the career path of a talented employee. What could be more rewarding than that?