“For Millennials, the growing use of the Internet and mobile devices in the workplace is creating a significant impact on job decisions, hiring and work-life balance. The ability to use social media, mobile devices, and the Internet more freely in the workplace is strong enough to influence job choice, sometimes more than salary.” — 2011 Cisco Connected World Technology Report
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The Pounding of T.S. Elliot , Technology and Generations
Last week there was an article reviewing Technology in 2011, the writer spoke of Twitter, Blackberry, Zuckerberg’s Facebook finally commenting on T.S. Elliot’s The Waste Land. His point was the power of a Kindle or iPad to permit you to read and hear this classic piece by some of great voices of our time, Fiona Shaw, Alec Guinness, Ted Hughes, Viggo Mortensen and Elliott , himself.
APRIL is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers. (The Wasteland)
Today there are many, many articles on technology in small businesses, Family businesses, Women Owned businesses; there are discussions of shared/contracted services, cloud offerings and part time work from home jobs.
In addition to technology there maybe another factor we should consider when creating our 5-year, strategic plan — millennials.
They are the Tech generation. In a recent survey many said millennials give up the sense of smell before they’d give up their Smartphone.
Jim Craig in 1980.
If we can agree that lean is a holistic style, not a shop floor event. Recently I had the chance to hear Jim Craig speak. Craig was the goalie from the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team –The Miracle on Ice. Jim Craig said their win was no miracle. It said it was the result of:
• Hard work
• A shared dream
• A Coach with the right plan
• A team that executed the plan
Continuous improvement is a lean activity, and great teams improve. Adopting a holistic lean philosophy across the entire enterprise is a path rather than a destination. It requires continual monitoring and incremental improvement within each functional department and throughout all external relationships.
Ultimately, an organization’s ability to successfully adopt and extend lean across their entire supply chain requires not only organizational discipline and top level commitment, but also the right technology and the right professional services expertise. As a result there will be an opportunity for increased customer satisfaction, improved employee morale and retention, and a newly found ability for increased capacity to grow the business.
There was an intermission in Jim Craig’s presentation, waiting in line for a coffee; replaying Miracle on Ice in my mind; listening to the Herb Brooks themes – “The name on the front (USA) in more important than the one on the back, Legs Feed the wolf! (you have to be willing to work harder), you can’t win on talent alone, cause gentlemen we don’t have that much talent (it’s about teamwork).” As the conference draw to a close, Jim Craig let out a secret, Herb Brooks liked Willie Wonka. He quoted Willie Wonka!
“We are the makers of dreams, the dreamers of dreams. We grew up as kids having dreams, but now we are too sophisticated as adults as a nation. We should always have dreams. I’m a dreamer.”
As we think about our plans, this year, our five year strategic plan we need to consider technology, we need to acknowledge that your employees are different generations. Gen Y, 3Gs will bring different skills sets. This perhaps mislabeled “Peter Pan Generation” brings a technology engagement, a parental attachment and what the New York Times described as entrepreneurial and ‘post-emotional’ generation. No anger, no edge, no ego.
We need to be dreamers!
[…] use among various generations in the workforce. According to a 2011 Cisco Technology Report, some Millennials say the ability to use social media, mobile devices, and the Internet more freely in the workplace […]