Promote Yourself (21 page)

As you may have seen in the chart, Boomers spend an average of seven years on the job before making a move, and many have worked for the same company for decades. For the most part, that kind of loyalty doesn't exist today, and while ten years may seem like an eternity for you, be respectful and don't bring up the fact that you don't expect to be there any more than a few years (the average for Gen Y). But again, the more effort you put in and the more loyal you are, the more you'll be rewarded with recognition and increased responsibilities.

Sixty-six percent of managers say they prefer face-to-face meetings over any other means of communicating. Fortunately, 62 percent of employees know that's their managers' preferred method and try to use it. Technology is hardly dead, though. The second most popular way of communicating between managers and employees is e-mail (26 percent of managers and 25 percent of employees say it's their preferred method). If you haven't already heard or you haven't already been told how your manager prefers to communicate, stop by the office and ask. Keep in mind, though, that it's possible to change things. You may be able to show your manager that for quick communications, texts and IMs are often more efficient than a phone call or an in-person meeting. Anytime you can improve efficiency, you'll be seen as someone who's adding real value to the organization.

Shared interests, activities, or even stories are a great way to develop relationships with people from other generations. Learn as much as you can from them. “I feel that older workers have a lot of wisdom. I listen to what they have to say and while there may be a generational gap, their advice is invaluable and still applies,” says Laura Petti, Booker for Fox News's
Your World with Neil Cavuto
. Mallory McMorrow, a Senior Designer at Mattel, agrees: “They've seen projects fail and they know why. Hopefully I'm able to tap into their experience to avoid rookie mistakes, and help the group as a whole move forward.”

But not everyone sees older workers that way. “My impression of older workers sometimes is that they are only in positions of higher authority because of the number of years under their belt,” Ryan Brown, a young Sales Solutions employee at Twitter, told me. “Just because someone is younger doesn't mean they can't compete at a high level.” While Ryan is right that being young doesn't mean you can't compete, the first part of his comment is exactly the kind of attitude that Boomers resent. And it's the kind of attitude that could cost you your job. So if thoughts like Ryan's are running through your head, stop now. You're the new kid and you're walking into an established company with established ways of doing things. Sure, you may be able to change things, but that'll take a while. In the meantime, drop that attitude and start paying more attention to your performance and making things happen for your company and yourself.

When you identify someone who has skills or experience you want to learn from, ask them to formally or informally mentor you. The best approach is a direct one, something like, “I want to learn the financial approach to business. Can you help me?” or, “Can you involve me in the brand management aspects of the company?” or, “Can you involve me more in the digital content of the company?” Believe me, this is an approach that works. And if you don't believe me, listen to Matthew Nordby, EVP, Chief Revenue Officer at Playboy Enterprises, Inc. “When people come to me with a very specific request and acknowledge that they have a deficiency or an area they would like to learn more about, I am more inclined to put them in a position to learn about that business and also be personally invested to see that they get the skills they need.” Seeking out mentorship or guidance sends several powerful messages. First, that you respect the other person's wisdom and knowledge. Second, that you're committed to learning what it takes to make the company (and you) successful. As a result, you'll get more visibility, more responsibility, and you'll get ahead faster.

Be prepared to prove yourself. “When I first began, there were only a few other young people,” said Amanda Healy, a Senior Channel Marketing Analyst at CA Technologies. “I was often asked if I was an intern, or worse, a daughter visiting her mother or father at the workplace. While initially frustrating, I slowly began to view my youth as an advantage. Carefully crafting my comments, questions, and suggestions to reflect my knowledge of the field and overall maturity, I was able to alter others' initial impressions. In also ensuring my form of dress was professional, I was able to demonstrate that while young, my commitment to my work and my level of skill was mature. After a while, I noticed at large meetings that when I raised my hand to speak or ask a question, people's ears tended to perk up. I think everyone was interested in what ‘the kid' had to say.” Nothing, as they say, succeeds like success. Show what you can do and you'll have more people interested in investing time and money in you.

Most companies recognize that not everyone has the same technical chops. “For the most part, the biggest difference I've seen is the technical savvy of the people entering the workforce today, which often far exceeds our current employees,” says Marc Chini, VP Human Resources at GE. If you can make yourself a resource and help others improve their tech skills, they'll be in a better position to accomplish their goals. And when you've helped them, they'll almost always find a way to help you too. If you can't make something happen or you don't have an answer, you can still be a valued resource by finding the right person. The person you find will be in your debt and the person whose need you satisfied will see that you're a team player. And all of that builds visibility.

 

Identifying People Who Can Support Your Career

Your first step in strategic relationship building is to identify one or more mentors—individuals you think can help you get where you want to go. In some companies, there's a formal process where young employees are assigned a mentor when they first join the firm. Here's how Paul Marchand, Senior Vice President of Global Talent Acquisition at PepsiCo, describes his company's mentorship to me: “We have a resource group called Conn3ct which is focused on building a global network of young professionals within PepsiCo and creating a passionate and inspiring environment for the next generation of PepsiCo leaders. It's a vehicle whereby Millennials' voices are heard, energy is harnessed, and ideas are implemented, enabling members to receive critical executive exposure and sponsorship early on in their career.” Mentorship is a way for you to find out what you should be doing now, makes you more connected with execs who make decisions, and gets you to learn a lot from people who've already been there, done that.

Unfortunately, not every workplace is as progressive. For example, Steve Cadigan, VP of Talent at LinkedIn, told me about a former employer, where “there is ‘Exec Row'—and you don't go up there unless you have permission.” And that's really unfortunate, because mentoring pays some pretty significant dividends. Fifty-three percent of young workers in our study said that having a strong mentoring relationship would make them better, more productive contributors to the company, and 32 percent said it would get them to stay at their company longer. Managers were even more optimistic, with 62 percent saying mentoring would make young employees better and 36 percent saying it would decrease turnover.

If you're lucky enough to work at a place that has a formal mentorship program, congrats. Congrats are also in order if your employer has a more
informal
structure that encourages young employees and managers to connect. At LinkedIn, for example, there are regular “sit and learns” where employees have a chance to meet executives of all levels. But when thinking about a mentor, you need to start with an honest evaluation of the skills or experience you lack. If you don't know that, you can't possibly identify the right person.

Generally speaking, mentors are senior people in your organization. They know where the company is going, they know the system, and they can draw on their experience and wisdom to show you what you should be doing and when. “He's really focused on helping me build my career, directing me where to go, figuring out what I enjoy doing so I get on those projects,” says Kristin Gonzalez, a young Tax Consultant at Deloitte. “With him I can talk about pretty much anything. If I'm having trouble working with any managers or partners or seniors or other staff, or if there's something I really want to work on and I'm not working on it I go to him and I can say, ‘Hey I really want to get on this project, is there any way you could make that happen?' That's what he's there for, he's a career mentor.”

Mentors can come from a variety of sources. Ideally, your manager will mentor you, at the very least giving you good-quality feedback on what you're doing well, not so well, and how to improve. Your manager is also the perfect person to introduce you to her manager, who may be a mentor to you as well. If your manager is
not
mentoring you, or seems uninterested in you and your career progression, you need to either get transferred to another department or team or start thinking about finding another job soon.

You may also seek out a manager or exec from other departments within your company—one, for example, that you're interested in transferring to. In this case, your mentor would be able to help you get the skills you need to make the transition.

Finally, identify people outside your company you trust and admire. These mentors can give you a less biased, bigger-picture view of the industry than you're likely to get from within. Mentors in this category could be prominent industry bloggers, executives you heard speak at a conference, and so on. We'll talk about how to reach out to these people below.

 

Mentoring: Not Only a One-Way Street

When most people talk about mentoring, they're usually thinking of a senior person taking a junior person under his or her wing. And while that's important, a lot of people overlook the value in reverse mentoring—where you, the junior person, help someone more senior. A classic reverse mentoring situation is when the younger worker helps an older worker with social media or new technologies. Why would you want to do be a reverse mentor? Because it's good for your career.

Mentoring is about building relationships with people who can help you. The time you spend teaching an older executive how to post to the company blog and send a tweet at the same time is definitely helping him acquire new skills. At the same time, you're probably going to be learning more about the company's vision and direction and how you might fit in at various levels. You're also increasing your visibility and gaining access to someone higher up in your organization, someone who may be able to guide you in your career and help you make good choices as you move up, someone who will either help you directly or use his contacts to open doors in other areas.

There's one more important piece to the mentorship puzzle that most people forget about: Mentorship is an ongoing relationship and it's essential that you keep your mentor up to date on what you're doing. Your mentor may be pretty high up in the organization, but chances are he or she still has a boss. And everything you do—the results you achieve, the promotions you get—reflects on your mentor. Make your mentor look good and they'll keep helping you. Let them down and you could find yourself without a strong supporter.

While there's definitely a lot you can learn from older workers, the flow of information doesn't just run in one direction. While plenty of Boomer and Gen Xers are as tech-smart as you are, many are not. So help them learn how to stay up to date with traditional social media and tech platforms (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) and how to use the new social media tools that have cropped up in the last twenty minutes. Your emphasis should be on using technology for business and career, but if someone asks you to help set up personal accounts go ahead (as long as you do it on your own time). “Let's say you're working with a boss who is not as adept, to say the least, as you are. What a great way and opportunity to show him a skill that you have and expose him to something that you are really into and teach them something at the same time,” says Eden Pontz, an Executive Producer at CNN. Of course not everyone will come right out and ask you for help, which means you might have to take the first step. Pontz suggests an approach like this: “You identify a couple of people in the office who you noticed aren't using social media to the fullest and offer your services, saying, ‘Hey, this is something I really enjoy doing, let me know if you ever have any questions, I'd be happy to help out and if I don't know the answer I'd be happy to go find you the answer.'” In other words, know your value, what you can do, and what you're good at. See situations where you can provide people with what they need and you'll be seen as a helpful, valuable resource. That's the kind of stuff that gets people promoted.

As we've discussed, older generations often see changing jobs as something negative or disloyal. But in today's market, the most successful people are the ones who have had multiple job experiences at a variety of companies.

While there's no question that Boomers and Gen Xers have done plenty of innovating and risk taking, on average, younger generations are even more innovative and entrepreneurial. With you, it's less about corporate hierarchies and more about doing things that are new or cool. Remember: Entrepreneurship doesn't always mean starting a new company. There's often a lot of room to innovate and be creative within your company.

Finally, because a lot of Boomers have put work first for most (if not all) of their careers, they can use some help balancing work, family, friends, and community. So once in a while take a few Boomers out for a drink after work. You can benefit from the stories they'll tell you, and they can benefit from being subtly reminded that everyone needs to have a life.