Navigating life successfully requires facing difficulty with authenticity. In fact, we grow the most at these times. Hardship builds muscles of compassion, empathy, intentionality, persistence, will, endurance and faith. These strengths enable us to climb the mountain of life successfully in both good times and bad.

Having acknowledged that reality, there is another truth that rings equally true. Gratitude is the antibody in the face of disappointment! As Oprah states, gratitude looks toward what we have, rather than what we don’t have.

“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.” — Oprah Winfrey

The choice of what you allow to fill your heart ends up being what you fill your mind with, and eventually your soul. Making conscious choices about whether to fill our heart with gratitude in recognition of the goodness and blessing in our life, or with complaints about what we do not have determines the attitude we have each day and how we impact others. Everyone has a choice, in each trial to be either a carrier of vitality and positivity or a carrier of regret and negativity. Which do you want to contribute to your life and the lives of others around you?

I have witnessed people that face hardships and still manage to flow positivity. What makes the difference between that and the less ideal alternative? I believe it is intentional focus and gratitude for what we do have instead of comparing and wishing we had different. Although at times life seems difficult, the choice is not that complicated – what we focus on gets transcribed upon our heart and flows like a river out into the world.

Out of heart flows the wellspring of life. (Proverbs 4:23)

So, how do we build gratitude on our life?

During some of my greatest trials in life, I learned to keep a gratitude journal. I started each day recording at least 5 things I was thankful for that day. My gratitude journal often includes some of these entries:
• My health
• My family
• My friends
• My home
• My faith
• Opportunities to create
• Freedom
• Hot shower
• Choices at the grocery store
• Nature walks
• The ocean

It is amazing what recording your thanks and gratitude can do to improve perspective on life. In my worst of times, I needed the compassion, encouragement and love of those who could pour their support into me. At the same time, taking stock of the good things in my life helped me to put my trials into perspective. Hardships don’t define us; we define them by how we decide to respond to them.

Worldwide Copyright TJ Associates, LLC Diane Brown

Persistence is the ability to maintain action regardless of how you feel. It means not giving up on the resolve of your heart.
I like James Whitcomb’s description of persistence:

The determination never to allow your energy or enthusiasm
to be dampened by the discouragement that must inevitably come.

I believe each of us is custom made for a unique purpose in life. Most of us dream big dreams and hope big hopes. Yet, studies show that less than 5% of us actually achieve our dreams and hopes. Why is the success rate so low? It is partly because we lack persistence. We give up when the going gets tough. We question our abilities and the sensibility of the goal. We lose sight of courage as we smack into the mountain of adversity and trial. Our dreams splatter and we fall into the valley of complacency and mediocrity. But, it does not have to be that way!

In the confrontation between the stream and the rock,
the stream always wins, not through strength,
but through persistence. H Jackson Brown

Let’s consider what it takes to be as persistent as a stream:

• Knowing who we are – A stream knows its strength lies in the power of repetitive movement. It simply flows in the current of who it is until it sculpts out the path it envisions.
• Know where I am going – the stream follows a nature course it was destined to follow. No matter what obstacle it encounters, it flows through, under or over the obstacle to its natural destination.
• Live in the moment – the stream encounters each moment sequentially. It doesn’t get distracted by the past or the future.
• Find your passion – the stream carries energy (passion) that is not easily curtailed by the strength of its opposition. That energy turns problems into solutions.

Let’s examine some of the key attributes of Persistence:
• Courageous
• High integrity
• Resiliency
• Intrinsically motivated for a purpose
• Objectivity
• Learner
• Resolved
• Goal oriented

Take a look at some obstacles you may be facing right now. Are you feeling discouraged? Questioning your goals? Just remember that each obstacle that you overcome makes you stronger and more able to power through the next! Focus your mind on the attributes of persistence and the end goal and realize obstacles are only temporary.

In closing I must share one of my favorite quotes on persistence that I often read as my own reminder to stay the course.

Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not;
nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
The slogan “Press On” has solved and always
will solve the problems of the human race.- Calvin Coolidge

Worldwide Copyright TJ Associates, LLC Diane Kucala

One of my favorite leadership lessons from John Maxwell centers on the topic of Blind Spots. A blind spot is “an area in the lives of people in which they continually do not see themselves or their situation realistically.” Blind spots usually refer to areas where we misinterpret our ability and are “blind” to the negative implications that our behaviors have on others. All of us have blind spots. If you think you don’t…it is a Blind Spot!

This reminds me of driving a car. You become keenly aware of blind spots when a vehicle ahead of you starts veering into your lane, unaware that your car is within inches of his back tire. On the road, we can alert a driver who is caught by a blind spot by tapping (or pressing compulsively) on the horn. Too often, though, in our careers, we do not receive this kind of immediate and auditory feedback.

There are many ways to identify our leadership Blind Spots at work. Here are a few examples:
• Ask your spouse or a long-time trusted advisor
• Conduct a 360-degree survey asking people to identify your strengths and weaknesses
• Take our Talent Journey Assessment to uncover both strengths and Blind Spots

Blind Spots by definition are areas of your life that you don’t see, yet they can profoundly impact your ability to influence, achieve, and get results. We all have Blind Spots. Why let them inhibit your career? Have the courage to open your eyes to your Blind Spots today.

Try out our COMPLIMENTARY TALENT INSIGHTS assessment today! We are confident you’ll discover something new about yourself and will see!

Copyright protected February 2012, Diane Brown, TJ Associates LLC

What is On-line Training?
On-line training is delivered on the internet and can be completed by participants whenever it fits into their schedules, 12 hours per day. Great on-line training includes all of the following elements:
• Sr. Leadership Voice. Through video, audio and text, our online modules capture the voice of today’s senior leadership.
• Rich content. We help you streamline training to ensure it is potent, concise and relevant.
• Engaging interaction. We build exercises and interactions to ensure the learner is both learning and enjoying the learning experience.
• Learning Assessment. We incorporate exercises, quizzes, games and/or simulations to ensure learners master the training objectives.

When do you use on-Line training?
On-line training is a great methodology to use when you want to transfer specific and consistent learning outcomes to a large group of participants with excellence and consistency. On-line training can be combined with classroom experiential learning when live interaction is important, such as teambuilding. In hybrid learning, basic concepts are conveyed through the on-line modality and follow-up practice and experiential learning is incorporated in the classroom.

What Are the Benefits of Talent Journey’s On-Line Training?
• Best in class curriculum design
• Dynamic, interactive, and engaging platform
• Consistency and Sustainability of learning
• Affordable, with unlimited reusability
• Flexible and Convenient (globally)
• Customized learning experience for your organization

Talent Journey can help!

Our team can help you design, develop and implement on-line training in your organization. Our team consists of expert curriculum and graphic designers, programmers, voice over specialists and technology experts.

As an example, we created a New Employee Orientation Program called “Servant Leadership” for Clarient, a GE Healthcare Company. A sample of the online training is available by entering this URL:
http://www.thetalentjourney.com/onlinetraining

Our demo client asked new employees to complete their one hour New Employee Servant Leadership training prior to initiating their classroom orientation program. Throughout the classroom orientation program, this online training is referenced and reinforced with interactive exercises and discussion.

Contact us to explore On-Line training curriculum for your organization. We’d love to partner with you in creating customized, impactful and sustainable online training to meet your organizational needs.

Worldwide Copyright TJ Associates, LLC Diane Brown

Step 1: Reflect back on 2011. Acknowledge and honor both the good and the bad of the past year. Take a realistic assessment of your accomplishments/joys and disappointments/sorrows. What strengths emerged in your life? What mattered most to you? What were the top 2 -3 inhibitors or hurdles that limited you?

Step 2: Create an attitude of gratitude. Spend at least 15 minutes brainstorming all of the things you are grateful for in your life. Start with the obvious and once you get going the list quickly grows. Your list may include family, health, home, a favorite spot, freedom, etc.

Step 3: Identify your top values. Values are the rudder of life. Our life finds greatest fulfillment when it reflects the core internal values we hold important. For a comprehensive list of common values, go to http://www.thetalentjourney.com/FocusOnValues.html. What are your top 3 – 5 values in priority order?

Step 4: Evaluate your balance. See the Life Balance Wheel below. You can modify as you see fit. Evaluate your level of satisfaction in the areas of life that matter most to you. The scale is 1-7 with “1” indicating very low satisfaction and “7” indicating very high satisfaction. How consistent are the ratings across areas; that is, how well balanced is your wheel? If you experience lower satisfaction ratings in some areas, do you want to do anything about them in 2012?

Step 5: Write your mission statement. Your mission statement should include about 5 – 7 sentences that describe your purpose in life. It defines what you devote your life to and find worthwhile. Your mission statement will include your top values, strengths and long-term goals. A good way to begin thinking about your mission statement is to envision your 80th birthday party. What do you want people to say about you and your life?

Step 6: Choose Goals that matter. In the context of your overall mission statement, strengths, values and life balance wheel, what goals do you want to establish for yourself in 2012? A goal is specific, measurable and time bound. It is important that your goals truly matter and are compelling to you. Brainstorm all of the things you want in 2012. Avoid editing your list at this point. Write down everything that comes to mind.

* Go over your list and ask yourself, “Is this something that I really want, or is it something that I think I should want?” Take the “should’s” off your list.
* Review your list again and ask yourself, “Is this something that I can realistically accomplish in 2012.” Cross off or modify anything that is not realistically achievable in 2012.
* Prioritize your top 3 – 5 goals. Force yourself to prioritize the goals that will have the biggest impact in the coming year. Many of us live diluted lives because we try to do too many things at once.
* Review your top 3 – 5 goals to ensure they are specific and measurable. For example, “I will spend at least 2 hours of 1:1 time per week with each child and my spouse” is a better goal than “I will spend more time with the family.”
* Record and post your top 3 -5 goals in a location where you will see them frequently.

Don’t worry about getting your goals perfectly articulated. You will have all year to revise, update and clarify the goals. Start with your best understanding at this point. Be flexible to amend the goals as life changes and new opportunities arise. The goals are just a tool. Bettering your life is the end goal.

Step 7: Make it Happen. Establish accountability and track your progress. Accomplishing goals in life is like losing weight. Most often we know what we need to do (eat right and exercise), but we don’t always do what we know we should (oops, french fries and milk shake weren’t on the goal list). One of the best ways to accomplish goals is to find an accountability partner who will keep you on track. This helps direct your efforts more effectively. None of us is perfect. Please, give yourself grace along the journey.

We at Talent Journey value you as an individual and professional. We hope this 7 Step process helps you become more purposeful about what you want to be, do and become in 2012. We’re looking forward to another great year with you! May you find deep satisfaction and fulfillment as you make this… your best year ever!

Worldwide Copyright TJ Associates, LLC Diane Brown

In today’s economy, no business can afford to alienate customers. Let’s look at a couple of economic facts.

* GDP growth (the measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced in the USA) is low. Customer demand has diminished, and new customers are hard to attract. Businesses must do everything in their power to retain the customers they have.

* Consumer spending is weak. Our current customers are holding onto their money. We cannot afford to give them any reasons not to buy our goods or services.

I love Sam Walton’s quote about customers: “There is only one boss: the customer. And he can fire everyone in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” Continuous close attention to customers and customer service is an integral part of everyone’s job. Without that, a business will not thrive, and quite possibly will cease to exist.

In this month’s Talent Journey newsletter, we want to remind you of some QUICK TIPS for executing customer service (internally and externally) within your business:

1. Identify and anticipate needs. As business leaders, we must anticipate how customer needs will change and emerge in new ways over the coming years. Successful leaders perceive shifts in technology, markets, demographics, etc. that will impact the customer’s expectations in the future.

2. Establish a customer-centric company culture. Ensure that all employees understand the immense value and are trained in customer service skills. Build metrics and reward systems around customer focused behavior that penetrates all functions and departments.

3. Organize and manage your organization around customer’s needs. Often, this means breaking down boundaries between departmental silos to ensure customer communication is seamless and effective.

4. Know and truly care about your customers as individuals. Customers want you to treat them and their needs as important. Calling customers by name, knowing their buying habits, and focusing of their satisfaction go a long way in retaining loyalty.

5. Know your products and services. Customers want to know that you’re experts and they can rely on you for answers. Anyone in your organization who is talking to a client is the face of your organization. When employees portray competence, the company earns respect from the customer. Customers will pay more for competence.

6. Appreciate the power of “yes.” Even when you cannot give customers exactly what they want, find the “yes” in your responses to them. Customers want to like the people they do business with and answering “yes” helps to establish good rapport.

7. Understand the demographics and personality style of your customer. No two customers are exactly alike. Create customer profiles that assist employees in determining how best to respond to customer types. For example, technology companies might create a small business, home-based geek, and a stay-at-home mom profile to help script the best customer service for those demographics.

8. Treat employees the way that you want them to treat your customers. In all your interactions with your employees, model the value and respect you want them to show with customers. Care about your employees as individuals. Value their work. Show your appreciation for their contributions. These attitudes and behaviors go a long way in setting a customer-centric tone that breeds loyalty.
As the holidays approach, it is a good reminder to treat customers in a way that gains or retains their business. In today’s businesses, customers are quick to look elsewhere when the experience is below expectations. We are not suggesting over-promising and under-delivering to customers, but finding a way to make each one feel heard and of value is critical to customer success. Customer satisfaction impacts every organization overall, so we hope you found these quick tips a helpful reminder. We want to see your organization succeed and maximize the potential that exists!

Author: Diane Brown at TJ Associates LLC (Talent Journey). Copyright protected, all rights reserved worldwide.

2. Operational Excellence focuses on the practical elements of the business. Organizations strong in operational thinking adeptly assess people and processes; they maximize resources for efficiency and results. They take a sky-scraper view of the organization, focusing on the day to day execution of strategy and goals.

3. Relationship Ability focuses on selecting, motivating, developing, and retaining high performance at individual, team, and organizational levels by developing caring relationships. Organizations that are strong in this thinking dimension earn people’s respect and followership. Understanding individual, team, and organizational needs, these organizations motivate, encourage, equip and develop people and teams to contribute their best toward the organization’s strategy and mission.

All organizations have relative strengths and weaknesses in each of these dimensions. The secret to success is maximizing the potential in all areas. To achieve this end, organizations are smart to establish a leadership team with strengths across these respective. Talent Journey’s comprehensive assessment process readily identifies leader and organizational strengths. Contact us for more information about how you can assess your organization and leadership team to optimize your organizational success. Also, we recommend that you get a copy of the “Answering the Central Question” book referenced in the newsletter. This book provides a comprehensive view of the three perspectives and the assessment measures we utilize.

Written by Diane Brown at TJ Associates LLC. Copyright protected, all rights reserved worldwide. October 2011

As organizations seek new ways to increase success, it might surprise some that employee disengagement costs businesses in the US more than $300 billion each year. Although the figure might be a bit shocking at first, after further consideration it makes perfect sense. The cost of unfocused, unmotivated and unhappy employees takes a ridiculous toll on business. In assessing your own staff, you hope that the majority of your workforce fall outside of that camp. In reality, that is likely not the case. Gallup Management Journal found that more than 2/3 of the workforce is not fully engaged in their work .

The effects of unengaged workers can devastate an organization over time. The interesting study captured in “Creativity on the Job,” provides one glaring example of the negative effects. Some of the other devastating downfalls of disengagement include:

• Marginalized Performance
• Conflict and Resentment within the Team
• Lack of Productivity
• Loss of Customer Satisfaction and Retention
• Decreased Employee Satisfaction and Retention
• Decrease in Profitability

Let’s drive this news home. One study compared highly engaged business units to un-engaged units and found that the engaged groups rated 86% higher in customer satisfaction, had a 78% higher safety record, maintained a 70% lower turnover rate, delivered a 70% higher productivity rate and scored 44% more in profitability (Source: Follow This Path, C. Coffman and G. Gonzalez-Molina, 2002). The good news for leaders is that untapped potential of disengaged employees can be turned around. In the rest of this article, we will highlight key strategies to increase the engagement of your staff and the success of your organization.

KEY ENGAGMENT STRATEGIES:
• Hire Right – The most important decision leaders make is bringing the right talent through the doors of the organization. The right talent means finding a fit between what the job, team, and organization needs and what the employee brings to the table. Too often, leaders hire people they “like” in the interview. The “like” factor creates a personality fit, but commonly misses several other important success factors. We recommend utilizing a comprehensive performance assessment to help objectify the hiring process. An assessment that measures personality, motivation and competency provides the highest level of superior job performance predictability.

• Honor Whole Person – Employees don’t want to be used simply as a vehicle for corporate success. Engaging leaders truly care about workers as unique people. Employees engage when you demonstrate that you authentically care about and are interested in them, their family and their career.

• Honor Competency – In the 21st century, almost all jobs require some level of individual creativity, leadership and decision-making autonomy. An engaging leader understands that employees often have better answers to their own work issues than the boss does. As a leader, honor the competency of your employees by slowing down and asking them to share their opinions and ideas. Teach and coach them to think and create solutions themselves.

• Establish a Partnership Environment – Employees typically want to experience the success of achieving a cause bigger than themselves. However, most organizations miss opportunities to include employees in achieving the vision, mission, and values of the company. Employee meetings are good vehicles for sharing information, but not sufficient. Information and dialogue must flow freely through all levels of leadership to the most entry-level employee. We also recommend transparency of an organizations financial status when possible. Engaging leaders treat employees as partners in the business.

• Encourage Healthy Dialogue – One of the most difficult skills to master in any relationship is healthy dialogue. The majority of people tend to shy away from disagreements and conflict. Engaging leaders master the art of facilitating respectful and open dialogue that honors and encourages differing views. This type of environment not only fosters engagement, it also produces healthier business decisions and increased profitability.

• Resource Properly – Once employees are motivated to perform, it becomes critical that engaging leaders provide all the resources employees need to be successful. These resources include; systems infrastructure (such as IT), financial funding, tools/equipment, information, and skills/abilities. An engaging leader makes it a priority to help employees obtain the resources they need to get the job done.

• Ensure Accountability – When performance or interpersonal issues are not addressed, the team’s morale suffers. The impact of just one un-engaged employee can be devastating to the overall engagement of a department or team. High performance teams within organizations operate just like a winning sports team. Those that win are working together as a cohesive and engaged team. Losing teams may have a few individual stars, but no one performs at their best – not even the stars. Great leaders deal with performance issues to ensure the entire team is functioning at its full potential.

• In implementing new strategies as leaders, you might encounter some initial resistance. We encourage you to persist. It takes time for employees to understand, embrace, and adapt to change. Engaging leaders continually seek business improvements and ways to maximize the potential of those they lead. Just think – your “star” employee may be the next leader. Additionally, your least engaged employee, once fostered, may end up being your next “star”. Engaging leaders see the untapped potential in their employees and deploy strategies to bring out the best in every person/team.

Regardless of the size, industry, or product-mix of an organization, there are unique skills, talents and abilities that each job requires in order for the organization to be most effective. No employee excels at all of them. In hiring, forming team, and succession planning, it is important to match the most important skills, talents and abilities required by the job with the candidate that best exemplifies those abilities. We utilize a Talent Assessment that helps define these attributes, as well as many others:

Strategic Integration Defining and communicating company visions, mission, values & strategy and integrating/aligning those across the organization
• Strategic Planning
• Customer Acumen
• Product/Service Portfolio Decision-making
• Conceptual and Integrative Thinking
• Managing Change
• Establishing Organizational Culture
• Continuous Learning

Operational Excellence Executing strategy by creating efficient infrastructures and implementing strategy through people
• Accountability for Results
• Goal and Performance Management
• Infrastructure Development
• Problem Solving
• Continuous Improvement
• Resilience
• Metrics and Reporting

Relationship Ability Enable and Equip high performance and organizational success
• Authenticity
• Building Trust
• Communication Skills
• Interpersonal Ability
• Influence
• Leading Others
• Developing Others
• Team Building
• Conflict Management

We utilize a TRIO assessment that provides quantitative and reliable (EEOC approved) data regarding candidate ability to perform well in these and other important areas. Organizations that invest in assessments for pre-hire, onboarding, team development and succession planning reduce the risk and pain of having to unwind poor hiring decisions. Our assessment and benchmarking process (see the “Bench Strength starts with a Benchmark”) generates a job profile and candidate profile to determine the FIT between what the job needs (profile) and what a candidate/employee brings to the job (candidate profile). Our assessment provides insights about candidates profiles that are difficult or impossible to uncover in an interview.

Diane Brown at the Talent Journey. Copyrighted. © 2011 June 2011 All rights reserved worldwide. All articles, quotes, and material in this newsletter are copyrighted. © 2011. No part can be reproduced in any form without specific written consent from copyright holder(s). All rights reserved worldwide.

“To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.” ~ Anthony Robbins

Co-authored by Diane Brown of TJ Associates, LLC and TTI Performance Systems, LTD. Copyright protected, all rights reserved worldwide.

I’m a Baby Boomer. When I was growing up, the diversity challenge seemed limited to race, ethnicity and gender. In fact, I participated in one of the first Fortune 100 health care company strategic diversity and inclusion work teams chartered to improve the experience of diverse talent entering the workforce and serving a diverse marketplace. We found that bringing in diverse talent was easy. Deploying and optimizing that talent was not. People, in general, are uncomfortable with diversity. Humans struggle seeing the world through the eyes of another. Too often, we want everyone else to communicate, value, think and operate the way we do.

As we have entered the 21st century, a new diversity challenge has emerged – that of generational differences. Never before in history have we had four generations in the U.S. workforce, which means you might see everyone from 20-something Millennials (born after 1977) to Generation Xers (born 1966-1977), to Baby Boomers (born 1947-1965) and seasoned Veterans (born prior to 1947) working side-by-side. The opportunities we face with generational diversity are very similar to the ones we faced last century in acknowledging gender, race and ethnicity diversity. It comes down to understanding what the differences are, not taking them personally and leveraging them for business success.

There is significant profit potential embedded in today’s age-diverse workplace. Successfully leveraging generational differences provides a strategic advantage. If you aren’t convinced about that, just look back to the Renaissance period. The Renaissance began in Florence, Tuscany in the 14th century. A dominant family at the time, the Medici, is largely credited with birthing this innovative and progressive period. The catalyst was in bringing together in one location talented people across many disciples and cultures. This cross-pollination unearthed novel and unique breakthrough concepts. Had the Medici’s not sponsored and insisted upon communication, mutual respect, and learning from each other, the breakthroughs would not have occurred. Such is the potential in our marketplace today. The fortitude to leverage and optimize perspectives, skills and talents across generations is at our doorstep. The question is simply whether or not we cease the moment.

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” ~ Henry Ford

Let’s look at a couple of practical examples of how leveraging differences can benefit your organization’s bottom line.

Young people of every generation have a fresh perspective, a youthful energy and a burning desire to accomplish something worthwhile. If your organization treats them with respect and engages their enthusiasm, they will bring that attitude to work and accomplish something worthwhile for you.

Older generations have an outlook tempered by past experience allowing them to help younger workers avoid potential pitfalls before mistakes become real problems. They also have the battle-tested skills to realistically anticipate what it will take to move a business initiative from being just a great idea to becoming your company’s game-changing competitive advantage. But it can be all too easy for seasoned business people to let past experience limit what they think can be done. Millennials and Gen Xers can help them see new possibilities.

Young people may be idealistic about the extent and speed of change that’s possible in your organization, but they may be the very change agents who make it happen! They aren’t limited by the way things have always been done and many are technologically advanced.

Young people who are tech savvy will be great candidates for mutual mentoring relationships with older workers who need to update their knowledge of social media and technical skills.

The preferences of younger workers can improve communication and connection within your company and with customers. A great example of Gen X and Millennial-inspired business change is using social media to share consumer opinions about products and service experiences. Facebook and Twitter have become vital ways for businesses to respond quickly to customers and demonstrate to the world that the company cares about them. Millennials drove this change because they like to connect with others to share their experiences, and they like to use social media for consumer reviews.

That young people know how to use technology to enable life balance and provide flexible work options makes sense. There is a shift underway in the business world, from defining work as time spent at the office to measuring performance by the results produced. Using mobile technology and flexible scheduling makes it possible to shift the focus toward results. This benefits all of us, including boomers who would like to semi-retire, but keep their hands in the marketplace.

Don’t dismiss older generations: The Silent Generation grew up with face-to-face staff meetings that encouraged the development of relationships. There is something to be said about seeing a person while talking to them versus chatting over instant-messaging. Body language and voice intonation are lost in newer forms of communication, meaning that newer isn’t always better.

Provide variety and engaging development experiences for younger workers: Stretch assignments and cross training to keep them interested and build their career prospects while enhancing their value to your organization. Help them develop a career path and give personalized development plans that encourage them to stay engaged with your company as they grow. Use TTI job benchmarks to give clear expectations and match them to the right job for success.

Make good use of Millennials’ strong team orientation and global, networking mindset: If you’re not using informal learning networks and information sharing tools yet, younger workers can show you how they do it. For the generation that grew up with massive multi-player online video games, team work is second nature.

Give everyone the tools to engage in meaningful, mutual mentoring efforts: Be sure that everyone’s contributions are heard and respected and help them share their strengths. When both parties understand how the other likes to receive communication, make decisions, pace their work and what motivates them to action, it eases the way for collaboration. Use Talent Journey’s assessments and team training to blend generations successfully.

Established ways of doing business will continue to change as global markets expand and technology accelerates. Research shows that all generations will need help adapting to the rapid speed of change. Important skills for all of us are flexibility, resiliency, personal accountability and openness to learn. Together, we can do it!

”We may have come from different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Copyright protected 2010, Diane Brown at TJ Associates, LLC (www.thetalentjourney.com) and TTI Performance Systems, LTD.