For those of us who remember, a gold watch was iconic in the business world as a representation of years of service. After 20 or more years of work at the same company, it was a symbolic gift from employer to employee that demonstrated the company’s appreciation for that loyalty.

Today, workforce longevity is a far cry from the habits of the ‘golden watch’ generation. In 20 years, an employee could have as many as five (or more) different employers and nearly as many careers. Where did the idea of company loyalty go?

According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics, the average tenure for employees is 4.6 years. For employees over age 65, the average was 10 years, and employees under 35 averaged 3 years.

It’s obvious to even the average individual that something has changed, but what? And who’s fault is it? Employment experts take this as an indication that corporate loyalty is dead.

What is loyalty?

There is a distinct difference in the manner that employers and employees view loyalty. For the boomer generation, workplace loyalty meant when you took a job, you put your ‘nose to the grindstone’ and worked until you retired.

You did your job, expected a raise occasionally and primarily assumed that your company was looking out for you. In return, you earned the respect and appreciation of your employer and were “rewarded” with a pension when you retired.

Today’s employees view their jobs differently. Millennials and Gen X were raised during a time when corporations performed mass layoffs, pensions vanished, and unions dissolved. As a result, they have little confidence in long-term work relationships and have been told time and time again that they are responsible for their own future. Contrary to what experts will say, however, this does not mean they aren’t loyal.

Loyalty Today

For this generation of employees, loyalty means something different than simply staying in a job. The employees of today expect to hold a variety of jobs. In fact, many job experts advise employees not to stay at a job for longer than four years, stating that it will make them appear ‘unmotivated’.

For them, corporate loyalty means going full force during their length of employment, and then leaving on good terms when it is time to move on. They demonstrate loyalty by continuing to promote their employer, even referring others to them and may even consider returning later if their career brings them back.

They consider job changing as a rite of passage, and each job is a stepping stone on their journey.

How Can You Inspire Loyalty?

Provide inspiration, care, bring them along on the journey. Today’s employees want to feel as though their work matters, their personality, and skills are important, valued and they can contribute to corporate goals. They need to feel part of something larger than just their day-to-day job. Help them to see the larger picture for their efforts and encourage them to engage in the company beyond their department.

Flexibility

Employees today expect their jobs to work around their lives. They may want to schedule their shift around their child’s school schedule or be available to work a non-traditional schedule. With the rise of mobile workplace options, your employee may be located halfway around the world, or on the other side of the state.

This provides them with many more options than previous generations have had. By affording them flexible schedule options, they’ll be more willing to press in at times of greater need.

Variety

One of the greatest draws to changing jobs is the opportunity to tackle a new challenge. It’s why today’s employees think nothing of moving across the country (or around the world) to start a new job. Introduce variety to keep your employees engaged and inspired, and they’ll be more likely to stay longer in their position.

Company loyalty may not look the same as it did in previous generations, but it is still very much alive. Want to see loyalty from your employees? Show loyalty and be a company worth being loyal toward.

Michele Bailey is president and CEO of Blazing Agency and My Big Idea™. These two lines of business work congruently to support her clients’ success.

The job market is changing. Gone are the days where employees found a job and settled in for life. A long ‘work history’ section on your resume was once associated with job hopping and was looked at negatively. No longer.

Today’s workforce not only expects to change jobs frequently, many employment experts recommend a job change every four years. Surely, however, this only applies to disgruntled employees, right? Surprisingly, even employees who reportedly love their job and identify themselves as “happy” are leaving their positions.

Canadian work patterns revealed the new normal for work.

What happened? What has changed in the workplace that has employees reporting that 23% of people look for a new job every day? The answer is both simple and complex.

Technology is changing at a rapid pace. Things that weren’t even a consideration even five years ago have become reality, and the job market reflects those changes. There are new positions available that didn’t even exist just a few years ago, and it is easier than ever to find a new job.

Thanks to an ever-expanding availability of connections, you can find job postings for companies around the world right on your phone. For a generation of employees who thrive on experiences, “Why not?” has become a mantra.

Why not take a job on the other side of the country for a few years? You can always come back home. Why not try a completely different field? New opportunities arise every day and being able to take advantage of them is a chance many people won’t pass up.

My Potential

In addition, employees are less willing to stay at a job where they don’t see potential. Even a relatively happy employee may react strongly to management transition, shifting job responsibilities or discord among co-workers.

Nearly 40% of employees reported leaving their job because of a poor relationship with their boss. How many of those bosses would be shocked to know they caused their employee to leave? Too often, management assumes that everything is fine because there are no obvious problems.

“Stay Interview”???

Communicate early and often. Some employers have adopted an approach called a “stay interview”. Similar to an exit interview, the employer takes the opportunity to find out what the employee likes about their job, and rather than waiting until an exit interview to find out why an employee is leaving, these employers are taking the initiative to find out what the employee likes about their job.

It is also an opportunity to get feedback about potential issues, hear suggestions for improvement and more. If a stay interview seems too formal, simply look for ways to engage with your employees more often to help you get a feel for their attitude toward their job and their own personal and professional goals.

Offer Opportunities

Many of today’s employees are looking for new positions that give them a wider range of advancement options. Do you have a path forward that they can see? Do you offer training and development programs for your employees? These are excellent ways to keep your employees motivated and engaged at work.

Richard Branson once summed up his philosophy of keeping employees happy by stating, “Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don't want to.” While there is no guarantee that employees will stay forever, you can make your workplace so attractive to employees that they will have little reason to leave.

Michele Bailey is president and CEO of Blazing Agency and My Big Idea™. These two lines of business work congruently to support her clients’ success.

Study groups are an integral part of MBA programs, meant to simulate the real-life corporate world of working in teams. Although the intent is to encourage people to develop a collaborative mindset, often the reality is bullying, wannabe leaders, peer criticism, and anxiety about speaking out, derail students from actively participating. Instead of the intentional joining of forces, the result is friction and a total lack of productivity.

When a corporate team clicks, there are typically tremendous rewards for everyone. Sadly, many simply don’t – and for the same reasons that impede college study groups. This is true for high-stakes teams working in organizations from Silicon Valley to financial powerhouses.

Google has a culture based on its experience that teams of employees accomplish far more working together, than individuals working alone. In 2012, armed with this conviction, Google’s People Analytics division set a course to investigate the makeup of successful teams. The initiative was code-named Project Aristotle, after the famous Aristotle quote, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

The extent of its research is astounding. After reviewing data from over 180 teams, no patterns emerged. Researchers dug deeper. The story of what eventually unfolded won’t surprise good managers: a psychological safety net is of absolute paramount importance to group productivity.

Google took this revelation to the next level and converted sensitive topics including empathy and emotional conversations – “things” that neither organizations nor employees like to discuss – into data reports. This opened the door for acknowledging that listening to team members is vital. A NYT Magazine article about Project Aristotle makes the point that while trying to discover what comprises the perfect team, Google identified that the root is actually imperfection:

“Project Aristotle is a reminder that when companies try to optimize everything, it’s sometimes easy to forget that success is often built on experiences — like emotional interactions and complicated conversations and discussions of who we want to be and how our teammates make us feel — that can’t really be optimized.”*

Obviously, there are other factors that reinforce team success. How the team is structured, members’ distinct roles, respect for timelines and setting the bar high are all significant contributors. Yet, empathy and its soul-mate emotional intelligence are fundamental to both leading teams and collaborative participation.

It’s important to distinguish between these two soft skills. Empathy is the ability to understand people’s emotions and feelings. Emotional intelligence is the ability to manage both our own emotions and those of other people. When people fail to identify their own feelings, they can’t control them; self-awareness is the centerpiece of both empathy and emotional intelligence. Self-awareness contributes to authentic Executive Presence, and in turn, leads to the genuine empathy that propels successful teams.

* Interested in learning more Project Aristotle? Read the NYT Magazine article by Charles Duhigg:What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team New research reveals surprising truths about why some workgroups thrive and others falter.

*Corporate Class Inc. provides professional development training that explores Neuroleadership and how the prefrontal cortex (the so-called executive brain) is responsible for primary Executive functions.

This is a guest post from Corporate Class, a My Big Idea™ strategic partner and originally was published in January of 2018

Perhaps one of the most frustrating aspects of running a business is dealing with employees. I say that in the nicest possible way. I’ve run my own company, Blazing Agency since 1994.

Corporate goals? You’ve crushed them.

Sales goals, team achievement goals, customer satisfaction goals, you’re an expert on setting (and reaching) goals in your professional life.

If asked, you could specify the ways you’ve pivoted and adjusted the company’s actions to meet the goals that you’ve set. You may know the SMART goal setting process by memory and have used it to successfully implement changes within your organization.

When someone asks about your personal goals, however, do you feel like a deer in the headlights?

Many successful professionals and executives pour their time and energy into making their business a success.

Then they find that setting goals in their personal life feels more like “work” than relaxation. Others may find themselves at a loss to come up with a personal goal to set.

Why Setting Personal Goals Is Important

Instead of beating yourself up about your lack of personal goals, hobbies or interests, consider your motives behind not setting any.

Are you simply unsure of what personal tasks you could use to set goals? Do you feel that your work is so interesting that you don’t need to “escape” from it?

Personal goals can give you a creative outlet that actually fuels your energy back into your corporate life. A change of pace from your work-related tasks can invigorate you, refresh you and allow you time to relax.

Scientific evidence suggests that individuals who routinely step away from their work are happier, more fulfilled, and ultimately more successful at work. Instead of viewing personal goal-setting as another chore, use it as an opportunity to boost your whole life.

Start Small

Successful corporate leaders are often accustomed to dealing with large-scale goals, targets and may involve hundreds or thousands of people. When it comes time to focus on personal goals, however, it may seem overwhelming on where to start.

Instead of trying to set goals for every aspect of your life, start with one simple area. Perhaps you enjoy cooking but rarely have the opportunity. Set a goal to cook dinner once a month – perhaps Saturday night, allowing yourself lots of prep time during the day.

As you begin to see small measures of success, you will see the benefits of adding goal setting to your personal life.

Prioritize Your Time

New York Times Best-Selling Author, Jon Acuff, explains that he had given up the task of cutting his own lawn because he realized that was time that could be better spent on other, more fulfilling activities.

Whether he spent that time on work matters or having family time, he rationalized, it was more cost effective to pay someone else to care for his lawn.

Be Encouraged

Movies, books and social media can paint an unrealistic picture of success. On those platforms, we often see images of the ultimate professional is always wildly successful in their work life, is highly engaged with their family, volunteers at several charities and is in top physical shape.

The reality, however, is that it is nearly impossible for one person to be the master of everything. Your life will go through seasons, giving you opportunity to focus on different interests.

And frankly, sometimes life is all work or all family depending on what is going on with each.

And that is OK. Work-life balance is a myth.

Michele Bailey is president and CEO of Blazing Agency and My Big Idea™. These two lines of business work congruently to support her clients’ success.

The connection between ever-present office politics and personal branding may appear to be something of a stretch. Closer examination reveals their interdependence.

Dr. Kathleen Kelly Reardon is an expert on navigating office politics. In her book, The Secret Handshake – Mastering The Politics of the Business Inner Circle, Dr. Reardon’s research validates the importance of personal branding.

She writes about a young woman who declined her mentor’s advice regarding the importance of attending a company picnic where senior executives would mingle, play baseball and get to know new people. The young woman outright refused to attend – she didn’t see the value.

Although her abilities were never in question, when the next cycle of promotions came around, much to her surprise this young woman didn’t move up. She was competent, but not connected. No one knew her.

It was a tough lesson to learn. Corporate social events represent an excellent venue for building relationships.

This is not to suggest that failure to attend a single corporate social event can play havoc with career aspirations. The point is that actively circulating and networking to showcase your personal brand by building your reputation is part of corporate life. This is especially true for women.

Marketing strategist Dorie Clark makes this very clear in her recent HBR article, How Women Can Develop – and Promote – Their Personal Brand. She presents three distinct strategies to ensure women engage in targeted self-promotion:

a) Network outside your organization, not just inside: many women place too much emphasis on internal relationships with women who are like them. It’s far wiser to cultivate a broader network that increases your options.

b) Map out a clear “elevator pitch” that condenses your experience and value to shape people’s perceptions about you: don’t expect people to interpret your personal brand on their own.

c) Publicize your ideas to a wide audience.

These three strategies apply, as well, to many men. There is a fine line between shameless self-promotion and personal branding that comes down to Executive Presence.

Braggarts and limelight-grabbers fall into the first category, ambitious professionals who consistently reflect their expertise and value, the second,

Dr. Reardon makes the point that it’s critical to develop important relationships with people who can best reward your intelligence and creativity. When a decision that could impact your career is on the horizon, it’s important to ask yourself three things:

a) Are there people I can speak to who will help me get promoted

b) When and how should the idea of my being promoted be advanced?

c) Whose toes should I avoid stepping on?

Clearly, directing these questions to the right people requires solid connections – relationships that have been nurtured and built around your personal brand.

Read Dorie Clark’s article here.

This is a guest post from Corporate Class, a My Big Idea™ strategic partner and originally was published in March of 2018