Step 2: Learn About Mindsets

Unlock Potential: A Learning Journey • Enroll • Step 1: Assess Your Organization • Step 2: Learn Mindsets • Step 3: Explore Solutions • Wrap it up!

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Step 2 - Learn About Mindsets

Where is your organization struggling most?

Career Revolution has uncovered mindset gaps between what young professionals and their managers think about work, especially regarding these 7 hot topics. The chart below reflects some typical differences between what managers believe and what young professionals perceive.

Promotion Communication Influence Collaboration Recognition Productivity Accountability

Promotion

Mindset gaps in this area stem from differences in norms and expectations around how long it takes to be promoted in the organization. Most organizational leaders understand that there is no one path or timeframe. However, many emerging professionals expect to progress at an accelerated pace, regardless of performance.

You believe:
"My youngest employees are entitled.They expect promotion without earning it."

They perceive:
"I should be promoted within my first year of employment."

Communication

Growing up in a digital world has shifted communication norms to more electronic forms. This has created a point of frustration in many organizations as younger employees rely too heavily on electronic communication in situations that may require face-to-face dialogue.

You believe:
"Face-to-face communication is sometimes the best way to address conflict"

They perceive:
"Why do we have to meet when we can email or instant message?"

Influence

Mindset gaps in this area stem from differences in norms and expectations around whose ideas get heard and which ideas get implemented. Today’s emerging workforce expects work to serve as a source of life purpose and therefore often expect to work on projects that have high value and visibility to the organization. Whereas organizational leaders need them to first focus on the job they were hired to do.

You believe:
"I appreciate the enthusiasm, but ideas need to be connected to the business."

They perceive:
"I frequently share new ideas but no one seems to listen or do anything with them."

Collaboration

Mindset gaps in this area stem from differences in norms and expectations around what collaboration and teamwork really mean. Organizational leaders understand that conflict is necessary part of innovation. Whereas many younger employees believe they are more like a free agent that can pick and choose whom they collaborate with.

You believe:
"Collaborating with others, especially if you have conflict, is a skill necessary for innovation."

They perceive:
"If I’m working with someone I don’t like I should switch teams so I can be more productive."

Recognition

Mindset gaps in this area stem from differences in norms and expectations around what behaviors get rewarded and how frequently recognition happens. Traditional organizations reward achievements whereas a new generation has expressed concern when their daily efforts are not acknowledged.

You believe:
"This new generation needs too much recognition. They’re not going to get a trophy just for showing up."

They perceive:
"If my manager is not giving frequent feedback, they’re not doing their job."

Productivity

Mindset gaps in this area stem from differences in norms and expectations around where work happens. Traditional organizations inherently believe that work happens at work. Whereas, a new generation of workforce expect flexibility to manage their own time.

You believe:
"Work most often happens at work, not when you feel like it."

They perceive:
"Work can happen anywhere and anytime, why do I need to be in an office?"

Accountability

Today’s emerging workforce is more vocal than previous generations about expecting the organization to show them a clear career path. Managers struggle with not having all of the answers as the workplace continues to change and is no longer predictable. Mindset gaps in this area stem from differences in norms and expectations around who owns what in the career development process.

You believe:
"Career development is leader led, but employee owned."

They perceive:
"My manager is responsible for progressing my career."

Q. Where did the Mindset Model come from?

A. The model came from when I was a talent management executive at a Fortune 100 company, and this was right around the time when the whole "Millennial in the workplace" conversation was really heating up. And I remember being really challenged by the whole stereotypical nature of that conversation.

However, I also had managers coming into my office complaining about the youngest new hires that were in the organization, that they were requiring more feedback, more recognition, and that a lot of them were asking for promotion before their manager felt they had really earned it.

At the same time, I had our young professionals complaining that no one was listening to their ideas, that they didn't really feel that their managers were coaching or mentoring them, and of course they didn't see a clear career path.

And so I knew that in order to solve the problem and address these gaps, we couldn't rely on just generational stereotypes, so I knew I had to dig deep to get at the root cause of why there was such misalignment.

Q. What is the Mindset Model?

A. Through our research and our vast experience working with emerging professionals, we've identified 7 mindsets that are key to meaningful development. They articulate the specific beliefs and related behaviors that drive early career success in today's workplace:

Promotion
Communication
Influence
Collaboration
Recognition
Productivity
Accountability

They address questions where there's misalignment, like what behaviors get rewarded, whose ideas get heard, and most importantly, who owns career development in someone's career path.

Q. How do organizations use the Mindset Model?

A. This model can be used for two specific purposes, the first is on an organizational level, it's used to assess your organization and identify where you may have gaps between the organizational culture norms and what a new generation of employees really thinks or feels about career development.

And then secondarily it's used as a framework to develop young professionals so they understand not only what's expected of them, but what are those behaviors that managers really look for and reward that really yields those promotions and that career growth that this generation is looking for.

So it's really a win-win because the organization gets an accountable, empowered employee. The employee feels like they're in the driver's seat of their career path, and ultimately, that's what builds a new generation of leaders.

It gives you leadership bench strength, and that's retention, higher engagement scores, and overall business results in general.

Think & Share

We'd like to know what you're experiencing with your emerging workforce. Could you please share your thoughts? In the spirit of contributing to the talent development community at large, we'll create a followup blog post from these submissions. We will not identify names or companies. (If you'd rather not participate, that's OK, too. Just follow this link to the next step in your journey: Go to Step 3: Explore Solutions. )

Christine DiDonato

A recognized leader in career development

This learning journey is brought to you by Advantage Performance Group and our thought leader partner Christine DiDonato, an innovator in emerging leader development and founder of Career Revolution Inc. and AwesomeBoss.com. As a leading advocate for millennial career development, Christine created AccelerateME, a unique tool specifically designed for today’s young professionals to get the feedback they crave and take greater ownership of their career path.

Contact Advantage to discover how we can bring AccelerateME or other great learning experiences to your organization!