{"id":301,"date":"2016-11-03T07:48:22","date_gmt":"2016-11-03T15:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/encouragement.com\/blog\/?p=301"},"modified":"2016-11-03T07:48:22","modified_gmt":"2016-11-03T15:48:22","slug":"workability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/encouragement.com\/wordpress\/?p=301","title":{"rendered":"Work”ability”"},"content":{"rendered":"

True confessions.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m guessing very few of you ever got a \u201cbad grade\u201d in any of your college studies. But I know someone who did \u2026 me. It was my sophomore year poetry class. Now a low mark isn\u2019t something I\u2019m particularly proud of (believe it or not, I was a pretty good student overall). But in this case, I really fell short.<\/p>\n

What happened?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long for me to realize I didn\u2019t like poetry (studying it). I wasn\u2019t that interested. The subject, and the professor were boring to me (they were both way over my head). Iambic pentameter \u2013 blah. (Sidebar: I actually have a much greater appreciation for poetry now than I ever did then.)<\/em> I have no idea why I signed up for the course (other than being on a liberal arts track). I didn\u2019t go to many classes, or put much effort into study. Skipped a lot of the reading. Tuned out when I was there.<\/p>\n

Did I withdraw from the course? No, I stuck it out. I didn\u2019t withdraw on paper, but I sure did mentally.<\/p>\n

Gee, I wonder why I had a problem?<\/p>\n

I learned a valuable lesson.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This experience taught me an important fact \u2013 without commitment and work ethic we\u2019re going to significantly underperform. We can only go so far when we\u2019re just going through the motions, or working on a superficial level. That\u2019s true in school, and at the office. Commitment and work ethic are required for achievement.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s going on with Millennials?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Managers tell me they have reasons to question the commitment and work ethic of many of their millennial workers. Their work\u201cAbility,\u201d so to speak.<\/p>\n

As leaders, managers, supervisors, we need to stay close to and engaged with our youngest workers. They have greater interactive expectations. They\u2019re more used to working in groups, supporting one another, interacting vs. going it alone, jumping from one thing to the next, not deciding until the last minute, conforming to popular opinions, looking for quick answers (Google mentality), or believing that test scores predict career achievements. They may think they\u2019re leadership ready right out of the box.<\/p>\n

We can\u2019t just let them flounder on their own. Ignored, they can easily give up, move on, or lose interest in what they\u2019re doing. Of course, this doesn\u2019t apply to everyone. I get that.<\/p>\n

But in general, millennials need a lot of our attention to help them succeed. It will take effort on our part to engage them with the workplace, and learn how to connect their educational abilities with the fundamental rules of success, achievement, and performance. Commitment and work ethic are best taught by demonstrating them in our own behaviors. They need to see it in action. Showing is much more effective than telling.<\/p>\n

How long that will take \u2026 we\u2019ll see? But it\u2019s just part of modeling work\u201cAbility\u201d to our newest workers.<\/p>\n

\u2013\u00a0Jerry Strom<\/p>\n

Twitter: @JerryRStrom<\/em>. For more information about our leadership and team development programs, please visit <\/em>http:\/\/www.JerryStrom.com<\/em><\/a> . Join the mailing list to receive new articles as they are published. This article is based on research conducted for the *\u2018The Relationships Report: The Linkage between Leadership and Relationships,\u2019 by Jerry Strom & Company, Inc. Find \u2018How Leaders Build Relationships at Work\u2019 at <\/em>http:\/\/www.jerrystrom.com\/research\/js_relationships.html<\/em><\/a> short insights on Twitter at #RelationshipsRPT<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

True confessions. I\u2019m guessing very few of you ever got a \u201cbad grade\u201d in any of your college studies. But I know someone who did \u2026 me. It was my sophomore year poetry class. 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