2 Talent Management Tips For Using “A” Super Zoomers in Succession Planning and Leadership
Call Center Best Practices is your secret weapon! Take the 7-Day FREE Test Drive. Learn more about this Call Center Professional Membership.
Call Center Cafe and Call Center Best Practices bring you this article on utilizing the Zoomers at your call center
Developing your consistently high performers is critical to an organization’s success.
There is a lot of emphasis on talent managing Gen Y’s and Gen X’s but a huge, powerful resource is in a company’s older employees.
* Zoomer employees – people over 50 years old.
* “A” Super Zoomers – women and men over 60 years old who are making a valued, significant contribution to the organization.
“A” Super Zoomers are like any “A” player — we have passion, highly developed competencies, are intense, know how to collaborate, deep problem-solver, are constantly learning, un-learning and re-learning and are positive in outlook.
The added ingredients that “A” Super Zoomers possess is that we have, over the years, accumulated a ton of competitive intelligence. We are intensely motivated to pass on what we know. We find great satisfaction watching our experience and knowledge made better by younger employees. We applaud and celebrate their innovations.
Talent managing your “A” Super Zoomers is key to leveraging and protecting a company’s competitive intelligence – a key to financial sustainability. I have had 9 such people in my life over the years. Now at 66, I have a chance to pass on their wisdom.
Your best Super Zoomers boost company performance, both directly — by working intensely at their jobs — and indirectly, by modelling, which inspires and motivates others.
It’s mission critical to invest the time and energy to keep us satisfied and engaged.
1. Understand what motivates and inspires “A” Super Zoomers.
The easiest way to find out what motivates these people is to simply ask us directly. Set up conversations to find out what we would like to be doing. What moves us to do our best? We know our time horizon is short, we are so grateful to be consulted.
Find out if anything about our job situation is frustrating us – too much travel, difficult colleagues, not enough challenge from day to day, difficulty connecting with Millennia’s, Gen X’s Boomers or Gen Y’s. Try to address our needs and desires. Eliminate obstacles as best you can.
To keep your top Super Zoomers engaged and challenged, consider the following learning experiences:
* Put us on a new project from scratch. Mix up the team, not just by competencies but by generations as well. Decide whether it is the Super Zoomers best interests to be the leader or a member of the team. Sometimes it’s useful to take the pressure off the Super Zoomer and give them the task of helping the younger leader to develop. You need to let them know that is their assignment.
* Assign her or him to fix a business or product in trouble.
* A job rotation into a different work environment in which there are younger employees who are struggling. For example, assign a production manager to do a sales rotation, or a short-term stint in another region or country. Make sure the assignment fits with the Super Zoomer’s life goals.
* A high-profile special project assignment. These projects, which should have very clear objectives and a short duration, offer employees the chance to practice targeted problem solving, work in cross-functional, cross generational teams. Make sure your Super Zoomer understands that the main role is to teach others and pass on their competitive intelligence.
An absolute must do: Provide your “A” Super Zoomers players with ongoing support to meet these challenges, with active coaching or review-and-feedback processes.
2. Assign protégés to “A” player Super Zoomers
* Finding appropriate protégés for your best, most experienced performers doesn’t have to be overly complicated. Protégés do not necessarily have to be a part of the Super Zoomer’s group or business unit. In fact, mentors outside the organization may have broader perspectives.
* Avoid assigning any employees needing remedial work to a Super Zoomer; they are likely to become frustrated.
Beyond just offering encouragement Super Zoomer mentors can help employees:
* Clarify their career options.
* Better understand the organization and navigate its politics.
* Build support networks.
* Deal with work obstacles
It’s strategic awareness for leaders to take these additional steps to:
* Look for signs of burnout in your Super Zoomers. It can happen quickly, we no longer have the energy and stamina of a 20 year old as much as we will not like to admit to that fact. Act on this quickly, or you face losing your best.
* Watch out for signs of arrogance, impatience, or bullying by Super Zoomers. Make sure we know that there are no guarantees. Demonstrating leadership and mentorship potential means that the company is counting on us to pass on our competitive intelligence with the goal of increasing the financial sustainability of the firm.
“A” Super Zoomers are a valuable resource that can be used to develop emerging leaders. Use us well, often and wisely. We will be so grateful to play our part. It will help ally many of the conflicts between the generations and make for a culture of learning and growth.
To get your FREE Instant Copy of A TASTE OF GENIUS go to http://www.subject2change.ca
From Dr. Jim Sellner, PhD.,DipC. Genius Leadership & Zoomers Talent Management in the Age of Gen Y’s and Gen X’s.
More Related Topics...
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
