GET OFF MY LAWN! Getting better at working with Millennials! w/ John Tanner and Jenny Madorsky

Since entering the workforce, Millennials have gotten a bad rap. There is a long list of complaints levied against them… mostly by the crowd that falls into GenX and older. In this interview, Dave Prior and John Tanner from LeadingAgile are joined by Jenny Madorsky, a Millennial who is a Project Manager at Huge. Dave is GenX and harbors a secret fear the internet will break and go away forever. John is in between the two (and would like you to get off his lawn) but self-identifies as being more on the Millennial side. During this podcast they explore the way Millennials approach working and collaboration. They dig into some of the stereotypes that crop up when people complain about Millennials and GenX, as well as how a Millennial’s view differs from the older crowd’s. In the final portion of the interview, the discussion turns towards what GenXers can do to be better prepared for working with Millennials in order to better support them. 0:08 Interview Begins 00:42 Introductions 01:44 Jenny’s areas of focus in college are a secret weapon - Mechanical Engineering & Theater Studies 03:18 Defining what we mean by Millennial 03:36 A Millennial explains Millennials (experience over stuff) 04:50 What is challenging about working with GenX 07:40 The changing relationship between employee and company 09:33 Get Mentors! 11:54 Building lasting relationships and networks though shared work experiences 12:34 Broad knowledge vs Deep knowledge 14:25 What can employers do to make the work place more enticing to Millennials? 17:17 Consumers of employers… who offers the best experience? 19:37 Do you need different skill sets to interact with different age groups? 21:42 How can older generations be better prepared to work with Millennials? 24:05 Sometimes the gift of feedback can be a tough thing to receive 26:27 Helping the other person be open to feedback (Shout out to Sally Elatta!) 30:10 Jenny asks John and Dave for their perception of working with Millennials 31:20 Curiosity perceived as arrogance “I’m still expecting the internet to just shut off one day..” 32:29 Positive dissonance in the workspace 34:04 Knowing when to contribute and when to listen 35:27 Why Jenny chose to make the switch from Program Manager to Project Manager 37:17 Applying Agile practices in a Digital Agency 40:27 Agile for the Millennial crowd… do we need a new Manifesto? 44:02 Closing Reaching Jenny LinkedIn http://bit.ly/2dL0PeP Reaching John Twitter http://twitter.com/tannerjs LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/tannerjs LeadingAgile http://www.leadingagile.com/guides/john-tanner/ Other Links from the Podcast Huge http://www.hugeinc.com Sally Elatta http://www.linkedin.com/in/elatta Other Links from the Podcast Huge https://www.hugeinc.com Sally Elatta https://www.linkedin.com/in/elatta