By Christine Corelli
There is much to learn from those who lead the U.S. Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard when it comes to recruiting and managing today’s younger generation of employees. Every leader in your dealership should pay attention to what the military can teach.
Consider, for example, how the Army overcame a serious recent challenge in meeting its recruitment goals. In 2018, the Army came up short by 6,500 enlistees. The reasons for this were many. One problem was its “Army Strong” slogan. This tagline turned out to be less compelling than its much more powerful and effective predecessor “Be All You Can Be.”
The Army soon realized that it needed a better understanding of the younger generation and what makes that demographic tick.
To gain those insights, Army leaders paid visits to recruitment offices around the country. Little of what they came back with should surprise anyone. They heard what we already know—that young people are tech-crazy, fascinated by apps, glued to their cell phones, avid users of social media, love new experiences, value life-balance, are impatient, and are outspoken.
Surprising, nonetheless to investigators, was the observation that members of the younger generation tend to be team-oriented, value harmony, and love to learn (all good traits to bring to the armed forces and to a dealership). On top of that, twentysomethings were found to desire to contribute to the betterment of society and that they care deeply about social issues.
All of this convinced Army leaders to change their recruitment slogan to appeal to these virtues. The new tagline they came up with was “Warriors Wanted.” In concert with this change, the Army trotted out a revamped and energized website, offered more generous signup bonuses, and—most recently—began advertising the availability of training for specialties and futuristic cyber-tech roles. Taken as a whole, these steps got results. The Army ended fiscal year 2019 achieving its recruitment goal of 68,000 enlistees, according to a report at armytimes.com. New slogans are in the works.
SMART RECRUITMENT TACTICS
If you want to successfully recruit the younger generation, it can help to think of your company—like the Army did with itself—as a brand you need to market
What’s your slogan like? Does it ™sing∫ to the Younger Generation? Does it establish your brand?
One such possible recruiting slogan would be this to appeal to youth’s enrapture with all things technologic: ™Harnessing High-Tech to Build.∫
Or maybe headline your next want-ad with a series of questions like these: ™What Do You Love? To Use State-of-the-Art Technology? To be a part of construction from concept to completion? To Help People? To Problem-Solve? To Be Part of a Great Team? To Receive Great Benefits and Bonuses? Come Work With Us!
1. HAVE A CAUSE!
If you haven’t established a cause for your business, you are indeed behind the times. Cause marketing helps non-profits and worthwhile causes, increases brand awareness and attracts the Younger Generation. In a recent survey, nearly 2/3 expressed a preference to work for companies that make a positive impact on their community or society. A few ideas: “We Have the Habit of Giving to Habitat for Humanity.” “We Donate to the Wounded Warrior Project.” “We Care About Our Employees, Our Customers, and Our Community.”
2. LESSONS FROM THE TRENCHES
In the military, young people are taught to follow orders. They are trained to respect their leaders, and never challenge authority.
It’s different in the “rough and tumble” world of construction contracting. You’re not automatically due respect from the younger generation just because you’re the boss. You have to earn that respect.
How? By communicating to your young employees with honesty, sincerity, and caring. And any show of these qualities must extend as well to subs and customers—even the difficult ones who become irate and out of control when there are big change orders they didn’t expect.
They say that military commanders need to lead by role-modeling, setting a strong, indisputably good example for every activity. They must inspire their troops to embrace personal passion, courage, discipline, teamwork, and high levels of performance. But never is this truer—or more critical—than for contractors – especially now that COVID-19 has turned our businesses and lives upside down.
Military leaders also play the role of teachers and coaches. They do this all day, every day. Modern contractors should emulate them at every opportunity. Unfortunately, some are so focused on operations and the bottom line, and handling the challenges brought forth by COVID, and feel they are too busy to give their time and attention to their millennials and Gen-Z employees. For those contractors, dynamic leadership has fallen by the wayside.
The good news is that progressive contractors are recognizing the invaluable contribution their exemplary conduct combined with a willingness to shepherd the young makes to business success and helps to ensure the future of their dealership—even if it’s tough.
3. THINK OF THEM AS YOUR OWN SIGNAL CORPS
The Army’s Signal Corps is all about communication. When you hire members of the younger generation, you can expect to receive from them plenty of Signal Corps-style communication—and much of it in the form of outspokenness.
Rather than tell them to keep their ideas to themselves, you should be open to hearing what they have to say. That’s how retired Col. Robert Carr, Senior Fellow with the Kellogg School of Management, suggests you respond when young employees offer unsolicited opinions. Writing in a recent issue of Kellogg Insight, Carr says:
“Our young recruits often come up with new ways of doing things, so you want to encourage that ingenuity. And it’s not always a bad thing to challenge the status quo. The key is to give them enough latitude to shake things up a bit without upending core traditions or standard operating procedures.
“Leaders tend to get frustrated when millennials challenge them. And it’s true that some millennials can be very outspoken. But usually what they’re doing is stretching, which isn’t always a bad thing. As a senior leader, you have to have the discernment to say: ‘This millennial isn’t challenging authority; they’re challenging the way things have been done,’ which forces you to be more agile, flexible, and innovative.”
Applying Carr’s advice to your business you may find it potentially very profitable to invite rather than wait for input from the younger generation. Form a “Young Leaders Club.” Ask your young project managers, superintendents, office personnel, to collaborate with you on figuring out ways to improve productivity, save money, improve operations, increase customer satisfaction, work in the field, and handle tough customers. From the suggestions they give might just emerge a solution that makes all the difference in the world.
CLOSING THOUGHT
So be a modern contractor who promotes—better yet, demands dynamic leadership throughout your organization, as well as peer-support and camaraderie. Plan team get-togethers where employees both young and old can develop friendships and treat each other like family. Do fun stuff together! Donate to a worthy cause. Be bold about it!
Follow these marching orders and your business can win its battles for recruiting and retaining the young employees you need now and in the future.
About the author:
Christine Corelli is a conference speaker, workshop facilitator, and business columnist. She has worked with an abundance of construction contractor companies and been a featured speaker at industry associations. To contact her for an upcoming meeting, conference, or special event, call 847.477.7376. For more, visit www.christinespeaks.com.
Modern Contractor Solutions, November 2020
Did you enjoy this article?
Subscribe to the FREE Digital Edition of Modern Contractor Solutions magazine.
