5 keys insights for working with digital natives

By Michelle Manafy

Neustockimages — iStockphoto

Between all generations lie gaps. Yet today many individuals and businesses face a massive one. The digital native generation -- those who grew up immersed in technologies such as computers, mobile devices, and social networks -- are becoming our dominant employee and consumer base. That means digital immigrants -- those of us who didn’t grow up plugged in -- must navigate an altered landscape to successfully work with them. These insights will help you understand how to leverage the digital native worldview to achieve your business objectives:

1. They live publicly online.

Businesses must address the expectations of those raised in social networking environments, in which they routinely share activities and opinions with a potentially limitless group of friends.

Tip: Capitalize on digital natives’ openness. Understand their inclination to live publicly, and guide those activities so they are consistent with business objectives. Structure employee activities and customer interactions to put this openness to good use.

2. They share knowledge.

Despite much hyperbole about social media and marketing, many organizations limit or ban the use of social networks on the job. This shows a fear of exposure and a lack of understanding of how to channel this generation’s knowledge-sharing inclination.

Tip: Craft guidelines for appropriate use of social networks. Social media and collaborative ways of working can help companies capture otherwise transient knowledge. The old adage was “knowledge is power.” For digital natives, “knowledge shared is power.”

3. They believe transparency yields trust.

Because digital natives live publicly and value knowledge sharing, organizations that demonstrate transparency will attract and retain them as employees and customers. Digital natives make new friends, followers, and fans every day. Remember that it takes a lot of work to maintain a genuine relationship. If digital natives dislike your brand, they will make it publicly known. Luckily, the reverse is also true. Ultra-connected consumers look for organizations that listen, respond, own up to mistakes and maintain authentic relationships.

Tip: To attract and retain this generation as employees, recognize that the best of them monitor opportunities and discuss employers online. For recruiting, this can provide insights into who are the best, brightest, and most social-media savvy. For retention, employers can leverage these same tools to ensure they are competitive in the market.

4. They are timely, not time-managed.

While most people are painfully aware that the line between "at work" and "off duty" is increasingly blurred, digital natives will move beyond work-life balance to a new sort of work-life integration. Work and social activities are with them anywhere, anytime. Digital natives may log more hours at their computers during the course of a day than those in previous generations, but switch back and forth between work and leisure in short bursts. Though this may strike some managers as inappropriate, it helps to realize that while an older worker might head to the break room or a co-worker's desk to clear their head, natives are more likely to catch up on a quick burst of Facebook updates.

Tip: Companies that emphasize collaboration, learning, and socialization will see benefits in comparison to those that focus solely on productivity. Work can be constructively influenced by the expectations of younger workers.

5. They believe in interactions, not transactions.

With all this socializing, one might begin to wonder how any business gets done. But it does. Organizations that develop good social skills will have a competitive advantage over those that don’t. One essential quality is recognizing that this generation is not interested in transactions -- exchanges of money for goods and services. This generation is interested in interactions.

Tip: Unlike a transaction-based system, an interactive one is based upon social currency. Businesses will need to embrace interaction, from marketing to product development and content creation. This generation wants to do business with companies it views as friends and expects to see its ideals and objectives reflected in the companies it chooses to do business with.

While many digital immigrants whole-heartedly adopt digital tools, it is not simply emerging technologies that must be mastered. Lifelong immersion affects the mindset, behavior, and expectations of digital natives. To succeed in business with them, we must understand and build models based on this native culture.

            

Michelle Manafy is director of content for FreePint Ltd. and co-author of Dancing With Digital Natives: Staying in Step With the Generation That’s Transforming the Way Business Is Done.

Do you have expert advice to share? E-mail Kristen.

A Labor Day Prayer

Father, thank you for blessing us with talents, abilities, spiritual gifts, passions and drive so that all of our efforts may bring glory and honor to You. We thank you for those who have maintained employment through these tough economic times. We pray that You give us the privilege to reflect Your character to our employees, employers, co-workers, clients and customers.

For those who have lost their jobs and are seeking employment, Father please give them the peace that passes all understanding. We ask that You meet the needs of their families and encourage them to seek to open doors of opportunity.

For all of us Father, may we never see our worth and identity in the jobs or careers that we have, or don't have, but in Your sacrifice and love for us. Finally Father, we pray that You continue to use our chamber to be a catalyst for encouragement and commerce as we desire to reflect You as we build business, build community and build the Kingdom. Amen.

Tips for Launching a Startup

By Cynthia Kocialski

gunnar3000—Fotolia.com

I love startups and all the wonderful gadgets they make. The problem is, most of these wonderful things never make it because the entrepreneur is in love with the technology and lacks an understanding of the business. It’s one thing to develop a product that does something cool, but entrepreneurs need to ask whether it actually solves a problem. Ultimately, the business determines the ultimate success or failure of the product.

Here are some tips for anyone considering launching or financing a startup:

It’s Not About the Product

The product may be the heart of the company, but the product no more makes a company than a heart makes a human being. There are many components to a company that all have to work together harmoniously to succeed.

Have the Courage to Discover

The early-stage startup process is one of discovery, not step-by-step execution. Many first-time entrepreneurs believe you come up with a great product idea, then a detailed business plan, and finally hire people to execute the plan. Discovery is the starting point from which the product and business will evolve, iterate, and be refined as the concept meets the customers, the market, and the investors.

Retool and Revise

The first idea is never the final product. The worst work you will ever do is the first work you do. Press forward past the first iteration, and make use of the lessons you learn along the way.

Build Your Team

You need a team, but not just any team. You need the right team for that stage of a company's life. You wouldn't hire a college professor to teach kindergarten. For that, you need early elementary teachers. Startups also need to find the right people for the right jobs. Those people need to have the right attitude and need to be at a stage of their careers that makes them a match for a startup.

Think Like an Investor

Investing in a startup is risky. If investors wanted a moderate return, they'd invest in public companies like IBM and Coca-Cola. What entrepreneurs don't get is that, to an investor, the company is the product. Entrepreneurs need to understand the investor's perspective. Entrepreneurs create end products, but they also need to create the company. Investors buy companies, not products. For an investor, the best-case scenario is a tested, proven business with a market poised to grow rapidly.

The spirit of American business is embodied in the startup. Innovation and guts are the foundation of the startup, and those qualities also happen to be characteristic of the most successful mega-firms. Let those qualities form the dynamic of your startup. and you’ll be off to a good start.

Cynthia Kocialski has founded three high-tech companies and now is a consultant for startups. She is the author of Startup from the Ground Up.