You shouldn't be surprised that Millennials won't answer the phone. However, their excuses might surprise you.

BY RYAN JENKINS

Contributor, Inc.com@theRyanJenks

Texting has overtaken calling as the most popular mobile function across all generations, with Millennial women using SMS three times more often than calling, according to the mobile research agency RealityMine.

Phone calls have been second fiddle to texting since 2007, when Americans sent and received more text messages than phone calls, thanks largely to the launch of the iPhone and to Millennials. The iPhone was texting nirvana for Millennials, because of its virtual keyboard, multitouch interface, predictive text technology, and--the saving grace of the entire Millennial generation--automatic spell-check.

With texting being the universal go-to mobile function, why are so many managers still frustrated with Millennials not answering their phones? Let me help put one final nail in the Millennial phone call coffin.

The real reason Millennials won't answer your phone call is because it's unproductive. More specifically, a phone call is ...

1. Distracting

Calls can sever focus, disrupt work flow, and draw people away from crucial projects.

Texting allows users to respond at a convenient time between tasks.

2. Presumptuous

Calls presume that the person you are calling should drop everything and adhere to your agenda.

Texting (like email) is passive communication that doesn't presume a real- time interaction.

3. Superfluous

Calls give the perception of more airtime, so callers can neglect to gather the necessary information up front and will talk out loud until they land on the intended message.

Texting forces you to put your thoughts into words, which can be edited or condensed, and allows you to communicate the essential information for maximum efficiency.

4. Ineffective

Missed calls result in phone tag, a supremely idiotic and unnecessary game in an age of bountiful communication alternatives.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, is an emoji worth 500? Texting is effective and efficient. Ninety percent of all SMS text messages are read within three minutes.

5. Time-consuming

The time costs of a "quick five-minute call" can exceed 20 minutes, including the salutations, pleasantries, small talk, goodbyes, and time it takes to refocus on the original task, which, some experts say, can take 23 minutes after a disruption.

Texting limits unnecessary salutations and the exchange of irrelevant information, and the time cost can be as low as a few seconds.

After a recent keynote presentation I delivered on the topic of communicating to Millennials, I was approached by an audience member who was anxious to share his experience of communicating with them.

The gentleman was a manager of a team of Millennials, and he described his initial frustration with his team not answering his phone calls. Rather than demanding the team cater to his communication preference, he decided to test texting. "Much more productive," he said.

The gentleman now texts his Millennial team every afternoon before his commute home. In the message, he provides the necessary correction or direction his team needs to be efficient and effective. "After my texts, it surprises me how often I find my team that evening back online eagerly working," he proudly told me.

Is a phone call still valuable? Of course. A phone call can still be necessary, welcomed, and in some instances, productive. The tone or urgency that can be conveyed in a human voice remains powerful, but if you're interested in elevating the productivity of your Millennial work force, consider a text.

Source: http://www.inc.com/ryan-jenkins/5-reasons-millennials-aren-t-answering-your-phone- call.html

A study finds that leaders who underrate their own performance are ranked higher by their employees.

BY WILL

Staff writer, Inc.@WillYakowicz

As a leader, you need to be self-aware. Unfortunately, recent studies have found that's a trait too many leaders painfully lack.

Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman of leadership development consultancy Zenger/Folkman write in Harvard Business Review about their studies that compared how employees rank leaders with how leaders rank themselves. Zenger and Folkman studied 360-degree feedback reports on 69,000 different managers from 100 different companies. After crunching the data, they write, they found this telling nugget: "Leaders' views of themselves generally don't fit with how other people perceive them." 

The duo compared a manager's self-assessment with an average of all the feedback from the manager's co-workers, to see how self-aware the managers were in regard to their performance. The answer? Not very.

Next they looked into whether the managers' inaccurate self- assessments were overrating or underrating their abilities. It turns out they were doing both. Then Zenger and Folkman plotted the leaders' effectiveness, based on the feedback of their superiors and subordinates, along with their own self-assessments.

"Surprisingly, the most effective leaders did not have the highest level of self-awareness. Indeed, the more they underrated themselves, the more highly they were perceived as leaders," Zenger and Folkman write. "We assume this is caused by a combination of humility, high personal standards, and a continual striving to be better."

Instead of projecting an air of infallibility, you want to be humble in the eyes of your employees. Why would people want to take orders from someone who believes they are better than they really are? Zenger and Folkman say leaders who overrate and underrate themselves both have blind spots, but truly effective leaders know they must strive to better themselves and continue to learn.

Source: http://www.inc.com/will-yakowicz/humble-leaders-are-more-effective.html

The issue that most organisation s seem to face is the lack of enthusiasm in the employees that are hired. At first, there is excitement and dedication, but the more paperwork they fill out and the more rules and regulations that are spoken about lead to demotivation of employees at the start of the job. All the energy is erased through the onboarding process, ultimately causing employees to be left in a wilderness of paperwork.

Every boss wants to be great at what they do. However, not every boss has the ability of fulfilling the brief. They fail to remember that being a good boss is quite simple; keeping your employees happy and satisfied at all times. This does not always mean that they demand a higher pay. Most employees just want to be appreciated for the work they do and a simple compliment will keep them motivated and will contribute to an increase in productivity in the workplace. Great bosses have a number of characteristics, but the most prominent are the 3 P’s – Presence, Praise and Promise

The first thought that occurs at the mention of “HR” is “boring”. What is Human Resource? It is about people. How could that possibly be boring? It is not typically considered something someone could be creative with. However, this is not exactly the case.

In many organisation s, the biggest questions that most employees ask are 

- Why is creativity not looked for at work?
- Why is being creative with HR a challenge?
- How can creativity be brought upon the organisation?

According to many employers around the world, job seekers often ask “How do I not get jobs that I am qualified for and that I find challenging?” What these people really want to know is “How do I get a job that will appreciate my skills and something I find interesting?”

Human resource is still the most valuable asset for an organization which mainly drives a company day to day despite the elements such as advanced equipment, new technology, good marketing strategy, excellent customer service and many other elements. Nowadays many organizations like to gain a competitive advantage in the market; skills, knowledge and experience of each individual directly impact the productivity and competitive advantage of an organization. In other words human resources determine the success or the failure of an organization. Employees are always related to the profitability of the organization and their abilities cannot be replaced by machines.

Managing Human Resources is very tough in any organization, big or small. Regulations are increasing, workforces are becoming more dynamic and organizations are starting to do more with less. Therefore, it is fair to agree that mistakes can happen in the world of HR management.

The HR managers would favor their favorites or due to fear during certain evaluations like performance and talent which is completely unfair with the other employees- “I don’t care how horrible his performance is, he knows my secret, I am giving him extra points”. This can turn down the reputation of the company and as you know, one’s reputation is spoilt, it’s difficult to mend.

Exit interviews are interviews conducted for a terminating employee. Exit interviews are sources of information for the improvement of an organisation as rarely we would receive honest feedbacks from current employees who are working in the organisation.

It is important to have an exit interview with an employee in order to obtain information about how our organisation is doing and what our organisation needs to do to improve- whether it is the induction process of new staff, drawing on learning of departing employees and how to create more positive view of the employer in the eyes of the departing employees. It is also more important to know the key turn over- why are they dissatisfied with the company. Exit interviews can also help the HR in performance management, where they can receive useful data from exiting employees on how to train their existing employees.