n-gen People Performance

Giselle Kovary M.A. and Adwoa K. Buahene M.A. are the managing partners of n-gen People Performance Inc., a leading performance consulting company focusing on human resources from a generational perspective.

They are the authors of Loyalty Unplugged: How to Get, Keep & Grow All Four Generations, which definitively answers the question, "Is loyalty dead?" By reframing the concept of loyalty against the design and execution of people strategies, they suggest that the goal of people leaders should be to create employee engagement not loyalty. The four generations in the workplace – Traditionalist, Baby Boomer, Gen X and Gen Y – demonstrate different workplace behaviours because of their unique identities.

Giselle and Adwoa help leaders maximize those behaviours while managing the differences to create an engaged workforce. They clarify how to get, keep, and grow your human capital by responding to the generational identities. They outline what your organization must do to build an engaged workforce, and they show leaders how to demonstrate the characteristics of organizational engagement.

Giselle and Adwoa are indispensable guides for leaders responsible for getting, keeping, and growing high-performance teams. They tackle the why, what, and how to, within recruitment, orientation, total rewards programs, employee brand promises, career-pathing, learning and development, mentoring, performance management, succession planning and people management practices. Their highly customized keynote presentations, interactive workshops, and seminars, help organizations understand generational motivations from both a research and anecdotal perspective, and provide strategic solutions that can be applied easily and quickly to improve organizational and people performance.

• 6. The Future of Performance Management in a Multigenerational Workplace Keynote

  Managing performance is a difficult exercise in any size of organization. There are numerous elements to performance management– from setting goals that align to strategy, to measuring what people do, and evaluating how they do it. In n-gen's national survey in 2009, we measured employees' perceptions on how well their performance is being measured by their employer. The good news is that many employees felt strongly that their performance is being accurately measured. However, feedback from the hundreds of organizations with which n-gen has worked, is that performance management remains one of the leading people challenges. One reasons it is viewed as a difficult process is that the four generations (Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Gen Xers and Gen Ys) have different expectations as to how their performance should be measured, and how managers should conduct performance management practices on a day-to-day basis.
  
  This keynote highlights what employees and managers are saying about performance management, based on both the n-gen Generational Index survey and from n-gen consulting work. We use this data, in conjunction with research on generational expectations and performance management theory, to highlight the future of performance management.
  
  Key Topics:
  
  ·Data from n-gen Generational Index survey on performance management ·Key elements of successful performance management systems ·Generational expectations of performance management – what to do and say ·The future of performance management
  

• 5. Gen X and Gen Y Future Leaders: The What, Why and How

  Who are the future leaders of your organization? Why don't Gen Xers want to be leaders? Will Gen Ys ever make good leaders? These are questions that in the last six years n-gen has frequently been asked by senior leadership and management teams. It is important to understand the inherent differences of values, behaviours and expectations that Gen Xers and Gen Ys have, in particular, as these relate to becoming leaders within an organization. To maintain success at the leadership ranks, organizations need to recognize that leadership models must evolve to accommodate new leadership styles and expectations demonstrated by Gen X and Gen Y employees. Additionally, HR teams and senior leaders and must support emerging leaders in developing the right skills to be successful, which may be quite different than what was required for Baby Boomers and Traditionalists.
  
  This presentation highlights the intrinsic differences in the leadership styles of Gen Xers and Gen Ys compared to Traditionalists and Baby Boomers. We discuss how the key to building a leadership pipeline for your organization is not to clone, but rather to maximize on the existing skills of future leaders, while developing the gaps.
  
  Key Topics:
  
  ·The challenges of building a leadership pipeline for Gen X and Gen Y employees ·Leadership characteristics of Gen X and Gen Y ·How to entice Gen Xers and Gen Ys into leadership roles ·How to develop Gen X and Gen Y leadership skills
  

• 4. Four Generations: Increase Your Sales with Multigenerational Customers Keynote

  The primary factor to be successful in sales is to know your customer. To fully understand who your customers are, it is important to understand their generational identities and how their perspectives will impact your ability to sell to them Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Gen Xers and Gen Ys possess different values, behaviours and expectations. This fact impacts the sales process as each generation has different expectations of how they should to be treated. It is important for sales people to consider what each generation values, and identify how to best motivate buyers to make a purchase.
  
  This interactive presentation highlights the four generational identities – focusing on the differing expectations they have of a sales person. We layer on generational considerations to the sales process, highlighting how sales people need to behave to effectively communicate to customers from all four generations.
  
  Key Topics:
  
  ·Four generations overview ·Generational perspectives to 'sales' and sales process ·Effective sales tips from a generational perspective
  

• 3. Four Generations: Improving Customer Service Keynote

  In providing superior customer service, a one-size-fits-all approach doesn't work. Superior customer service means understanding how each customer wants to be treated and then responding accordingly. To understand customer needs and expectations we need to layer on a generational perspective. The four generations in the marketplace – Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Gen Xers and Gen Ys - have very different values, behaviours and expectations. These differences impact what each cohort views as exceptional customer service and how they expect to be treated. In this presentation, we explore the generational identities, values and expectations. We layer on a generational consideration to customer service by focusing on communication and building strong relationships.
  
  Key Topics:
  
  ·Generational identities ·Layering on generational expectations to customer service processes ·Tips to providing superior customer service to a multigenerational customer base
  

• 2. Career Expectations: The New Generational Definitions

  Each generational cohort (Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Gen Xers and Gen Ys) defines the concept of a successful career differently. However, many organizations and senior leaders do not recognize that Gen Xers and Gen Ys have different definitions than they may have and therefore make incorrect assumptions about employees' career aspirations. In order to create a sustainable organization, the definitions and expectations of Gen X and Gen Y must be taken into account in workplace / succession planning. It is possible to retain the younger generations for longer-term employment, but it requires that organizations be able to meet and manage the career expectations of Gen X and Gen Y.
  
  This keynote describes the differing generational expectations of a 'successful career'. We explore what organizations need to do in order to build long-term employment relationships with Gen Xers and Gen Ys. We discuss how future succession planning efforts must rely on incorporating new employee expectations into the framework. We highlight data about career expectations uncovered in n-gen's Generational Index survey.
  
  Key Topics:
  
  ·How the definition of a 'successful career' differs across the generations ·Employment expectations of Gen X and Gen Y ·Data from n-gen's Generational Index survey ·Impact of changing career expectations on succession planning and workforce planning ·Strategic considerations on building longer term career relationships with Gen X and Gen Y
  

• 1. Social Media & The Multigenerational Workplace Keynote

  With the invention and early adoption of new technologies – in particular social media – organizations need to evaluate the impact social media has on workplace performance. Employees use social media, both inside and outside of work. More often than not, leaders believe that only the youngest generation are using and/or 'abusing' social media at work, but, is this belief accurate? In the future, social media will have a positive impact on workplace performance, as well as presenting challenges that will need to be managed by organizational leaders. This keynote focuses on what every organization needs to know about the future role of social media within our multigenerational workplaces.
  
  Based on new research and n-gen's national Generational Index Survey, we explore the type of social media being used by each generation (Traditionalist, Baby Boomer, Gen X and Gen Y). We present new thinking on the impact social media has on the future of people practices, including recruitment, retention and performance management.
  
  Key Topics:
  ·Social media – what, how, why and who uses it from a generational perspective ·The impact of social media on organizational performance ·Considerations on incorporating social media into a multigenerational workplace
  

• Developing strong leadership is a top priority for Petro-Canada and a critical component of our retention and attraction strategy. n-gen People Performance Inc. provided our Finance leaders with niche expertise in understanding and leading different generations. The concepts n-gen presented will be instrumental in helping our leaders build strategies that engage and motivate the four generations within their teams. By partnering with innovative organizations like n-gen we continue to build a stronger and more effective workforce.
  Petro-Canada

• 
  January 2007

  Loyalty Unplugged: How to Get, Keep & Grow All Four Generations

  
  

1. Four Generations - Four Approaches to Work: Increasing Engagement