The other day I was at a garden centre and as I rounded the corner, I noticed the cashier taking a selfie at the register.\u00a0 Nowadays, customers are pretty used to seeing smart phones alongside the cash register. Often, we begrudgingly accept the fact that while we might be entering our PIN information that the cashier will check his\/her phone for the latest breaking tweet. This constant connectivity has implication on the workplace \u2013 what is acceptable, what is not \u2013 and how to manage smart phone and social media protocols.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, in a radio interviewer a critic commented that the selfie is a significant social phenomena because it has transferred the control as to how his\/her image will be captured to the individual. In the past, one\u2019s image \u2013 how one would be seen and portrayed \u2013 was in the control of the person taking the picture. It is the photographer\u2019s interpretation of you. The selfie has switched that locus of control. While this reality is of interest to every generation as we can all take selfies, it will have the greatest impact on how young people and your future employees view themselves.<\/p>\n
Across the generations, (Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Gen Xers and Gen Ys), employees have wrestled the definition as to who they are and what their careers will looks like more and more away from the organization. For Traditionalists and most Baby Boomers, it was the organization that would determine how far one would go up the corporate ladder and define your value as an employee. Gen Xers and Gen Ys have pushed to have a say in those decisions. The younger generations expect leaders to involve them actively in career progression and learning and development. When leaders don\u2019t collaborate actively, engagement drops.<\/p>\n
The selfie is metaphorically what employees will expect from organizations today. Organizations and leaders will have to become better at understanding how employees define themselves, rather than imposing a definition upon them. The better that leaders become at understanding employees\u2019 self-definition, and the better that they manage the expectations that arise out of the self-definitions, the higher the level of engagement. This will especially be true of the Gen Y generation and the Global Generation<\/a> (13 and under) who will be your next employees in the next few years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Employees and Selfies The other day I was at a garden centre and as I rounded the corner, I noticed the cashier taking a selfie at the register.\u00a0 Nowadays, customers are pretty used to seeing smart phones alongside the cash … Continue reading