So many of you are re-evaluating your marketing - both tactics and strategies - and thinking of new ways to reach your audiences.  As I shared last week, we are too!

In addition to our continued emphasis on bringing great speakers and resources to our community – (Check out our upcoming Dining with the CEO Un-Marketing Event on June 8th with Philadelphia University President and former entrepreneur Steve Spinelli) – we’ve been redefining our value proposition and our tactics. 

To help, as I shared with you last week, I’ve brought on an intern, Alessandra from Drexel.  And planning her onboarding process has been a great lesson in “practicing what we preach”. 

Since many of you have been asking about what we’re doing with her, here’s four key questions that we’ve been asking  to get her off on the right foot.  And hopefully - as you add people - or even cultivate the ones that you have - you can use some of the following ideas…

1) What are our expectations?  

As the folks at Gallup have said for over a decade, clear expectations are the bedrock of a good management system.  Make sure that you’re clear about the behaviors and results that you’re expecting - and communicate them over and over again.  For Alessandra, I ultimately need her to increase our lead generation and close ratios by increasing website hits, helping us to qualify prospects, implementing the value prop and getting our name out into the Social Media world.  That will get her an “A” grade in my world.  

       How do YOUR employees earn an “A”?  

2) What are our Core Values and and how do I expect them to show up in her behaviors?

We’re about Creating a Community with our members and alums.  We also feel very strongly about “walking the walk”.  I never want anyone to say that we don’t practice what we preach to our clients.  What does that mean for the behaviors I expect to see in Alessandra?  How will her performance be measured against our Core Values?  That’s also an ongoing conversation that she and I will be having over the next six months. 

       How do you enforce and reinforce your Core Values with your people?

3) What are her expectations? 

Employment is a two way street.  It’s not just about us.  Knowing what she’s enjoyed about previous jobs, what her goals are in this one and where she wants to go in the future are all critical questions that I’ve been asking her.  I”ve also had her take the Gallup StrengthsFinder and the Myers Briggs Type Indicator to help us both understand what talents she has and what her preferences are and quite honestly, how I need to manage her based on who she is. 

       What do your employees expect from you?

4)  What’s the best way to work together? 

How often she wants to meet to discuss her progress and what’s been the best form of recognition that she’s received are also things that I want to know about her.  Alessandra’s a college student.  Part of the Millenial generation born from 1977 to 1997.  As many of you are finding, they’re a different breed.  But highly enthusiastic. 

Harvard Business Review has a great article this month on Mentoring Millenials for you to check out.  One of their research findings?  Millennials view work as a key part of life, not a separate activity that needs to be “balanced” by it. For that reason, they place a strong emphasis on finding work that’s personally fulfilling. They want work to afford them the opportunity to make new friends, learn new skills, and connect to a larger purpose. That sense of purpose is a key factor in their job satisfaction…they’re the most socially conscious generation since the 1960s. 

        How are you helping your 33 and under employees connect to their larger life purpose thru your company?

That’s it for now…more to come in our next post.  And let us know what you’re learning as you try out new practices in this post-recession world!