Chapter 6: The Communication Remix

Question 1

According to research, generational differences are most acutely experienced around communication issues. Eighty-one percent of today’s workers say the primary difference between generations in the workplace is ________, and 38 percent find it difficult to communicate with coworkers who are not in their own age group.

Answer 1

communication styles

Question 2

Companies that enable intergenerational communication among employees—by teaching colleagues how to communicate with one another—will have a __________.

Answer 2

tremendous advantages

Question 3

Almost all conversations have become _______, including those between leaders and employees, not to mention between companies and customers.

Answer 3

two-way

Question 4

The communication remix involves acknowledging that communication in organizations has moved from primarily ______ to more transparent and two-way.

Answer 4

top-down

Question 5

“_____” best practices for leaders to communicate organization-wide

Answer 5

“macro”

Question 6

“_____” best practices for employees of all positions to better communicate at the one-on-one level.

Answer 6

“Micro”

Question 7

The Importance of CEO Visibility:

In the past, it was common for senior leaders to ___________ closed doors in hidden offices on faraway executive floors. This model is not gone, but it becomes less common every day. Millennials and Gen Zs have grown up in the era of the celebrity CEO, and most of the rest of us have embraced this newfound access to our leaders, too.

Answer 7

lead from behind

Question 8

The Importance of CEO Visibility:

Speaking as a New Yorker, Michael Bloomberg always comes to my mind as an example of a leader who embraced this reality.

Answer 8

Celebrity CEO

Question 9

The Importance of CEO Visibility:

In addition to increasing a leader’s everyday visibility, there are key moments when such transparency can make a particular impact. One of those moments is during employee _______ and training.

Answer 9

onboarding

Question 10

The Importance of CEO Visibility:

Glenn Van Ekeren, president of Vetter Health Services, an operator of thirty senior living facilities with employees ranging in age from 16 to 85, personally _________ in every new leader training.

Answer 10

participates

Question 11

The Importance of CEO Visibility:

This was a key practice of former Land O’Lakes Inc. CEO Chris Policinski, who was well aware of Millennial students’ relative lack of interest in food and agriculture careers. He took it upon himself to help sell MBAs in particular on his company and his industry.

Answer 11

visits campuses once or twice a month

Question 12

The Importance of CEO Visibility:

This is a fantastic development and goes a long way toward building _______ and trust across levels of an organization, especially a large one.

Answer 12

engagement

Question 13

The Importance of CEO Visibility:

To build visibility with remote employees, CEOs can ________ town halls that include live online chats, Skype, or Zoom-based Q&A sessions.

Answer 13

virtual town

Question 14

The Importance of CEO Visibility:

Leadership _______ is especially important if your organization is launching a new initiative or establishing a new way of working.

Answer 14

visibility

Question 15

Next-Level Transparency: Show Them the Money:

At Netflix, a company known for its radically transparent culture, virtually every employee can access _________, like the number of subscribers in each country or the contractual terms of Netflix’s production deals.

Answer 15

sensitive information

Question 16

Next-Level Transparency: Show Them the Money:

Patty McCord, former chief talent officer of Netflix, emphasizes the importance of this practice, particularly to start-up companies. As she shared on a Wharton@Work podcast, “I call it the constant setting of ______.

Answer 16

context

Question 17

Next-Level Transparency: Show Them the Money:

I [often tell] start-up companies, ‘One of the most important people on your team to communicate to the rest of the organization is your ____.’ If you can teach everybody in the company how to read a profit-and-loss statement, then you have a capability in your company that serves you and them for the rest of their careers. They understand how it works and where they sit in the organization.”

Answer 17

CFO

Question 18

Next-Level Transparency: Show Them the Money:

Some organizations are taking financial transparency even further. I’m talking about _____ transparency, a practice that feels blasphemous to many people who came up the ranks in more traditional, secretive, hierarchical organizations.

Answer 18

salary

Question 19

Next-Level Transparency: Show Them the Money:

Although the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 made it unlawful (with some exceptions) for private-sector employers to forbid employees from discussing wages and compensation, a recent survey by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research found that nearly half of all U.S. workers reported being “strongly discouraged” from discussing pay with their colleagues. Few topics have been as ______ in our society as our salaries.

Answer 19

hidden

Question 20

Next-Level Transparency: Show Them the Money:

A 2010 experimental study by economists found that sharing information about workers’ pay relative to others ________ work effort, even after controlling for the effect of individual pay.

Answer 20

significantly boosted

Question 21

Next-Level Transparency: Show Them the Money:

On the flip side, another study of employees at the University of California found that—not surprisingly—salary disclosure led to ______ job satisfaction among workers who felt underpaid. One potential benefit of salary transparency is that it will help address pay inequity based on race and gender.

Answer 21

lower

Question 22

Next-Level Transparency: Show Them the Money:

There is no doubt in my mind that salary transparency is _______ as Millennials take over more leadership roles. Millennials have come of age at a time of significantly more visibility of previously invisible information

Answer 22

inevitable

Question 23

Social Media Communication: It’s Complicated:

As Joan Snyder Kuhl and Jennifer Zephirin, authors of Misunderstood Millennial Talent: The Other Ninety-One Percent, have pointed out, the perception is that Millennials want to post on social media to build their brand outside of work. The reality, they say, is that Millennials want their loved ones to ______ and approve of their careers. Remember, again, how close many young people are with their parents.

Answer 23

understand

Question 24

Social Media Communication: It’s Complicated:

If you choose not to engage, be aware that your employees’ and colleagues’ social media shares are often being viewed by your current and future job applicants, investors, shareholders, and vendors across generations. Sometimes being a remixer requires stepping out of your _______.

Answer 24

comfort zone

Question 25

How To COPE:

Another common outcome of ______ is that I report back on what employees say they want (for example, more information about volunteer opportunities, more information about other divisions of the company, more training programs), and the leaders reply, “But we offer those things! Don’t they know about them?” -They don’t.

Answer 25

Focus groups

Question 26

How To COPE:

Leaders today need to communicate _____ and often. And then communicate some more. In different ways. I know this puts additional burden on leaders, but that is what it takes to be effective in a multigenerational work environment.

Answer 26

early

Question 27

How To COPE:

In other words, you have to provide options and be ______ about how your employees choose to consume your information. (See Remixer Rule #4: Think “and,” not “or.”)

Answer 27

agnostic

Question 28

How To COPE:

The challenge is to do so without significant additional effort or ____. Fortunately, there is a solution, and it goes by the acronym COPE: create once, publish everywhere, a philosophy credited to Daniel Jacobson when he was director of application development for NPR Digital Media.

Answer 28

cost

Question 29

How To COPE:

COPE-ing does not mean offering unlimited options. It means putting thought into what employees need to know, empathizing with the time they have to consume information, and then finding creative ways to provide that information so that people of different generations, schedules, job functions, family situations, and learning preferences can _____ and digest it.

Answer 29

access

Question 30

How To COPE:

Amanda Ward of Camp Chinqueka, who employs a large number of Generation Z teenagers, told me that she was dismayed at how few counselors were reading the camp’s forty-five-page staff manual.

She didn’t eliminate the book, but she decided to add a box at the bottom of each page called “TL;DR” (too long; didn’t read) to _______ the most important one or two tweet-length takeaways from each page.

Answer 30

Highlight

Question 31

IN THE MIX: AN EXERCISE IN COPE-ING

Also think about how you can ______ any methods that have stopped working for generational reasons, technological reasons, or otherwise.

Answer 31

eliminate

Question 32

IN THE MIX: AN EXERCISE IN COPE-ING:

The final step is to _____ the success of your communication

Answer 32

track

Question 33

IN THE MIX: AN EXERCISE IN COPE-ING:

If, even after COPE-ing, you find people are still not digesting your communications, you might need to pay more attention to ________. Remember that one size fits none in Customization Nation, and some communications may simply be too general to feel relevant to all employees.

Answer 33

segmentation

Question 34

IN THE MIX: AN EXERCISE IN COPE-ING:

Sometimes just a simple ______ opening sentence makes all the difference.

Answer 34

customized

Question 35

Leaders Are Listeners:

Now let’s address the other side of the two-way communication remix: ______.

Answer 35

Listening

Question 36

Leaders Are Listeners:

Listening to employees doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be done through formal or informal employee surveys, focus groups, and question-and-answer sessions with leaders during a town hall or all-hands meeting. You can solicit questions ________ to answer in public if you’re concerned people won’t be candid in a large group.

Answer 36

anonymously

Question 37

Leaders Are Listeners:

And the most common feedback at the end of a focus group always conveys this sentiment: “I know everything we discussed won’t necessarily be addressed, but I’m really glad to have an opportunity to share my opinions.”

Answer 37

lets your workers know that you are listening

Question 38

Leaders Are Listeners:

Ready to remix your leadership to include more and better listening? Try this:

A)

B) ENGAGE AT ANY LEVEL

C) REPORT BACK ON RESULTS

Answer 38

A) BE INCLUSIVE

Question 39

Leaders Are Listeners:

BE INCLUSIVE:

Sometimes you might only need information from a _____ of employees, but whenever you are in doubt, err on the side of inclusivity.

Answer 39

Segment

Question 40

Leaders Are Listeners:

ENGAGE AT ANY LEVEL.

If you work for an organization that does not embrace listening, then do your best to have two-way ______ with the employees you do oversee.

Answer 40

dialogue

Question 41

Leaders Are Listeners:

REPORT BACK ON RESULTS.

No matter what your ultimate decisions, _____ people for contributing their ideas and feedback and explain how their recommendations contributed to any subsequent outcomes or decisions

Answer 41

thank

Question 42

Leaders Are Listeners:

REPORT BACK ON RESULTS.

Author and psychologist Adam Grant, who studied employee survey results at Facebook, found that people who chose not to fill out the company’s annual surveys were ___ times more likely to leave in the next six months.

Answer 42

2.6

Question 43

Leaders Are Listeners:

REPORT BACK ON RESULTS.

When people don’t reply, it often means they are _______ from their work or don’t believe their opinion is valued. High response rates are usually a positive sign even if people’s feedback about certain topics is negative or critical.

Answer 43

disengaged

Question 44

Communicating One-on-One: Be a Communication Chameleon

Now let’s revisit _______ interactions, which make up the majority of our workdays.

Answer 44

one-on-one

Question 45

Communicating One-on-One: Be a Communication Chameleon:

Too many people believe that effective communication is about communicating the way you find easiest or best. Sometimes that works, but what is more important is communicating in the way that will best be ________ by the person you want to influence.

Answer 45

understood

Question 46

Communicating One-on-One: Be a Communication Chameleon:

if you want to communicate across generations—and all differences—you have to become an expert on how to best communicate with the people you want to communicate with. How do you do that? It’s quite simple. ______.

Answer 46

you ask

Take a direct approach

Question 47

Communicating One-on-One: Be a Communication Chameleon:

In the wise words of Swedish blogger Henrik Edberg: “Ask instead of guessing…. This will help you to minimize __________, misunderstandings, negativity, and wastes of time and energy.”

Answer 47

unnecessary conflicts

Question 48

Communicating One-on-One: Be a Communication Chameleon:

An excellent recommendation for how to approach the ask comes from Harvard Business School professor Michael Watkins and his book The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels. One of his recommended strategies for succeeding in any new role is to have a “_________” with your new manager about how you can best communicate with that person.

Answer 48

“style conversation”

Question 49

Communicating One-on-One: Be a Communication Chameleon:

When I teach workshops to employees on “________,” I recommend treating your boss as your client. Even if that person’s style is not your own, you have to be the one to adapt when you are reporting to someone else. And if you report to multiple people, as is so common in many of today’s matrixed organizations, you have to adapt your communication style to each person you report to

Answer 49

“managing up”

Question 50

Communicating One-on-One: Be a Communication Chameleon:

It is the employee’s responsibility to adapt to the leader’s ______, but you can make that job a lot easier.

Answer 50

style

Question 51

Communicating One-on-One: Be a Communication Chameleon:

To be an effective leader in the multigenerational workplace, the bottom line is that you must always be

1) mindful,
2) thoughtful,
3)

about every aspect of your communications. It is no longer effective to wing it.

Answer 51

deliberate

Question 52

IN THE MIX: LET’S TALK ABOUT SLACK

The name is an acronym for “Searchable ____ of All Conversation and Knowledge.”

Answer 52

Log

Question 53

IN THE MIX: LET’S TALK ABOUT SLACK

Jillian also points to the casual aspect of Slack, which can boost the workday online in the same way that office banter or water cooler interactions can improve morale in real life. “The emojis are a nice way to lighten your day,” she says. “You can also use Slack to publicly say thanks or give your colleagues points of _________.”

Answer 53

encouragement

• “Also great as a recognition channel”

Question 54

IN THE MIX: LET’S TALK ABOUT SLACK

Remixer Rule #8 is that everybody wins. Everybody deserves recognition and praise. And, as we know, ________ is one of the most effective, time-tested management tools for all generations.

Answer 54

acknowledgment

Question 55

The Daily Communication Remix:

Strategies to try;

A) SHARE MORE DOCUMENTS

B) KEEP IT SHORT AND SIMPLE

C)

D) BE MORE VISUAL

Answer 55

C) REMIX YOUR MEETING

Question 56

The Daily Communication Remix:

SHARE MORE DOCUMENTS:

Consider how much work is probably being _______ when everyone works separately.

Answer 56

duplicated

Question 57

The Daily Communication Remix:

KEEP IT SHORT AND SIMPLE.

The best approach to reach the most people is to ______ your communications as much as possible.

Answer 57

simplify

Question 58

The Daily Communication Remix:

REMIX THE MEETING:

A simple meeting remix is to ask participants in a regular meeting to sit in ________ from usual.

Answer 58

different seats

Question 59

The Daily Communication Remix:

REMIX THE MEETING:

Another idea is to host a meeting in a ________ from usual, such as in the company cafeteria or in an area of your organization’s premises that your team rarely visits.

Answer 59

different location

Question 60

The Daily Communication Remix:

REMIX THE MEETING:

When working with employees across time zones, it is a best practice to _____ the time of the meetings so no one region is always staying late or speaking in the middle of the night.

Answer 60

rotate

Question 61

The Daily Communication Remix:

BE MORE VISUAL.

As you think about remixing your communications and begin to implement some of the strategies we’ve discussed in this chapter, you might find there are areas where you or your colleagues need additional _________.

Answer 61

skill building

Question 62

CHAPTER 6: KEY TAKEAWAYS

The communication remix involves acknowledging that communication in organizations has moved from primarily top-down to more _______ and two-way.

Answer 62

Transparent

Question 63

CHAPTER 6: KEY TAKEAWAYS

___________ are most acutely experienced around communication issues. Companies that teach diverse colleagues how to communicate more effectively with one another will have a tremendous advantage.

Answer 63

Generational difference

Question 64

CHAPTER 6: KEY TAKEAWAYS

In today’s world of social media, people expect their leaders to be _______ and almost all conversations to be two-way. This means if you are a senior leader, your employees will expect you to be more visible and transparent. This is not optional.

Answer 64

accessible

Question 65

CHAPTER 6: KEY TAKEAWAYS

With salary transparency a ________, now is the time for leadership to thoroughly review your organization’s pay structure. What would happen if suddenly all salaries became public? Would the organization be comfortable with that information being available?

Answer 65

growing trend

Question 66

CHAPTER 6: KEY TAKEAWAYS

To most efficiently communicate across an organization today, the recommended remix is to COPE: ___ ____, _____ ____. This means offering information in multiple formats and styles—short, long, formal, informal, audio, video, written, etc.—to reach people of different generations, schedules, locations, job functions, family situations, and learning preferences

Answer 66

Create once, publish everywhere

Question 67

CHAPTER 6: KEY TAKEAWAYS

Good multigenerational communicators are good ______, and listening doesn’t have to be complicated. Consider implementing formal or informal employee surveys, focus groups, question-and-answer sessions, and town halls to listen to employees more frequently.

Answer 67

listeners

Question 68

CHAPTER 6: KEY TAKEAWAYS

The best way to communicate one-on-one and ensure your messages are heard and understood is to become a communication _______. Ask your key stakeholders how they prefer to communicate and share your preferences with the people you lead.

Answer 68

chameleon